One More Time

I nodded. I believed him. For the most part, at least.

“Well, I have to say, I couldn't be happier with how it all worked out.”

r /> “It's nice of you to still let your brother have a role in the company, after all that he'd done,” Terrance said. “Most of us assumed you'd fire him on the spot for trying to steal everything from you. It takes a big man to do what you did. A mature man. The sort of calm presence and cool head Crane needs moving forward, now that you father has stepped down.”

I shrugged. “Adam might be a scheming asshole sometimes, but it's only fair he gets his share,” I said. “Besides, he fulfilled my father's last wish too.”

He and Danielle had a darling little boy of their own. They weren't together, but the child she was carrying turned out to be Adam's all along. Apparently, Tyler wasn't the only side piece Danielle had been stringing along. The more I learned about her, the more disgusted with her I became. She really was a reprehensible human being.

Truth be told, I wanted my children to grow up knowing their uncle and cousin. I wanted that even given the somewhat strained circumstances. Family was important, after all, and Adam's son – Lucas – was family. He was my nephew.

Like Adam, he also didn't ask to be born into this mess, so we played nice for his sake. He needed family every bit as much as the rest of us did.

As I thought back on it all, I just shook my head. Adam and Danielle had planned all along to keep me believing that I had a child on the way with her. Once that die was cast and we'd all bought into it, they were going to drop the bombshell and admit that Lucas was, indeed, Adam's child.

The baby had been conceived after we'd broken up, she wasn't nearly as far along as she'd pretended to be. There was no way he could have been mine, so there was need for paternity tests to determine it. Lucas was Adam's son. Adam finally admitted it, and I'd let him keep a job with the company.

And Casey would be giving me not one, but two, beautiful daughters.

My phone buzzed, and when I checked the caller ID, I saw that it was my mother. I picked it up on the first ring.

“Casey's gone into labor,” she squealed. “It's time, Malcolm.”

My heart raced, and I started to panic, trying to remember everything I needed to do.

“Terrance, I have to go,” I said, scrambling to get my things together.

I hung up the phone and rushed toward the door, but Terrance was right on my tail.

“But the meeting with Mr. Brownstein,” he said. “This is an important meeting, Malcolm.”

“Yeah, but my fiancée is in labor with our babies right now,” I said. “So, it looks like you'll be handling it for me.”

“You know your father would stay, right?” he said. “He'd see this through.”

Yeah, I knew that. I knew it all too well. He'd stayed to take a meeting and had missed some of the more important parts of my life. I’d determined long ago that when it came to my own children, I would never let business take precedence over them. “I'm not my father, Terrance,” I said. “I love this company and I'll work my ass off for it, but my family will always come first. Always. So, if you'll excuse me--”

I stepped out of the conference room and rushed out of the building. I had to get to Casey. She was the all that mattered to me. Her and the babies.

Our babies.

~ooo000ooo~

“You're going to have your hands full, Malcolm,” Dad said, beaming proudly.

He was now confined to a wheelchair. His legs no longer worked, but his mind was still mostly intact. Thankfully. Over the last few months, he'd gotten a bit gentler. Kinder even. It was as if he knew his time was drawing to an end and he wanted to make amends for his past behavior.

“I only wish I could watch them grow up,” he said.

Casey held Ava, my oldest daughter by a mere two minutes, while I had Violet. I handed Violet over to my father, and the light in his eyes in that moment was something I hadn't seen in years. Not since I was a little boy myself.

It was my mom, however, that seemed to be the most ecstatic. Casey let her hold Ava, and the baby melted in my mother's arms. She buried her face into the soft skin of the child, inhaling her scent, a look of absolute rapture upon her face.

I had to wonder if my dad didn't make the request for babies for her, and not just for him. I started to wonder because he looked as pleased watching my mother hold her granddaughter as he did holding Violet himself.

“Knock, knock,” a voice came from the doorway.

Casey's mother, sister and brother were standing there, wide smiles on all of their faces. Sierra ran over to Casey and screeched happily.