“No, you really don’t. If you did you would have gotten Howard off my back at the age of ten when he was on my ass in pee wee. You would have stopped him before he completely drove me into the ground.”
“We aren’t starting that again. Are we?” His mother sounded bored and disgusted.
“Mrs. Richardson, I think I speak from experience being the daughter of Nancy Bradford, that never feeling like he was good enough in Mr. Richardson’s eyes has taken a toll on Tag,” Skylar was surprised by her outburst. Tag was even more surprised.
“Nancy was my friend. She and John provided you with every opportunity and you repaid her by giving birth to Jacob Shaw’s son’s bastard child.” Skylar gasped. She knew where that came from.
“And Luka is worth about fifty million Mother. Did you know that. His assets far exceed ours.”
“You can’t buy class Tag.”
“No you can’t but his child or children won’t be in prison for kidnapping either.” Skylar covered his hand with her own.
“We’ll find a way to get you out of this Tag. I promise,” his mother told him.
He scoffed. “Don’t you see that is the problem. Howard was always beating me down and you were always getting me out of trouble. Neither was a good thing.”
“I don’t know what you want from me Tag.” She sighed.
“Obviously. I just wanted to let you know that I was all right so you would stop calling. Call Luna Shaw and let her know that Skylar is all right too.”
Skylar tilted her head to the side. She was actually proud of Tag. She wanted him to go to prison but she was proud of him taking responsibility for his actions and thinking of someone besides himself.
“I’ll let the police know. They can call her.”
He gritted his teeth. “Mother,” he said through his clenched teeth. “She is very kind woman who cares a great deal about Skylar. Would you do me this one favor and call Luna yourself. Skylar will give you her phone number.”
Chapter 19
His mother was screaming. Luka started running up the stairs and met her at the top of the stairs. “What the hell Mom? You scared the shit out of me.”
Everyone, including Ava came out of their bedrooms. “Shawna Richardson just called me. Tag had Skylar call her to let her know she was all right.”
He turned and dropped on the steps. Luka dropped his head into his hands and cried. No one could remember the last time that they had seen Luka cry. They were all shocked. Tears over finding out about Ava had been different than these tears. He was practically sobbing into his hands.
His daughter went down the few steps to her father and wrapped her arms around his big shoulders. “It’s okay Daddy. Momma will be home soon I bet.”
He held her in his arms and cried on her shoulder for a change. Luka had never felt so helpless. This was worse than when he had walked away from her because then he had the situation controlled. What he was doing then was for the best for both of them. Now, he was just lost.
**
Later, he went to the kitchen and fixed a big pot of coffee. He didn’t know what else to do. Ramona joined him in the kitchen. He glanced over his shoulder at her when he heard her footsteps behind him.
“Still mad at me for telling Brett about the baby?” He asked.
“No, one of us needed to and I couldn’t seem to find the words.” She filled a cup with water and put it in the microwave.
“No coffee for you?” He asked her. “I seem to remember you living on caffeine.”
She patted her belly. “Too much for the baby.”
“So how is he taking it?” Luka asked.
“He is amazingly excited about this child.”
Ramona was searching through tea bags for a particular flavor. Skylar always had different flavors to choose from. “Ah, blackberry-ginger. Just what I need.” The timer dinged signaling the water was hot. She took the bag and her cup to the table and began dipping her tea bag it the water.
Luka took his coffee to the table too. He didn’t want to talk but he thought he would explode if he didn’t. He ran his fingers through his hair. “Do you think she will ever let me back in her life?”