Page 87 of Anteros' Return

“It’s done now. I just hope everything will be okay… But what if it’s not?” I sobbed.

“Em, that man loves you both. He’s loved you since the second he saw you and nothing will ever change that. I’m sure everything will work out the way it’s supposed to.” He reassured me, but deep down, I didn’t know how right he was.

“Yeah, I know… I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”

“Alright, make sure you do.” I heard him smile before hanging up.

I was about to sit and wait on the sofa when the doorbell rang. I hoped it was dinner this time and not round two with that dickhead.

30

Itapped on Liam’s door as he called me inside. I felt as nervous as the first time I saw him after finding out he was my son.

“Hey, mate, your mum said you want to talk to me?” I closed the door behind me as he scooched over on the beanbag.

“Yeah, will you sit with me?” He patted the small, empty spot beside him.

“Course.” I lowered myself down and sat with him, his eyes focused on me.

I saw the photo he was holding. It was the same one that had been my phone background for years. “Liam, I?—”

“Did you really not know about me?” he asked, interrupting me. His large, emerald eyes glistened with tears he must have cried with Em.

“I didn’t, and I wish I did, but I believed something I shouldn’t have. Your mum and I both did. Looking back, I should have known something wasn’t right.”

“Why did Mike lie to Mum about you not wanting me?”

“I don’t know, mate. I genuinely don’t know what he gained by not telling me about you.” Mike took advantage of Emily ather most vulnerable time, from that phone call to present day. Emily was young and pregnant. She thought she could trust someone who was nothing but a snake.“ But just know that if I knew about you I would have dropped every single thing in my life, and I would have come back.”

“Dropped football?” he gasped, his eyes searching mine for an answer.

“Yes.” It was simple. I would have dropped everything, even if Emily moaned at me for doing so, which I knew she would have.

“We missed lots of time, Dad.” He whispered, taking me by surprise. My emotions were a whirlwind, hearing him call me Dad made my heart burst with pure love. A kind of love I had never experienced before, and one that I wanted to feel on a daily basis. I didn’t think I’d ever get tired of hearing him call me Dad. I had always thought Em and I would have a family, and now that we did, I was never letting them go. “I can call you Dad, right?”

“Of course you can. You can call me whatever you want to. Whatever you’re comfortable with.” I wrapped my arm around him as he snuggled into my side.

“You’re my dad. I want to call you Dad.” He smiled, the remainder of his tears soaking into my T-shirt.

“I’m sorry we lied to you about me being a family friend. We thought it was for the best, but you have to know I wanted to tell you so many times.”

“I know you did.” He chuckled, before looking up at me with a mischievous face. “You love my mummy, don’t you?”

“Is it that obvious?”

“Well, I’m eight now. And I don’t really know what love is, but I can tell you love Mummy, and do you want to know a secret?” He whispered those last seven words.

“Go on then, spill.”

“Mummy loves you too.” His face lit up as he spoke, clearly over the moon at the fact his mum and dad still loved one another.

“How do you know? Because I know she didn’t tell you.”

“I just know. She’s never looked at anyone like she looks at you… She has hearts in her eyes, and they twinkle when she sees you.”

“I never noticed that. I guess I know what to look out for now.” I relaxed back into the uncomfortable beanbag.

“I’m happy you’re my dad.” He jumped onto my lap, wrapping his arms tightly around my neck.

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