Brettcharges at me like a bull until he’s chest to chest with me. If he throws the first punch, all bets are off. It’sself-defensethen. “You worthless, entitled, arrogant piece of shit. Who do you think you are?”
“He’s my dad,” my son, who I have yet to officially meet declares. I watch, almost in slow motion as he hurls a foot into Brett’s family jewels, dropping the man to his knees. Then he pulls back a tiny fist hitting him in the nose before he wraps himself around my legs.
“Tyler Christopher Sinclair!” Heaven exclaims.
“Holy shit, Ty,” the older kid, I’m assuming her brother Matt, laughs.
But allmy focus is on the little boy wrapped around my legs. “I knew you would come. Momma said you were far away because your job was a bigdeal, but I knew you would come.”
I place a hand to his back, my eyes meeting Heaven’s. “Y— you told him about me?” I croak.
She nods, her eyes getting watery. She covers her mouth. A sure sign that sobbing is about to happen. “I wanted him to know who his dad was.”
Bittersweet. It seems to be a thing now.
“You just didn’t want me to know?” My tone is calm despite the warring emotions inside of me. The ones that want to wrap them both up and hold on to this forever. Then the ones that want to wrap him up and leave.
The only one I let stick is him. I drop to his level, grabbing each side of his face to meet his eyes. “I would’ve been here sooner if I’d known,” I promise him.
He bobs his head up and down with a wide grin. “I know.” When he throws his arms around me, I nearly lose it. I bury my face in his hair, holding him tightly. Tears fall. Another new trend, but these tears. They’re as different as what I feel for this little boy.
My little boy.
I hear Heaven sniff. I look up to see her watching us. So much regret and guilt fills her eyes. “I’m so sorry,” she mouths.
I can’t hear that right now, so I bury my face back into my son’s hair.
“Does this mean you’re coming to live with us now? Then Momma won’t have to work so much, and we won’t lose Nana and Papa’s house.”
I look up quickly to catch Heaven’s gaze again. Her face has gone pale. Behind her, her brother looks just as pale. “Tyler, how did you–? Where did you —?”
Tyler turns around to look at her with a wry grin. “I’m good at snooping, Momma.”
“You’re not supposed to snoop,” she tries to scold but her shock is too profound.
“But I need to know so I can help.”
She squeezes her eyes shut. Pain and sadness of another kind distorts her features. “You can’t help, dude, and it’s my job anyway. I’m the mom, remember. Why don’t you go inside and get a snack while I talk to Ry— I mean your dad.”
“Fine,” he huffs. He spins on his heels to face me. “You’re not leaving, are you? You can stay, right?”
“No, buddy, I can’t stay today, but I’ll be back tomorrow.”
He looks to Heaven and back to me. Before he nods, his shoulders falling. He turns to head to the house but stops, spinning once again to throw his arms around me. “I’m so glad you’re here. I always wanted a dad.”
I squeeze my eyes as I squeeze him for a second. I release him and watch until he’s inside the house.
From the ground, comes a pathetic moaning. I look down to see thelong-forgotten asshole still clutching his balls. “Man, you’re either trying to get some sympathy, which is pathetic, or you are just a pussy. Get up.”
“Fuck you,” he groans as he gets to his knees.
“Nah. You’re not my type. I like guys that take a punch to the dick.”
He looks at me with confusion. When I smirk, he glowers. “I still don’t understand why you’re here.”
“And I still don’t understand why you think it concerns you. Go home little boy. Let the adults talk.”
“I’ll stay. She needs me.” He puffs his chest like he’s some tough guy. Tough guys don’t get taken down by eight-year-olds.
