Forever Mine by Natalie Ann
Embarrassing and Upsetting
Trey was wondering what he was doing pulling into Whitney’s driveway with Ben in the backseat playing with a toy on the short trip over.
He took a deep breath, parked and got out, then opened the back to get Ben and the diaper bag he’d packed. Mr. Mom coming up.
The front door was opened before he had a chance to knock. Whitney was standing there in jeans that fit her slim body and a T-shirt that showed off the curves she had on top. Her breasts weren’t the first he’d touched in his life, but he remembered the most about hers.
“Well hello there, Ben,” she said, reaching right for the baby. He lifted his eyebrow up and realized that was probably more what this visit was about. She’d had a thing for babies, he knew that.
He transferred his son over. “He’s a little fussy because he’s on the hungry side.”
“Dinner is all set and I hope he can eat it.”
“If he can’t I’ve got everything I need here,” he said, patting the bag on his shoulder. No frilly woman’s bag but a backpack style that was easier to carry and was more...manly. “Shit. I forgot his booster seat.”
“No problem. He can sit on my lap,” Whitney said.
He laughed, thinking maybe he wouldn’t mind having her sit on his lap again and then had to get those thoughts out of his head.
“I’m a whiz at making do,” he said.
“Why don’t we go to the kitchen and you can put your stuff down. Do you want a tour? Can Ben wait or we can do it after dinner? I mean I know you were in the house already.”
“In my gear and looking for danger. But he seems content if you want to show us around.”
“All they need is some distraction,” she said, tickling his son’s belly. “This is the kitchen, pretty open and basic.”
“High end,” he mumbled, but she did like to cook so it made sense.
“Formal dining room to the left that I don’t use often. No reason to anymore. A little breakfast nook to the right, but I usually just sit at the island.”
“I’d probably do that too.” There were four high back chairs with arms on them, not basic stools that would numb a person’s butt.
“Family room there. It’s easy to see it all. I like the open space. I’m sure you noticed the front had an office.”
He had. The dining room was off the front too, two entrances to it and it flowed well. “It’s a nice light and bright space. Exactly how you always said you wanted a home.”
Whitney paused when he said that and looked at him, holding his stare longer than necessary. “You remember well. It’s that way now.”
He took that to mean she probably made a bunch of changes when the ex left. “It’s nice. Simple. I like simple.”
“I remember that about you too,” she said.
She walked to the door leading to the basement and opened it. They made their way down and he got a better look at the finished living area with the bar. “I didn’t picture you the type to have a bar in the basement.”
“It wasn’t my first choice and this space isn’t used anymore. I come down here and dust, but that is about it. I use the gym over here.”
He peeked his head in but remembered seeing the treadmill, bike, weights and mats from the other day. “Nice.”
“There is a guest bedroom and bath in the back along with some storage. I guess this could be a small apartment for someone since there is a walkout, but it never got to be used to its full potential.”
“I’m sure it will someday,” he said, then turned to follow her up the stairs, then to another set of stairs off the front.
“Four bedrooms and three full baths up here.”
“Wow,” he said.
“One is a Jack and Jill for the two rooms, the other is a hall with just a shower, not a tub.”
“You’ve thought of it all,” he said.
“Again, not used to its full potential.”
He was glancing into the open doors. The rooms were all spacious but not over the top either. “This is nice,” he said when they got to the end with the double doors opened to the master. “I like the vaulted ceilings.”
“Thanks. I wanted the fourth bedroom over making this room any bigger. I don’t do much in here and don’t need a ton of furniture.”
“Seems like a lot of space to me.” Just reminding him again she was way out of his league. Her upstairs was probably the same size as his entire apartment. Just because he owned the home didn’t make it any less of an apartment.
Ben started to squirm in her arms. “I think someone is ready to eat,” she said.
“Yeah. It was good while it lasted. I’ll take him if you want.”
“I’ve got him. You have him all the time. But once we get to the kitchen I’ll have to pass him over.”
They made their way back down the stairs, his eyes looking at pictures on the wall. Mainly family and simple artwork. Nothing over the top or elaborate there either. The house spoke that on its own.
“How long have you lived here?”
“About ten years. Alone for four. It’s much better alone.”
She was smiling when she said it. “I’m sure though it’s a lot of space for one person.”
“It is. It can be lonely too, but it’s mine. Well, it was always mine.”
That said something else too. The Butlers kept what was theirs, not letting others in. He knew that back then when he was feeling insecure about measuring up as a teen.
His middle-class parents wouldn’t know how to relate to the Butlers even though they’d always seemed down to earth to him.
“I’m sure.”
“That was wrong of me to say. Have a seat with Ben while I get dinner on the table and I’ll explain if you want. I’m sure you’re dying to know. Or maybe I want to make sure you know the facts and not the rumors that were moving over the area.”
“I don’t have time to listen to much about other people’s lives.”
She angled her head. “You were always that way.”
He took Ben from her while she pulled dinner out of the oven. Damn, she made roast beef. She went all out. “Do you want me to cut that for you?”
She smiled at him. “I’m pretty capable of carving a piece of meat.”
“Well then,” he said.
The table was set in the breakfast nook and he moved over there with Ben’s bag and pulled out his bottle and jar of fruit. “I’ve got mashed potatoes in the warming oven with biscuits. Both soft for Ben. I know the roast beef is probably a no go, but I can put it in the blender if you want.”
“And ruin it?” he said, laughing. “No, that is fine. I’ve got a jar of little meat sticks here he likes to pick up and eat. Gross things, but they make him happy. The mashed potatoes will work, maybe a few small pieces of the biscuits. You went to a lot of trouble. Thanks, but why?”
“I don’t get to cook for people often. I was doing it for Ryan more, but since he’s married now, it’s just me. Shannon loves to cook so it’s not like I can bring stuff over there. I could, but why bother? She’s got a houseful.”
“A houseful?” he asked.
He had Ben on his lap while Whitney moved everything to the table. He felt bad and wanted to help, but unless he put Ben on the floor where he’d take off in a crawl faster than the first lap at the Indy 500, this was the best bet.
“Shannon was a young widow. She moved here with her two kids after her husband died suddenly. She was from the West Coast and still works for her husband’s business as a finance director or something. She had been bought out by Tyler’s partner so she really doesn’t need to work, but like me, it’s just part of her.”
So not just Kaelyn marrying a millionaire, but by the sounds of it, Ryan did too. What the hell was he doing here?
“Not everyone is meant to be a stay at home mom. Even you always planned on working.”
“I did. Or do. Things don’t always go as planned.”
He snorted. “Tell me about it.”
“Shannon’s sister Zoe moved with her and lives in an apartment in their finished basement. She’s the nanny and helps Shannon out. It was nice she moved across the country here with her so she wasn’t alone.”
“Why come here?”
“No clue,” Whitney said. “I never really asked. Anyway that’s the story to Ryan. As for me, I’m divorced. We know that. I kicked Kevin’s lying cheating ass out of my house four years ago and haven’t regretted it once. I just regret it took me so long to realize the full truth.”
“That he was cheating on you?” he asked.
“Start eating. Can I get you a drink?”
“Water is good.”
She moved to the fridge and got two bottles of water while he started to get Ben set to eat, then filled his plate. He knew his son would be reaching for his food, but he could distract him enough. He’d done it plenty.
“Here you go,” she said, then sat down and started to fill her plate. “Yes. I’m not sure when he started to cheat. Could have been all along, or it could have been when I got sick of paying his debts off and told him to get his own credit cards and deal with them himself. After that I didn’t see his expenses and maybe that was my mistake.”
“Or it could be he was more careful about hiding it from you before,” he said. “Did you need to control it all?”
“No,” she said. “I didn’t want to. He assumed that my family was going to take care of us. I think he figured it was a free ride. I’m not frivolous like that. I know it seems like that with the house, but that is the only thing where I knew I’d get what I wanted. For obvious reasons.”
He looked up and grinned. “I didn’t expect any differently.”
“Kevin thought my family was just going to pay for the house. Like it was a free gift or something.”
“That’s stupid.”
“But that was him. No, I didn’t pay full price. None of us did. But we did pay for materials. Little did I know Kevin’s credit was so bad, I couldn’t get the loan even for that. I’d just finished college and started to work full time.”
“You’re joking,” he said. “You had no idea?”
“No. We were living in a townhouse my family owned. Living for free because I wasn’t working much and my parents weren’t thrilled with my fast marriage and wanted to make sure I still finished school and got the start I should have had.”
Again, that didn’t surprise him. “What did Kevin do?”
“He’s a car salesman. That’s how we met. My parents bought me a car for graduation and he sold it to us.”
“Sounds like he did a good job selling a lot more than a car,” he said and regretted those words the minute they were out of his mouth. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s the truth. You don’t know half of it. No one does.”
“Why?”
“It’s embarrassing and upsetting. I didn’t realize I was that bad of a judge of character and that has made me skittish about moving forward. Or getting close to anyone. We had a fast divorce. Not contested. He thought he’d get half the house until he found out it was in my parents’ name. He wasn’t entitled to any of it. He was pissed and another massive fight ensued and he said something that I think he regretted saying.”
“What’s that?” he asked, taking a bite of his own food, then putting some mashed potatoes into Ben’s mouth. So far his son was being better than he thought he’d be. “Or would you rather not say?”
“I find I want to. I think I need to tell you. I know you are wondering why I don’t have children when it’s all I talked about wanting.”
“It’s crossed my mind. You were married, what? Ten years?”
“Close to it. We decided to wait to start a family until I finished college, but once I did I wanted to start trying. After a year I wondered what could be wrong and started to have some tests done. Years of tests and procedures and they couldn’t find any reason why I couldn’t conceive.”
“Was he tested?” he asked.
She put her head down and moved her food around on her plate. “No. Another thing no one knows and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t say it either. But I found out I was pregnant before we got married. Just a few days late and I took a test. It was positive. Before I could get into the doctor’s, I got my period. They ran tests and said that I was pregnant and had a miscarriage, but I was young and shouldn’t have a problem again.”
He wondered if that was why they rushed to get married but then why follow through if there was no baby? Not the time to ask it. “But you did?”
“I did. It was heartbreaking. It caused fights because I felt like I was alone in trying to have a child.”
“Was?” he asked
“Our last fight he laughed at me when he realized he wasn’t getting a dime in the divorce and said he’d gotten a vasectomy.”
“Are you shitting me?” What kind of sick bastard plays on his wife’s emotions that way?
“No. I didn’t believe him. Or didn’t want to. He was a slob and I knew there were a bunch of papers in the basement in boxes when I was cleaning his office out after I found out he was cheating. I went through them and found the doctor’s slip from that day. Not sure why he kept it, but he never threw anything out. He’d had it done when I was on a girl’s trip with my mother, aunt, and Kaelyn.”
“Why didn’t you tell anyone what you found out?” he asked.
“Because Ryan already beat the shit out of him and my parents had to retain a lawyer to get it wiped away. If they knew this, not only would Ryan be in jail, but my father and cousins too.”
He was positive of that and felt the urge to hunt the bastard down himself.
“Damn,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
“Why are you telling me all of this?”
“I want you to know. I haven’t ventured out much and I know you’re aware I always wanted kids. You were my first love. Things didn’t end the way I would have hoped, but I’m to blame for that and I know it.”
That was the last thing he expected to hear.