Misguided Truths: Part Two (Misjudged #4) (43 page)

We make our way back over to the rest of the crowd, and I notice Alexis’ eyes are filling with fresh tears, “Hey, what is it?” I place my hands over her face
, and wipe the stray tear from off of her cheek. “Alexis?” She shakes her head, and closes her eyes, placing her hands on my lower arms while trying to push me away.

“I’m just a little overemotional today, that’s all,” she tries to reassure me, and then a small smile takes over her face again. “Look who caught it.” I turn around when she waves her hand over to the side, and see Diane holding the flowers in her le
ft hand, smiling warmly at Paul who’s standing right by her side.

Shit.
Okay, well, that’s not so bad, but for Alexis? I’m not so sure how she’s gonna be feeling about this. I take her face in my hands again, and begin to search her eyes, “And how do you feel about that?”

“
It means he gets a forever, too.” Her face twists and she starts to cry again, a little heavier this time as she rests her face against my chest.

“Come on, beautiful,” I tell her, and wrap my arm around her waist, offering my hand out to Holly when she heads back over to us. “It’s time for us to leave.”

Once we’ve said our goodbyes to everybody, we climb inside the cab. Alexis is sitting on the right side of the backseat, I’m sitting on the left, and Holly’s right in the middle of the two of us, “I can’t wait to get to the beach!” Holly’s smile is wide. “Aunt Alyssa said hot guys!” My eyes widen, and I throw my glare right over on Alexis.

“Did you hear what our daug
hter just said?” I growl, and notice that she’s already started to wince. “And you say Rye’s a bad influence.” I mutter, and she throws me an apologetic smile before wrapping her arm around our daughter.

I rest my head against the back of the seat, and gaze out of the window as we head to the airport. From there, we’ll be heading to Dubai for our honeymoon. Paul and Diane offered to take care of Holly for
us so that me and Alexis could spend the two weeks alone together, but we both refused to leave her behind. She’s our life now, and I don’t wanna have to spend a day without the both of them by my side.

It’s taken us a while to get where we are today, but we’ve finally made it. It just goes to show that whatever life throws your way, if you’re determined to win and never give up the fight, you’ll always come out on top.

Twisting in my seat, I focus all of my attention on the two special ladies in my life. My wife, and my daughter. I smile, and my chest fills with a warmth that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to describe. It’s the best feeling in the whole damn world.

I promised her forever, and our forever starts today.

TWO YEARS LATER

(ALEXIS)

“Mommy! Mommy! Come and watch me!” I hear Holly calling through to me from the backyard, and see her waving her hands in the air excitedly when I look up from the sink and glance out of the kitchen window. “I can do seven in a row!”

“I’ll be out in just a second!” I call back to her with a smile, and then walk over and open the oven door so I can check on dinner. As I reach over the stove to stir the spoon around in the pan of sauce, the landline rings out. I glance at the wall clock, inwardly hoping that Brandon’s not calling to say he’s running late from studio again. “Hello?”

“Are you wearing a bra?”

I laugh out loud from the sound of his deeper than usual voice, and his attempt to sound seductive, while tucking the phone in-between my shoulder and left ear. “Are you on your way home yet?”

“You didn’t answer my question, beautiful,” I hear him chuckle, and go to grab the cloth from t
he side to wipe the counter as we talk.

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but yes. I’m wearin
g a bra,” I tell him, and although he can’t see me, I shake my head and roll my eyes while peeking through the open door to check on our daughter. “Now you need to answer mine.” I add while leaning against the white wooden doorframe to watch Holly. She’s happily playing with the skipping rope Brandon bought for her when we visited the beach last weekend.

“Yep. All done so I should be home in around twenty minutes.”

A bubbling sound from behind me draws my attention back into the house, and that’s when I see the tomato sauce boiling over. When I take the pot away from the heat, some of the sauce splashes up my arm, “Shoot!”

“Are you burning dinner again?” he laughs. “Should I bring a takeout home?”

“Just bring yourself home, Mr. Taylor. Did you remember your house key this time?” I ask him, and take the sauce over to the sink. He either forgets his cell or his keys, and considering we’re speaking on the phone right now; he’s bound to have forgotten his keys today.

“You know what? I
actually did,” he sounds extremely proud of himself as he answers. When I glance back out of the window, I see Holly’s rope laying on the grass where she was playing just a couple of minutes ago, but she’s nowhere in sight.

“Um, Brandon. I need to hang up.”

“Alright, I’ll see you in a few,” he speaks down the phone. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” I end the call
, and set the handset down on the counter as I head into the back yard. “Holly?” I call out to her, and walk across the grass toward her wooden playhouse. “Holly?”

Nothing.

She must be here somewhere. The back gate just around the corner is always securely locked, and I know that she didn’t come back inside, I would’ve seen her.

My heart rate feels as though it’s tripled its normal pace, and my hands are becoming sweaty. Checking inside the playhouse
, and glancing around the yard again, I still can’t see her. “Holly!” I shout louder this time. Although it’s quiet, I hear her voice, and walk briskly around the corner. Relief flows through me when I see her leaning against the gate as she smiles at me. “Who were you talking to?”

“My new friend,” she shrugs her shoulders
, and looks like she hasn’t a care in the world. “Do you—? Daddy!” She shouts excitedly and hurries past me.

“There’s my beautiful little girl!” I turn around just in time to see Holly
jumping into Brandon’s arms, embracing him tightly. He lifts her up, resting her so she’s sitting against his left hip while he walks toward me, a wide smile spreading across his lips. “And, there’s my beautiful boobie carrier.” He leans in, and places a kiss on my cheek before whispering. “Did you take your bra off yet?” I slap his arm, and roll my eyes at him again. “What are you doing over here?”

“I was talking with my new friend,” Holly answers. “But he had to go. He said that his mommy was making his dinner, and he didn’t want to get into trouble for being late home.”

Brandon turns to face me with a questioning look crossing into his eyes, “A new friend?” He mouths at me while glancing behind us for a moment.

“Imaginary
friend,” I whisper back. “Sadie from down the street said that she’s had the same thing going on with Mani.”

“Right,” he pulls a face
, and then continues to head toward the house, with Holly still in his arms and me following closely behind.

“Go and get cleaned up and I’ll check on dinner again. It shouldn’t be too much long
er,” I say to them both while opening up the refrigerator. “Did you want some …
oh
.”

“Beautiful, I always want some,” Brandon winks
, and grins wide as he places Holly back onto her feet. I raise my eyebrows at him and he winks again. “I’m sorry. What were you gonna ask?”

I close the door and sigh, “Well, I was going to ask if you wanted some wine with our meal, but it looks like we already ran out.”

“Holly, what do you say we head over to the store while mommy serves our dinner?” he asks while kneeling down in front of her. “There might be some ice-cream in it for ya.” He wiggles his eyebrows at her, and she nods at him while letting out a small giggle.

He takes
a hold of her hand, and grabs his wallet from the counter, throwing a smile over his shoulder as they walk into the hallway. I follow them to the main door, and lean against the doorframe as they head down the steps, and through the front gate.

“Bye mommy!” Holly calls over her shoulder, waving at me with her free hand
, and wearing the biggest smile over her pretty little face.

“Don’t be
long!” I call back, which makes Brandon turn back around. He throws me a wink and a smile as they head onto the sidewalk.

“We love you, mommy!” He shouts over before he closes the gate behind them, keeping a hold of our daughters hand the whole time.

I love you both, too.

I breathe a happy sigh
, and smile, because everything we’ve been through was truly worth the fight. We have everything we ever wanted, and we’re living our forever.

(BRANDON)

Alexis needs wine, my daughter needs ice-cream. Maybe I’ll grab myself some beers while we’re at it.

“Have you decided which flavor you want yet?” I ask Holly, and smile when I see her pressing her nose against the glass door of the freezer. “You wanna just climb on in there?” I laugh
, and shake my head. We’ve been in the store for close to ten minutes already. Alexis will likely be sending out a search party if we don’t head back soon, and we’ve still gotta find the other items before we leave.

She takes a step back
before turning around to face me, “I think I’d like the chocolate one and the toffee one.”

“You can’t have both, Holly,” I tell her
, and reach for the handle of the door. “You know the rules.”

“But, daddy. I want both.”
Huh.

I kneel down beside her and place my hands on her shoulders, “You know you can’t have both,” I insist with a firmer tone in my voice this time, and she raises her eyebrows at me while a devilish grin forms over her mouth. Usually I wouldn’t mind so much, but knowing Holly, she’s up to something. Yep, she’s been blessed with my hair and eye color, but that’s not all. Nope. She’s also showing signs that she inhe
rited some of my character, too. “Alright. Just tell me. Why are you looking at me as though you know something that I don’t?”

“Will you let me have both if I promise not to tell mommy about your secret?”
And there it is.

I watch her guardedly for a couple of seconds before glancing around. Yep. There are far too many other people around. I lift my index finger up to my ear
, and then tap it a couple of times so she’ll come over and whisper whatever she thinks it is she knows. I’m humoring her. She knows nothing because I have no secrets. I tell Alexis everything, “What secret?” She rests one of her small hands on my shoulder, and cups the other around her mouth before leaning in.
Oh, fuck.

Yep. Apparently I do have a secret, and my five year old daughter knows all about it.
Shit.
My eyes are wide, and I let out a defeated sigh, “Fine, you can have both.” She giggles in my ear while I shake my head. Women are the bane of my life, I swear it, and I’m really gonna need to move my stash of boobie magazines to a more secure location in future.

Once we’ve grabbed everything we came to the store for, we head on to the sidewalk to make the five minute walk back home. Dinner should be ready and waiting, and hopefully Alexis has done as I asked and removed her bra so I can sit and eat while enjoying the view. Yeah, the chance of that happening is unlikely, but I can always live in hope.

I stop walking and turn around when I feel Holly tugging my hand, “Can you carry me the rest of the way?”

“Are you kidding me? We’re
like two minutes away!” I ruffle her hair, and instantly earn myself a scowl in return. Maybe she’s more like her mother than I’ve ever given her credit for. “So, what did you get up to while I was at work?” I bend down, and she grabs a hold of my shoulders before wrapping her arms around my neck. I perch her on my left hip as we make our way toward the front gate. Yep. She won.
Again.

“Mommy let me do some painting in the backyard,” she tells me, and sh
e sounds really excited about this. “It’s my favorite picture in the whole wide world.”

“Oh yeah? Can I see it?” I ask her with a smile
, and she nods her head up and down a few times. “I can?” When we reach the top step of the porch, I place her back down on her feet and once I’ve unlocked the door, she runs right ahead and down the hallway.

“Alexis, we’re home!” I call out
, and slip my arms out of my jacket. Once I’ve grabbed the grocery bag back up from off of the floor, I go to head through to the kitchen, but somebody else apparently has other plans. She’s darting straight toward me with a piece of paper in her hands.

I crouch down and take it from her while she brushes her hair away from her face, “Is this your painting?” I turn it around and see two people. “Is this one you?” I ask, pointing to the black haired smaller person on the page. She nods
, and then I look to the other one. “Is this one me?” When she shakes her head, I feel my eyebrows furrow. “It’s not me?”

“Nope!”
Huh. Feeling the love there, Holly. Feeling the love.

“Well. It’s pretty amazing, Holly,” I stroke my fingers across her face when she beams her brightest smile at me. “You have a gift.”
She shrugs her shoulders, and takes it back from out of my hands before running back toward the backyard. The oven timer starts to sound, and as I stand back up, I hurry on through when I see smoke traveling through from the kitchen.

“Alexis?”
Shit!
There's black smoke billowing out from the oven, and what smelt good before we headed out, well, it doesn't smell so good anymore. If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought that it was me who was cooking the dinner tonight. I switch the oven to zero, and grab a hold of the nearest cloth before opening up the door and taking out the chargrilled …
hell,
I have no idea what that’s even supposed to be. I place it on the side, and when I turn around, I see the dinner table already set out …
for two?

“Alexis?” I walk out into the yard and take a look around. Nothing.
Huh
. I turn the corner and notice the back gate wide open. I’m sure this was locked before. In fact, I’m damned sure it was. “Alexis! Are you out here?” I peer down the pathway, first to the left, then to the right. Nope, she's not out here. I shake my head again, and lock the gate back up before turning around and heading back toward the house.

I see Holly skipping over to me from her swing, “Daddy? Do you think I look pretty?” She twirls around a couple of times
, and I notice that she’s put a flower in her hair.

“Sure you do. You always look pretty,” I tell her and look at the …
wait a second.
I narrow my eyes, kneel down beside her, and instantly take it from out of her hair. Glancing between my daughter and the white flower several times, I look over at the house, and then back to Holly, spinning her around by her shoulders until she’s facing me. “Holly, where did you find this?” I’m praying to God that I’m wrong. That I’m just being paranoid. “Holly! Where did you find this?” My hands are starting to shake as she brings her gaze to mine.

“My new friend gave it to me.”

I grip her shoulders tighter and lean in closer, her smile fading, “Who’s your new friend, Holly?” I ask her, trying to keep any hint of anxiety from out of my voice.
Dammit, why isn’t she telling me?
“Who is he?” My voice is louder now, and I’m trying, by God I’m trying to stay calm.

“He told me his name is Neil.