"Not you though, right?"
I always made sure to ask Andrew about his time with his mother. I never flat-out asked if Charmaine was unkind to him and maybe I should have if the guilty look on Andrew's face was any indication.
"I mostly learned to just stay out of her way when she was in certain moods."
My chin dropped to my chest in defeat. How could I have missed it?
"I'm sorry, Andrew. You should never have had to deal with that and I can promise you that you never will again. Your mother is going to prison for what she did and I'll make sure you never see her again, if that's what you want."
I didn't care what a judge said, Andrew would never have to listen to the vile woman if that was what he chose.
"I would like to at least see her one time and ask why she did what she did."
That was the last thing I wanted him to do but it wasn't my job to tell him no. As his father, I could try and protect him from everything under the sun, but at the end of the day, he was a teenager and these decisions were his. He was old enough to know what he wanted. Besides, if that was the kind of closure he needed, then I would gladly make sure he got it.
"Then I'll make sure you get to see her."
Sarah was suspiciously quiet during our exchange and I wondered why. I would make sure to ask her about that just as soon as we had some alone time.
It took longerto get everyone out of my place than I expected. By the time Andrew went to bed and I was walking to my own room, I was ready to fall flat on my face.
"You look exhausted," Sarah told me as soon as I walked through the door.
The woman looked like an angel sitting in our bed with her back against the headboard and a pillow on her lap.
I crawled on the bed and laid my head on the pillow. Within seconds, Sarah was running her fingers through my hair. I could stay like this forever and not have a thing to worry about.
But that wasn't an option.
"How come you were so quiet today?"
I kept my head where it was at and let Sarah control how this conversation was going to go. At first, she paused, but then it didn't take long for her to fall back into a rhythm.
"I didn't know what to say and I didn't want to interrupt your time with Andrew. I figured it was going to be hard enough on him hearing what you had to say."
I rolled over and repositioned the pillow so that she could still play with my hair if she wanted to but my new position allowed me to look up at her.
"Don't ever be afraid to speak up even when Andrew is talking. My son cares about you just as much as I do. I could see it the first time you guys met. He took to you faster than he ever did his mother." I said the last few words with such disdain. I still couldn't believe what Andrew had told me about how he avoided her just to stay off her bad side.
"I don't understand how someone can have the father of their child kidnapped the way she did. Everything she put us through." She shook her head. “And for what?"
Now was as good of a time as any to tell her. "Because my life insurance policies equate to about twenty-five million dollars."
That gave Sarah some pause. "She did all of that for your life insurance?"
I liked that. She didn't care how much I was worth but instead cared more about how someone could do such a thing. I nodded my head and then explained. "But what she didn't realize was I took her off my policies a long time ago and left almost everything to Andrew to access when he turns twenty-one. I mean she would've continued to receive child support likeshe did while I was alive but me being dead is of no benefit to her."
A smile crept up my face when Sarah laughed. "I would've killed to be a fly on the wall when you told her that. Wait, you did tell her, right?"
"Of course I did." I snorted out the answer. "Her face was priceless and the things she called me afterward made it all worth it."
"I can only imagine."
I played with the hem of her shirt and traced my finger along her belly. "Is that the only reason you were quiet? You're not having second thoughts, are you?"
I released a deep exhale when she shook her head no. "Sure, I was worried about you. That's why I sent Matthew to find you, but I'm not having second thoughts. Black made sure of that."
A million different thoughts about what my boss possibly could've said raced through my mind. Black had been overprotective since everything went down with Charmaine and for good reason. "What did he say?"
