Here to Stay (18 page)

Paige’s heart twisted with pain at the
thought of her son hearing this exchange. Episodes like this were
the reason she had stopped seeing her father more than a year
ago.

~*~

Nathan parked his truck next to Paige’s car.
He had dropped Calvin off at his grandmother’s house first. The
kid’s last words to him echoed in his head, “She loves you, Chief.
Don’t let her get away.” He tried to tell himself that Calvin was
right, but something kept eating at his insides. Something he saw
in Paige’s eyes each time he looked at her. It was more than her
revelation about the cancer and not being able to have children. He
just couldn’t put his finger on it. En route Calvin had gotten a
call from his grandmother, she was the Beatrice who’d called Paige.
Whatever the woman had called about, it had gone down at Paige’s
father’s house.

He took a long look at Elliott Weston’s home.
His stomach tied itself in knots when he considered the possibility
of coming face to face with that man again. Paige had said her
daddy was away on business. If Nathan were lucky, maybe he hadn’t
returned yet. All he wanted to do was see Paige and find out about
this Jesse guy.

With a heavy exhale, he emerged from his
truck. He slipped on his Stetson and strode to the Westons’ front
door. He stared at the intricately designed wood and glass that
stood between him and uncertainty. Nathan shook off the hate-filled
memories of Paige’s daddy and pressed the doorbell.

A formally attired man of at least sixty
opened the door and greeted Nathan. “May I help you, sir?”

“I’m here to see Paige,” Nathan told him
hesitantly. A butler, he realized. Nathan almost laughed in spite
of the tension he felt. Hell, he thought those guys were
extinct.

“I’m sorry, sir, but she’s not available at
the moment. Would you like to leave a message?”

Neither the man’s tone of voice nor his
facial expression varied the slightest when he spoke. Nathan
smiled. “I’ll wait.” He allowed his voice to convey his level of
determination. He would not leave until he had seen Paige.

“I see,” the man noted. “And whom shall I say
is calling?”

“Nathan Blackrope.” He tightened his jaw
against the other words that wanted to tumble out. If Paige’s daddy
was home, he would soon know without having to ask.

“Come in, sir.” The man allowed Nathan into
the long hall. “I’ll inform Miss Weston of your arrival as soon as
possible.”

Nathan removed his hat and thanked him. The
man turned and walked down the long hall, an air of dignity in his
step. Nathan shook his head. A butler. As if Elliott Weston
couldn’t answer his own door.

He surveyed the ritzy digs. So this is how
Paige had grown up. No wonder she loved her summers in Trinity so
much. This joint was no place for a kid. It reminded Nathan more of
a fancy funeral parlor or maybe a museum.

Heated voices caught Nathan’s ear. He
listened. One belonged to Paige. The other he knew to be Elliott
Weston’s. Nathan’s skin crawled at the sound. He set his jaw harder
and willed the anger to retreat. He hadn’t come to make a fool of
himself. No matter how Elliott provoked him, he would stay calm for
Paige’s sake.

“Hello.”

Nathan snapped his head around and then
dropped his gaze to find the source of the voice. His eyes came to
rest on a child and his heart stopped beating.
A boy
. Black
hair and eyes…dark skin. Nathan’s head spun and his pulse pounded
in his ears. He blocked out all other stimuli and focused
completely on the boy.

“My name’s Jesse.” The child stepped closer
and smiled up at Nathan. “What’s your name?”

Nathan sank to his knees. Partly to get a
closer look at the boy and partly because is legs would no longer
hold his weight. His gaze moved slowly over the child, taking in
blue jeans and a Spiderman T-shirt.
Jesse
. He had said his
name was Jesse. Nathan tried to keep his voice calm.

“Nice to meet you, Jesse,” he managed to
choke out and extend a shaky hand. “I’m Nathan.”

The little boy latched onto his hand and
shook it hard. His toothy grim widened. Nathan’s heart lurched at
the child’s touch. Jesse suddenly dropped Nathan’s hand and reached
for a long strand of black hair.

“You Indian, like me,” Jesse noted
innocently.

Nathan nodded, unable to speak.
This
couldn’t be
.

“I go to preschool,” Jesse said, reaching
down to touch the hat Nathan held. “Frankie said I was a Indian.
I’m four years old now. Soon I’ll go to big-kid school.” He took
Nathan’s hat and set it on his head and then pushed it up so he
could see.

Nathan swallowed hard and set his gaze on the
child’s angelic face. “When’s your birthday, Jesse?” Nathan held
his breath as he waited for the answer.
This just couldn’t
be
.

“I already had my birthday. It was March,” he
said happily, adjusting the large hat on his head once more.

Nathan quickly calculated the time between
the day of his mother’s funeral and Jesse’s birth month four years
ago. Nine months. The room whirled around him. His head pounded.
His unsteady gaze locked on the little boy wearing his hat.

Jesse was his son.
His son
. How could
Paige have kept this from him? There had to be some
explanation…

Angry voices sounded again from down the
hall, louder this time. Nathan jerked his gaze in that
direction.

“They’re fighting. Mommy and Grandfather
always fight,” Jesse said sadly.

Nathan felt an almost uncontrollable urge to
hold him, but he didn’t dare for fear of scaring the child.
His
child
. A child that looked exactly like him. Exactly. Nathan
closed his eyes to slow the spinning. How could Paige have done
this to him? Nathan had been wrong. Calvin had been wrong. Paige
didn’t love him. She hated him. The proof stood right before his
very eyes. Otherwise she would never have done something like this
to him. Rage and pain boiled inside him, vying for possession of
his senses. Nathan opened his eyes and looked at his son.
His
son
.

~*~

“I’m leaving now.” Paige spun away from her
father’s angry glare. She stormed out of his study, followed by
Beatrice.

“Miss Paige,” Raymond said, then cleared his
throat, “you have a visitor.”

“What?” she asked, slowing momentarily to
glance at Raymond. “Who?” Frustrated and knowing that her father
would follow at any moment, Paige didn’t wait for Raymond’s
response, but continued down the hall.

“Nathan Blackrope,” Raymond called behind
her.

Paige stopped dead in her tracks. Her shocked
gaze moved from Raymond, to Nathan who stood by the front door and
then dropped to Jesse who smiled happily up at Nathan.

“What are you doing here?” she breathed, her
words barely audible in the ensuing silence.

The look she saw in Nathan’s eyes at that
moment ripped her heat to shreds. “Getting to know Jesse,” he said
icily.

“Mommy, Nathan said I could have his hat.”
Jesse ran to her, displaying the black Stetson. “It’s really cool.
Look.” He perched the hat atop his sweet head.

“That’s nice, sweetie.” Paige smiled at her
son. She struggled to hold back the tears mounting in her eyes.
“Beatrice”—Paige turned to the woman at her side wringing her
hands—“please take Jesse out back for a few minutes.”

Beatrice grasped Jesse’s hand and urged him
toward her. “Come along, Jesse, we’ll go into the garden and show
your new hat to Ms. Julia. And maybe she’ll let us help plant
petunias.”

“Bye, Nathan,” Jesse shouted as he was rushed
away.

“So long, Jesse,” Nathan called after him.
His gaze followed Jesse’s departure until he was completely out of
sight.

Nathan finally faced Paige when Jesse moved
out of earshot. She steeled herself for what she knew would come
next. What she had done was unforgivable. She had to face his wrath
now…and quite possibly his hatred.

He shook his head slowly. “How could you do
this?”

“I’m sorry, Nathan,” Paige murmured, her
heart cracking with each word.

“You’re sorry?” he roared. “You kept my son…”
Nathan squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his fists at his sides.
When he opened his eyes again Paige saw the one thing she had
prayed she wouldn’t—hatred.

“I wish it hadn’t happened this way. I wanted
to explain about Jesse…I’m so sorry.” She saw the shudder that
swept over him…saw the way he worked to hold onto control.
Dear
God, what had she done
?

“You kept my son from me for more than four
years and all you can do is say you’re sorry?”

“Nathan, you married someone else before I
even knew I was pregnant.” Panic overwhelmed her now. She couldn’t
think straight. Everything was going wrong. “When I found out, I
couldn’t tell you and risk breaking up your marriage. And then”—she
dropped her gaze to the floor—“everything got out of control. My
father—”

“I don’t give a damn about your father.” He
raked a hand through his hair and shifted with agitation, his shock
quickly turning to rage. “I can’t believe you did this. You’re
worse than your father!” he added, his words like acid on her
skin.

“That’s enough,” Elliott Weston commanded
from somewhere behind Paige. “I will not allow you to stand in my
house and speak to my daughter in that manner. The only reason I
haven’t already called the police is because I don’t want to turn
this ridiculous scene into a public spectacle.”

“Father, please. This is between me and
Nathan,” Paige appealed as Elliott moved to her side. Her heart
felt ready to burst from her chest and her head verged on
exploding. The last thing she needed was a showdown between Nathan
and her father.

“Don’t bother with him, Paige,” her father
replied haughtily. “Why waste your time? The man obviously has no
feelings for you. What did you expect from someone like him?” He
turned his hateful glare on Nathan. “Can’t you see that she’s been
through enough?”

Paige’s gaze collided with Nathan’s. She saw
the danger in his eyes. Her father was pushing too hard, treading
on perilously thin ice.

“Nathan, maybe we can talk somewhere else,”
she offered anxiously. Somehow she had to get him away from her
father.

“I have nothing else to say to you,” he said
coldly.

“You see. He doesn’t care about you. The man
has no right to even be here.” He turned his attention to Nathan.
“Leave right now, Mr. Blackrope, before I call the police and have
you escorted out of Memphis.”

“But—” Paige started.

“You’re right,” Nathan interrupted in a low,
ominous voice. “I have no right to be here.”

“Then go,” Elliott suggested
contemptuously.

Nathan stepped closer to him, his own
contempt etched across his angry face. “There’s just one problem.
That’s my son out there in your garden and if you think you can
keep me from him, you’re dead wrong.”

“Nathan,” Paige gasped, her worst fears
coming true.

Nathan moved his caustic gaze to her. “You
won’t keep him from me, Paige. You’ve deprived me of too much
already.”

“You’d better find yourself a good attorney,
Mr. Blackrope.” Elliott held his ground under Nathan’s glower.
“You’ll need one if you think you’re getting your hands on that
child. Now, get out.”

Nathan looked from Elliott to her. “I can’t
believe you did this, Paige.”

“We can work this out, Nathan,” she told him
in a shaky voice. Everything was falling apart around her. “This is
between you and me. My father has no say in it.”

Nathan only glared at her before turning to
her father. “Make no mistake, I will be back for my son.”

Paige watched, in silent shock, as Nathan
strode out the door, down the walk and then disappeared. Why hadn’t
she told him days ago? Then none of this would have happened. She
could have given him the news gently, explaining all the
extenuating circumstances as she went along. Now the damage was
done. Nathan hated her and she deserved it. She closed her eyes and
willed away the fresh flood of tears gathering behind her lids.

“Paige, you have got to get that…that man out
of your system,” her father urged. “He’ll only drag you down. It’s
bad enough that he’s Jesse’s father.”

She turned on her father then. “I love Nathan
Blackrope. Do you hear me?” Rage pushed away all other
emotions.

“You can’t mean that. The man is a savage in
every sense of the word. He doesn’t even deserve your pity.”

“Nathan is Jesse’s father and I won’t listen
to you speak badly about him. You don’t rule my life anymore. If
you can’t accept Jesse and Nathan, then we have nothing else to
discuss.”

“Paige, when I thought I might lose you
forever, I couldn’t bear it. We can’t let our relationship continue
this way.”

“No”—Paige shook her head—“we can’t. I love
you, Father, I always will. But if you can’t accept my son and the
man I love, then we have no relationship.” Paige turned on her heel
and stalked away from Elliott Weston.

Enough had been said.

Chapter Eleven

Paige sat down on the shabby but comfortable
sofa in her modest apartment and expelled a long, deep sigh. She
had spent the entire week since the episode at her father’s house
sorting out her thoughts. Calvin had called to let her know that
his life was back to normal. Denise had things under control at the
office. Paige had called Robert and Silas to discuss the situation
and her tentative plan. Her uncle had been very encouraging and
helpful, but he couldn’t make the decision for her. She’d had to do
that all alone.

Once the decision was behind her, Silas had
started the ball rolling in Trinity. Paige had made the final
arrangements required of her in Memphis. Now all she had to do was
take the next step necessary to put her decision into action.