Twist of Fate (12 page)

“Don’t ‘
Kristin’
me, did I hear you right? Did you just say you two have a son together?” She’s looking back and forth between Lilly and me.

“Yes, but--”

“But nothing, Silas! I asked you the other day when you came clean about her if you had a love child, and you said no. You lied to me,
again.
”

“Technically he didn’t lie.” Lilly is standing up for me, which is a total surprise since I was just yelling at her not even ten minutes ago.

“I’m sorry, but this doesn’t concern you,” Kristin spits at Lilly. Lilly’s eyes protrude as anger washes across her face.

“Ezra is my son, so anything that has to do with him concerns me. Tell me, do you have any kids, Kristin?” As soon as Lilly asks the question, Kristin shifts on her feet, clearly uncomfortable with Lilly’s attack.

“No, I don’t.”

“Then I wouldn’t expect you to understand. Maybe before you go around yelling and screaming at people, you should hear what they have to say first.” She looks at me before continuing, “You already know about the situation between Silas and me, so obviously I had no way of contacting him to tell him about our ‘love child.’ So before you get your panties in a bunch, why don’t you get all your facts straight? Oh, and one more thing, call my son a love child again and you’re going to have more problems than Silas ‘lying’ to you.” Lilly storms off back into the building. I’ll have to remember to thank her for that, but right now I have to deal with Kristin.

“Do you want to sit?” I motion to the now empty bench. Kristin doesn’t answer but takes a seat on the bench. I’m grateful that she sat and didn’t run off, I try to fix this shitty mess. “I know this looks bad, believe me I do. But I honestly had no idea. I didn’t even know she had a son. When I ran into her here, I was surprised. And when her son came up to us, I was even more shocked. I felt like I was looking at myself when I was two, it was crazy. I’m just as shocked about this as you are, but I can’t walk away from him. He’s my son, Kristin. I have a son who needs his father.” I pray she understands. I cannot walk away from him, nor do I want to.

She dips her head and closes her eyes, letting out a long sigh, “I’m sorry, Silas, but I can’t be with you anymore.”

“Excuse me?” Her words come out so quietly, I’m not sure I hear her correctly.

“This is just all too much. You know I love children and that I want some of my own one day. But knowing you share a child with someone I can never measure up to is just something I can’t compete with. I thought, with time, you would be able to see past her, but now I know that isn’t going to happen. She just became a permanent fixture in your life. I need to walk away from you and you need to focus on getting to know your son. I really am sorry.” She gives me a kiss on the cheek before getting up and walking out of my life.

“Kristin, wait …” I yell out, but she continues to walk away.

I sit on the bench for a couple minutes trying to figure out how my world just blew up in my face. Again. I find out I have a son and get dumped all in one hour. Never when I woke up this morning did I think I would be bringing my niece and nephew to play and leaving with a son. Not wanting to be kept another minute from him, I get up and walk back into the building. My heart is trying to jump out of my chest as my pulse quickens.
I’m a dad and I’m about to go spend time with my son
. My stomach turns with each step I take. Who knew this would be so nerve wracking?

Reaching the table where the kids were last sitting, I see Megan talking with Lilly. She looks up when I reach the table and excuses herself to go play with the kids. I thank her for watching Owen and Ava and sit down next to Lilly, who has yet to make eye contact with me.

“Thank you for what you said to Kristin. You didn’t have to do that, especially after I yelled at you the way I did.”

“It’s fine. Like I told her, you had no idea. But I swear Silas, if she calls Ezra a ‘love child’ one more time, I will slap that bitch across her face,” she says, with a very serious expression on her face. I know she’s telling the truth, making me laugh a little. As much as I believe violence is not the answer, I would like to see what a five-foot-tall angry Lilly looks like.

“Do you think it would be okay if I properly meet my son now?” I’m hoping she won’t make me wait a minute longer to hear him call me
dad
.

“Yes, I would like that a lot. Let me go get him.” She walks off to go find him.

As I’m sitting at the table waiting for Lilly to come back, my nerves start to get the best of me. All these thoughts start running through my head, like what if he doesn’t like me? What if I’m not great dad material? What if I fail him as a father? Sure, I have had fears before, but they only ever affected me and not someone else’s life. As soon as I see Ezra running up to the table, all those fears immediately wash away as the little boy who I helped create comes crashing into me.

“Whoa there, buddy, you okay?” He’s climbing into the seat next to me.

“I’m okay,” he says, smiling up at me.

“Ezra, remember when we were talking about daddies earlier?” Lilly asks him. He nods his head up and down instead of saying yes. “Well, this is
your
daddy.” She pulls her lip into her mouth and I can tell she is nervous. I grab one of her hands to assure her this will be okay, that we will be okay.

“Mommy, you find my daddy?” he asks, excitedly wrapping his arms around my neck giving me a hug. “I’m so happy Mommy find you, Daddy, guess what?”

“What, buddy?” I’m getting choked up holding my son in my arms.

“I love you, Daddy.” I see tears fall from Lilly’s eyes as mine begin to water. I can’t explain it, but having this little boy in my arms fills me with a kind of love I’ve never felt before. I immediately know I would do anything to keep this little guy safe and happy, and shield him from all the ugly in the world. I mouth a ‘thank you’ to Lilly and hold on with dear life, to the amazing gift anyone could have ever given me.

Chapter 17

Lilly

I can’t even begin to explain how I feel sitting here watching Silas with his arms wrapped around our son. I always wondered what it would be like to have a father-figure for him, but never in my wildest dreams did I ever think it would be his biological dad.

The hot tears that are pooling from my eyes are starting to blur my vision. I really need to get a hold of myself. I grab a napkin and wipe away my tears as Megan walks up with Owen and Ava.

“Uncle Silas, can we have some ice cream, please?” they both beg. Silas pulls out of his hug but keeps his hand on Ezra’s shoulder.

“Sure guys, but first, I have some news. I know this is going to be a little confusing, but I just found out that Ezra is my son.” I’m not sure why Silas is telling the kids this. They seem a little young to understand, but the proud look on his face tells me all I need to know. He is excited to be a father and wants to share it with the world.

“That’s cool. So, can we have some ice cream?” Ava asks, causing all three of us adults to laugh.

“Absolutely,” Silas says as he smiles warmly at her.

“I know they have ice cream here, but why don’t we go to the shop a couple doors down. Their ice cream is much better.”

“And bigger!” Ezra shouts for the whole entire world to hear.

“Bigger and better ice cream it is.” Silas grabs both Ezra’s and Owen’s hands. I follow the boys and Ava is glued to Megan’s hip, asking if she can paint her nails and do her hair later. Megan agrees as she takes her hand, following us to the shop.

“So, is it safe to say that you both kissed and made up?” Megan questions, as we sit down to eat our ice cream.

“I think there is still a lot that needs to be discussed. I know I still have a lot of unanswered questions, and we’ll have to figure out some type of schedule so I can see Ezra.” Silas is pushing the spoon around in his ice cream.

“Are you going to eat that?” I ask, pointing to his cup with my spoon, hoping to change the subject. This is a conversation for me and Silas, not Megan and Silas. “You just keep swirling it around, wasting the best ice cream in town.” A playful expression crosses over his face as he sticks his tongue out at me. Just then, Owen tells him that he’s going to get in trouble for sticking his tongue out, causing us to laugh. He immediately starts to eat his cookie dough as the kids continue to scarf down theirs.

We sit and eat and make general chit chat. I’m thankful there is no awkwardness in the air. With how everything played out today, it could have been much worse. Ezra is asking Silas a million questions a minute and his enthusiasm spikes with each one. He was ecstatic to hear his dad is a detective, just like the one on his cartoon show. I laughed when Silas tried to explain the difference between the cartoon character detective and his job. The poor guy has a lot to learn about trying to argue with a two-year-old. We finish our ice cream and I notice Silas check the time on his watch.

“Do you need to head out?”

“No, just checking the time. We probably should have fed the kids dinner before giving them dessert.” He is collecting the empty cups to throw away.

“They’re kids, and they just spent about two and a half hours running and jumping around. They will eat dinner,” I assure him.

“Great. I don’t think Lucas or Kim will be happy with me if I send home their kids on a sugar high, with no dinner at that.” I try to hide the smile that wants to appear on my face, but Silas is eyeing me in suspicion. “What?”

“Nothing. It’s just that you’re kind of cute when you don’t know what to do, especially with kids. It’s kind of like watching a lost sad little puppy,” I tease, no longer able to hold my laugh in.

“Ha ha, very funny,” Silas says, poking me in the side of my hip. “Still ticklish there I see.” He continues to tickle me as I try to get away, and when our eyes meet, I see his are darkened and have a heated look filling them.

“I can’t even believe you remember that! We were both drunk that night. I surrender,” I squeal, holding my hands up in defeat. Silas leans in, pushing a strand of my hair behind my ear, as his other hand finds its way to my hip, grabbing a firm hold. As soon as his lips brush against my ear, my body begins to feel flushed and my knees start to tremble. He has a hushed tone that only I can hear.

“There isn’t much I don’t remember from that night. It was the best night of my life.” His voice is husky and full of want. He places a kiss behind my ear as he pulls away with a grin on his face.

“Are you two love birds ready to grab some dinner?” Megan interrupts, “ as much as I love hanging out with kids all day, we have plans to go out with Declan tonight, and we need to get back soon.”

“I’ll get the kids’ hands washed up so we can head out.” Silas walks off toward the bathroom with the kids.

Clearing my throat, I tell Megan, “Sorry, I totally forgot. Let’s go grab some dinner and get you home.” My words come out shaky as my embarrassment shows. Silas has a way of making me forget about my surroundings, I get lost in him.

“Don’t you mean us?” she questions me with an eyebrow raised.

“Yeah, um, about that. I think I’m going to call the sitter to cancel and just stay in tonight. Would you mind telling Declan I won’t be able to make it?” I plead with her in a tired tone, giving her an apologetic look. I pray she doesn’t give me shit about canceling. Today has been taxing and I’m not really up for going out.

“Sure, he will be crushed … but he’ll get over it,” she deadpans.

We drive to a diner close by and grab a quick dinner. I call the sitter on the way over to cancel for the night, hoping I will get a minute to talk to Silas alone. There is still a lot that needs to be addressed and the sooner we do it, the better. I want this change in Ezra’s life to be a smooth transition. I don’t want any hiccups along the way if they can be avoided. I need Silas to understand that I have rules that I have set for myself and expect him to follow. Addressing the subject of Kristin will be a big topic that can’t be avoided. I saw a very ugly side to her today, and if she is going to be around my son, I want to make sure she puts her best foot forward. Just thinking about Kristin being around Ezra turns my stomach. I’ve always pictured a father-figure in his life, but not a step mom. I’ve never had to share my son with anyone before. Now, I might have to share him with not only his father, but his girlfriend as well. Luckily, Megan doesn’t pry into the situation as Silas and I avoid the topic during dinner. She keeps giving me looks across the table as he jokes and plays around with all three of the kids. At one point, my phone goes off and I see it’s a text from her saying he’s crazy good with them; he’s like a natural at this. I didn’t need her to point it out to me, and I see the same thing unfold as we spend more time together.

We finish dinner and make our way to our cars. Megan says her goodbyes to us and takes off right away. Silas and I get the kids loaded into the cars and he is by my door as soon as he’s done.

“I know today was exhausting, but I have a lot of questions, Lilly. I know they all can’t be answered in one night, but there are things I would like to know that can’t wait.” The heat in his eyes makes me shiver. I have to shift my eyes so I don't throw myself at him.
He's just coming to talk about Erza, he's still with Kristin
. I keep repeating this over and over because I want nothing more than to get lost in his arms again.

“Why don’t you come over after you drop off the kids? You can help with Ezra’s bath and read him his bedtime story, and then we can talk. Is that okay, or too much too soon?” I ramble, pulling nervously on the bottom of my shirt. I don’t want to push things on him or too fast at that, scaring him off.

“That sounds great, actually. I would love that. Thank you, Lilly.” He places a chaste kiss on my cheek but doesn’t pull away right away, letting his lips linger on my cheek. I can feel my face tingle, as I’m sure I’m blushing. After a moment, he pulls back and I try to calm the erratic beating in my chest. “Text me your address and I’ll head over as soon as I leave Lucas’s house.”