Forgiving You: A Switched Series Novella (The Switched Series Book 3) (3 page)

Maya

              I take a deep breath and start to tell a story that I know is going to completely break Jaxon and probably completely break me. It’s also a story that I know has to be out in the open if we are ever going to figure out what happened five years ago.

“That day you kicked me out, I was running late because I had gone to the doctor. I hadn’t been feeling very well and I had taken a pregnancy test. It was positive, but I didn’t want to tell you yet, because I didn’t want you to be disappointed if it was a false positive. So, I called and got an appointment so they could confirm it for me. They told me I was around five weeks and everything looked perfect. I was so happy. I couldn’t wait to come home and tell you.” I purposely leave out how scared I was something was going to happen to the baby. We had tried for months to get pregnant and I know I was going crazy wanting it so badly. “But when I got home, instead of my happy husband I found my suitcases on the porch and you telling me to get the hell away from you. I had no idea why you were so mad. I also had nowhere to go. I got a hotel for the night and tried to get some rest, I also tried to call you a million times. You never answered,” I say, glancing at Jaxon who is staring straight ahead.

Most people would say he is emotionless, impossible to read. Me though, I can read him like a book. I know right now he is feeling all kinds of guilty for treating me that way. I also know that this story is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

“I ended up staying in a hotel a few days. I called my parents to see if I could stay with them for a while. You can probably imagine how that conversation went,” I say, not wanting everyone to know how horrible my parents really were. Jaxon can probably understand though. They never approved of him and always thought I was marrying beneath me. He didn’t have enough zeroes in his bank account in their opinion. He knows all of this, so he should have known I had no one.

“I finally decided I was just going to have to start over somewhere else. I had a baby to support soon and I needed to make sure I did everything I could to protect it. I checked out of the hotel and headed out of town. I just started driving. I had no idea where I was going. I got a couple of hours away before I had to stop for gas. I pulled into a gas station and had a complete meltdown. I was sitting in my car sobbing and screaming and no telling what else when someone tapped on my window.” I stop talking and think really hard. I was so glad to see someone I knew that I never questioned how he found me. Have I really been so blind these past few years? I’m deep in thought when I hear Jaxon’s voice.

“Maya, I said who was tapping on the window?” I take a deep breath and I look straight into his eyes and then I say the word he knows I’m going to say.

“Trent.” He looks back into my eyes and I can see a million different emotions on his face right now. I can pretty much tell what he’s thinking.

“Did you sleep with him?” Jaxon asks quietly.

“No, never,” I whisper. “I never really thought about why he was there or how he found me. I just felt relief that I finally had someone on my side, someone to talk to. He looked awful, now I know why. I asked him what happened and he shook it off and said it was nothing. He never said you two got into a fight. I told him everything that had happened and how confused I was. He never mentioned anything about you talking to him.”

“I didn’t talk to him. Like I said, I beat the crap out of him.” I ignore him and keep talking.

“He said he had gotten transferred to Atlanta and was on his way there. He said I could come with him until I figured things out with you and so I wouldn’t be alone. I had no one, so I went and that’s where I have been the last five years. In Atlanta with Trent,” I say, before letting a breath out.

“Are you with him, with him?” Jaxon asks quietly.

“No,” I whisper shaking my head. “He’s my friend, my only friend for the past few years. He loves Ava and she adores him. He was with me for all of her firsts and he was with me when I started my business and he was with me every time I cried for you,” I say with a sob. “I know he thinks we are going somewhere, but we aren’t. He’s a friend, that’s it.” As soon as the words are out I realize why he has never been more than that to me. Because only one person will be more than that for me and I will never have him again. With this realization, I lose it. I put my head in my hands and I cry over everything we have lost the past few years. I don’t think I can cry anymore when I feel Jaxon put his arms around me and lift me before sitting me down in his lap. I bury my face in his neck and continue to cry for I don’t know how long.

“We will figure it out. It’s going to be okay,” he whispers.

“No it’s not,” I say, lifting my head. “I think Trent’s the one who sent those pictures.”

“Why do you think he sent the pictures?” he asks quietly.  I sit up and try to remove myself from his lap as much as possible in this chair. I had almost forgotten we weren’t the only two in the room.

“After I met Callie and Leighton and learned about the pictures, I called Trent to tell him. I told him you had never seen the pictures of Ava because you had seen pictures of the two of us and thought they were more of those. I didn’t say what the pictures were because Ava was in the car and I didn’t want her hearing anything even if she wouldn’t understand. He slipped though. He said just because you had pictures of us in bed together didn’t mean you shouldn’t want to meet your daughter. I never told him what was in the pictures. So if I didn’t tell him and you didn’t tell him, how did he know?”

“I don’t know. But Maya, those pictures were real. Even if you don’t want to admit it, you were in bed with him,” he says, making me lose it again. How can you be in bed with someone and not even remember it.

“I promise, I was not with him. I don’t know what’s going on.”

“Do you think he drugged you?” Callie asks, speaking for the first time.

“Wouldn’t I remember that?” I ask, watching her shrug her shoulders.

“I have no idea,” she says. “I believe you, but Jaxon has proof and that’s hard to overlook. Is Trent dangerous?”

“I don’t think so. I know he would never hurt me or Ava, but he is going to be furious that I’m here. He’s expecting me home tonight. I just couldn’t after my last conversation with him. Something is definitely off.”

“You can’t take her away from me. I want to have her in my life,” Jaxon says. I’m trying not to focus on the fact that he only said her. I know I lost my chance with him a long time ago.

“I know, I would never keep her from you, but my life and job is in Atlanta,” I say.

“Where do you work?” Callie asks, probably trying to change the subject.

“I own my own photography studio.”

“Wow, that’s great. Maybe you can take some pictures of the girls while you are here. I haven’t had their picture made yet,” she says, sounding very sincere.

“Sure, I would love to.” I’m about to ask Jaxon when he wants to meet Ava when my phone starts ringing. I pull it out of my purse and look down to see Trent’s name on the screen. This can’t be good.

“I should probably take this,” I say, trying to stand up. Jaxon grabs me around the waist and pulls me back down.

“He can wait,” he says, taking the phone from me. “We need to figure out what you are going to tell him. Ava is not going anywhere near him until we figure out how he knew about those pictures.” I nod my head at him and grab my phone back.

“I think I should just tell him I am staying here a couple of days. He’s not going to like it, but I don’t think I can go back, not yet.” As soon as the words are out of my mouth, my phone starts ringing again.

“He’s persistent,” Jaxon says, looking down at the screen.

“I’ll be right back.” I get up and walk back into the kitchen.

“Hey Trent,” I say, trying to sound somewhat normal.

“Hey babe. Are you home yet?” he asks. I don’t know why he calls me babe and baby all the time. He just started one day and I never stopped him. I guess I have been leading him on all of this time just by not doing anything to stop him.

“No, I decided to stay a couple of days.”

“What do you mean? Maya, come back home, now,” he demands, sounding angry.

“I can’t. Ava has a right to know her father and her family. I’m not taking that away from her.”

“Are you crazy? He didn’t want her, Maya. I do, though. You know I think of her as mine and I miss her and you. Please come home.” he says, trying to hold in his anger.

“He didn’t know about her,” I say, trying to keep my cool.

“You have got to be kidding me. You have always been so blind when it comes to him. He left you when you were pregnant and had no one. He hasn’t tried to contact you in five years,” he screams. “Come home now or I will come get both of you.”

“Okay, we will come home. I just have one question. Did you send those pictures?”

“What pictures?” he asks.

“The ones of us in bed together. How did you even get them? I never slept with you.”

“Why would you think I sent those?  I didn’t even know about them until this morning. Just come home, we will talk about this like adults when you get here.”

“You didn’t answer my question. Did you send them?”

“Come home, Maya.”

“How could you do that to me? What did I ever do to you?” I say, not understanding why he can’t come up with some explanation of what happened.

“I said come home, now Maya.”

“No, you knew about those pictures without me even telling you about them. How did you get them? I never slept with you,” I scream at him.

“If you aren’t home in the morning, I will come find you and take back what is mine. Do you understand?” he asks.

“Stay away from her, she is mine,” I say. Jaxon walks in the kitchen and looks at me suspiciously.

“Maya, you know I think of her as mine and you can’t cut me out of her life. I will not stand for that. I don’t know what he is telling you, but you need to get the both of you home now. I’ll see you tomorrow and we will talk about this like adults.”

“Why did you send the pictures?” I ask again letting a sob come out.

“Tomorrow. Don’t make me come find you,” he says before hanging up. I can’t take it anymore and my legs give out and fall to the floor sobbing. In no time Jaxon is sitting on the floor with me with his arms around me and his face buried in my hair.

“I am so sorry. I promise that I will do anything and everything in my power to make sure the two of you are safe,” he whispers. And for the first time in five years, I let myself pretend this is where I belong.

I lift my head from him and scoot back to put some distance between us. “He said if I wasn’t back tomorrow he would come find us and take what belongs to him. He has never acted like this. I don’t know why he is doing this now.” I watch Jaxon narrow his eyes at me.

“He threatened you?” he asks.

“I don’t think he would ever hurt Ava, but he seems determined not to lose her,” I say.

“Give me your phone,” Jaxon says holding his hand out.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I whisper.

“He will not threaten the two of you. Give me your phone, please,” he says again. I hand my phone over to him because I don’t want to fight with him and for right now he is making me feel safe. He slowly gets up and walks out the door. I should probably follow him, but right now I don’t have the energy to get up and follow him. I just want to get to my daughter as soon as possible.

Jaxon

I try not to look and see how many phone calls she has made to Trent. Other than the one to Callie and a few to some girl named Jenn, they are all to Trent. Not even her parents. I never imagined they would completely turn their back on her because of me, especially when she needed them the most. I’m definitely not happy about her being with him all this time, but I know all of this is my fault because I never listened to her, and I will pay the consequences for that decision for the rest of my life. I will always know that it’s my fault I have missed out a lot of amazing milestones in my daughter’s life.

I do believe her when she says she never slept with him though, but that doesn’t explain the pictures. Whatever reason he had for doing what he did, won’t fly with me. I’m beginning to think Trent is a psychopath and I have no idea how I missed it all those years. I scroll through the numbers and hit call on Trent’s name.

“Maya, you better be on your way home.”

“Hello Trent,” I say.

“Jaxon, congratulations, it’s a girl,” he actually has the nerve to say to me.

“I’m only going to say this once. Stay away from Maya and stay away from my daughter. I don’t know how you orchestrated all of this, but I do know if you come anywhere near either one of them, I will kill you this time,” I threaten.

“You really think I could break up your happy marriage and steal your wife. You are delusional. And as for Ava, I’m the only father she knows and if I have any say in it, I’ll continue being the only father she knows. Why would she want you, a man that actually looked at her pictures and didn’t want her? So Jaxon, I’ll only say this once, if Maya and Ava aren’t on my doorstep tomorrow, you will regret it. Have a good night with my family,” he says, before hanging up. This is going to be a lot harder than I thought. That man has definitely lost his mind.

“Hey,” Callie says coming outside. “Sorry to bother you, but Leighton called and the girls are hungry. I need to go feed them.”

“Okay, I’m sorry about all of this,” I say.

“You have nothing to be sorry about. It was an honest mistake. Just make sure you don’t lose her this time. I really want all the family around we can get,” she says smiling. It definitely wasn’t an honest mistake. More like a nightmare mistake, but at least she is trying to make me feel better about it. Maya walks out and I hand her phone back to her. She doesn’t ask how my call went I’m sure she knows him well enough to know it was bad.,

“Are you ready to meet your daughter?” she asks. I smile back at her and nod. I have never been more ready for anything.

Callie and Ash ride with Brody since Leighton took her jeep with the car seats. Collin took my truck and I drive Maya in her car. Thankfully she didn’t argue with me when I asked for her keys. The fact that she’s being so nice to me after she has every right to hate me only tells me how scared she really is of Trent. I’m not sure if she has always been scared of him or if it’s just the events of today, but I’m trying really hard not to upset her anymore.

“Why did you come back to town?” I ask, mostly out of curiosity.

“My grandmother died.”

“I’m so sorry. I had no idea or I would have gone to the funeral,” I say. I always loved her grandmother. Unlike her parents, she always welcomed me with open arms.

“There wasn’t a funeral. You know my family. We don’t need to remember people when they die. We just need to keep their memories alive without seeing them at their worst. They didn’t even tell me until a week after she was buried. They sent me a letter from their lawyer saying I had one day to go through her house and get anything I wanted. That was yesterday,” she says sadly.

“That’s awful, I am so sorry. I always loved your grandma, she was awesome. Did you lose touch with her too?” I ask.

“No, at first I talked to her a lot. She even came to Atlanta when Ava was born and stayed for a week. She was a life saver. I begged her to move there to be with me a few months later, but she was already in such bad health, she didn’t want to burden me by having to take care of her too. She moved into a retirement home near my parents, so unfortunately I eventually lost touch with her too.”

“Have your parents ever met Ava?”

“No, I sent them pictures when I sent you pictures, but I never heard back from them either. After having Ava, I can’t imagine ever treating her like that no matter how bad I thought her choices were,” she says. I pull into my parent’s driveway and turn around to face Maya.

“Thank you for being you. I know I don’t deserve this, but thank you for letting me meet her even though I treated you so badly. I will never forgive myself for not being there for you, ever.” She nods her head at me and gives me a small smile. “How do you want to do this?” I ask her, giving her complete control of the situation.

“How about I go in and bring her out here to you. I love your family, but I think this just needs to be about you and her right now.”

“Okay, one question. Have you ever told her about me?”

“I told her that you were on a very long trip. Honestly, she’s still little and I don’t think she completely understands it all. She’s had Trent all her life, but she doesn’t call him daddy if that’s what you’re asking,” she says, making me smile big.

“Go get her, I’m so ready to meet her,” I say, not being able to control my grin.

“We will be right back,” she says, getting out of the car. I watch her walk up my parent’s porch and go inside. I don’t think I ever really understood how brave and strong she is. She is walking in and facing a room full of people who have thought the worst about her for the past five years to get our daughter, so I can meet her. She is truly amazing.

Not even a minute later, I see the door open and Maya walk outside holding hands with the most beautiful person I have ever laid my eyes on. Aside from her mother of course, it’s a close race though. Ava is beautiful. She has my dark complexion and dark hair, but that face is definitely all Maya. She has the most perfect face and she has her mother’s amazing green eyes. They could pass for twins if Ava had Maya’s blonde hair.

I get out of the car and start walking toward them.

“She wants to see the horses, if that’s okay,” Maya says.

“Of course, right this way, ladies,” I say, walking them out to the barn. When we reach the fence, Maya picks Ava up and sets her up on it.

“Ava, I want you to meet somebody,” Maya says. “Do you remember when I said your daddy had to go on a trip and I didn’t know when he would be back?”

She asks. Ava nods her head, but never takes her eyes off of the horses in front of her. “This is Jaxon and he is your daddy,” she says. Slowly Ava turns her beautiful green eyes to me and smiles.

“Hi, I’m Ava Rose Taylor,” she says smiling.

“Hi Ava Rose Taylor, I’m Jaxon,” I say quietly.

“I thought you were daddy,” she says confused.

“I am your daddy, but my name is Jaxon.”

“Okay, can I call you daddy?” she asks. I look at Maya, but she is staring at Ava with tears rolling down her cheeks.

“You can call me anything you want to,” I say, moving my hand over to touch her head. She turns around and reaches for me so I pick her up and hold her probably too tight although she doesn’t complain about it at all.

“Can I pet that horse?” she asks, pointing at one of them.

“You sure can,” I say, trying to hold back my own tears. How could I have been so stupid to miss out on so much of her life? There is no way I can ever let go of her now. Luckily right before I’m about to jump the fence with Ava, one of the horses makes its way over to us. When I reach my hand out to pet her, the horse stops and Ava sticks her little hand out to pet her too.

“I like her,” Ava says.

“Me too,” I whisper.

“What is going on?” I hear my mom demand from behind me. I guess we should have given her a little warning. I probably should have asked Maya what she said to them when she went inside to get Ava.

I turn around to find my mom standing there with her hands on her hips and my dad a few feet away from her.

“I’m petting a horse,” Ava says, totally oblivious to all of the tension around us.

“I can see that. Do you like horses, Ava?” my mom asks her. I don’t know what Leighton has told her about whose little girl this is, but I am actually feeling sorry for my mom right now.

“I’ve never seen a real one. I have a stuffed one I sleep with at night, it’s softer than this one,” Ava says. She looks over at Maya before pointing at my mom. “That’s Mrs. Nindy, she makes the best cookies, mommy,” Ava tells her. I guess her s sound is more of an n sound.

“Mommy, she’s yours?” my mom asks her. Maya nods her head at her and I can see the tears pooling in her eyes.

“Yep, she’s my mommy and this is my daddy. He’s been on a long trip, but he’s back now,” Ava says innocently to my mom.

“Jaxon,” my mom whispers. “What’s going on?”

“Hey, let your mom hold you for a second. I’ll be right back,” I say, handing Ava to Maya. She goes to her without question probably because she can’t seem to take her eyes off of this horse for very long. I should definitely buy her one.

I walk over to my parents and get far enough away so they can’t hear us. I don’t want Ava to hear any of this conversation.

“Is she really yours?” my mom asks. I nod my head at her. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, it’s a long story. It’s completely confusing and I’m not sure what all is going on yet, but I do know one thing, Ava is mine.”

“How could she keep her from you for so long?” my mom asks, sounding angry.

“She tried to tell me, I just wouldn’t talk to her. It’s my fault I have missed out on everything and it’s my fault they may be in danger right now. I promise to explain everything later, but right now, for tonight, I just want to forget about all of that and enjoy getting to know my daughter, your granddaughter. Okay?” I say.

“Okay,” my mom says before walking over to Maya and Ava. “I have a huge supper ready if y’all are hungry. We would love to get to know Ava too,” she says and I am once again very thankful I was blessed with an amazing mom.