Chapter 32- Callie
We love with hope, not hesitancy.
“Is he asleep?”
“Finally,” I sigh, taking a seat across from my mother.
She caught Wyatt using her phone to call Ezra and put a stop to that. I understand her caution but Wyatt’s sadness makes me feel unhinged. My own sadness makes me feel like I’ve stuffed my heart into a box three times too small to hold it. Things can’t go on this way.
“Where’s Charlie?”
“Sitting on the front porch with Dean.”
I grimace, picturing my stepdad with his healing ankle still determined to make a show of force. “He’s not armed or anything, right?”
“If we owned a gun, I wouldn’t put it past him. The man put his hands on you, Callie.”
“I know. But, don’t turn your anger on Ezra. He wouldn’t hurt me or Wyatt.”
“You said he hurt you once before.”
“Years ago, with words spoken in anger when he only knew part of the story. Things are very different between us now.”
“You love him,” she says, sounding resigned.
“I do. Are you upset by that?”
“Not if you’re sure about him. I trust your judgment. But, when you first brought Ezra to my house, you were worried he was only interested in getting close to Wyatt through you.”
“I was wrong about that, Mama.”
I won’t repeat the things he’s shared with me because that’s between us but I can’t pretend they don’t mean anything. Ezra is purposeful in the things he does. The tattoo wasn’t a spur of the moment choice or meant to deceive a woman years later about his intentions. His feelings run very deep. So do mine. Even when we haven’t said them aloud yet.
“What happened earlier will force Ezra to make a choice, Callie. A difficult one.”
She’s right. Once upon a time, I would’ve pictured him standing firmly by his brother’s side. I can’t believe that about him now.
Chase sees our son as an opportunity, a game he means to win and he’s more interested in hurting me and Ezra than Wyatt’s feelings. But, if he wants to play dirty, he’s going to find what happens when you poke a mama bear.
We both raise our heads when we hear Charlie and Dean talking to someone out front. Springing to my feet, I hurry to the door. “It’s Ezra,” I assure my mother before rushing outside.
“This is private property, Sokolov. It would be best if you-”
“Charlie can tell me to leave if he wants. It’s not your house, Culver,” Ezra says, his expression as wintry as I recall from that night long ago. When his eyes meet mine though, the ice melts away. “I need to talk to you, Callie.”
I urge my two protectors to stand down, noting the way Ezra’s expression turns stony again when I casually touch Dean’s arm to make him go. Under different circumstances, I would laugh at that. He’s every bit as possessive of me as Dean is over his wife. They probably have more in common than they realize and, not long ago, I thought the only place I’d find a man who felt so strongly about me as Ezra does was in my fantasies.
“You remember what I told you about the package deal, right?” my stepdad asks him.
“I’ve never once forgotten it, Charlie.”
Ezra gives me a warm smile once they’ve gone inside. “What was that about?”
He doesn’t answer, simply strides toward me. “Thank God, you’re alright. I was worried after Bump’s phone call and then your mother blocked me.”
“Yeah, I know. A lot has happened tonight. Did Chase call you?”
“We’ve not spoken since much earlier today.” Oh, he doesn’t know. How do I tell him? “I was planning to call you anyway because there’s things I have to say, Callie, that won’t wait until…”
His words trail off and his eyes narrow. Stepping closer, he lightly lifts my wrist, pulling it up for a closer look under the porch light. Tall and grim, I watch his jaw working as he studies the dark purplish mark where Chase had squeezed it hours ago.
“Who did this to you?” he growls.
I don’t answer. I don’t have to. I know he’ll figure it out and I know this truth will hurt him.
When those green eyes meet mine again, his fury is palpable. I must calm his rage, not for Chase’s sake but because I don’t want Ezra to do something stupid. “It’s just bruised. I’ve suffered worse tripping over my own two feet.”
Mama said Ezra would have to make a difficult choice. He doesn’t make it sound difficult at all. “I will kill him for this.”
“You will not!”
“Try me.”
“That’s not what I want!”
Instead of responding, he actually turns to head back to his vehicle so I chase him down, wrapping my arms around his waist and shouting for Charlie and Dean to come back outside. They’re there at once, looking confused by the scene. I probably resemble a house cat trying to tackle a mountain lion the way I’m holding on to him.
“Ezra, I forbid you to harm your brother. Please, help me make him stay,” I beg Dean.
Ezra’s smirk leads me to believe he would love to see Dean try but he stops resisting and gently touches my face. “Alright, darling. I won’t fight you. If you say stay, I’ll stay,” he promises. Then, he touches my wrist again. “But this, I cannot ignore or forgive.”
“Don’t say that. Think of your father. His son attacking his other son would kill him. You don’t want that.”
He scowls, clearly displeased before he gives me a begrudging nod. I take his hand in mine and his thumb strokes my palm. The simple touch ignites that current of longing which is always running between us.
“I’ve taken out a restraining order.”
“Is that why Dean is here?” he quietly asks. “I wish you’d called me.”
“He’s your brother.”
“And, you are my world. You and Wyatt both.”
All the air seems to leave my lungs as we stare at each other. There’s no lie in that intense gaze. He means what he says. My heart expands, bursting out of the little box that fear put it in earlier. I wish we didn’t have company right now.
“I had to work through some things but I wanted to call you. Can you understand that?”
“Yes,” he replies, gently. “Do you still need to work through some things when it comes to us, hummingbird?”
I shake my head. “No, not anymore. I was afraid, afraid of losing my son to your brother. I was afraid of losing my heart to a man who might hurt me like he did again. I’m through being afraid because I can’t resist what I feel for you.”
A relieved expression as his head dips low, his nose brushing my forehead. I tilt my face up, wanting a kiss and wanting him to know I’m thoroughly his.
But before we can act, Charlie stumps his way toward us, breaking the moment. “Why don’t you come inside and let’s talk this over?”
Ezra agrees and, resigned to wait for a kiss, I do, too. There are problems to solve before we get to any kissing.
∞∞∞
With the five of us gathered around my mother’s kitchen table, we share what we know and what we suspect. Ezra had done some digging after a conversation with his father - Chase never completed the treatment program. He left a couple of weeks before finishing because he was tired of it, counting on Ezra and his father not finding out because of confidentiality laws.
“But I paid for it and he forgot he’d signed a release for me. It seems he’s lied about many things.”
His eyes meet mine and I know once more Ezra is regretting things he said at Princeton. I place my hand on his knee under the table, a silent absolution for a situation that wasn’t his fault to begin with.
Then, I tell him more about my meeting tonight. “Amber was at the restaurant?” he says, stunned.
‘Yes and drinking in every word of our conversation. Her interest in you I understood but I didn’t think she’d given me much thought until then.”
“She’s probably noticed you and noticed I can’t resist you.” His hand covers mine under the table and a ripple of happiness passes through me despite our tense circumstances.
“How well does this Ms. Ellis know your brother?” my mother asks Ezra.
“He said something last week that makes me believe they’re involved with each other or have been in the past. He must’ve given her my private number.”
“But, how did Chase have mine?” I ask.
“My assistant. I checked with her earlier. Chase said he was trying to set up a belated birthday surprise for me with your help. She’s used to dealing with my father and thought it would be alright.”
“Well, I like Celeste so I hope you weren’t too hard on her.”
“I wasn’t but I’ll make it extra clear that things have changed irrevocably tonight. I didn’t tell you this before, Callie, because I didn’t want to worry you but, the day she was coming to my place when you were sick, she’d called me and asked if I was a father. She had followed me to one of Wyatt’s games. She’d put two and two together to come up with five.”
I feel both sickened and enraged thinking of her snooping around my child that way and trying to twist Ezra up with her guesswork. “He’s going to do something with her help, something to try and grab headlines. I wouldn’t care so much if it was merely about myself but Wyatt…”
“What if you claimed Wyatt as your son before your brother gets the chance, Ezra?”
“Charlie, you can’t ask Ezra to say that,” I gasp.
“Yeah, he can and I would but I know my brother. When he sees something as a contest, he’ll fight for it to the end. All he’d have to do is demand a paternity test and that wouldn’t help us.”
“Back to this reporter,” Dean says. “She witnessed tonight’s behavior toward you, Callie. If she has any self-preservation instincts, I can get her to give an honest retelling of the situation. It puts Chase in a very bad light to say the least.”
“Are you planning to threaten her, Culver?” Ezra asks with a calculating grin.
“Won’t be the first time I’ve thrown my last name around to help people I care about,” Dean replies with a calculating grin of his own. “Do you think there’s a chance your brother truly wishes to be a father to Wyatt even if he’s going about it the worst possible way?”
There’s a sound down the hallway which has Ezra holding up his hand. “Let’s keep our voices down. He may be asleep but he may not.” He never once forgets who we all want to protect.
Once we’re sure Wyatt isn’t about to join us, he continues. “When I first found out about Bump, I was sure my brother would want that because I knew I would want that. But, after the lies he’s told and the way he’s behaved tonight, I know it’s not true. I’m sorry it’s not true in some sense and selfishly not in another. He isn’t worthy of Wyatt. He was never worthy of Callie.”
My heart feels like it might expand beyond my ribcage and I catch my mother’s satisfied nod from across the table. She knows Ezra is worthy of me. And, while Wyatt’s father isn’t someone I would want helping my son grow into a man, his uncle is. Without a doubt.
“So… how do we go about convincing Chase to surrender his parental rights?” Charlies asks.
With a grimace, Ezra replies, “I’m pretty sure I know how.”