39. All Coming Together
ALL COMING TOGETHER
“You’re doing the right thing, Tasha,” Madeline, her attorney, said the following Tuesday.
“I know.” Tasha exhaled, scrubbing a hand over her face. “I just hate all of it. I wish I’d let it lie. After Shane’s reaction, there’s no doubt he’s not interested in Micah.”
“You don’t know that,” Madeline said calmly. “And you can’t assume it. What matters is that you’re doing everything by the book. You’re taking the right steps and showing that you’re willing to allow a relationship if he wants one. Not that you’ve been hiding Micah.”
“But I did hide it,” she said quietly. “That’s going to work against me.”
Madeline reached across the table and wrapped her hand around Tasha’s.
“Don’t worry about that. Let me do my job.
I’m damn good at family court. And what he did—his reaction, his words, the way he approached you when he came back—that says far more about his character than yours. And it’s all documented.”
“He could still say it’s his word against mine,” she argued, even though Baker had already given a deposition about what he’d witnessed.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” Madeline said. “For now, he’s agreed to come in today and talk.”
Which Tasha hated more than anything.
Shane had given the DNA sample the very next morning. She knew because she’d called to confirm it herself. She’d already arranged everything and paid to have it expedited. The results had come back last night, confirming what she’d always known.
The text that followed felt like a premonition or a warning: We need to talk.
Shane wanted her to meet him at his apartment.
The one where Micah had been conceived.
Her son.
Baker had shut that down immediately. “Not without me,” he’d said.
But having him there would only make things worse. She knew that too. She didn’t want him witnessing any more of her mess. Her past. Her pain.
He already carried enough with his parents. The constant tension, the way he pretended it didn’t affect him when she could see it clearly written in his eyes. His mother’s refusal to see reason. Connor Hansen still treated his wife like property instead of a partner.
How anyone held onto something so broken for so long she didn’t understand.
And she refused to let that be her future.
Or subject anyone else to it.
The phone went off in the conference room. Madeline reached over to answer, then hung up.
“He’s here?” she asked.
“They are showing him down. He’s alone.”
“No way he could get an attorney this quickly.”
“You’d be surprised.” The door opened and her ex walked in, not happy in the least. “Have a seat,” Madeline said.
“I don’t want you here for this conversation,” Shane said. “I’m not sure why Tasha couldn’t come to me.”
“This keeps everything on the up and up,” Madeline said. “Tasha, would you like me to wait outside?”
“It’s fine, Madeline. I’ll let you know if I need you. We are just talking, right, Shane? No fighting, yelling or calling names?”
He snorted and pulled out a chair to sit. “We’ll see.”
Madeline gave her a quick glance, but she nodded for her attorney to leave.
“I told you you were the father.”
“I needed to have proof. You can’t blame me.”
“Nope, I can. You’re the one who doubted it.”
“So now what?” Shane asked, leaning back.
“That’s up to you,” she said.
“You mean you’re not going to hit me up for support? That’s the only reason a woman gets an attorney.”
“Not the only reason.” She desperately wanted to give him an out of this situation, but was reminded not to be the one to bring it up. Not yet. “Do you want to know anything about him? His name? See a picture?”
Shane’s head twitched as if none of that occurred to him.
“Yeah, sure. What’s his name?”
She hesitated. “Do you or don’t you want to know these things? Don’t do it for me, Shane. That’s not what this is about.”
He sighed. “Cut me some slack. I’m going through a hard time right now with a divorce and not seeing my kids and then get hit with this. I’m entitled to be a little off my game.”
“I’d think this is a bit more than being off your game,” she said. “Do or don’t you want to know?”
“Yes,” he bit out.
So much for him saying no.
“His name is Micah Thomas.”
She pulled her phone out and slid over a picture of their son. It took Herculean strength to not shiver over the thought of it being their child.
He let out a snort. “My son is Thomas Michael.”
“Your other son,” she corrected. She’d never asked their names. Not his son nor his daughter. She only knew his wife, or soon to be ex-wife, was Morgan.
“Yes. After my father-in-law.” He was looking closer at Micah, put his two fingers on the screen and enlarged it. She found that odd. “He looks more like you than me.”
Thank God for that!
“He’s a good kid. Has a lot of energy. But when he crashes at night, he’s down for the count.”
“What does he know about his father?”
“Nothing. He’s too young to understand any of those things. He has my father in his life.”
“And this guy you’re seeing. I want to know about him.”
“He has nothing to do with this. It’s about you and me,” she said.
She knew this would come up. Shane slid the phone back to her like he was trying to push it out of his life.
“I want to know about the guy who is around Micah.”
She sat back. “Shane. No, you want to know about the guy who is with me, not around Micah. Just be honest about this situation. I’m giving you grace that you just found out and have a lot to absorb.
That you’re going through a hard time with someone else.
I don’t even know that situation. Why are you getting a divorce?
Did your wife catch you cheating on her with someone else? ”
The flush that filled his face told her that was exactly it.
“It’s not your business.”
“There you go. Then my relationship isn’t yours.”
But it would be her business if Shane wanted to be part of Micah’s life. She’d have to know more about him and that situation.
Not that she thought he had any criminal history or was violent, but she just didn’t know.
“How much is this going to cost me?” he asked. “Other than more fucking legal fees.”
He was asking all the wrong questions and it just told her how this was going to go.
He thought his obligation was to pay her. And if he did, he had a right to see Micah.
The way he was acting, she didn’t want her son anywhere near this man.
It made her doubt even more why she had fallen for him.
Someone who was charming, sweet, considerate, handsome.
She remembered it all. But none of it was there now.
“That would be up to you,” she said. It was as close to saying she wanted him out of her life as she could come.
He ran a hand over his head, his fist coming down on the table and startling her. “I just don’t have time for this shit. Everything is falling apart and now this.”
She jumped back when he’d done that. “We’re going to have to end this conversation if you’re going to be that way.”
“Sorry,” Shane mumbled. “I’ve got a lot on my mind and my plate. I fucked up. I know. I did it with you, I did it with Morgan.”
“And I’m not the first.” He held her stare. “You don’t need to tell me what I already know.”
“Then where do we go from here? I’m only in town a few months.”
What the hell!?
If she’d known that she would have just kept her distance. He made it sound like he was relocating here.
“Then what? Back to Atlanta?”
“I just needed a break from everything,” Shane said. “My kids are turning against me. Morgan is going to take me for everything. She believes it wasn’t just once.”
“I’m sure she does.”
“She had no proof though.”
“Until now,” she said, nodding her head. It was all coming together. “That’s it, isn’t it?”
“I want to meet Micah.”
And the sickness she’d been battling rose into her throat and threatened to spew across the table.
But she knew this was going to happen, even if she hoped it wouldn’t.
“We can do that, but it has to be here. Or if you get an attorney, their office.”
“Don’t be that way,” Shane threw out. “I’m not going to hurt you or him.”
She shrugged. “I don’t know any of that.”
Just like she wasn’t letting Shane take Micah for any time without her around. His attorney would have to fight for that once she got enough information on him. And him living in another state would prevent it unless Shane traveled.
Shane pushed back from the table. “I’ll be in touch tomorrow. Let me know a time I can meet my son.” Then he stormed out, leaving her sitting here shaken and confused.
“How did it go?” Madeline asked, coming back in.
“He wants to meet Micah, but he never really asked about him. I had to ask him if he wanted to know about Micah. His name, anything. It’s all about how this is going to mess up his divorce. His wife has suspected more than one affair, but had no proof.”
“And now she’ll have it,” Madeline said.
“Yes. I get it. It’s a shock to him. He’s trying to get a handle on it all and I’m trying to understand that. But this isn’t the person I thought I was falling in love with.”
“We don’t know someone well until they are cornered,” Madeline said. “I’ve worked enough divorce cases to see the claws brought out over petty stuff.”
“I bet,” she said. “He said he’d be in contact tomorrow to get a time to meet Micah. I told him it had to be here or at his attorney’s office. If he gets one.”
“I’m sure he will,” Madeline said. “Beth can give you times where we can arrange for the meeting here.”
“Thanks,” she said, standing. “I appreciate it.”
“Don’t thank me,” Madeline said. “I’m doing my job.”
One that was going to cost her more than she could afford, but it wasn’t anyone’s problem but her own.
She stopped at the daycare to pick up Micah, then went home and went through her daily routine.
“Meatballs,” Micah said. “And pasta.”
She’d made it two days ago and had some leftover to warm up with a few other things.
“If that is what you want, that is what you’ll get,” she said, plastering a smile on her face.
She fed her son, ate beside him, watched as he smeared sauce across his cheeks and nose, giggling like it was the funniest thing in the world. She snapped a few pictures, smiling despite herself, then opened her messages to send one to Baker.
And stopped.
She couldn’t do that to him. She couldn’t pull him any deeper into her mess.
Because it was only going to get worse. She felt that in her bones.
But could she walk away?
She didn’t know that either.
A tear slipped free before she could stop it.
“Why you crying?” Micah asked.
His words were clearer every day, his little voice stronger and more confident. Everything about him was a wonder, and it broke her heart that she might have to share that now.
Share him.
And with a man who hadn’t even asked his son’s name.
Who didn’t know his favorite food or toy.
What time he went to bed.
Nothing.
She brushed her thumb across Micah’s cheek, wiping away sauce, forcing a grin he didn’t need to question.
“I’m okay, baby,” she whispered.
But nothing about this felt okay at all.