Chapter 21

21

Tyrion

I ’d taken a much-needed day off from work to relax my mind after the weekend I had. Today didn’t make shit any better. I thought we were going to have a nice breakfast with our daughter, but my wife had other plans. Granted, breakfast was nice; I just wasn’t expecting to get pulled into what could’ve been a WWE match.

I wasn’t na?ve to the fact that Iona would still see Summer. I mean, she worked at her school. I just didn’t want her trying that petty shit in front of Evenie. There was no need to throw it in her face that she and my baby loved each other. I didn’t believe she would hurt her to get back at either one of us, but there was a time and a place for everything.

I did feel a little bad about her getting socked in the mouth, but she had it coming. It was a wonder that Evenie hadn’t put hands on her in front of everybody when we walked into the school. If she had, Nina was bound to jump in, and that would have caused a world of problems for us all.

Instead of going home, I went to my parents’ house. I knew they would give me some sound advice without playing the blame game. I’d spoken to both of them before I started dating Iona. They’d asked me a thousand times if I was sure I was ready. The one thing nobody asked was what would I do if Evenie came back. Though we’d all held hope in our hearts, I didn’t think any of us had ever expected it to happen.

So much time had passed. She’d been considered a missing person, but the search for her had long since stopped. In my mind, if we got her back, it would be a recovery, not a rescue. I guess she proved us all wrong.

I pulled into the driveway of my childhood home around ten and got out of my car. My mother was sitting on the porch, sipping what I knew to be coffee, and reading the morning paper. She smiled as I ascended the front steps.

“Isn’t this a nice surprise,” she said, setting her mug down. She stood and pulled me into a hug. “How are you, baby?”

I shook my head. “I’m here, Ma, but I’ve been better.”

She pulled away and cupped my face. “Come inside and we can talk about it.”

She folded her newspaper and grabbed the coffee mug before heading into the house. My father was seated in the living room, watching the morning weather report. When he looked back and saw me, he gave me a head nod.

“Good morning, Son.”

“Hey, Dad.”

I went over to hug him before taking a seat. My mother sat next to him and turned off the television. A look passed between them before they both gave me their full attention.

I sighed. “Iona and I broke up,” I said flatly.

My mother’s eyes widened. “What? Why?”

I took a deep breath and ran them the details of everything that had transpired since Evenie came home. For the most part, my parents liked Iona. They thought she was a good fit for me and Summer Rose. Granted, they loved Evenie and were devastated at her disappearance. It took them some time to warm up to Iona, but once they did, they liked her. They only saw the sweet attentive side of her, so me telling them the shit that had been happening took them by surprise.

“I can’t believe she would do something like that,” my mother said, shaking her head.

“Me either,” I said, mimicking the motion. “Do y’all think I led her on?”

My father sighed. “I don’t think you led her on intentionally, son. I do, however, think you didn’t anticipate Evenie’s return. I know you didn’t mean to hurt Iona, but she is hurt. I’m not saying she wasn’t wrong for what she did, but I can see how she would be desperate to keep her spot. She thought she’d found her forever, and it blew up in her face.”

“I get that, Dad. But this was an unpredictable situation. Evenie’s disappearance and her return blindsided us. I told myself I was trying to do the right thing, but honestly, there was no right thing in this case. There was no way that somebody wasn’t going to end up hurt. I just… I love her, but Evenie… Dad, that’s my soulmate. I’ll break every heart to get back to her if I have to. I don’t care how long it takes me; I’m gonna win her heart back.”

He chuckled. “You’ve clearly always had her heart, Tyrion. I mean, she’s punching women in the face over you. Where was Nina’s ass when this happened, ’cause you know she would have made it worse?”

“You got that right.” My mother agreed.

I rubbed my temples. “Thank God she and Jaime had already gotten in their car. This would have been a very different story.”

“Have you told Summer?” my mother asked.

I shook my head. “No. I’m gonna talk to her today when I pick her up. I miss my baby. Pickups, drop-offs, and weekends ain’t enough. I’m ready for her to come home. That house feels so damn lonely without her energy. I find myself sitting in her room at night, just to feel close to her.”

My mother reached over and patted my hand. “Awww, baby. I know it’s hard, but she needed this time with her mother.”

“I know, Ma. She loves Evenie so much. If I did nothing else right in this world, I did the right thing by making sure she knew who her mother was, even when she wasn’t physically present.”

My parents nodded in agreement.

Silence fell between us as I relaxed into the chair cushions and took a long, deep breath. Closing my eyes, I allowed my thoughts to drift back to the past… back to happier times. I remembered when Ev and I first learned we were going to be parents. We hadn’t been trying to get pregnant, but we hadn’t exactly tried to prevent it either. I first took notice when I began experiencing her pregnancy symptoms.

At first, I thought I was tripping. I’d heard the old wives’ tale of men having symptoms my entire life. I’d always roll my eyes at that shit, thinking they were just being dramatic. That was until it happened to me. One too many bouts of nausea, diarrhea, weird cravings, and abdominal pain had me stopping by the pharmacy after work.

When I got home, Evenie was in the kitchen, cooking dinner. I walked through the door with the small white bag in my hand and kicked off my shoes. She looked up at me and smiled.

“Hey, baby.”

“Hey, love.”

I stood there for a moment, watching her moving around the kitchen. I smiled to myself, imagining her waddling around with a big belly full of baby. We’d talked about kids, and both of us knew we wanted at least three. I could see them following her around like a second shadow or calling her name every five minutes. I envisioned me rubbing and kissing on her belly or massaging her swollen feet. She was bound to have me up at ungodly hours because she and the babies were craving ice cream or some shit.

I chuckled to myself at the thought.

“Tyrion?” Evenie called, breaking me from my thoughts.

“Hmm?”

“Why are you just standing there staring at me?”

I grinned as I walked into the kitchen and pulled her into my arms. “I can’t look at my wife?”

“You can look, but why do I feel like you’re plotting on me?”

I laughed. “Maybe a little.” Cupping her face, I leaned in to kiss her. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, baby. What’s in the bag? Is it something for me?”

I chuckled. “You’re spoiled. Why would you assume it’s for you?”

“Because I’m spoiled.”

I shook my head. “Yes, it’s for you.”

She snatched the bag from my hands and eagerly opened it. A frown appeared on her pretty face when she pulled out the pregnancy test.

“What am I gonna do with this?”

“Take it, love.”

“Tyrion, I’m not pregnant.”

“Nah, you definitely are. I’ve had too many symptoms for you not to be. I wasn’t a believer in that shit until I started feeling it for myself. Go on and take your pretty ass in the bathroom and pee on this stick.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re being dramatic.”

“I’m being serious, love. Come on.”

She sighed and turned down the eye on the stove. Picking her up, I tossed her over my shoulder and carried her to the bathroom while she giggled and playfully beat on my back.

“Don’t drop me!”

I slapped her ass. “Ain’t nobody gon’ drop you, woman.”

Once we got to the bathroom, I placed her on her feet and took a seat on the counter. She shook her head as she pulled down her pants and underwear, then sat on the toilet. I watched as she opened the box and read the instructions before uncapping the stick and peeing on it. Placing the cap back on, she set it on the counter and cleaned herself up.

“You’re just wasting your time,” she said, flushing the toilet. She moved to the sink to wash her hands.

“Well, we have five minutes to find out,” I said, reaching out to rub her belly. “I think it’s a girl.”

She laughed. “Tyrion! You can’t be serious right now.”

“I’m dead ass. My baby is gonna have my baby. What do you think of the name Summer?”

“You’ve really worked this out in your head?”

“I did. I’ve been thinking about it all day.”

Evenie palmed her face. “Summer?”

“Summer Rose Lewis. We can’t just call her Summer. It has to be Summer Rose. That’s her name.”

She looked at me and poked her lip out. “You’re really ready to be a daddy?”

“The more I think about it, the more excited I get.” I pulled her between my legs and rubbed her flat stomach. “We’re gonna be a family, whether it’s in the next five minutes or five years, I can’t wait to share that with you.”

“When you say things like that, how am I not supposed to give you these bigheaded ass babies?”

I laughed. “I grew into my head, and they will too.”

I glanced over at the stick when it caught my eye. It had barely been two minutes and there were already two prominent lines. I snatched it up for a closer look. A grin spread across my face as I turned it for Evenie to see.

“We’re having a baby…” she said lowly. Her eyes met mine, and she grinned big. “We’re having a baby! Oh my God!”

I’d hopped down from the counter and lifted her into my arms, spinning her around. In that moment, I was so fucking happy. Nothing compared to the love of my life carrying our baby. I’d looked forward to that experience, over and over again, but the opportunity was stolen from us. So many opportunities and moments had been stolen from us. I knew we couldn’t get them back or start over, but we could start again.

It wasn’t too late… it couldn’t be too late.

“Hey, Daddy!” Summer Rose said excitedly as she hopped in the front seat of my car.

“Hey, Princess. Did you have a good day at school?”

“I had the best day. Did you have a good day?”

“I did. I went to see Mimi and G-Paw today.”

“I miss them. Can I go see them before you take me to Nana and Paw Paw’s?”

“Sure thing. Call Mommy to let her know.”

She smiled as she pulled her phone from her backpack to call Evenie on speaker. The phone rang twice before she answered.

“Hey, baby. How was school?”

“It was good. Mommy, Daddy is taking me to see Mimi and G-Paw before I come home, okay?”

“Okay. Tell them I said hey.”

“I will. Did you have a good day, Mommy? Did you get your job back?”

I could hear the smile in her voice as she answered. “I did! I start next week.”

Summer Rose gasped. “Congratulations! I’m so proud of you. I knew you could do it.”

“Thank you, baby.”

“Congratulations, love,” I said.

“Thank you, Tyrion.”

“We have to celebrate.”

“Daddy, you can cook her a celebration dinner,” Summer Rose suggested. “Daddy makes the best celebration dinners.”

I chuckled. “Your mom knows about that. What do you say, Ev? Come over this weekend, and I’ll make all your favorites.”

“I’ll help,” Summer Rose added.

“Well, I guess I can’t say no to that.”

“Great. I’ll pick up everything tomorrow.”

“Sounds like a plan. Enjoy your grandparents, baby. I’ll see you when you get home. I love you both.”

Summer gasped, then grinned. “We love you too. Right, Daddy?”

“I love you, Ev.”

Summer disconnected the call and looked over at me. “Daddy!”

“What?”

“You and Mommy? You’ve never said I love you to each other in front of me.”

I sighed. “I know. Things are… complicated…. different now. I need to tell you something, baby girl.”

“What is it?”

“Me and Ms. Iona broke up. I won’t go into detail about why, but we aren’t getting married.”

She looked at me for a moment like she was contemplating her words. “Are you sad?”

“I’m… I’m sad because her feelings are hurt, but I’m not sad because we broke up.”

“Did you break up with her for Mommy?”

Well shit. Sometimes I forget how mature she was for her age.

I shook my head. “No, but I can’t say that my feelings for mommy didn’t play a part in it.”

“You love her, and she loves you. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

I smiled. “No, there’s nothing wrong with that. I love your mother very much.”

“Are you getting back together?”

“How would you feel if we did?”

“Happy. I love Ms. Iona, and I would have been happy with her as my stepmom, but I’ve never had you and Mommy together. I want to know what that’s like. Like, would it be like watching Nana and Paw Paw or Mimi and G-Paw or Aunt Nina and Uncle Jaime? Sometimes, I dream about it; I just didn’t say anything to you about it.”

“Why not?”

“’Cause… even though you told me about Mommy when I asked, I could see it made you sad sometimes. I didn’t want you to cry.”

I reached over and grabbed her hand and kissed it. “You can always talk to me or ask me about your mom. I had a lot of years with her, so it was natural to be sad because I didn’t have her anymore. But we have her back. I’m gonna work very hard to make sure mommy knows how much I love her and want to be with her.”

“Okay… well can I still speak to Ms. Iona at school?”

“If she speaks to you and she’s nice, that’s fine. You just promise to let me know if she’s ever mean to you.”

She looked confused. “Why would she be mean to me?”

“Sometimes people don’t take breakups very well. I’m not saying she will be mean to you, but you let me know if she is. Understood?”

She nodded. “Okay.”

She relaxed into her seat and started playing a game on her phone. I prayed that Iona would act like she had some sense when it came to my baby. I was a calm man, but behind my kid, I would crash the fuck out. There would be nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and nobody was safe when it came to this little girl. I just prayed it never came to that.