Page 118 of Finally Forever
“Did your dad finally reply to your invitation?”
I roll my eyes again and sigh. “He still doesn’t understand Kayson is our baby.”
Once Francesca confirmed with Sebastian that no one would learn of his existence, I had the dumb idea to reach out to my family, catching them up on my life while leaving out major details, like that Sebastian was in the mafia and we were in hiding for over a year but we’re free now because his father is dead.
The last texts that I sent were to invite them to Kayse’s six months of life party. Mom thought it was irresponsible of me to have a baby in France and not in America, where the doctors are better, according to her. She also shared her feelings about how ungrateful it was of me to wait so long to reach out. Eventually, she wished me well, even though her tone sounded fake. When I invited her to Kayse’s party, she said she would have attended the party if it was in Florida, but California is too far and a ridiculous request. I didn’t offer to pay for her, even though I could. Had she sounded genuine, I would have.
Evan is kinder but busy and hard to reach now that he’s doing his residency. He congratulated me and wished me and my family all the best. He meant it.
My dad replies to my texts when he’s drunk. He thought I was babysitting Kayse for someone when I sent him the newborn pictures. Evan says Dad spends most of his time at beach bars in Miami, doing odd jobs when he can get work.
I talked to Sebastian about sending him some money. I’m not sure if it’s the right thing to do, but I would sleep better if we tried to help. What he does with the money—builds something or loses it all—will be on him. My conscience will be clear.
“It was brave and mature of you to reach out to your family. You’re the best person I know and the most forgiving.”
His words draw a warm smile to my face. “Thank you.”
“I like your idea to have the wedding here, in case I wasn’t clear on that. I think the terrace is the perfect place. We have enough room for everyone to stay here, too.”
Now I’m beaming. We’d talked about it here and there, but these last few days with the trip and packing and Kayson, things have been too hectic to seriously discuss the topic.
“We could announce it at the party.”
Kayse tugs Sebastian’s shirt, leaving a wet spot from when he’d been sucking on his fingers a moment ago.
“I like that idea.”
Nova and Riley are getting married next month. It’s one of the reasons we’re staying in the US for two months. I don’t want to fly Kayson back and forth so soon.
We’re renting a house near them in Santa Barbara. We visited Nathan and Kensie in Orlando before and again in Texas for their wedding. It was much easier to travel when Kayse was inside me.
When we were in Orlando, Sebastian and I took a day to revisit places where we met and hooked up in Winter Park, Ryland college, the house where he lived, the movie theater, and the RV dealer, which moved to a new location. He’d forgotten he still owned the RV until we reminisced about our first-time having sex after we’d been reunited in Scotland.
He’d only bought the vehicle to hold me hostage after a nasty fight we’d had. It ended up being a special private retreat for us. We checked on it at the storage facility where it’d been sitting unattended for over two years and decided, apart from it needing aired-out and cleaned, we should sell it.
Kayse leans in and bites Sebastian’s shirt. We both laugh, and I gently remove him to clean his wet hand and drool-soaked chin with a tissue from my purse. Drool also coats the collar of his little t-shirt.
Estella walks onto the terrace. “It looks like someone needs a change of shirt and a bib,” she says in her French accent. She raises her hands to take Kayse. “Let me clean him before you leave.”
She wants to say goodbye, too. She loves him as if he were her grandchild.
Sebastian passes him over. He reaches for me during the exchange but goes easily to Estella.
“I’ll have you back to mama soon enough.”
As soon as she walks away, Sebastian pulls me into his arms. My favorite place to be.
“You look tired,” he says, his chin on the top of my head.
“I am. It’s been a sleepless week for me.” Kayse is up a lot, in pain from teething.
“Let me take care of him at night.”
“You already do.” He loves hanging with our little man at night, calling itbonding time.
“We take turns,” he says, “And I require less sleep than you. I can get up with him every time and let you sleep through the night.”
I love that he’s offering, but I can’t accept. “Then I’d miss out on bonding time.” I stopped breastfeeding him last month and miss those special moments. “He’s growing up so quickly.”
