Inked (5 page)

“I’m sorry, Avery. I didn’t come here tonight to burden you with my problems.”

“Then why did you come?” she whispered.

“I needed to know why you never called. And I still think you’re bullshitting me, by the way. But I also wanted to know if you’d see me again, just one time. It doesn’t even have to be a proper date. We could go out for coffee or something.”

For as much as it broke her heart to say it, Avery knew what she had to do next. “I’m sorry, Brody. I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Oh right, the boyfriend,” he spat, raising his voice for the second time and breaking all physical contact between them.

“I told you to keep your voice down,” she hissed.

“You know what? You’re right. I should’ve never come here tonight.” Turning on his heel, Brody stalked off in the direction of the elevator. He heard the sound of Avery’s door creaking open and half expected her to slam it shut, but what he heard next was the one word that would forever be branded into his memory.

“Mama?”

Inch by painstaking inch, Brody turned back around
. Each step he took towards Avery felt like a mile. Standing beside her clutching a blue blanket in one hand and a teddy bear in the other was the cutest little boy he’d ever seen. Light brown hair the color of mocha hung in curls and covered his downcast eyes. As Brody neared the boy, he stopped and knelt before him. The curve of his lips, the cleft in his nose, and the depth of his chocolate brown eyes all looked eerily familiar. It only took a moment for Brody to recognize the familiarity, because the distinguished features of the little boy’s face where the exact same features Brody saw every morning when he looked in the mirror. Just one look at the small boy who wore airplane pajamas and sucked his thumb was all it took for Brody to know he was looking into the eyes of his son.

Chapter 3

“What the fuck, Avery?” Brody roared.

Lowering her arms, Avery used the palm of her hands to cover her son’s ear. “Please don’t swear in front of Parker.”

Parker, my son’s name is Parker?
Brody stood motionless, stunned by the realization that this boy—his son—was the reason she’d never returned his calls, but why? Why hadn’t Avery told him she was pregnant, and why would she want to keep him away from his son for so long? These and a million other questions came to mind, causing Brody to stumble backwards into the wall. The hair, the lips, the eyes... there was no doubt in his mind that he was staring into the face of his son, but he had to ask the question that was at the forefront of his mind. “Is he mine?”

“Can we talk about this later? I have to put Parker back to bed.”

“You’re fucking kidding me, right? Do you honestly expect me to just walk away?”

“Would you
please
stop swearing in front of him?”

The door to apartment 10B creaked open and a silver haired lady peeked around the corner. “Is everything alright out here, dear?”

“Yes, Mrs. Mitchell. My friend was just leaving,” Avery assured her.

“Like hell I am. I’m not leaving until you give me some answers.”

Avery looked from the silver haired woman to Brody and scowled at him before returning her attention back to her elderly neighbor. “Everything is fine, Dottie. I’ll call you if I need anything.”

Mrs. Mitchell acknowledged Avery with a polite nod and quietly disappeared back into her apartment.

Brody looked down at the boy who was hugging his mother’s leg. The child looked frightened. He tilted his head back and rested it against the wall, willing himself to calm down.
Don’t scare him more than he already is, you idiot.
When he’d regained his composure enough to speak calmly, he opened his eyes and repeated his question. “Is the boy mine or not, Avery?”

Avery held Parker closer, hugging him tightly against her leg. The truth was finally out in the open and it felt like a huge burden had been lifted from her shoulders. The only thing left to do was to speak one simple word, the truth. “Yes.”

It took every ounce of Brody’s self control to stop him from completely losing it, but knowing that yelling would only frighten his son more, he kept his emotions in check. “Why? Why didn’t you tell me that I had a son?

“Can we please talk about this later?” Avery implored. “Parker’s sick and I have to put him back to bed.”

“He’s sick?” Brody asked, his attention suddenly focused solely on the boy. “What’s wrong with him?”

“He’s coming down with a cold.”

“Should we take him to a doctor or something?”

“He should be fine once I give him some Advil and put him back to bed, which is why I have to go. Call me tomorrow and we’ll talk then. I promise.”

“Avery, please don’t ask me to go, not now.”

She watched as a multitude of emotions flashed across his face: Anger, confusion, frustration, and above all else, concern. Was Brody really that worried that Parker had come down with a case of the sniffles? Of course he was. It was a parent’s natural instinct to be concerned when their child was sick. How could she possibly ask him to leave, and did she even have the right to ask him to leave now that he knew the truth?

“Fine,” Avery sighed. She was too tired to fight a battle that she had absolutely no chance of winning. There’s nothing she could say that would convince Brody to leave. “Just promise to keep your voice down. If Parker wakes up again I’ll never get him back to sleep.”

Brody nodded his agreement. Trepidation washed over him like a tidal wave crashing again
st the shore. For two hours he’d sat in his car in front of Avery’s building trying to get up the nerve to ask her out for coffee, and now, less than a half an hour later, he, Brody Duncan, billiard player, country music lover, and collector of all things vintage, was a father. Brody placed a steadying hand on the back of the sofa as the realization hit him like a ton of bricks.

“Are you okay?” Avery asked, suddenly noticing the gray pallor of his face. “You look a little pale.”

“I’m fine, but I could use one of those.” He pointed to the empty beer bottle sitting on the coffee table.

“Help yourself. I’m sure you can remember where the kitchen is?” Avery looked at him knowingly, remembering the initial panic and shock she’d felt when the doctor told her she was pregnant. She had nine months to get used to the idea of having a baby, but Brody had no advanced warning what-so-ever. Avery couldn’t even begin to imagine was he must be feeling, and for the first time in almost five years, she wished she’d told him sooner rather than having him find out this way.

Brody made his way towards the kitchen in a daze, his feet dragging sluggishly across the linoleum floor, and feeling like a lifetime of uncertainty and responsibility had been placed on his shoulders. Opening the fridge door, he took a beer from the shelf and cracked it open but not before noticing how lacking the shelves were. Aside from a quart of milk, a half eaten salad, and a six pack of beer, the fridge was practically empty. Brody then gripped the handle for the freezer and opened it. Two frozen pizzas and a pack of hotdogs were the only items occupying the icebox. Frustrated, he ran a hand through his hair and shut the freezer door. What in the hell was she feeding the kid?
Not kid,
Brody reminded himself,
my son.
Snagging two more beers from the fridge, he made his way back into the living room just as there was a knock at the door.

Avery peeked her head around the corner of the entrance to Parker’s bedroom and whispered, “Can you answer that? There’s a twenty in my wallet. You can use that to pay him.”

“Alright,” Brody mumbled, but ignoring Avery’s request, he pulled a wad of bills out of his pocket and peeled off a twenty dollar bill. He opened the apartment door and was greeted by a scrawny looking teenager holding a large white box. “Pizza, of course.”

“That’ll be fifteen bucks.”

“Keep the change,” Brody growled, and handed him a crisp twenty dollar bill. Returning to the living room, he found Avery sitting cross legged on the sofa holding an iPad in one hand while motioning for him to take a seat beside her with the other.

Brody set the pizza on the table and sat down beside her. They sat in silence, staring at each other and both wondering where to begin. Standing out in the hall, a million questions had come to mind, none of which he could remember as he sat there surrounded by toys and pictures in frames that depicted a happy family, one that didn’t involve him. Why had Avery never told him about Parker?
God damnit!
He had a right to know.

“Brody...”

“No, let me start.” He shifted sideways on the sofa, all the better to look her directly in the eyes when he demanded answers. “Why didn’t you tell me, Avery? I had a right to know that I have a son. Why didn’t you want me to know? Now, because of your serious lack of judgement, I’ve missed time with him that I can never get back thanks to you.”

“I told you...” she began, but Brody’s harsh voice cut her off.

“Don’t give me the same bullshit excuse that your life was complicated. Everybody’s life is complicated, Avery. That’s a piss poor excuse if I’ve ever heard one.”

Brody was right. She had no right to keep him from Parker, but she had, and the very least he deserved was an honest explanation. Avery waited for his anger to dissolve and the redness to dissipate from his cheeks, and when his face softened and his clenched fists relaxed, she launched into a detailed account of the events that had taken place after the last time they saw each other.

“When you dropped me off on Sunday night I found an email from my advisor telling me that she wanted to meet with me the following day. She insisted that a few changes had to be made to my thesis and told me that I had until Friday afternoon to submit them. I worked my ass off all week so we’d be able to spend the weekend together. I was going to call you and see if you wanted to do something that weekend, but that’s when my sister called me and told me that our father had suffered a heart attack. I barely had time to pack for New York before she picked me up.” Avery looked at Brody appraisingly, and when he remained silent, lost in his thoughts, she continued. “I wasn’t expecting to be in the city more than a few days, but my father had to undergo bypass surgery. By the time I got home two weeks had passed.
I was going to call you then, but I started feeling under the weather. I thought I’d picked up some bug while I was at the hospital. So when I didn’t start to feel better after a week, I went to the doctors. That’s when I found out I was pregnant.”

“And you couldn’t have picked up a phone and called me?”

“You have to understand, I was young, I was scared, and I felt cheap and embarrassed that I was stupid enough to get pregnant by a guy that I’d spent one weekend with. I wanted to call you and tell you everything, I swear I did, but what guy wants to be chained down to a lifelong commitment because he made the mistake of having a one night stand?”

Brody rubbed his hand across his stubbled chin as he contemplated Avery’s explanation. “So let me get this straight. I missed out on knowing my son because of your pride?”

“No, it’s not like that. I...”

“Let me finish,” Brody growled and picked up his beer, drinking down the last of its contents and using those few precious seconds to curb his mounting anger. “Are you telling me that even after everything I told you that weekend, after me telling you how I felt about you, that I was a mistake? Was Parker a mistake too?”

“Oh my God, no, he’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“And you thought
it would be okay to deny me that happiness, to deny me my parental rights?” he snarled.

“I’m sorry,” Avery whispered, and choked back tears. “And you’re right, I should’ve told you.”

“Damn right you should’ve told me.” Brody clenched his fists. Never before had he felt as angry as he did at this very moment, and with good reason. “Is there anything else I should know?”

“Well,” she hesitated. There was no turning back now. She might as well tell him the entire story. “There is one more thing.”

“Oh, God, he’s a twin, isn’t he? There are two of them.”

“Nooooo, it’s nothing like that,” Avery quickly assured him. “After I found out I was pregnant, I started having problems. I almost miscarried three times. The third time the doctor had to deliver Parker by emergency c-section.”

Brody looked at Avery, stunned by her candid admissions. “For Christ sake, Avery, why didn’t you tell me? I could’ve helped you. I could’ve done something to make things easier for you.”

“There’s nothing you could’ve done, Brody,” she tried to assure him.

“What about school? If you were sick, how did you work and pay rent? How in the hell did you pay the hospital bill?” The questions flew out of his mouth like a boulder picking up speed as it toppled down the hillside. “And what about prenatal care, did you even have an obstetrician?”

“That’s really none of your concern,” Avery replied indignantly, but her tone softened. Brody was concerned, and as much as she hated to admit it, he had every right to be. He was Parker’s father. Swallowing her pride, she answered each of his questions in turn. “I dropped out of school for three years to raise Parker, otherwise I would’ve been finished my degree long ago. My family helped me with some of the bills, and when Parker was six months old I went back to work part time.”

“What about now? You’re a full time graduate student, so how can you afford to pay rent and buy groceries?” Brody recalled the empty fridge and bare cupboards, and shuddered. The thought of Avery and Parker going without made him ill.

“It’s not like we’re starving,” Avery quickly replied, as if reading his mind. “My sister watches Parker while I’m at school or work. He usually has supper there and I grab a something on my dinner break. I may not be rich, but I can certainly afford to feed my son.”

“Ours,” he growled.

“What?”

“He’s our son, Avery. But no matter, you don’t have to go without anymore.”

“Fine, our son,” she yielded “but this is exactly why I didn’t tell you about Parker in the first place. I didn’t want you to feel obligated to take care of us because of a one night mistake.”

“How many times do I have to tell you? You were NOT a mistake. And I’ve already missed so much of his life because of your damned pride. I’m sure as hell not going to let Parker go without because of it.”

Avery huffed, and tossing the iPad on the sofa cushion between them, threw her hands up in frustration. “We are not starving. Parker does not go without
anything
. And can we please not fight over this right now. You’re going to wake him up.”

“Alright,” Brody conceded “but this conversation is far from over.”

“Like hell it isn’t,” Aver mumbled, and picked up the iPad. She slid her finger across the screen, unlocking it, and touched an icon labelled Photos.

“What’s that?” Brody leaned in closer to get a better look.

“Pictures.”

“Of Parker?”

No, these are pictures of my nephew,” she replied smartly.