As he put his shirt back on, his phone bleeped and he saw a text from his mother that said, “Carlson Billionaire Spotted with Love Twins” with a tabloid link. Bella took the kids to the bathroom. Sighing, he called his mother.
“Who is this blonde child? She looks exactly like you!” his mother shouted into the phone.
“Hello to you too, Mother. How are you today?” he said facetiously.
“Don’t change the subject. Who are those kids?”
“Children of an employee.”
“Nonsense, Harvey. She’s the image of you right down to her stubborn mouth. Are you telling me you’ve fathered twins?”
He gripped the phone tightly. “Yes, Mother. I have. I didn’t know it until recently.”
“What legal steps have been taken? Are they in your custody?”
“No, of course not. I’m pursuing a temporary custody hearing to secure regular visitation and establish child support.”
“This is absurd. Who raised you, boy? You do not pander to whatever slut you impregnated. These children should be in a top flight private school and keep only the most elite company. A public park is hardly the appropriate place for a Carlson. They might have been sold crack!”
“No one sold them crack, Mother.”
“This gold digger will not get a dime of Carlson money. The children, however, will reside in the family compound within the next twenty-four hours, mark my words. What is the girl’s name?”
“Corinne.”
“No, the mother.”
“Bella James. She’s a marketing executive, and she’s never asked me for money.”
“So you say. You and your father, never able to keep your trousers buttoned and populating the earth with your stray seed,” she clucked her tongue. “Thank goodness your brother knows how to use a condom, at least. I’ll be in touch.”
“Mother, no—”
Harvey looked at his phone in disbelief. His mother was even now mobilizing the incomparable Carlson legal team to secure custody of the twins. Bella would be furious. Hell, he was furious because it wasn’t his mother’s business. It was his. He got in the pool with the kids and made himself focus on them. He congratulated himself for encouraging Caden who was positively playful and carefree in the pool. The kid would do great in swimming lessons. He was already beating everyone at Marco Polo.
Sure, the people swimming laps might complain about the noise, but then he’d buy the whole damn gym and cancel their memberships. He watched with satisfaction as Corinne paddled toward him and he caught her, lifting her up out of the water and swinging her around as she squealed.
Bella looked on, smiling, and he realized he had to tell her his mother was on a rampage. He put Corinne down and strode over to Bella. “The tabloids
are onto us. We’re all over the web. My mom just called. She saw a picture of me with Corinne. She’s called her lawyers.”
“What? Call her off, Harvey! It’s not her situation to figure out. It’s ours. We can have play dates like this and get the kids comfortable with you, and then tell them you’re their father. There’s no rush, and we don’t need a legal team!”
“I’ve told my mother I don’t want her involved, and I have no intention of letting her dominate the custody negotiations. However, I’m not sure I can trust you—who deprived me of these children for over five years—to decide what we do and do not need.”
“That’s not true, Harvey. You know why I did what I did. It was wrong, and I admit that. I also know that we have to be reasonable and do what’s best for the kids.”
“Well, I don’t know that you’re the authority on what’s best for them since you thought a life without a father was the best thing.”
“I know you’re angry—”
“You’re damn right I’m angry, Bella. I’m leaving.”
“It was going so well,” she pleaded.
“No, it was going slowly, the way you wanted it. Don’t think this is over.”
“Do you see how your mother is behaving?” she asked. “This is what she would’ve done when I was pregnant. Now you see why I ran! You and I both know that if I hadn’t left, I wouldn’t have my children.”