The Beginning of Us (66 page)

I’m enraged. I’ve never in my life felt this amount of anger. “YES, I fucking hear you,” I say into the phone. “Now, it’s my turn. You come anywhere near my future wife, or child, and you’ll need a hell of a lot more than money to help you. I want you to forget, and I do mean forget, this fucking number, or I’ll make your life a living, breathing hell.” The voice responds with an evil laugh.

“Ha, Ha. My life is a living, breathing hell already. I gave life to the most ungrateful little fucks on the planet and they won’t help their mother. Now you, Mr. McKenna, wouldn’t know anything about that, because you take good care of your family, but your little bitch of a girlfriend forgot who gave birth to her. She’ll give me the money, or I’ll make her life hell!” she says into the phone.

I open the door and step out of the car to continue this conversation without Lex hearing. “The fuck you will, woman! Since you know who I am and what I’m all about, you know that Alexis and Sierra are my entire fucking world. I’ll do everything in my power to keep them safe.
Stay the fuck away
…or else you’ll learn exactly what I mean by everything in my power,” I say with all the anger and intensity I’m feeling before hanging up. If I could reach through the phone and thrash this woman, I would!

FUCK….I scroll through the contacts as quickly as possible, knowing Alexis is watching me and crying from the passenger seat, but I have to deal with this. I find Jason’s number and press send. He answers on the first ring. “Hey, sis, you okay?” he asks a bit too cheery for my mood.

“It’s Garret. And no she’s not okay, because your mother called just now throwing around some pretty serious threats if Lex doesn’t pay up. You want to fill me in, so I can get this shit taken care of. I can’t have her dealing with this shit, Jason! I thought you had it handled?” ooompfh…I hear crap flying in the background through the phone.

“FUCK ME…WHEN? How did she get to Alexis? That’s it! I’m killing her!” he yells at the top of his lungs.

“I’m taking Alexis home and settling her down, but we need to meet. TODAY! Meet me at the house,” I say, and he responds that he’s on his way.

Jason loves his sister, and I know he’ll do whatever he can to protect her, but here, now, I have a little bit more power than he does. There’s absolutely no way I can stay out of this. I just hope Alexis understands and lets me handle it.

When I get settled back into the driver’s seat, she is climbing over the console onto my lap. She’s crying very big unhappy tears, and I’m pissed. “I’m so sorry, Garrett. I wish I knew how to get rid of her. I don’t want her causing you problems. I’ll try and find a way…” she’s rambling.

“Alexis, this isn’t about me, baby. Stop being sorry. I’ll fix this, sweetheart. Don’t cry. I’ll handle it. I’ll be fine as soon as you take a deep breath and relax. I’m fine when you’re smiling and calm, lady,” I say to her in the calmest tone I can muster. “Baby, no one will come near you or Sierra. I promise. You’re safe with me. Always,” I promise, trying to settle her nerves. I feel her taking a deep breath. “That’s it, baby, again,” I prompt, and she does it four more times. She’s relaxing a little. I lift her head off my chest so that I can see her eyes. “Sweetheart, you’ve got nothing to worry about. Let me handle this and you just be a happy mommy, taking care of our princess and the little one in here,” I say putting my hands on her flat stomach. She nods and climbs back to her seat.

As soon as we start driving, I’m desperate to change the subject so I ask, “What kind of car do you want, babe?”

She shrugs again. “I don’t really care. Something safe, I guess. We have some time.” Yeah...we have time, but she’ll be driving a new car by the end of the week and it was her idea. I didn’t have to force this issue.

When we get to the house, true to his word, Jason is in driveway. He walks over to the car and opens Lex’s door. Before she can say anything he starts apologizing, “Alexis, I’m sorry. I don’t know how she got your number. I’ll fix this. Please, don’t be mad at me, or stress.” But that’s when I notice…she’s pissed. She’s mad at her brother, which is confusing. He didn’t have anything to do with this.

“Jason, I warned you. You should never have fed the lion. I wouldn’t be in this situation if you didn’t. I TOLD YOU. Now she’s threatening Sierra. This is your fault, Jason,” she yells, as she storms out of the car and into the house. Shit...I don’t know what’s going on, but she’s not holding anything back. “Have you told your wife, yet? You know that if she’s going to try to get to Sierra, she’ll be on your doorstep, too.”

“I’ll handle it, Alexis. Give me a chance.” He’s begging.

“NO…it’s too late. I’ve given you a chance to get her out of our lives and she keeps reappearing, because you’re allowing it. Why do you keep giving her a way in? She’s never going to be okay. You have to stop this now, Jason. Anyone else in the entire world who poses a threat to me, you attack full force. But with her, YOU CAN’T! NO... I’m handling it. I’m calling the police and getting restraining orders. End of story. It’s too much now, Jason. I have to protect my daughter,” she’s says, but there are no more tears. She’s a woman on a mission.

“Sweetheart, we’ll get the restraining orders and then I want you both to step aside and let me handle this. Clearly this is a bone of contention with the two of you. You need to let someone not so close to the situation take over,” I say looking mostly at Alexis, because she’ll likely be the one to object first. I know my girl.

And true to form “No…I DO NOT want you speaking to that woman, anymore. WE ARE DONE WITH HER!” she states.

I walk to stand directly in front of her, looking down into her eyes. “YES, lady. We are done with her and I can tell you right now the only person under this roof that will talk to her will be me or my attorneys. I mean it, Lex. You’re not dealing with this shit. You got me?” I ask, seriously, because there’s no way I can sit aside and allow her to negotiate with someone like that woman. She turns on her heels and storms out of the room, out of my eyesight. She can be pissed. She can stomp off all she wants. I don’t care, but she won’t be talking to that woman…end of story.

I say goodbye to Jason after getting all the necessary contact information for his mother. He’s apologized. The man feels really bad. He hates that this is causing his sister problems, but it’s clear that cutting his mother off completely is too hard for him. He wants to help her. He wants her to get better. He’s hoping she will someday, and he’ll be waiting. But not my girl, she’s never going to get past her mother abandoning them and leaving them with assorted relatives, or friends, over the years to party and live a life her children didn’t fit into.

Luckily for now, no one except immediate family knows Lex is expecting. We need to keep it that way. I don’t want anyone else harassing her right now.

After Jason leaves I go on a search for Lex and find her in bed, reading on her kindle. I go over to her, “I love you, sweetheart.”

She looks me in the eye and I can see the unhappiness. “I know, Garrett. But I’m a big girl. I can fight my own battles. You can’t take over.”

“Sweetheart, we’re a team. You’ll never, ever, ever go into any battle alone. I’ll always be there. Sorry, no more lonely girl on her own crap. I’m here and I’ll try not to take over, but there will be certain things that I’ll always want you to just let me take care of. Not because I don’t think you can, babe, but because I love you too much to allow someone to say hateful, hurtful, and vile things to or about you. I don’t want you or our children near it! Okay?”

It’s a simple, single nod, but her eyes speak volumes. Not only does she get it, she accepts it.

“Thank you for being in bed resting. I like seeing you take care of yourself,” I acknowledge. “Do you want anything?” I ask.

She smiles. “Yes, I’d like some of that yogurt your mom mixed up and a cup of tea.”

Alexis

Chapter 38

I cannot believe this is happening. My stupid mother has always chosen the best times in my life to reappear. I told Jason the last time this happened that we needed to cut all ties, but he started spouting the nonsense ‘Keep your friends close and enemies closer.’ Look what we’re dealing with now. She’s practically on my doorstep, threatening Sierra. She saw the tabloids from a few weeks ago with pictures of Garrett, Sierra, and me. She knows about us and is now threatening us.

Why of all parents did I have to be born to that woman? She’s a piece of work and always has been. She’s hated and resented me since the day I was born. Ugh. I’m stepping aside and letting Garrett handle it. As much as I don’t want him near her, he’s right. I need to take care of my babies. I can’t allow her to get to me or under my skin.

She’s met her match with Garrett. I’ve never in my life witnessed a more enraged man. I think if she’d been speaking to him face to face I’d be visiting Garret in a jail cell. One thing’s for sure, I know I’m safe, safe with him always.

He’s downstairs working and having video conference meetings. He’s super busy and I hate that my crap is being tossed on him as well. But truthfully, I’m exhausted and very ready for an afternoon nap before I have to get Sierra from school.

I hear footsteps and I’m sure he’s coming to check on me again, but it’s not. It’s Whitney, Cami, and Kelsey! “Hey, chica. How are you?” they all ask with smiles before jumping on the bed. They have bags with them and Cami’s holding four spoons.

“Please, dear Lord, tell me there’s Ben & Jerry’s in that bag,” I plead, matching their smiles. This is such a great surprise. We were all supposed to have dinner together last Thursday night, and I was a no show because I was passed out.

I’m so happy to see these girls and catch up. “Soo…Whit, what have you been up to?” I ask, knowing she’ll likely dismiss me. 

“Thinking about possible names for my next god-child,” she replies with a wink. Kelsey is ecstatic. Whitney is of course pleased. But my Cami is over the moon happy. She always worried the Sierra would grow up without siblings and it made her sad.

We all stay on the bed visiting and eating ice cream for a good while when I see my precious man at the door, laughing at me eating the entire quart of Ben & Jerry’s out of the container with a spoon. “Thank God, they found something you can eat in bulk that doesn’t make you nauseous.” He winks, then walks over to the bed and kisses me hard right on the lips, giving them a bit of a little lick. “Yummy, babe,” he says opening his mouth for a bite of the ice cream. I scoop out a big chuck and plop it into his mouth.

“I’m going to pick up our kiddo,” he says, and I look at the clock. It can’t possibly be time already, but it is. “Stay here with these girls, who should know they need to bring a pregnant woman good nutritious food with her ice cream,” he says, looking at the three of them.

Kelsey pipes in, “Oh yeah, I did. Sorry, I forgot!” Taking a huge chocolate bar out of her purse and passing it to me, she winks at Garrett. We’re laughing hysterically when Garret flips them off, before devouring my mouth with a full blown tongue kiss right in front of them.

“Okay. I’ll wait where I am for you!” I say, mimicking a compliant child. And he eyes me with approval.

The girls stay only a few minutes after Garrett leaves to get Sierra. I decide to take advantage of the alone time and have a warm bath. I intended to that last night, but it never really worked out with all the company in the house.

I start the bath water and climb in, placing my phone on the ledge of the tub in case Garrett calls. I lay there feeling truly relaxed. I’m not really sure why or how I’m so calm in the mix of this insane storm of chaos, but I do know that Garrett said I wasn’t going to battle alone anymore, and I know I’m not. He’s got this all under control. I’m relaxed, calm, and insanely happy.

“Hi, Mama,” I feel a little hand rubbing my cheek. “You feel better?” she asks. Smiling, I tell her I couldn’t be better. I’m still buried in my tub full of bubbles and the water is still warm, so I haven’t been sleeping long.

“Come on, sweet girl, let’s go see what Mimi made us for supper and let Mama finish her bath. She’ll come down and join us soon,” Garrett says to Sierra and she bounces out of the room. He kisses my head. “Please don’t sleep in the tub, baby. It scares me. Come join us downstairs when you’re ready.” His thumb brushes my lips.

I finish my bath and dress in my comfiest Capri sweats and tank. It’s just the three of us tonight, so there’s no need to dress up. When I get downstairs I see a large quilt on the floor. There’s music softly playing through the stereo, but I don’t recognize the song. However, I know immediately who is singing. He isn’t, though. He’s sitting on the floor with my adorable daughter in his lap. Both are staring at me with big grins. “This is nice. I love picnics,” I say.

Sierra tells us both, “I know. I told Garrett, Mama likes picnics and he said we’d have a very special picnic tonight. Ta Da,” she says, waving her hands around. Then I hear the song again. It’s on repeat. I listen more closely…

Another week out on the road

Aw. That’s just more time I spend away, away from you

I know it seems like I’m always leavin’

Always a trip or taking care of something it seems I must do

But know that you’re always

You’re on my mind

And that I think…I think about you, all the time

Please Love me. Love me and trust me, I’ll be home

Because You…you are the reason, you keep me goin’

Lights on the tarmac they’re always blinking

And I’m Wondering where you are and what you are thinking

Where ever I go it’s you I miss

Yeah but you really keep me going, oh…with just one kiss