Teach Me Love (17 page)

Chapter 26
 

Abigail

I’ve been home for three weeks now. We are in the new house and it feels wonderful. He’s taking care of Lucas as I heal. My body’s still sore and it’s hard to do anything but Jacob
has a great team taking turns watching me and keeping me company. Jacob is taking some time off from work and spending time making our house a home.

The nights are incredible. Jacob is careful with me and is so gentle. Making slow and gentle love with him is the best. He makes sure he does not get too rough so he doesn’t hurt me. I love this man.

I’m healing quiet fast but my arm will be in a cast for at least six weeks.

Jacob and I talk about Ryan to Lucas. He is confused and hurt but after some time he does want to meet him.

“Jacob, what do I do?”

“Sweetheart,” he says looking away from the lap top, “If he wants to meet Ryan then I say let’s go for it.”

I pull out a file from the drawer and play with it. I see Jacob eyeing me and the file.
Adoption papers.
I want it to be legal. I want Jacob to be Lucas’s father.

“I have something to talk to you about.” I fumble with the file and try to calm myself. “I’m really nervous to ask you this.” I take out the papers and hand them to Jacob.

His eyes go wide and a smile comes across his face. “Are you sure?”

I nod.

He takes out his pen and signs his name. Our lips meet again and we laugh and cry together.

The door bell rings. 
“Oh what the hell.”

Jacob hurries downstairs to answer the door. I wonder who’s there.

Jacob comes back to the room after a few minutes. I put away my phone and look up at him, “Baby who was at the door?” I ask with a yawn.

“I don’t know.
Some weird guy. He gave me this to give to you.”

“Open it.”

Jacob opens the envelope and pulls out he papers. My mouth drops as I see what the papers are:

PETITION FOR CUSTODY.

“Jacob,” I sob, “Can he do this?” He pulls me to his body and I let everything out. How can Ryan do this? He has not talked to Lucas in years and all of a sudden he wants custody?

After a few hours, Jacob falls asleep with Lucas in the middle of us. I look at the two most important men in my life and start crying again. I need to do something.
Anything.

I slowly get out of bed and take my cell phone with me.
I reach into my robe pocket and take out the piece of paper with Ryan’s phone number. I owe Heather for getting this for me even though I don’t want to know how she got it. I send a text message to Ryan.

Me:
Hey, it’s Abigail. Please come over and talk to me.

Ryan: Be there in 10.

I take a deep breath. I can do this. I have to do this for Jacob and Lucas. I take a seat in our living room. All of a sudden the door bell rings. My head swings to the door. I get up quickly to answer it. When I open the door, Ryan is standing there. Blood shot eyes. Confusion. He’s in sweat pants and a polo shirt.

“Hi.”

I look at him. Stare him down. I point my finger into his chest. “How
dare
you!” I push him a little, “You
cannot
come back to
my
son’s life and try to be there!
How could you!”

“
Stop! Abigail, listen to me!”

Ryan looks at me and I can tell this is breaking him apart.
“Why Ryan?”

“My father told me you aborted the baby and then tried to
get him to leave us but when you wouldn’t, you took his money! All these years I thought you aborted the pregnancy then I get a random text message with a picture of you, Jacob and Lucas-
my son!
”

“That is
not
my fault Ryan! Lucas is so confused! If you love him,” I start to say and take a deep breath, “Then please drop this.”

Ryan walks away and looks down into my eyes, “I just want a chance Abigail. Don’t take this away from me.” Ryan looks away and walks back to his car.

This is getting worse before it can get any better.

The following afternoon, Jacob has Peter, his lawyer, come over to the house so we can come up with a plan. The custody hearing is next week and I want to make sure we have everything in order. Peter comes over right on time, three o’clock. When I let him in, we get right to work.

“Ms. Anderson, now, with what Mr. Strider has stated about not knowing about your pregnancy and the alleged blackmail against his father, we are in for a battle.”

“What?” I start crying, “How is this possible?”

Jacob takes me in his arms. “Peter, what can we do?”

He looks through piles of paper and takes off his glasses, “We have to stand together. Abigail, you’ve done an incredible job raising Lucas on your own which will look good. Now is there anything I should know that could come out in court? His attorney will tear you apart and try to make you look like an unfit mother.”

“There’s nothing else to know. Ryan was the last man I was with until I met Jacob. It’s been me and Lucas from the very start. Ryan can’t have shared custody of Lucas. His family will treat him horribly. This isn’t fair. Lucas is only six years old!” I crumble in Jacob’s arms and feel powerless

“Peter please
figure something out,” Jacob and I beg.

“Alright let me work on this some more. The trial will be next week so
be ready. Jacob, I’ll be in touch.”

We get up and shake Peter’s hand. Jacob kisses me on the forehead letting me know that everything will be okay. As we walk Peter out the door, Jacob asks me to give him some time with Peter.

Alright,” I said. I go back into living room. Jacob will fix this; everything will be okay.

Chapter 27
 

Jacob

I pull him aside. “How’
s it looking?”

Peter takes off his glasses again and rubs his eyes, “Not good Jacob. This Ryan character is out for blood. I had my PI do some investigation and he isn’t a good guy. Their family means business. His father, George, is up fo
r a seat on the Senate so they’re doing everything they can to make sure Ryan wins at least visitation. I would highly suggest you convince her to think about it. This won’t be an easy custody battle. Yes he abandoned her, but she did take the money that was given to her. They can take that and twist it anyway. His lawyer, Madison, is ruthless and she’ll stop at nothing to get this win.”

Madison. What the hell?
She’s in criminal defense not family court. What the fuck is going on? “Peter, Madison should not be his lawyer. We have a past. I slept with her a few times but there was nothing more. She wanted a romantic relationship but I ended it.”

Something in Peter clicks, “Jacob, hold that thought. Let me get in touch with Judge
Sufra. She’ll know what to do.”

“Thanks Peter. Keep me updated.”

“Alright will do.”

I wave Peter off and sit down on the porch step. I think about what Peter said and wonder if we stand a chance at winning this battle. Why is it that after all these years Ryan wants Lucas? I hang my head low but can’t find a solution. I hear the door open. Abigail’s hands are on my shoulders. She’s kneeling behind me and wraps her arm around my neck.

“Tell me everything is going to be okay Jacob. It has to be okay. Ryan can’t get custody. Lucas will get confused and he doesn’t deserve this.” She starts to cry again. I feel useless. I don’t want to give her false hope but I want to ease her mind of the pain.

“Sweetheart, Peter is going to do everything he can to make this work. Madison is Ryan’s lawyer so something isn’t adding up.”

“What? Madison?” Abigail shoots up but grabs onto her stomach. I quickly get up and help her to a chair.

“Please be careful. Stop stressing over this. Peter is a great lawyer and will figure this out. He is going to talk to a judge and see if we can throw his claims out.”

“Fix this Jacob,” she quietly says. “Lucas doesn’t deserve this.”

An idea comes to mind. I know Abigail isn’t going to like it but it might make Ryan change his mind about wanting custody of Lucas. “Sweetheart, I’ll be right back.” I go inside to the kitchen and take out my phone.

Me: If you want to meet Lucas, be here in an hour.

Damn. I know she’s going to hate me but maybe this will work.

An hour later, as we’re outside watching Lucas play, a silver two door sleek Lexus pulls into the driveway.
Here we go
I think. Abigail narrows her eyes at me and goes to get Lucas. “Just try this Abigail. I promise I’ll explain later.”

“You better Jacob. I don’t like this,” she hisses back to me.

Ryan comes out of the car and eyes Lucas playing on the grass. Confident with my plan, I walk up to him, “Want to meet him?”

“Yes,” his quiet response makes me nervous but I still hope this works.

“Lucas, come here please.”

He turns his head and smiles at me. When he looks at Ryan, there’s confusion in his eyes. He gets up slowly and makes his way to Ryan. He takes my hand and cocks his head s
lightly to the left, “You made Mama cry.”

All three of us look at Lucas in disbelief. Maybe my plan will work better than I originally planned. “Lucas,” I start to say, “This is your dad. He didn’t know about you but now he wants to get to know you.” I kneel down to reach his level. I can see the thoughts processing in his mind. Lucas is smarter and brighter than we ever thought. My initial thought was to just go to court but seeing Lucas like this and how he is processing the information makes me know I made the right decision.

Ryan kneels down with me and looks at Lucas, “Hey buddy. I’m sorry that this is going on. I just wanted to see you and meet you. Is that okay?”

Lucas turns his head to Abigail. Her face is pale with a mix of emotions; sadness and anger. Lucas turns his head back to Ryan, “Please go away.
Daddy.” Lucas points to me and walks over to stand with me. Ryan’s shocked expression surprises me. Maybe he does just want to get to know Lucas and there’s no hidden agenda.

“I’m sorry Lucas.
For everything. I hope one day you can understand.” Ryan gets up and leaves without saying another word.

Later that night after explaining everything to Lucas, Abigail and I put him to bed. Lucas took us by surprise. He understood everything that was going on and
had no desire to get to know Ryan. He kept repeating I was his dad and this was what he wanted. Abigail warned him it might get worse but it looked as if Lucas didn’t care and before closing his eyes he told
us
to have faith.

We lay outside under the moon with our glasses of wine. “So my plan might have worked.”

A brow arches on Abigail’s face, “I’m still mad at you. You took a big risk and didn’t even talk to me about it.”

I let out a laugh, “Sweetheart it was out of the blue. What was I suppose to say?” Before she answers, my phone starts to ring. “Hold on.” I take out my phone and see Peter is calling, “Peter, what’s going on? It’s kind of late.” I listen as Peter explains to me what’s going on. “What? Are you serious?” I pause to listen. “Okay, thanks again Peter.” I hang up the phone and take a sip of my wine. The cool berry taste slides down my throat and leaves me wanting more.

“Jacob!”

“Yes sweetheart?”

She slaps my arm multiple times and I can’t help but laugh at her impatience. “Calm down killer.” I take another drink of my wine and swirl my cup, “Ryan is dropping the case. He doesn’t want to cause Lucas any problems or confusion.” I give her a sly smirk, “I told you to believe me but I guess you were set in your own ways to not listen.”

Abigail slaps me again, “Funny Jacob. Come on lets go to bed.”

The night ends perfectly with Abigail in my arms.

I suddenly wake up to
the sound of a door closing. I turn over and see Abigail sleeping soundly. “Fuck, Lucas.” I get out of bed in a hurry and run to his room. The door is wide open. I run in but he’s not in his bed. “Lucas? Lucas!” I run out the room, down the stairs and search all through the house. “Lucas where are you?”

Abigail runs down the stairs crying, “Jacob where’s Lucas?”

“I-I don’t know.” I run to the door and open it. There’s no one outside-just the darkness of the sky.

I pull Abigail close to me and hold her tight. She clings onto my chest and we run out of the house looking for our son.

“Baby call 911 now.” I give her a kiss on the forehead and run around looking for any sign of Lucas. “Lucas!” I yell his name multiple times with the same response. Nothing.

The house is filled
with family, both hers and mine. The police are scattered all over and people are talking. The news is playing the incident. Mila is crying in Hayden’s arms asking over and over again when Lucas would come back. Logan and Father are in the corner talking to another police officer. Abigail rests her head on my lap, crying. I can’t talk. Everyone keeps asking what happened, what happened. I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what happened. We put Lucas to bed at eight thirty like we normally did. He said he loved us and would see us in the morning. He said he couldn’t wait for my famous breakfast. His little body and big beautiful eyes looked at Abigail and me. He was happy and safe. I was supposed to make sure he was safe. This is my fault. If I never came into her life, Lucas wouldn’t be missing. Why was it that everything I touched turned into a disaster? I needed to fix this. I need to find Lucas and make Abigail whole again.

“Ryan!” Logan shouts.

Abigail and I get up, “Hayden watch her for me.” The next thing I know, my fists are on his face- over and over again. All I see is red. I smash my fist to his face. All the years he’s spent blaming me for Katherine’s death and making me feel guilty. Now here he is making my life miserable again. This time it’s not just my life; he’s affecting other people. I want answers; I want to know why. “Where the fuck is Lucas you monster! Why’d you do this? Where is he?”

“Jacob
stop!” I hear Mother shouting to me. She keeps telling me to stop but I can’t. My anger keeps rising and I can’t control myself. Hands are around my shoulders, pulling me off. Officers put themselves between Ryan and me. It’s like an out of body experience. I’m watching myself as this is all taking place. I’m trying to get back to Ryan. His face is bloody and he’s holding his stomach and hanging his head low.

“Ryan where’s Lucas?” Abigail cries out. I look over at my love. She’s breaking in Hayden’s arms. She needs Lucas.
We
need Lucas back.

Ryan puts his hand up, “I do-don’t know.
Ok-okay?  I ca-came here to find out what’s going on. I saw the n-news. Wh-what happened?” His stammering voice is full of questions. There’s worry on his face.

No he did this! He has Lucas!

“Ryan please where is Lucas?”

“I don’t have him! I was packing up Madison’s things and mine. We
’re supposed to go back to California when I saw the news.”

Madison?

I look over at Peter, “Peter when you talked to her this evening how’d she sound?”

Something clicked in his mind. “Wait. She said she was going to come over and give you the news so I gave her your address. I’m sorry Jacob. I didn’t think she was going to do this.”

“Alright let’s get all the information. Mr. Greene, stay away from her and let us handle this.” One of the officers stated.

“I’m not going to stay away. I know her. I know how she works!” Without thinking, I grab Gary and Logan and run out the door. “Gary
drive now!”

“Jacob no!”
Abigail comes after me with Hayden following her. Logan and I get in the car. Gary pulls out of the driveway and I tell him where to go. I know Madison wouldn’t be at her house. I think about to the times we had but everything seems fuzzy.

“Jacob where are we going?
Do you know where she is right now?”

“I’m thinking. I know she won’t be at her house; that’ll be too obvious. I’m trying to think of the places where we used to go.” Finally it hits me. “Gary
drive here!”

Within about twenty minutes, Gary pulls into an empty parking lot. I jump out of the car and into the vacant building. I brought Madison here a few times and told her my dreams of building this into my new office. She knows how important this building is to me. This is the building that Katherine wanted to be in. This would have been her office if she were still here. With Logan and Gary right behind me, I run up the stairs to the sixth floor. I stop and look around. I raise my hand up so that no one will make a sound. I look around the dark hallway. There are lights in every room. There’s a menacing feeling around us and I know she’s here.

Just as I’m about to turn around and leave, I hear soft whimpering. “He’s here,” I whisper to Gary and Logan. I walk to the whimpering noise and pray that Lucas is alright. We walk to the room and the door is wide open. Lucas is lying on the floor, holding his knees up to his chest. The rage inside me builds. I’m not sure how much longer I can hold it in.

Lucas.

Madison is standing by the window. This is it. Before we make our move, Ryan comes barreling through out of nowhere. Gary tries to grab him but it’s too late. Everything goes into slow motion. Lucas gets up and starts loudly crying. Madison turns around. She’s holding a gun. Logan screams for Ryan to be careful but Madison takes the shot and the bullet hits Ryan. 

“No!” I run towards
Madison and take her down. I’m not sure what else to do. I look over and see Logan holding Lucas trying to calm him down. “Gary! Police, now!” Madison’s face is dark, there’s no emotion. “Why did you do this?”

She turns her head away from mine, “I just wanted you to care.
I wanted you to love
me
. I thought that if I got rid of
her
you’d realize how much you loved me. I just wanted you, Jacob.”

“You almost took away the
one
person I love!” Anger rushes through me and I see red. I look at her helpless and weak face and I want to punch her and kill her but I head Lucas whimpering. His whimpers bring me back to reality. “I hope you rot in hell.”

I start to get up and move away from her. Logan comes over and gives me Lucas.
“Oh Lucas. Are you okay? I’m sorry buddy.”

“
Da-daddy.” He grabs onto my shirt and the loud sobs take over. I look at Gary and he gives me a broken look. Ryan’s gone. I feel numb and dead inside. I’m not sure how to process everything. All I know is that Lucas is okay.

Officers storm the room with the paramedics. Ryan’s body is placed on a stretcher with a white blanket to cover and Madison is taken away in cuffs. I walk out with everyone else. When we get outside, Abigail is standing with Hayden and Mother. Her body quickly turns to mine and runs right to us.