Page 28 of The Best of Us

All these years, and you’re really here. Colin found you.

It was the thing of movies and romance novels, not real life.

But I wouldn’t better-late-than-never my way through this. Not when Colin had been the one to suffer.

And now, Constantine was, too. The idea of missing out on sixteen years of my son’s life was unimaginable. But for the man before me, it was now his reality.

And that broke my heart. Shattered it into a million pieces all over again. Just as it had when Easton gave me the news his contact couldn’t track down my mystery man.

“Come with me.” I started for my bedroom, and he followed behind, but he didn’t join me in my room.

Instead, he stood in the doorway like a statement, leaning one broad shoulder against the frame while crossing his ankles and arms. His eyes remained fixed on my bed. I highly doubted the rigidness of his body had to do with a disdain for the color purple or beds in general.

You think I kept him from you.That couldn’t be further from the truth.

When I turned away from him, a chill darted up my back and spread throughout my body, causing a slight chatter of my back teeth. Once at my dresser, I caught his eyes in the mirror, and the pensive and painful expression pointed my way made me want to shrivel up and disappear.

I couldn’t bear looking at him with that kind of hurt in his eyes, so I reset my attention on the task at hand—to share the truth about the past.

Here goes.

Removing a Ziploc bag hidden beneath my socks in the top dresser drawer, I turned and approached him, extending the offering between us.

His gaze slanted over it, and his foot dropped to the floor as he straightened his stance and took it from me.

He’d easily be able to see the marker had bled through the napkin and was mostly smudged and illegible. He lowered the Ziploc bag to his side as he studied me, waiting for an explanation.

“When I woke up, and you were gone, I realized I made a mistake wanting to be strangers. But I was too late.”

I shared the rest of the story with him—from jumping naked into the pool for the napkin to taking off for the airport to chase after him.

“Security wouldn’t let me through since my flight wasn’t until the morning.” I lowered my eyes and shook my head, remembering that night and what a basket case I’d been. “I showed them the napkin. Even told them part of our story, thinking maybe they’d make an exception. No luck. Guess that only happens in movies.”

I slowly looked up at him, curious about what was happening in his head. He’d remained dead quiet during what may have come across as a little too “O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo” dramatic. It was all true, though. Zero acting on my part. But very much a tragedy.

Constantine stepped back, murmuring, “You wanted me, too?”

I swallowed. Processed the pain in his tone, then finally confirmed with a soft, “I did.”

It was a slow journey for his eyes to return to mine, but when they did, I wasn’t expecting to find his glossy. “You wanted me, too,” he repeated, his voice raw.

My tears rebelled against my inner pleas to not fall. “I’m so sorry.” Those words were far too weak for the actual weight of what I was feeling. “You wanted my name, and if I’d only given it to you?—”

“No, don’t go there. Not your fault.” He stepped inside my room, swiftly drawing his arm behind my back and my body against his.

My hands rested between us against his chest. His heart beat frantically beneath my palm, not matching mine beat for beat, but outpacing it at double the speed.

“Are you okay?” I whispered as he continued to study me quietly. I’d blown a hole in his world. Maybe he needed to save what little oxygen he had left by not speaking.

He remained quiet, and I wasn’t sure how long I could stand there, not knowing what he was thinking, without collapsing to my knees.

“Tell me more,” he said, and it was my turn to hesitate, feeling “more” would only hurt him as much as it did me.

My body shuddered beneath his touch as he ran his palm up and down my spine. The fabric of my top did nothing to lessen the sensation and energy of his caress.

“Well, um, it took about a month for me to discover I was pregnant. I was so confused since we used protection. And there was no one else, I promise.”

I waited for him to question me, but he didn’t.

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