CHAPTER TEN #3
A small gasp leaves my throat that I know she couldn’t have heard but suddenly Saylor looks right at me.
She can’t see me, but it’s as though we are staring at each for the first time.
Saylor takes two steps and is directly in front of my door.
All she has to do is open the door and we’ll be reunited again.
Slowly, I watch as she reaches up with her free hand that isn’t around our little girl and places it on the door level with where my heart is.
Does she know I’m here? Can she feel me like we used to every time one of us walks in a room?
My hand automatically reaches up and is placed against hers.
Only a flimsy piece of wood separates us.
I haven’t touched her in so long that my body is yearning to be pressed against hers.
My hand presses harder on the door, wanting to feel her again and our eyes meet, locking into the wood as if it were glass.
We both are holding our breath, and at the exact moment we both shudder from the top of our head down towards our toes.
She goes to open her mouth but our moment is broken.
“Momma, you ready to head home and get our girl to bed?” A man walks into the room and steals my woman’s attention. She reluctantly turns to face him, taking her away from me. Mitch placed a hand over my growling mouth when that dick said our girl .
“Sure.” The man, that I assume is Brody fucking Jackson, takes my daughter from my wife’s arms and cuddles her close.
“You okay?” he asks. “Grandpa said the SUV in the driveway was a rental since he put his in for a check on the motor.” He tickles my baby’s side and she lets out a squeal.
“I told him to let me know next time their car needs anything and I’d have one of my guys look it over, or we could replace theirs with a new one for Christmas. ”
Fat chance you family stealing fucker. You won’t be around for Christmas! Get your own family.
“Mhmm.” She’s not listening. Something is distracting her, and I know it’s our connection.
She feels the buzz just like I do when our bodies are this close.
He doesn’t even pick up on it because he’s too busy with my daughter, and I want to burst out of this closet and snatch Halo out of his arms. She’s mine! Not his.
“You ready? I could use a good rub down after that awesome game tonight.” He winks at her, and bile rushes from my stomach up through my esophagus. NO! Please don’t. I scream internally.
She smiles at him, then nods. He reaches out with his hand and she willingly places hers in his.
They both start to walk out of the bedroom, but when they cross over the threshold Saylor looks back over her shoulder.
She stares back at me with wonder, then bites her plump lip likes she’s inviting me to take ahold of it between my teeth.
I actually groan and thankfully she is out of the room before she could hear it.
“Mitch, I want everything you’ve got on Brody Jackson and I want it as soon as we get to our hotel room.” My voice is a whisper, but it comes across with harsh authority.
“Yes, sir. Already in the works.”
I know Mitch is going to beat himself up for missing the signs with Brody, but I can’t blame him. He had only just woken from his coma and had been tirelessly working to find Saylor. Tina and Mom had said that he pushed himself too hard and ended up almost relapsing before I woke up.
Moments later, we hear the front door close, then foot steps down the hall. Grandma comes in and looks around the room.
“Come on out, they’re gone.”
We all step out and I feel like the weight of the world is pressing on my chest. I just allowed my wife and daughter to walk out of my sight while I stood by and let it happen. This will be the last time that ever happens.
“Do they live far from here?” I ask when we all come back to the living room.
“About thirty minutes at a ranch a few towns over. It butts up to the forest area,” Grandpa informs me. “We’ve never been out there. She’s always come here to us.”
We sit in silence for a while, and the quietness has the walls closing in on me as I think about my wife and daughter with another man.
“How did you find her?” I ask.
“It was the craziest coincidence, really. We had just gotten here on our long drive and decided to make a grocery run before it got too dark. I needed something on the baking aisle and there she was. I knew it was her, even in a ball cap. She was looking over a can of something and I called out to her. She immediately looked over and it was like time stood still. Her face showed so many emotions before we embraced each other. The sound of a little baby drew us back and that was when we saw our precious Halo. After many hugs and tears, Saylor told us not to say anything about seeing her and that she’d come by in a few days to talk with us. That was when we met Brody.”
“Are they together?” I finally ask after a beat, not letting the pain from the words consume me.
“Son,” Grandpa heaves a long breath. He looks over at Grandma, and I can see it in their faces before the words are ever confirmed. Fuck!
“She came to us about two months ago, wanting to have a conversation. At the time, we didn’t know everything that had happened with the two of you; only the bits and pieces before we left Los Angeles and Saylor’s version of what went down between you two.
She told us about what Daniel had done on your behalf, and then how she sent you letters and pictures of Halo and how you never came for them.
At the time, we saw everything from her side since you never told us you were looking for her.
We didn’t want to rock the boat that might hurt us from seeing Saylor and Halo.
We thought she might leave and go somewhere else if she thought we were going to blow her cover that Mr. Buttons had put into place for her and Halo’s safety.
” Grandma takes a deep breath, and I know the next part is going to be hard to hear.
“Brody explained to us that everyone was in on her location, and that this was something that Mr. Buttons and your firm had done multiple times in the past.”
“She came over with Halo around naptime and once our little angel baby was asleep, she asked us to sit down. We thought she was leaving, I did at least.” She looks over at Grandpa and he takes her hand in his.
“She asked us what we thought of Brody. He’d always been polite and generous and was great with Halo.
She seemed to really take to him and he was always there for Saylor.
I knew then what she was there to ask. She wanted to get our blessing, to move on from you, to be with him.
” Grandma places her free hand on the side of her face and rubs her temple.
“Son, you have to remember that we didn’t know the truth of what was going on back in LA.
Even though you and Saylor only had a short amount of time together, she was so torn up about the thought of moving on from you.
We tried so many times to get you to come here for a visit to speak with you and the few times we went to California, but you never would show up.
” I can hear the disappointment in her voice.
“Had I known our son had gone rogue in starting the divorce, we’d have told her right away what was happening. ”
My body shudders as I lean forward, placing my face in my hands. What have I done to us?
“She sat right there, on that same couch, and was wrestling with whether she was doing the right thing, and accepting that her marriage was really over, even if you had moved on. Brody had helped her pick up those pieces that were shattered when everybody’s life imploded over two years ago.”
My mother grabs my hand and tries to release the fist that I’ve made after hearing how Brody wormed his way in. He’s known for the last two years that his uncle was dead and that this situation should’ve never have happened.
“So, she moved on.” I simply say, and stare at the corner where my daughter’s toys are arranged.
“Don’t you dare blame her for this, mister.
You were the one who didn’t let anyone in.
You kept secrets from everybody and this is of your own making,” Grandpa tells me straight.
“We have only been in contact with her for the last year, and she is slowly trying to put the pieces of her life back together. I can only imagine what that poor soul had to endure while she was pregnant, then raise our perfect angel with no family around. I, for one, am glad she had Brody to lean on. Well, not now that we know how he’s lied to her, to keep her for himself. ”
He’s right, this is of my own making. We are only here because I thought I knew what was best for her. I did this. Me. I’ve lost my family on the decisions I made, and didn’t listen to others.
“Don’t you go and start that self-loathing.
” Grandma shakes her finger at me. “I’ve known you since you were eight years old and the moment Saylor stepped into your life something woke inside of you, like chains were released.
I’ve never known you to give up so easily, and I don’t expect it to happen now. Not when your family is on the line.”
“But you just said that she moved on two months ago,” I counter.
“She didn’t know that there was another option.
She didn’t think you ever wanted her again.
Is it going to be easy? Hell no, but if you don’t want that precious angel calling Brody, daddy, for the rest of her life then I suggest you pull yourself together by your boot straps and fight for what’s yours. ”
Hearing Grandma say that, I immediately tense and my brain starts to work up plans on how to get my woman and daughter back, but a dark thought clouds my mind.
“What if I’ve truly pushed her away though? What if she wants nothing to do with me, even after I tell her everything?”