Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
T essa
The front door opens, and I stand from the couch. I hear his bag fall to the floor and his heavy footfalls as he enters the living room. His eyes are locked on mine as he stalks toward me. When he reaches me, he crushes me in his embrace and buries his face in my neck.
“Oh my God.” My mom breathes the words, and her reaction has me pulling away.
Standing in Landon’s living room is the team owner, Joseph Stamper. He’s staring at my mom like she’s a cool drink of water after being stranded in the desert. “Caroline,” he says wistfully.
“I can’t believe it’s you. After all these years.” A tear rolls down her cheek as she stands and takes a hesitant step toward him. “At the dinner, I thought maybe I was hallucinating. You acted as if you’d never met me. I assumed you had forgotten. That our week was a long-lost memory for you.”
Landon moves to stand behind me, his arms keeping me held close to his chest. “Just watch,” he whispers.
“You’re more beautiful today than all those years ago,” Joseph tells her. “I was shocked to see you, and I didn’t want to cause a scene. But I remember you, my Caroline. I remember everything about you.”
She blushes. My mom blushes! “You found me,” she says, looking over her shoulder at us, as if remembering we’re here in the room with them. There is something in her eyes. Is she worried? She’s turned back to face him before I can get a good read on her.
“I did. I should have fought to find you years ago.”
“Wow,” she murmurs.
I watch as her shoulders grow stiff, and she peers over at me. “Mom?”
“I’m fine.” She shakes it off.
“I think the two of you should talk,” Landon says.
Joseph’s eyes flash to where we’re standing, then back to my mom. “Mine?” he asks her.
A sob breaks free from her chest, but she nods. I try to break out of Landon’s hold, but he’s not having it. “Just keep watching, baby,” he whispers soothingly.
“You left,” Joseph says, his voice somber.
“I didn’t want to say goodbye.”
“I never planned to,” he says, taking a step toward her.
“No?”
“Never. I wanted you, for as long as you would have had me.” He takes another step and then another until they’re standing toe-to-toe. His hand shakes as he reaches up and cradles her face. “I loved you, Caroline. I still do.”
Mom is bawling, not even trying to hide her tears. He pulls her into his chest and holds her while she cries. I can do nothing but stand here and watch as it all happens. It’s as if we’re watching a well-rehearsed play.
“Mom?” I ask when her sobs weaken.
She lifts her head and smiles, then looks back at Joseph, who nods. “Tessa, you might want to sit down for this.”
Landon takes her warning and, with my hand in his, takes a seat on the couch, pulling me into his lap. Across from us on the loveseat, Mom and Joseph sit, as well, their hands tightly entwined.
“Spring break, my last year of college,” Mom starts.
She tells me how she and Joseph met, how they spent a magical week together, and how she slipped out of his room at dawn with nothing but a note left behind.
“I didn’t know his last name, and he didn’t know mine. We had no way to reach one another.”
“That’s why I wasn’t there,” Joseph chimes in.
“I don’t understand. Why you weren’t where?”
Mom takes a deep breath. “Tessa, Joseph is your father.”
My breath stalls in my chest. “W-What?” I couldn’t have possibly heard her correctly.
“I didn’t know about you, Tessa. I didn’t know how to reach your mom.
When I met you, you looked just like her, and I decided it was time to find her.
I assumed she would be married, and I told myself if she was happy, I’d step back, but she’s here, and she’s not married, and now there’s you.
I never could have imagined that I’d find her and my daughter, too. ”
She lied to me. “You told me he left us. You lied.”
“I did, and I’m sorry. Honey, I didn’t know how to explain it to you when you were younger so that you would understand. I didn’t know how to tell you I met a man and fell in love in a week, and in that love, we made you. You were so young, and I needed you to understand.”
“Why didn’t you tell me when I got older?”
“I never thought we’d be here. I never thought I’d see him again. By the time you were old enough to understand, I didn’t think it mattered. He wasn’t in our lives, and I couldn’t think of a scenario where he ever would be again.”
“You’re married,” I say to Joseph, and he nods.
“That’s where I come in,” Landon explains. He goes on to tell me about the threats and how Bridgett found the file on my mother and, as a result, about me.
“Oh my God. I can’t believe this is happening.” Everything I thought I knew about my life is wrong. How could she have lied to me all these years? “You should have told me, both of you.” I pull out of Landon’s embrace and stand. “You both should have had enough respect for me to tell me the truth.”
“I wanted to. I just wanted to find out what was going on first. You had such a bad day at work with Buckwheat, and I didn’t want to make it worse when I had no idea what her endgame was.
I called you to warn you after talking to Joseph in case she went through with her threats.
Thankfully, his team of attorneys was able to stop her. ”
“And serve her with divorce papers,” Joseph adds.
“There’s a lot that we need to talk about. It’s late. Why don’t you get some sleep, and we can get back to all of this in the morning?”
“I— I can’t be here.”
“Tessa,” Landon says, reaching for me. “Please, let’s just get some rest.”
“Fine.” I march off down the hall without a second glance at any of them.
I climb under the covers and settle myself on the edge of my side of the bed.
I squeeze my eyes closed, trying to block it all out.
It doesn’t work because I hear Landon come into the room, shutting the door behind him, and climb into bed.
I don’t fight him when he snuggles up next to me, wrapping me in his arms.
“I’m sorry, Tessa. I never meant to hurt you. It was the opposite of my intention. I didn’t want to lose you. I didn’t know what was going on or why she would want you out of my life. I had to know so I could give you the facts. You’re my life, Tessa. If you believe nothing else, believe that.”
I don’t reply as tears silently roll down my cheeks.
I love him, and I feel his love for me, but we promised to always be open and honest. Then again, he did call me and let me know something was going on.
I guess I can understand him not wanting to tell me any of this over the phone, but if he had told me before he left, that would have been a non-issue. “We’re supposed to be a team.”
“We are a team. I was going to give it up, Tessa. I was going to walk away from my career if the trade was real. No way was I leaving you.”
“That’s crazy.”
“I know how much you love your job at the shelter, and I would never ask you to give that up.”
“Do you hear yourself? You’re a professional football player with a multi-million-dollar contract. You can’t just walk away from that.”
“Yes, I can. What I can’t walk away from is you. I’ll never walk away from you, Tessa.”
I think about what he’s saying and let the meaning sink in.
He was willing to give up his career for me.
I might be upset with him for not including me from the beginning, but I have no doubt his heart was in the right place.
Slowly, I roll over to face him. He immediately hugs me tight and places a tender kiss on my forehead.
“I would have come with you,” I whisper into the darkness. “I’d follow you anywhere, Landon Barker.”
“Tess,” he says, his voice cracking. “I’d never ask you to do that.”
“You wouldn’t have to. Relationships are give and take. Yes, I love my job at the shelter, and I would miss Autumn, Jeremy, and JJ, but I’d miss my heart even more.”
“I’m sorry. I should have told you as soon as it happened. Lesson learned, I can promise you that.”
“Hopefully, nothing like this ever happens again.”
“If it does, we’re in it together,” he assures me.
“Together,” I repeat. We talk well into the morning hours.
He helps me see Mom’s perspective, and although I’m hurt, I understand why she did it.
I can’t imagine telling my young, impressionable daughter that I met a man, slept with him in the first week, fell in love, and didn’t even know his last name.
I get it. I still think she should have told me when I was old enough to understand, but like Landon says, it’s not my story to tell.
Not really. It doesn’t change the fact that Joseph didn’t know about me.
We can only look toward the future, leaving the past where it lies and focusing on what’s yet to come.
The next morning, Landon and I find Mom and Joseph in the living room, drinking coffee and eating bagels.
“Morning,” I say, taking a seat on the couch.
“We went out for bagels,” Mom says. “They’re in the kitchen.”
“I’ll get them.” Landon leans down, kisses my forehead, and disappears into his kitchen.
“Have you been up all night?”
“We have.” Mom smiles at Joseph, and her face lights up. Something I’ve never seen from her before. Not like this.
Landon comes back, offering me a cup of coffee, but with no bagel in sight. I love how well he knows me. I’m not going to be able to eat until I talk to Mom. “Thank you.” He nods and takes a seat next to me.
“I’m sorry,” Mom starts. “I should have told you when you got older, but I didn’t know how. It hurt too much to think about never seeing him again.”
“Is that why you never dated?”
“I dated,” she counters.
“You did here and there, but never anyone serious. Never anyone you introduced me to. It’s always just been us.”
“I would have been there,” Joseph’s deep voice promises, filled with conviction. “If I had known where she was, I would have been there.”
“Why didn’t you look for her sooner?”
“I don’t know. For fear of what I would find, I guess.”
“So, why now?”
“Seeing you. You’re the spitting image of your mother, and it made her real again.
All these years, that week has been in my mind, almost like a dream, but seeing you…
that brought it all right back to reality.
One I wanted more of. I knew if I found her and she was happy, I would walk away.
I knew my heart would break all over again, but I did it anyway.
I was tired of living with what could have been.
I needed to know. I never could have imagined I’d find her and you. My d-daughter,” he says, choking up.
Landon places his hand on my thigh, giving me the courage I need. “I get it,” I tell them. “I understand, but it’s going to take me some time. I don’t have this… connection that the two of you have. You’re a stranger to me,” I say, looking at Joseph.
“I want to get to know you, Tessa. I want to be a part of your life. You take all the time that you need. When you’re ready, I’d like to add my name to your birth certificate. I know you’re an adult, but it’s important to me.”
“I’m not changing my name.” I don’t know why I say it. He didn’t ask me to. I guess I just need to get that out in the open. Who knows, maybe one day, I might change my mind.
“Not to Stamper,” Landon speaks up. He sets his coffee down on the table and drops to his knees in front of me.
He takes my coffee and places it on the table, as well, before taking my hands in his.
“This isn’t how I planned to do this, and I don’t have a ring.
” He grins, giving me a flash of his dimples.
I stare down at him, my heart. My breath stalls in my chest when the reality of what’s about to happen settles.
“When I thought I might lose you, I felt like my world was spinning out of control. I don’t ever want to face that again.
I want to know that it’s always going to be you that I come home to.
You who’s sleeping next to me, and you who has my last name.
Tessa Deaton, Freckles…” He smirks. “Will you make me the happiest man alive and do me the incredible honor of becoming my wife? Will you marry me?”
Tears are flowing down my cheeks, and emotion clogs my throat. I nod, and he chuckles. “I need your words, baby.”
“Y-Yes,” I manage to croak out.
He lets out a whoop of excitement and lifts me off the couch and into his arms. His lips press to mine, and suddenly, everything is right in my world.
I know it’s going to be tough with his career, but we have a great support system surrounding us, and most of all, we have love.
Landon Barker is everything I never knew I wanted and everything that I need. He’s the love of my life.
“I love you,” I say as he sets me back on my feet.
“I love you, too.”
“Congratulations, you two.” Mom comes to us and wraps her arms around us in a giant hug. “I’m so happy for you both,” she says, wiping tears.
“Landon,” Joseph says from beside us. It’s going to take some time for me to call him Dad. I’m sure I’ll get to that point eventually, but right now, first names are the best that I can do. “Take care of her.”
“Always,” Landon replies.
“You know, you’re one lucky baller, right?” Joseph asks him.
“I could say the same for you.”
“Yeah.” Joseph pulls my mom into his side and kisses the top of her head. “Lucky indeed.”