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“Everything all right son?”
I nodded and sat down, thanking the waitress who appeared immediately with a beer. “Yep. Just making sure everything is okay back at home. It is.” Minus the possible stalker which they didn’t need to know about.
“I’m sure you’re eager to get back home,” Trish said. “You’ve been gone much longer than anticipated, right?”
I nodded again and let my gaze slide over the menu. “Three weeks have turned into almost three months away from Texas. Can’t deny I’m missing my own bed.”
“Not that you spend much time alone, am I right?” Diego laughed at his own joke and took a sip of his champagne.
“Excuse Diego,” Trish smiled at me and patted Dad’s cheek, “he’s got a one track mind today.”
“Of course I do, I got the prettiest woman in the world to marry me and wonder of wonders, she loves me.”
“I do love you,” she grinned and leaned in to plant a gentle kiss on his lips.
“And I love you more, babe.” I knew when he was lying and his words were real. Genuine.
It was a sight I never expected to see, Diego Reyes truly in love with a woman. Sure, he claimed he’d loved my mother to pieces but I was too young to remember her, only the bad ones had been etched into my memory. Until today, my conscience pricked, a reminder that I’d already decided to give Trish, and this marriage, the benefit of the doubt. In that spirit, I raised my glass high in the air. “To the happy couple. May your future be filled with lots of laughs, lots of fun and lots of orgasms.”
“Oh you,” Trish laughed. “Like father, like son.”
And that was exactly why I had no interest in any relationship that lasted more than a few nights. “Got that right, boy!”
“So Liam, are you seeing anyone special?”
I bit back a groan, thinking how thrilled Oliver and Xander would be to finally have me on the wrong side of that question. With a shake of my head, I told Trish the truth. “I don’t do relationships or special woman.” Better she know the truth now and set her expectations accordingly.
At Trish’s stricken look, Dad wrapped an arm around her. “It’s all right Trish, this is all my fault. Liam paid the price for my bad choices, all his life in fact, and now it’s soured him on love.” It was the first time he had ever acknowledged, directly or indirectly, that his actions had the steepest consequences for me. “I hope he can see that those mistakes are on my shoulders, not love’s.”
“Message received, Dad. Loud and clear.” It was too bad that Olive’s message had been the exactly the glaring reminder I needed after this love-fest, that love was for fools. No, it wasn’t even for fools but only fools believed in love because it gave them false hope that they could find one person who might be able to tolerate them until one of them were dead. No thanks.
“But your mind isn’t changed,” Trish asked with a sympathetic smile that had me wondering if Dad had told her some of his sordid romantic history.
“No, but that doesn’t mean I don’t wish you two all the happiness you can find.” The world was full so much shit that at times, I understood the urge to couple up and live in your little bubble of family and obligations. But then I remembered the years in foster care, the fights and the ugly divorces and everything crystallized once again.
“Thanks, but I’m more looking forward to watching you fall in love. Maybe it’s time we took a visit to Texas, see what Liam gets up to when he’s not saving the world.”
I groaned.
Trish laughed.
“Maybe this having a mom thing isn’t as cool as it’s cracked up to be,” I grumbled and sent the newlyweds into a fit of giggles that didn’t stop until the food arrived.OliveDr. Warner walked into the exam room with his lips quirked into a smile, which didn’t really tell me anything since man was a perpetual ball of sunshine. It was one of thee main reasons I chosen him years ago and why I stayed with him. “Olive, looks like you were right. Congratulations are in order.” He flashed a beaming smile my way. “Based on the lab tests you’re about twelve weeks along but we’ll know more once we do an exam.”
Pregnant. I couldn’t hear anything else Dr. Warner said because that word bounced around my mind like a bullet. Pregnant. I was pregnant. Having a baby. I was going to be a mother and I was in no way prepared for that, not in the least. I’d always planned on having a husband and a house before a baby came into our lives. Desperately single and alone was not exactly how I pictured my first days of motherhood. “Well, that is what I came here to find out, so thanks.”
