Page 23 of The Omega's Secret Baby
“Great. Saturday?”
“Great.” And all I could do was repeat words.
“Alright. Then I’ll fetch you Saturday around noon.”
“You know where I live?” I asked.
“You’re in the telephone book. How did you think I got this number?”
“Right. Okay. See you Saturday.”
He hesitated. “…Eli?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m the one who needs to be nervous here, okay? You have nothing to worry about.”
Riiight.“Okay,” I said, although I didn’t believe it.
Just as soon as we’d ended the call, I went up the stairs to Jake’s bedroom. The door was left ajar so Fiona could go in and out as she pleased when she slept in his bed, as she often did. A bit of light fell into the room from the hallway, just enough to allow me to see my son’s sleeping form from the doorway.
Nothing to worry about. Right. Tell that to a parent.
I took a deep breath. My messed up emotional state didn’t matter here. Jake had a right to get to know his other father, and things were probably going to be fine. Probably. Did I want to hide him away from the world and everything that could hurt him? Hell yes. But that wasn’t an option. I had to share my son with Matt and hope that everything would work out for the best. It didn’t matter that being close to Matt was difficult for me. I had to be a grown-up about things.
Even if being a grown-up really sucked.
12
Matthew
Saturday turnedout to be a beautiful day. The sun sat high in the blue sky and spilled her light brightly on the road ahead of us. For this special occasion, I had ditched my driver and taken the wheel myself. Mostly because I thought it was smarter not to let too many people know about me and Eli just yet. He wanted everything to stay low key for now, and if that was what he wanted, that was what he was going to get.
“Are we there yet?” Jake’s voice came from the back of the car where he was sitting with his Daddy. HisotherDaddy. But it would take me a while to get used to that thought.
God, I couldn’t believe that I had a son and that he was in the car with me. How was that even possible? I’d been childless just a few days ago.
“Not quite yet,” I made myself respond. “But it’s not far anymore.” In the spirit of staying low-key, I’d looked for a sledding area a ways away from the town and anyone who would know us. It meant a bit of a drive. I didn’t mind, but I hadn’t considered how much patience a seven year old would have for this.
I knew nothing about children.
No panicking, Matt.
“I’m bored,” Jake spoke up again. “There’s a hill at your house. Why didn’t we go there?”
Because introducing you to my family would have been anything but low-key.
I took a deep breath, wondering what to do and how to respond. In the end, it was Eli who saved me.
“Let’s play a game,” he said. “I spy with my little eye something beginning with C.”
I exhaled as Jake began to guess and forgot all about his original question. I had to remember that game. Maybe learn some new ones too.
After a few more minutes in the car, we finally made it to the snow-covered hill. In the light of the sun, it looked so bright I almost wished I’d thought to bring sun glasses.
“We’re here!” Jake, finally freed from the confines of the car, raced ahead. Eli went after him, and I was left getting the sled off the car. It was a wooden toboggan, large enough to fit all of us.
I caught up with Eli and Jake on top of the hill. There were a few other kids and their parents around, but no one paid us any mind. Perfect.
