“You’re sure he can do this?” Tabitha asked.
“He’s been doing it for days,” Devil said.
Lexie chuckled. “One day he refused to come in for dinner until he’d learned. He’s such a smart kid.”
Tabitha watched. The first few feet, he wobbled and she tensed, ready to sprint toward him. He didn’t give up. She cheered for him, clapping her hands as he rode all the way to their backyard, pressing on the brake to stop.
“That was so amazing.” She rushed to his side, pulling him off the bike and spinning him in the air.
Simon was there. Lifting him up and catching him. Nathan loved it. She did as well. She wanted to freeze the moment. This was perfect and every time she’d known perfection, something happened to shatter it apart.
****
Later that night, after putting Nathan to bed by reading to him, Simon looked at Tabby’s yawning face. “I’m going to call it a night,” she said.
“I’ll be up in a minute.” He stroked her cheek and she leaned into his hand.
“Thank you for today.”
“Nathan’s a great kid. I want to get to know him.”
“He really is. He’s smart and fearless, but he does cry at times. I want you to get to know him too.”
Cupping her face with both of his hands, he stared into her eyes. “I want you to understand that I don’t care what documents say. He’s mine. He will always be mine. I’m going to be his dad, your husband.”
“But—”
“No, buts. That’s how it’s going to be. Me and you against the world, right?”
“You won’t resent me?”
“No, hell, no. There’s nothing to resent. No reason for me to.” He brushed his lips across hers. “What I do need to do is go and see my parents.” Dinner had been an interesting affair, surrounded by his brothers and sister. There had also been some awkwardness, which he’d never experienced before at his family’s table.
He watched Tabby go into their room. Squaring his shoulders, he made his way downstairs, prepared to face the music. His parents sat at the dining room table. His father drank some whiskey while his mom looked to have a hot chocolate.
“It looks like we were all thinking the same thing,” he said, going to a chair, pulling it out, and sitting his ass down.
“You knew this was going to happen.”
“Are you kicking me out of the house?” he asked, looking between the two.
Lexie frowned. “Where the hell did that come from?”
“I don’t know. I just figured that’s what you were going to say. Look at how dinner went tonight.” He laughed. “The only people keeping the conversation running were Elizabeth and Josh. Believe me, their conversation wasn’t thrilling as kids, nor is it now.”
“You’ve been gone a long time, son. People don’t know what to expect. They’ve heard the rumors about you. You scare them.”
“You’re going to have to clue me in on the rumors. I’m still me,” he said.
“You’re not, honey,” Lexie said. “Even I can see that. You’re hardened by life. There was a time you’d have laughed at some of their bickering or joined in. Tonight you looked like you wanted to kill them with your fork.”
Simon ran his fingers through his hair. “I’ve changed, I get that. I’m still me, and all those years ago, I still wanted to kill them with my fork. I just covered it up.” He pressed his hands flat against the table. “I’m … I have a lot of shit going on and I have no right to complain. I’m not going to complain. I left Tabby and she raised our son all on her own.”
He looked toward his dad. “Why didn’t you ever tell me? Why did I have to find out from her five years after the fact? You told me you knew where I was. Why didn’t you come and get me?”
Devil poured himself another shot of whiskey and knocked it back. “Do you think you were in a position of being all that she needs? Raising a kid isn’t just today, cheering on their success. It’s coping with everything. You were hardly keeping your shit together.”
“I would have done that for Tabby.”
“And you’d have fucked it up big time. I made a judgment call. It wasn’t a pretty one, but I made it. You weren’t ready to know what happened to Tabby. The shit she had to put up with. The pregnancy was already stressful enough. The Monster Dogs came calling.”
Simon tensed up. “What the fuck?”
Devil smirked. “Yeah, I happened to be there that day. It was the same time I decided not to reach out to you.” Devil poured himself another shot of whiskey. “I was at the clubhouse. All the arrangements had been set in place. Lash was pissed they turned up uninvited on his turf and to top it off, it was one of the rare occasions Tabitha was even at the clubhouse. Dick had been teaching her some meditation or some shit. I don’t know.”