Chapter 26

Cindy

I thought Tyler and I had held things up pretty well until he drops the ex bombshell. But we both agreed everything had to come out in the open in one sitting. We both owe my dad and Angelique that much. I don't even want to think about my mom right now and her reaction to all of this when I see her.

As soon as the pregnancy words are out of Tyler's mouth, and the added bonus of The Seattle Times article, Dad abruptly gets up out of his seat and goes a strange color, from red to purple, and then he just seems to blank out for a moment.

"What exactly is this!" He shouts after a moment.

I run a hand over my face, as if things aren't bad enough with me trying to make sense of it myself, now Dad is as angry as I've ever seen him.

"You knock one girl up, then move on to a precious angel like my daughter?"

Tyler tenses next to me. I know these hits on his character can't be easy, but Dad isn't going to see things exactly how they are right now. He's just going to see the worst of it, and I guess in the light of day, it looks pretty bad.

"That really isn't how it is," Tyler says carefully, looking up at my dad, who's just standing there with his hands on his hips. "Believe me, I'm just as shocked as everyone here. Like I said, I just found out myself. It was after Cindy and I started seeing each other. I only saw Stacey yesterday."

He tells them his plans going forward. If Stacey doesn't want to keep the baby, then he will raise her with the help of his family.

"And where does my daughter come into all of this?" He grits, pointing at Tyler.

He's so mad I don't think he can even see straight.

"Clive, please sit down," Angelique pleads.

"No, goddamn it, I won't sit down! What does he expect me to say? He knocks up one girl he says he conveniently didn't know about, and now wants to raise the kid but still date my daughter? I don't understand how that's going to work out."

"Dad, please. We haven't sorted out the details yet. It's still early days. Tyler and I have just started dating, so it's a difficult situation, but we're trying to navigate around it."

"Meaning you're still willing to stand by his side."

"We both agreed to see how things went over time, but I love him, yes."

Dad balks. "You love him?"

"Yes, Dad. I do."

"In the short space you've known him?" Dad shakes his head and glares at Tyler. "You need to leave, Tyler, NOW!"

"Please, coach… I never meant for this to happen. I love your daughter. But I want to do the right thing by my ex. We're doing the paternity test next week…"

"Great, so you don't even know if the kid is even yours!"

"I have to get all the facts before we can come to that conclusion. Then I can make a plan going forward." Tyler's voice is small, and I can tell he's all out of puff.

It's not a side I've seen to him on the ice; surrender.

He looks and sounds defeated. He makes a move to stand, but I clutch onto his arm.

"Tyler, wait."

"Your dad is right," he says. "I'm sorry, Cindy." He glances over at Dad and Angelique. "And I'm sorry to you both for what I've put Cindy through with this, and now more scrutiny is about to unleash. I'll have you know I'm contacting the newspaper right after this to give them a formal statement about the article and about the facts."

"The one you haven't even seen yet," dad scoffs.

"I want to make this right," Tyler says. "I love Cindy no matter what you might think. And I'm willing to navigate through it day by day, as long as Cindy wants me. But I think we can all agree that we need some space."

I feel something in my chest stab me, at the same time it's like a heavy weight has been dropped on my heart. I take a breath, hoping that might bring some clarity, at least for just a moment. But I'm met with a feeling of emptiness and confusion because Tyler is leaving.

"That's the best thing you've said all day," Dad gripes.

Angelique stands too. "I'll see you out, Tyler," she says quietly.

"I'm coming with you." I jump out of my seat, knowing I have to find Henry. He's probably still running around the backyard with Ruby, oblivious to everything that's just gone down.

Dad stands and watches us go. I think he's too shocked to even say anything else.

The rain has let up when we finally round up Henry and make our way out to the car.

Everything feels like a mess, and I'm on the verge of tears.

"It might not seem like it now," Angelique says as I put Henry in the car and turn to give her a hug because she followed us out. "But you two will get through this. It was very brave to come here and lay it all down on the line like that."

"I don't feel very brave," I mutter into Angelique's shoulder as she pulls back to look at me.

"You too, Tyler. You know what he's like. When he settles down, things will come more rationally and it will start to make sense. I can see the love you have for each other in this short space of time."

"I meant what I said," Tyler says over the hood of the car, holding his driver's door open. "I love Cindy, and there's nothing I won't do."

"Then hold on to that," she says. "A love like that is worth fighting for."

"Thank you," he says with a small smile. "You've been very kind. I'm glad you can see how much we care about each other."

"Yes," I agree. "Thanks for sticking up for us." I give Angelique another hug.

"You two go and sort yourselves out. Let me work on my husband."

She squeezes my hand as we get back into the car and she waves us off. She may be a tiny little southern woman, but if anyone can calm my dad down and make him see sense, it's her.

Her kindness this afternoon really shone through, and I may just need to hold on to that shred of hope that things will be okay… because next I have to call my mother.

* * *

Tyler drives me to Tacoma after a quick convo with Mom over the phone to make sure she's home.

Nothing like getting it all out in the open in one fell swoop. We figured while we were on a roll, no matter how bad, we may as well keep going.

The conversation is very brief but I want to let her know before we get there that me and Tyler are coming together and we wanted to talk to her about some things…

It went like this;

"What on earth are you bringing Tyler Peterson here for, Cindy?" She says. "And also, why haven't you been returning my calls?"

"He's my boyfriend, Mom. And I've been trying to forget about the last conversation we had that resulted in tears."

"You feel too much, Cindy. I've been saying this to your father for years, not that he ever listened."

Yes, and you don't seem to feel enough, mother dear.

"I don't see how that's relevant," I say.

She disregards that. "And I don't think it's appropriate for Tyler coming over. I have visitors."

I roll my eyes. "Well, we're coming anyway, so your visitors will just have to wait or go do something for an hour or two."

I didn't even give her a chance to respond before I hung up.

I'll see the wrath of her for that, too, but so be it.

"This is shaping up to be one hell of a day," I sigh, looking out of the window as Henry cozies up between us once again.

Tyler doesn't say anything. I turn my head to look at him.

"Ty, are you okay? I know that was pretty brutal in there…"

He turns his head and I see genuine concern on his face as well as watery eyes. "I'm not okay, Cind. And surely you can't be after that. I knew it was going to be hard, but I feel like the world's biggest asshole. Now you have your dad mad at us both, and next it's gonna be your mom. It's not supposed to be like this, and I've fucking caused it all."

"Tyler, it may not be ideal, I admit, but Angelique is on our side. And my parents will have to come on board, like it or not. We have something unique, regardless of all of this. We don't know all the answers yet, but we will figure it out."

"It's going to be a damned sight easier for you and for them if you walked away," he sighs. "I mean it, Cind. Do you really want the press all over this making judgment over you because we were snapped together? It isn't fair."

"That's not your fault!" I cry. Henry looks up at me from my tone. I soothe him on the head with my hand until he puts his head back down again. "And don't talk like that. I'm not walking away. Why would that be easier?"

"I'm no good for you, baby. I feel like I'm fucking up your impeccable reputation by just being with me."

"What?"

"You heard me. I feel like I've corrupted you. I was pretty fucking quick to take your virtue after all!"

"Tyler, I'm twenty-seven years old. You didn't take my virtue or corrupt me! I did nothing I didn't want to do. My parents can like it or lump it as far as I'm concerned. And I wouldn't be too worried about my mother, she's quite happy for me to get back together with my childhood ex who boned another girl in the parish for goodness sake!"

"That doesn't make me a saint," he mutters.

"Well, you'd look like one compared to Damon." I reach out to touch him on the arm. "All relationships have problems," I murmur.

He looks at me, trying to manage a smile for my sake. "Will you stop being my perfect voice of reason and making everything okay?"

"What would you like me to do? Scream from the rafters how much this sucks?"

"It would make me feel better."

"Would it really?"

He shrugs. "I don't know right now, Cind. I just need to get this part over with so your family knows the score. Then I need to go and clear my head in the gym or something."

I nod, swallowing hard. This has been a lot, and he's never even met my mom…

When we finally pull up, I take a few deep breaths and decide no matter what happens, I'm not going to let her walk all over me.

Of course, I'm not expecting things to go down very well with her either. In fact, she's on the defensive the second we walk in. And of course I end up wondering why the hell we even came to see her, because she was never going to approve.

At least her ‘guests' aren't hanging around, because there's no sign of them the whole time we're there.

"Newspapers print lies, Mom, and make them look like something else. We've no idea what the article is going to say yet, but we wanted you to be prepared. Tyler is my boyfriend and that is that."

"It's a disgrace!" She shouts, folding her arms across her chest. "Impregnating a woman out of wedlock and then shacking up with someone as pure as my daughter."

Pure? Oh, I'm sure she thinks I'm as pure as the driven snow. But she wouldn't be thinking that if she knew what me and Tyler had been up to lately.

"Mom, plenty of women have babies out of wedlock, and as Tyler has told you umpteen times, he didn't know until now. They broke up over six months ago."

"Well, I'm not having it." She folds her arms over her chest as we're about to get up and leave, because she was never going to accept Tyler even without all the ex shit going on. What a joke this has all turned out to be, a very sad one at that.

I know it isn't ideal circumstances, but what relationship doesn't have problems? At least we're being upfront and tackling things head on.

"I don't care if you're having it or not, Mom. I love Tyler and he loves me. So you can like it or lump it."

Her face reddens, and she looks like she's going to explode. "How dare you, young lady! You can't just spring this on me and expect me to be okay with it."

I laugh haughtily. "You were never going to be, no matter what we said."

I glance at Tyler, who's looking like he wants to shrivel up and die. "I love your daughter," he says simply. "I'd never do anything purposefully to hurt her. This has all come out of the blue, but I'm going to make it right."

"Hopefully by leaving her alone!" Mom shouts.

"Don't shout at him!" I yell back. And I can't say I've ever yelled at my mom like this before. Even that day at the restaurant wasn't this bad. We're here bearing our hearts on our sleeves, trying to navigate a very delicate situation, and she's not even willing to listen. We're grown adults. She needs to accept I'm not a baby anymore, and she can't keep casting her judgment over me like a dark cloud. Nothing I've ever done has been good enough for her. Nothing at all.

"I'll shout all I want to. I knew this was a bad idea not having someone looking out for you. When I spoke to your father recently, I said that attack in college really set things back, and you're still not thinking straight."

I gasp. It's like she's hit me in the guts. My head flicks to Tyler. This is something he doesn't know about. Something I've been toying with telling him, and I wanted to in my own time.

"Mom!"

"I don't suppose she told you that, Tyler? She had a man stalk and then attack her in college. This wouldn't have happened, you know, if we'd stayed in Buffalo and you'd married your betrothed like you were supposed to."

"Now wait a minute!" Tyler's tone is more than assertive as he glares at my mom.

He puts his arm around me in a show of protection. I swallow as I look at him. Tears spring from my eyes as we share a look. I shake my head, though, in case he blurts out something he might regret.

How could she say something like that? Why is she still doing this to me?

It's sick and I tell her as much.

"How dare you, Mom! Just because you want to keep your standing in the precious church. I said it before about Damon, so why don't you just go back to Buffalo and marry the whole lot of them!"

"That's exactly what I'm going to do! I'm moving back to Buffalo. Sheila and Damon are here for the weekend, helping me sort out the details. I've been trying to call you about it, and your sister."

I gasp. Oh lord, my head is going to spin off at any moment.

She's brought up my attack out loud without my consent, and now my ex and his mom are here in Tacoma?

"What are you talking about?" I stammer.

I don't even get to hear the details as Tyler intervenes by wiping my tears away with his fingers and looks at my mom. "I'm sorry you can't see what a beautiful daughter you have, Adele," he says. "But I can't listen to this any longer." He tugs at my hand and I nod. "We need to leave."

I take hold of Henry, who's sitting at my feet because he isn't allowed on the couch. He's looking very uncomfortable at the raised voices and all the angst in the air.

It's stifling, to say the least, and I need to breathe.

I don't even register what Mom is saying about moving back to Buffalo.

When was she going to spring that on me and Caitlin? She's the most uncaring, selfish woman I've ever come across.

I don't know what my dad saw in her or how they got together, and I've often thought this. At least with Dad, I know he'll come around eventually.

We make it out to the car when another car pulls up. I can't even believe what I'm seeing when I'm almost inside, ready to make our getaway and Damon, of all people, steps out of the car. I feel like I'm in the twilight zone.

So Mom wasn't even kidding about that!

"Oh, God, Tyler. It's my ex, Damon. I didn't for one second think Mom was serious."

He sighs, looking more troubled than ever. I'm not sure how much more either of us can take for one day, but I straighten myself out, leaving Henry sitting on the passenger seat for a second.

I see Sheila just before Tyler rounds the front of the car to stand by me.

"Cindy sweetheart, it's so good to see you."

My heart is thudding in my chest. I look down at the ground. I haven't seen her since the whole debacle years ago and no one stood up for me then, except my father.

She brushed it all under the carpet as much as my own mom did.

"I wish I could say the same," I retort.

She gasps like I slapped her. "Obviously, you're surprised to see us, honey. Your mom…"

"That doesn't even cut it, and I don't want to talk about my mom right now." I glance at Damon, who is looking about ten shades paler than normal. He hasn't changed much, except he's a little taller, his hair a little shaggier. I can't help but feel he still looks like a boy compared to Tyler, who's all strapping and broody next to me.

I hear Tyler's breath shift as he places a protective hand on my hip.

That right there says it all. I glance up at him. "This is Damon's mom, Sheila, and my ex, Damon.

"Tyler Peterson, Cindy's boyfriend," he replies curtly.

Damon's eyes grow wide when he puts two and two together about who Tyler is.

The fact Tyer said he's my boyfriend flutters in my stomach, and I know right then, even despite all this angst, we're going to work this shit out once and for all.

Tyler and I are meant to be together, come what may.

I glance at Damon. It's been such a long time. I didn't expect to see him like this in my mom's driveway in Tacoma!

"Cindy." He nods his head towards me and then looks at Tyler. Neither guys look happy to see each other.

"I'm going to head inside," Sheila quickly says, "Let you kids talk it out."

"We were actually just leaving," I reply as Sheila scurries past us to get inside.

Nope, she never was one for confrontation.

"Cindy, wait!" Damon reaches for my arm, but Tyler takes a step in front of me.

"Don't touch her!" He says, giving Damon a shove in the shoulder.

Oh god, this is all we need.

Now there's a testosterone competition going on in my mom's driveway. My new boyfriend picking a fight with my old one from years ago.

"Hey, I just wanted to talk to Cindy for a moment," he protests, holding his hands up.

"It's fine," I say to Tyler. "I'm sure he's here for his mom's benefit."

"And I'm sure he isn't," Tyler seethes. "If you upset her in any way, shape, or form, I'll end you." He points right in Damon's face. Thankfully, Damon doesn't fight back. He looks scared shitless, actually.

"Ty, that won't be necessary," I tell him. "It's fine." He looks at me and swallows hard before backing off and grabbing Henry out of the passenger seat. He walks over to the little piece of lawn next to the driveway to give me and Damon a second, though I can tell he's not happy about it.

"How have you been?" Damon asks.

"I've been better, actually," I say, rudely. Him being here is bringing up things for me that aren't good. "What are you doing at my mom's place, Damon?"

"I came with Mom. You know how she hates traveling alone. She's working out the details with your mom about the move. Adele phoned her last week, saying she wanted to move back to Buffalo."

Last week! So she's known this for a while. I'm sure she knew her own plans when we had lunch that day we fought, and has only just decided to tell me, her own daughter. She might claim she's tried to call me about it, but I seriously doubt she would have told me until it was happening. Clearly Caitlin doesn't know either, as she would have said something this morning.

"Something I just learned myself," I say.

"You didn't know?" His eyes grow wide.

"No, I didn't. And are you sure that's why you're really here?" I tilt my head to the side. "And I say this because whenever I meet with my mom, she's still pushing you on me!"

Damon looks warily over to Tyler, who's playing with Henry, but keeping one eye on us. He's probably just out of earshot to hear, but maybe not. "Cindy, I never stopped loving you," he whispers through gritted teeth. "I was going to come and see you while I was here. Not a day goes by that I don't think about you."

I look at him sadly. That's all I can feel at this point. I think the fight left me a long time ago, if I'm honest. I have nothing left for him anymore.

"Oh really? And how's Jessica?" I ask sarcastically.

"We broke up," he sighs.

"That figures. It was really great finding out you two became an item after you swore black and blue that you had no interest in her like that. Other than sticking it to her, of course."

"I'm sorry, Cindy. My parents were insistent that I stay with her since I…"

"Screwed her. It's okay, you can say it."

"Not my proudest moment. I'll regret it forever." He flicks his eyes to Tyler. "He's a lucky man."

Wow, he's actually taking some responsibility for once. I can't even believe it. "Thank you," I manage. "I hope you work things out with Jessica. You sure have lasted longer than you and I ever did," I say.

He presses his lips together and gives me a nod and a half smile. "Goodbye, Cindy."

"Goodbye, Damon." I almost feel sorry for the guy. And I wonder what would have happened if I'd stayed in Buffalo and Damon hadn't let his horny fantasies about other girls get the better of him. I guess we'll never know.

I turn to Tyler as Damon walks away to my mom's front door. "Ty," I call out.

But he's been watching us the whole time and already walking towards me with Henry under his arm.

"I want to go home."

He leans down to kiss me and I don't care who might be watching from the window.

They can all go to Hell as far as I'm concerned.