Chapter 49 #2
He rubbed his thighs as he looked at me.
“In the car. I couldn’t get the hotel to give me your room number, so I slept there.
Everything else I told you was true. Except that I slipped up with her.
I didn’t want and wasn’t ready for a girlfriend, but that night, you wrapped your arms around me on the balcony.
Asking for another chance. I never wanted a woman as bad as I wanted you.
I wanted to be your man, and I wanted to be a better man.
And once we were official, I didn’t cheat on you. ”
I stared at my husband, seeing the younger man I had fallen in love with—the one who made me feel special in college. Until I found out the truth about him and Chelsea, I looked back at Chelsea. “Anything else in the letter?”
“That letter also told you I was pregnant,” Chelsea added.
Rocks settled in the bottom of my stomach. “Carter’s?”
Carter answered, “Yeah.”
I slanted my gaze at Chelsea. "How do you even know the baby was his? We both know you were having a hot girl summer."
Chelsea rolled her eyes. "I had been messing around with other men, but Carter was the only one I had sex with who fit the timeline of my pregnancy.
Even that day you caught me with Carmello, we were doing sixty-nine.
We hadn't had sex yet." She twisted her neck before she continued, “I didn’t know you were pregnant, too. So, when I told him, he was livid. Telling me he couldn’t have two babies at the same time.”
I looked back at him. “You told her to have an abortion?”
He shook his head, though he cut his eyes at Chelsea.
“Well, when a man tells you he can’t have two babies at the same time and refuses to take your calls...” Chelsea let the rest of her words trail off.
“So, your son is his? My sister saw you with a little boy, but thought he was too young to be Carter’s.”
“I lost the baby when I was sixteen weeks. I texted him with the news since he wasn’t taking my calls, and he still didn't respond.” Chelsea said, and her breath quickened.
“Once again, I assumed that Carter treated you the same way. I was dead wrong. Not only was he there for you, but he married you right before he started playing in the NFL. It fucked with me. Kept wondering what it was about me that he treated me the way he had. I thought I was being punished while he was being rewarded when we were both guilty of lying to you.” She studied her manicured nails before she looked up at us.
I inhaled deeply, feeling empathy for her.
I’d been the woman looking from the outside as everyone seemed to be living.
Still, I hadn’t been a pregnant woman in love with a man who chose another woman and then married her while I lost a baby.
That kind of hurt would be unimaginable.
And Carter, who'd been so good to me, had been a horrible human being to her.
Carter leaned forward. “Chelsea, I told you this before, and I want Darren to hear it too. I can’t speak for all men, but I can speak for some men.
We do stupid shit with women because we can, especially someone like me.
It’s unfair, but it’s the truth. You always seemed so tough that you could handle anything, and I didn’t realize I hurt you as much as I did.
When you told me you were pregnant, I didn’t want to believe it.
Not because I thought you were lying to me.
It was because, as much as I fought it, I was no different than my father.
He wasn’t there for me because I have a sister a couple of months older than me, and he didn’t know how to handle having two babies, and their mothers pissed with him all the time.
I swore I wouldn't be that man with multiple baby mamas. I wanted to pretend you didn’t exist and deal with the woman I knew I wanted to marry.
And my wanting to marry Darren wasn’t because there was something wrong with you.
” He then looked at me. “I wanted to marry Darren because she made me feel like I could be the man I knew I wanted to be.”
I rubbed my aching stomach, trying to reconcile everything being said and how these two people who should hate each other seemed to be the best of friends. Carter attempted to hold my hand, and I moved it away. “How did you forgive him?”
“Five years ago, I ran into Carter while he and some of the Rams were in Miami at a bar. When he saw me, he approached where I sat with a friend and hugged me like we were cool. He asked for a moment.”
I glanced at Carter, and his attention was on Chelsea. His expression was relatively blank, so I couldn’t tell where this story would end.
Chelsea wrung her hands. “I remembered thinking, was he trying to be slick and hook up again? And I was so ready to fuck him just so I had something over his head to get back at him and you.”
His head went slightly back. He didn’t know this part.
“Surprise...surprise. He wanted to apologize and beg for my forgiveness. He told me he regretted not being there for me and that he was sorry that I lost our baby...that he was a better man now. He asked if there was a way he could make it up to me...was there anything he could do? He wasn’t flirty at all or hinting at anything sexual.
” Chelsea looked at him. “He did seem different. Kinder. He treated me like a person that he cared about instead of some random he fucked. So, I told him I wanted another baby.”
“What in the hell, Chelsea?” I exclaimed before I could stop the words from tumbling out. “I’m sure he meant money, or maybe invest in a business, or your dream.”
Carter chuckled. “I said the same thing when she first asked me.”
I twisted to face him and tucked my leg under me. “So, her son is yours. You had a baby with Chelsea to make up for the baby she lost, and now you're this family?”
Chelsea scooted to the end of her chair. “Let me finish –“
The door opened suddenly, and a cute, chocolate-brown little boy ran into the room and jumped on Chelsea’s lap. She hugged him tightly, and he kissed her cheek before he noticed Carter. The biggest smile spread across his face, and he rammed into him. “Uncle Carter.”
Carter immediately picked him up. “Hey, Duda...what’s up?”
“Mommy took me to get ice cream, and we’re going to see Mickey tomorrow.
” He chatted, and his smile was all Carter’s.
I didn’t see Ethyn at first glance, but if he took a picture with his older siblings, he would fit in the family portrait.
All I could think was that Grey had just experienced this today.
Seeing a child in the flesh makes everything you were angry about fade away.
Regardless of how this child arrived in the world, he was here and happy.
It was obvious that Carter loved the little boy and that he loved Carter.
“You want to meet my wife?” Carter asked.
“Yeah.” He nodded enthusiastically.
I managed to smile as I asked him, “I’m Darren, and you are?"
“Sekani, and I’m four.” He held three fingers, and Carter gently pulled another one of his fingers up.
“I’m Joi, his mother.” A gorgeous, curvy woman with a smile that warmed you and made you feel special, like her name, walked into the suite slowly, assessing the room.
Chelsea stood up, placed a possessive arm around her, and pecked her lips. “Sweetie, I tried to text you and let you know we had company.”
“Whoa,” I said without thought, and Carter nudged me. He caught my questioning gaze, and he nodded subtly.
Sekani hugged Carter’s neck before he scrambled down to turn on the TV.
I looked at Carter and then at the two women staring at me with concern. This was the secret? He’d given a lesbian couple a baby because he'd been a bastard in college. This is some crazy ass shit, and I couldn’t wait to tell Grey.
“Umm...still have questions. Does Grey know any of this...and...” I moved to Sekani, where he now watched Paw Patrol, covered his ears, and whispered, “Which one of you slept with my husband to make this baby?”