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Chapter 25
Emma
It’s 1:00 a.m., and Landon should be here any minute. He called just before midnight telling me that his plane landed and he was on his way here. Mom and I are both up waiting for him. He asked us to be, which is odd, and I’m trying hard not to worry. As far as I know, the media hasn’t picked up on any trade rumors involving him. I’ve been scouring the internet searching, and nothing. That’s a good thing, but I can’t help but feel as though there’s something he’s not telling me. There’s something I’m missing in all of this.
The front door opens and I stand from the couch. I hear his bag fall to the floor and his heavy footfalls as he enters the living room. His eyes are locked on mine as he stalks toward me. When he reaches me, he crushes me in his embrace, and buries his face in my neck.
“Oh my God.” My mom breathes the words and her reaction has me pulling away.
Standing in Landon’s living room is the team owner, Joseph Stamper. He’s staring at my mom like she’s a cool drink of water after being stranded in the desert. “Caroline,” he says wistfully.
“I can’t believe it’s you. After all these years.” A tear rolls down her cheek as she stands and takes a hesitant step toward him. “At the dinner, I thought maybe I was hallucinating. You acted as if you’d never met me. I assumed you had forgotten. That our week was a long-lost memory for you.”
Landon moves to stand behind me, his arms keeping me held close to his chest. “Just watch,” he whispers.
“You’re more beautiful today than all those years ago,” Joseph tells her. “I was shocked to see you, and I didn’t want to cause a scene. But I remember you, my Caroline. I remember everything about you.”
She blushes. My mom blushes! “You found me,” she says, looking over her shoulder at us, as if remembering we’re here in the room with them. There is something in her eyes. Is she worried? She’s turned back to face him before I can get a good read on her.
“I did. I should have fought to find you years ago.”
“Wow,” she murmurs.
I watch as her shoulders grow stiff and she peers over at me. “Mom?”
“I’m fine.” She shakes it off.
“I think the two of you should talk,” Landon says.
Joseph’s eyes flash to where we’re standing, then back to my mom. “Mine?” he asks her.
A sob breaks free from her chest, but she nods. I try to break out of Landon’s hold, but he’s not having it. “Just keep watching, baby,” he whispers soothingly.
“You left,” Joseph says, his voice somber.
“I didn’t want to say goodbye.”
“I never planned to,” he says, taking a step toward her.
“No?”
“Never. I wanted you, for as long as you would have had me.” He takes another step and then another until they’re standing toe-to-toe. His hand shakes as he reaches up and cradles her face. “I loved you, Caroline. I still do.”
Mom is bawling, not even trying to hide her tears. He pulls her into his chest, and holds her while she cries. I can do nothing but stand here and watch as it all happens. It’s as if we’re watching a well-rehearsed play.
“Mom?” I ask when her sobs weaken.
She lifts her head and smiles, then looks back at Joseph, who nods. “Emma, you might want to sit down for this.”
Landon takes her warning and, with my hand in his, takes a seat on the couch, pulling me into his lap. Across from us on the loveseat, Mom and Joseph sit as well, their hands tightly entwined.
“Spring break, my last year of college,” Mom starts. She tells me how she and Joseph met, how they spent a magical week together, and how she slipped out of his room at dawn with nothing but a note left behind. “I didn’t know his last name and he didn’t know mine. We had no way to reach one another.”
“That’s why I wasn’t there,” Joseph chimes in.
“I don’t understand. Why you weren’t where?”
Mom takes a deep breath. “Emma, Joseph is your father.”
My breath stalls in my chest. “W-What?” I couldn’t have possibly heard her correctly.
“I didn’t know about you, Emma. I didn’t know how to reach your mom. When I met you, you looked just like her, and I decided it was time to find her. I assumed she would be married, and I told myself if she was happy, I’d step back, but she’s here and she’s not married, and now there’s you. I never could have imagined that I’d find her and my daughter too.”
She lied to me. “You told me he left us. You lied.”
“I did and I’m sorry. Honey, I didn’t know how to explain it to you when you were younger so that you would understand. I didn’t know how to tell you I met a man and fell in love in a week, and in that love, we made you. You were so young, and I needed you to understand.”
