Life for One -14

Eight years later

I felt my cell vibrate on my hip and I pulled it out of the holder and answered. "Yo."

I heard Stephanie's voice answer. "Where are you?"

"Hello to you too."

"Ranger I have a situation. I'm due in court in ten minutes and Luke's school just called and said he's in the principal's office."

"Tell Attorney Rossi that he doesn't need his paralegal in court today."

"Fine I'll call my mother." She said in a pissed off tone.

"I'll take care of it. I just landed in Newark."

I heard a gigantic sigh on the other end. "Thank you, I know you have business…"

"Stephanie I said I would take care of Luke."

I heard voices speaking to her in the background. "I have to go."

I heard a dial tone and I speed dialed Tank. He answered on the first ring. "Lo."

"I'm going to have to cancel."

"What the f…"

"You'll have to handle the meeting on your own."

"It's our biggest account and you're ditching the meeting?"

"Call me later with the details."

"You better be saving a third world country."

""Handle it." I said and flipped my phone closed. I pulled my suitcase off the baggage carousel, and walked toward the front entrance of the airport.

Twenty minutes later, I pulled into the parking lot of Sacred Heart Grade School. I parked and walked inside to the outer office of the principal. Luke sat in a chair just inside the door. He looked up at me defiantly sporting a shiner under his left eye. I looked at the boy sitting on the opposite side of the office with a spilt lip and holding an ice pack over his right eye, bloodstains dotted the front of his t-shirt. I teetered between giving Luke a high five and being a responsible parent. It did not matter how much time had lapsed, it was still hard to wrap my mind around the fact that I had a nine-year-old son, and a daughter in her second year of college. The secretary looked up at me and sucked in a breath, her face breaking into a dazzling smile. I inwardly sighed as I heard Luke swear under his breath.

"I'm Luke's dad, Carlos Manoso."

She smiled. "I know who you are sir. Mrs. Arlington is waiting on you in her office. "

I turned back to Luke. "You okay?" He rolled his eyes, and I suppressed a smile.

"I'm fine, I didn't start this, he did." He glared at the boy seated opposite of him and the boy flipped him off. I gave the boy a look I reserve for certain individuals I like to intimidate, and he shrank sheepishly back against his chair.

I walked into the principal's office and she motioned for me to take a seat. She had a phone to her ear while tapping on a laptop in front of her. "Mr. Cline I'm going to return your call later, I have a parent in the office at the moment." She hung up the phone and fixed a smile on her face as she looked across the desk at me.

"Mr. Manoso, I'm sorry that we are meeting again under these circumstances. It's disheartening to me that Luke is fighting again. I have no other choice but to suspend him for his behavior."

"He said the other boy started the fight. I've instructed him that he is not to instigate violence, but he is to defend himself."

"I understand, but we instruct our students to avoid fighting at all costs. If he is bullied by another student he is to refer the incident to the nearest teacher."

"Maybe the other boy didn't give him a chance. Sometimes situations are not black and white."

Her eyes shifted away from mine and her face flushed. "No, you bring up a good point. I'm afraid some other boys are teasing Luke about your relationship with his mother. It's not my business or any of the other students about your home life but I wanted to make you aware of the nature of the problem."

I felt the dull spark of anger in my gut as I stood. "You're absolutely right; it is no one's concern. Is there something that I need to sign to take Luke home?"

"Miss James will assist you in the next office. Luke has already signed the papers for his suspension."

I nodded and walked out to the other office. I signed the paper on the clipboard the secretary pushed at me and I looked up at Luke. "You ready to go buddy?"

He nodded and I put my arm on his shoulder and guided him out of the office. Just as we stepped into the hallway, Joyce Barnhart Orr came running into the office. She bent down by the boy in the other seat and petted him affectionately. She glared at Luke and me in the doorway. "Baby did that spawn of Stephanie Morelli's do this to you?"

The boy pulled away from his mother's embrace, and pointed toward the clipboard on the counter. "Sign the stupid paper so I can get out of here."

Joyce stood up and looked at me. "If that boy so much as touches little Dickie again I'm filing a restraining order against him. It's no wonder he turned out the way he did. It's not like you can be any kind of example to him, when you solve all your problems with a gun or some type of violence. It's just a shame Joe Morelli wasn't his dad, at least then he stood a chance."

I gave her the same look I shared with her son earlier and she scurried over to the counter. I looked down at Luke, and I could see a familiar cold hard look in his eyes. I felt my heart clench, I always thought his mother could spear me with one look, but he was no different. I pushed him down the hallway with the guidance of my hand. We didn't speak until I maneuvered the truck onto the street. I could see him look over at me in my peripheral vision.

"Want to talk about it?"

"Dickie called mom a whore."

"Is that what started the fight?"

"Yeah. Dad I try to ignore him. He's a butthead, but he's not going to call mom names."

"I'm proud of you son."

"Is it true that for a while mom didn't know who my dad was?"

Fuck. The million-dollar question and Stephanie wasn't here to provide an answer.

"Your mom was in a relationship with Joe Morelli when she found out she was pregnant."

"I guess it explains why he looks at me so funny when I see him."

"Your mom was married to Joe and he lived with you both most of the first year of your life."

"So how did you know mom?"

"Your mom and I worked together, and we were good friends."

"Did you have sex with mom while she was married to Joe?"

I swallowed, and decided to go for the truth.

"Yes."

"Why didn't she know before she married Joe that you were my dad?"

"Remember the sex talk we had?"

I glanced at him and he rolled his eyes. "Yes, the one mom insisted we have even though I already knew everything?"

I couldn't help but smile. "Yeah that one. We talked about protection you use when you have sex with a girl."

"So you're saying you wore a condom and you and mom didn't think I could be yours."

"Yes exactly."

"So why did she marry Joe if she wanted to have sex with you?"

Because I'm an ass.

"It wasn't easy. Sometimes grown up relationships are complicated. Your mother and I could never get it to work at the right time."

"It sounds like a lot of crap to me. If she wanted to have sex with you she shouldn't have married Joe and we could be a family like everyone else."

"We still do things together like a family."

"But we aren't."

"You've never complained about the way things are before."

"Yeah but that was because I thought you and mom would eventually get married."

"Some people aren't meant to be married Luke."

"Yeah and some kids are considered a mistake."

I stopped the truck and grabbed his chin pulling his gaze to mine. "Don't ever think that you were a mistake. That's not true, we love you."

He nodded, and I could see the tears glistening in his eyes.

"You ready for a burger?"

He smiled. "Yeah."

I held up my fist and he bumped it with his. "By the way, you worked little Dickie over pretty good."

He laughed. "Yeah I guess sparring with Uncle Lester is paying off."

We pulled into the curved driveway and parked behind Stephanie's Land Rover. Luke grabbed his backpack and scooted out of the front seat landing on the ground with a thump. Stephanie came out of the house and stopped when she saw Luke's face.

"Another fight?"

He nodded slowly. "I'm sorry mom, but I had to."

She walked over to him and bent down in front of him. She gathered him in her arms and closed her eyes holding him tight against her. He remained stationary for a few seconds and then wiggled lose from her embrace. She reached up and gingerly touched the bruise under his eye.

"Come inside and I'll get you an ice pack." She leaned in and kissed him and he jerked away.

"Mom I'm not a baby, I'm fine."

She glanced at me, and back at him. "Come inside we need to talk."

"Dad and I already talked about it."

"Well that's fine but we need to talk about it." Stephanie said.

"Little Dickie Orr called you a whore and I punched him."

Stephanie's face paled, and she swallowed.

I walked over to her and helped her to her feet. "I think this conversation can wait." I said.

"That's the problem you both think everything can wait. I'm tired of you waiting. I don't understand why you can't get married." He looked up at me. "I think you want to work in Boston, so you don't have to be my dad all the time. You leave, and mom thinks I don't see her cry, but she does." His voice broke and I felt Stephanie's nails dig into my arm; tears broke and rolled down his face.

"You know what they call me at school? A bastard. They say my dad doesn't want to be strapped with a kid, and they say that my mom's stupid because she left a good man for one that doesn't even want to live with her."

He dropped his backpack onto the driveway and ran toward the house. Stephanie started after him and I held her back. "He needs me." She said.

"He needs time Babe." I pulled her into my arms and gently rubbed her back.

I slowly pulled away and walked her into the house. I laced my fingers through hers and walked her upstairs to the bedroom. The same bedroom we shared every time I was in town. She dropped on the edge of the bed, kicked off her shoes, and dropped her head in her hands.

"I've failed him in so many ways. I always tried to shelter him, but all I have done is cause him more pain."

"We've both failed him by thinking we could live separate lives and still be parents to him."

"I don't know a solution."

I never hesitated it seemed so simple. "Marry me."

She looked up at me in disbelief. "No."

"Why not?"

"I'll not marry you because you think it will solve an issue. I want you to want it for the right reasons."

"And being a family to our son is not a good reason?"

"Maybe I'm selfish but I want it to be about your feelings for me too."

I walked over, pushed her back on the bed, and settled between her thighs.

"I love you Babe, I have never kept that a secret."

"I know, but..."

I placed my fingertips on her lips.

"I haven't mentioned marriage before because I was afraid that at the very mention of the word you would cut me out of his life. Do you remember how you refused child support in the beginning and were hell bent on making it in your own?"

"And I did."

"Yes, but once I convinced you to move in my house, I thought eventually you would come around."

"But you're in Boston all week so it's not like you live here."

"I told you in the beginning I would move back to Trenton all you had to do was say the word."

"But I wanted it to be your idea. I thought if you loved us enough you would want to be here all the time."

"Stephanie we've fell into this comfortable pattern, I work in Boston and come home on the weekend. It was our way of life, I had no idea it bothered you. Why couldn't you be honest with me?"

"I thought the way things were you wouldn't feel suffocated."

"Don't tell me I could have been here all along."

I trailed kisses up the side of her neck and ended by kissing the corner of her mouth.

"I didn't want you here in the beginning, but it didn't take long to get used to the idea after a while. Then I started counting the minutes until the next weekend." she said.

I smiled and brushed my lips across hers. "So it's settled then, we need to do this thing."

"Can you really stand to live with me the rest of your life?"

"It's going to be a hardship, but I think I can muddle through."

She pinched my butt, and I grinned.

She rolled out from under me. "I think I'll go check on him."

"I'll be in the shower." I winked and she rolled her eyes.

I stripped my clothes and headed into the shower. I stood under the water allowing the showerhead to massage away the tension in my shoulders. I picked up the shower gel and squirted some in my hand. I washed my arms and chest and started lower when I felt another set of hands on my body. I smiled and sucked in a breath as she assisted me with washing my lower appendages. I turned and placed a hot, wet kiss on her mouth.

"How is he?"

"Fine, he went outside to play some basketball with Lester."

"What's Santos doing here?"

"He brought Brandon over to play."

"I still can't get used to the idea of him being married."

She wrapped her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist and I closed my eyes as the heat of her wrapped around me. "It can happen to the best of us."

I braced her back against the tile and slid inside of her.

I looked into her eyes. "Will you marry me Babe?"

She leaned forward and whispered against my lips.

"I thought you would never ask"

I groaned as she ground her hips into mine. "Is that a yes?"

Her eyes rolled back in her head. "Mmmm… God yes."

I smiled and kissed her as she shuddered in my arms.