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The woman clapped her hands together and he knew she was pleased.
“I hope so,” she said grinning as she glanced at her daughter. “Wyatt needs to know his father.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said. “I’d have been here sooner if I’d known about him.”
Cristina sighed. “All right, you two, let’s not rehash the last fifteen months. I had my reasons for keeping Wyatt from you.”
Oh yes, she did and he hoped to learn more about that tonight.
Her mother grinned and reached out her arms for Wyatt.
Blake hated letting go of him. But this was his grandmother. She’d take good care of him or Cristina would never have trusted her to keep him.
“You kids have a good time tonight, but don’t stay out too late,” she warned.
“Mom, we’ll be back in just a couple of hours,” Cristina said.
Blake could feel the tension between mother and daughter. He wondered how her mother had accepted the news when she’d learned that Cristina was pregnant. Probably not well.
He kissed his son on the top of the head. Cristina leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.
“We’ll be back,” she said.
Blake wondered how many times parents had said these words and never returned. It was something he’d experienced. He’d left for school one morning, and that evening when he returned, everything was gone. His stomach clenched and he worried – what if something happened to both of them?
What would happen to their son?
He took Cristina by the arm and walked her to the truck. Opening the door, he helped her inside. Her mother stood outside with their son watching them leave. She held up his little hand and waved good-bye to them.
When they were both inside, he started up the truck.
“I’m sorry about my mother. She has been after me ever since I learned I was pregnant to contact you.”
He could see that and he agreed with the mother.
“All you had to do was call me,” he said quietly. “I would have been here immediately.”
She started laughing. “Did you see my mother? That woman has been through hell and back because of my father. Do you think I want that for my son?”
“Our son,” he said. “What did your father do?”
“You really want to know?”
“Yes,” he said, glancing at her in the truck.
“They married because she was pregnant with me. Yes, history repeated itself and she was so angry at me for getting in the same situation she’d been in. But she married my father. They had no money. Very little education and soon they were fighting. My father liked to drink and when he got drunk, he’d use his fists on her. Finally, one day, she had enough. I was six years old when she threw his clothes out on the curb and told him to never come back. No, he didn’t pay child support. We scraped by and he died several years ago.”
Blake knew he’d been blessed. His family situation was much different.
“Do you think I’m like your father?”
“No, because if you were, we would not have had that one night. We would not be together now, and I don’t care how many lawyers you have, you would not be seeing your son.”
He liked the fact that she knew he wasn’t that way.
“I don’t want to marry a man because I had his child. I want a man who loves me and wants me, so no, we’re not getting married.”
With a sigh, he didn’t say anything. He’d been attracted to her since the moment they met. He liked her strength, her integrity, her high principles, and the way she loved Wyatt. He wanted her to love him, too, but could he make her fall in love with him?
