Bare Skin (Skin Deep 5)

Chapter 21

Calland

I was getting dizzy watching Dani pace back and forth across the floor. Kaden had been watching her, too, but had finally given up and was now banging away at the leg of the coffee table with one of his hard plastic toys that blipped, beeped, and played random, tinny-sounding tunes every time it made contact.

“He’s late,” she said, checking the time, yet again.

“He’ll be here, Dani. Chill.”

That got me a dirty look, but at least she quit pacing for a second. She’d already set the table in the dining room (something that hadn’t happened to that table since I moved in), and dinner was pretty much done, we were just waiting on T.J.

For the record? He was literally one minute late.

I shook my head at her, then smiled down at Kaden who’d done his little army-crawl thing towards where I was sitting on the couch. I lifted him up into my arms just as there was a knock at the door.

Dani flew to answer it, but then stood in front of it, blocking T.J. from even entering.

I chuckled. “Dani, honey, you’re gonna have to move to let him in,” I called.

T.J. laughed at that, leaning in to give his sister a warm hug. “It’s okay, Dani. I’m nervous too, but…I have you here, right?”

She nodded at him and stepped aside, letting T.J. slip past her. He came to a stop as he stared at the baby sitting on my lap, babbling away.

I saw his eyes well up. “He looks like me,” he whispered, emotion clogging his throat.

“Exactly,” Dani said softly before she told him, “You can hold him.”

T.J. nodded but made no move to cross the room and take Kaden from me. Instead, he looked over at Dani. “He’s really mine? That’s my son?”

She nodded, her own tears starting to trickle down her cheeks. “Yes, Taylor. And I am so, so sorry that this is the first time you’ve gotten to see him. I should have just told you over the phone, but…”

He shook his head, cutting her off. “No. I honestly don’t think I would have believed it, Dani. That bitch…”

“You don’t have to worry about her anymore.”

I could see the hesitation in him before he asked, “Did she…was she using during the pregnancy?”

Dani closed her eyes before she answered. “She admitted to me that she’d smoked weed a couple times and had drank some in the beginning. But she swore that she stopped, and I believed her. I checked with the doctors, and Kaden was monitored closely the first few months of his life, and there seems to be no problems. Of course, the only reason she took care of herself for the baby’s sake was because she saw it as a way to get to you, hoping you’d change your mind once you found out she’d kept him. And then when she realized it wasn’t going to happen…”

T.J. growled under his breath and I gave thanks silently that Kaden never had to meet the woman that birthed him, and that T.J. didn’t have that albatross hanging around his neck, either. I know it’s horrible to speak ill of the dead, but the little I’d heard of the woman made me sick.

I could only imagine the shit I hadn’t heard.

T.J. took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then moved across the room to take Kaden from me. He lifted him up carefully, like he was afraid he’d break him, and settled him in his arms. Dani’s tears started anew when father and son stared at each other, T.J.’s face awash in amazement and unrequited love, while Kade just studied the stranger holding him.

Then T.J. smiled at the baby, and Kaden answered in kind, grinning up at his dad.

When I heard Dani’s breath whoosh out, I realized she’d been holding it and looked at her, catching her eye. She smiled at me, tears still spilling down her cheeks, but I knew they were happy ones. I winked and jerked my head towards the kitchen.

Her eyes widened. “Oh! Dinner!” she cried, and ran to check on it. A second later, she called out for us to come eat.

T.J. walked into the dining room, still holding Kade as he sat down.

Dani came in carrying a large casserole dish full of Monterey ranch chicken (a fucking delicious meal she’d made for me a couple of times consisting of chicken cooked in ranch and covered in melted shredded Monterey-jack cheese), sitting it on a hot pad in the middle of the table.

“You can put him in his high chair, Teej,” she said as she bustled back into the kitchen.

I helped T.J. get the baby settled in the full size high chair that I’d picked up the second week Dani had been at my house, and we all sat down to eat.

The rest of the night went smoothly, with Dani and I stepping back a little to let T.J. get acquainted with his child, but he made sure that he kept Dani involved as much as possible. He gave him his last bottle for the night, though he let Dani put him to bed before he got ready to leave.

He stood in the doorway, hugging his sister. “You’ve done an awesome job with him, Dani. And I’m going to be here for him, and for you, without fail from here on out. I’m done running.”

She nodded. “Good. Because he’s going to need you. And so am I, especially if I’m hanging around this town.” She smiled up at him and then winked at me.

Sassy little thing.