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“Did you even hear a word I just said? You left! You left meandhim! Don’t put this on me! I would have given anything to have you there and to share him with you. I searched for you everywhere. What the hell happened to you, Kingston? Why did you have to leave in the first place?”
I shook my head, but I couldn’t form the words. My son. I had a son. “So this is why you changed your name so many times? Did you really think you could keep him from me? Is this your way of paying me back for leaving?”
She glared at me. Anyone who didn’t know her as well as I did might have missed the tears welling up in her eyes. “You bastard!”
I walked back over to her, but all the other feelings brewing in my chest wouldn’t let me get close to her again. I pointed down into her face. “You won’t be able to stop me from being the father he deserves. I’m going to be a part of his life—a big part. You can take that to the bank.”
“Your word means nothing, Kingston,” she fired back. “You’ve been gone all this time. How do I know you won’t walk out on us again? I won’t let you ruin our lives again….and you can takethatto the bank.”
“I found you once. You can run and change your identity all you want. Don’t think I won’t find you again.”
She snorted. “I doubt that. You’ll lose interest in him the same way you lost interest in me.”
“Is that what you think? You think I left because I lost interest in you?”
“What was I supposed to think? You never even said goodbye. You never once told me you were dissatisfied. What happened? Did you find another woman? Just admit it.”
I opened my mouth to argue back….and stopped myself. “None of this means anything. He’s my son and I’m his father. I’m going to be his father. If you don’t believe me, I’ll just have to prove it to you.”
She snorted. “That’ll be the day.”
I could think of a thousand things to say to get the last word, but that didn’t matter. I knew what I had to do. She wouldn’t be able to stand in my way.
Trading jabs with her was just making me angrier at her, so I walked away, but this was all temporary. I would never walk away from him. I couldn’t. My son. I had a son.
He deserved the best I could give him and he would get it. I’d missed too much time already.
I picked up my pace heading back down the mountain. I had some work to do and not much time to do it.
I reached a fork in the trail and got ready to turn right when he came running down the mountain from the left.
He almost ran me over and skidded to a stop. He glanced up the hill toward where I left Riley. “Where’s my mommy?”
“She’s back there where you left her. What happened? Did you make it to the top already?”
He burst into another huge grin. “I went up there and then I noticed this trail so I decided to see where it went.”
“You’re a really good runner.” I scrambled to come up with something to say to him. I might not get another chance. “What school do you go to?”
“I don’t go to school.”
I frowned. “You don’t? Why not?”
He shrugged and looked away. “We move around a lot.”
“Do you have friends?”
He screwed his toe into the dirt and didn’t answer.
I changed the subject. “Do you like hiking?”
He brightened up instantly. “Sure. I love it.”
“Me, too.” My heart twisted. I was talking to my son. “Maybe you and me and your mommy could go sometime.”
He frowned. “Isn’t that what we’re doing?”
“Not today. I have to go, but I’ll see you again very soon.”
