Bristol stopped by the bed, he moved to where she stood as blood pounded in his temples. He looked down and his heart stopped. Suddenly, he was bombarded with emotions he couldn’t keep in check. He was looking down at his child. His son.
His son.
A son he and Bristol had made together during their three days of heated passion. Three days he hadn’t been able to forget. Three days, the memory of which had helped him maintain his sanity when any normal person would have lost it.
He had expected to feel something. But not this. Not this overflowing of emotions filling him to capacity, taking hold of his mind and heart. He might not have been interested in fathering a child before, but the thought that he’d fathered this one had intense pride tightening his shoulders then spreading all the way down to his gut.
Since his child was lying on his stomach, he could only see one side of his face. That was enough. His mind rang out with the words... He’s mine. All mine.
Um, not quite, he thought, glancing at the woman by his side. His son was hers, too. That was a fact he couldn’t forget.
She met his gaze. At that moment, something passed between them and this time it wasn’t sexual in nature. It was an unspoken understanding that no matter what, this child—their child—would always come first. He understood and accepted the pledge.
“Does he sleep through the night?” he whispered. He had to say something. He wanted to know so much. He wanted to know everything.
A smile touched her lips. “If you’re hoping he’d awake anytime soon, no such luck,” she whispered back. “He usually fights sleep tooth and nail, but when he’s out, he’s out until the next day.”
“May I come back tomorrow to see him? Spend time with him?”
She didn’t answer. Why? All he needed was a yes or no, preferably yes. Instead, she whispered, “Let’s go back downstairs and talk about it.”
Talk about it? Did she think her answer would make him yell and risk waking up his son? What was there to talk about? This was his son. She’d said so. He’d believed her even without seeing all of him. Drawing in a deep breath, he hoped like hell there was not about to be any drama. The only true drama he enjoyed was of the SEALs kind.
He followed her out the door and back down the stairs. “Would you like a cup of coffee or a beer, Laramie?”
“A beer will be fine.”
“I’ll be right back.”
In a way, he was glad she’d left him alone for a few moments to deal with all these emotions. Was she deliberately stalling? Would she try to deny him rights to his son? She’d said the reason she’d tried writing to him three years ago was because she’d wanted him to know she was pregnant. He’d just seen his child. Now what? Did she expect him to walk away? Should he consider obtaining an attorney so he could know his rights as a father? All he knew was that his son had his name. Bristol even had his name, although they weren’t legally married.
He rubbed a hand down his face. The hour was late. Was he overthinking things? If he was, it wouldn’t be the first time. He was a suspicious bastard by nature. He rarely took anything at face value.
She returned with a beer for him and a cup of tea for herself. He remembered how she would drink a cup of tea every morning and every night before bedtime. He would get all turned on just watching how she sipped her tea.
“Let’s sit in there,” she said, indicating the living room. “Although I loved my studio apartment in Paris, it’s nice to have more room here, especially with Laramie.”
She sat down but he remained standing. Her calmness kicked up the uncertainty inside him even more. Was this when she would tell him he could have no part in his child’s life or that he would only get whatever part she chose to give him?
He opened his beer and took a huge swig. The cool liquid felt refreshing going down his throat. He glanced over at her and saw she was looking at him. It was as if she wanted to say something but was too nervous to do so. In that case, he needed to just come out and squash whatever ideas were formulating in her head here and now.
“I asked you upstairs if I could come back tomorrow and you never gave me an answer. So I can only assume you have a problem with me doing so. In that case, I think you need to hear me out, Bristol.”
He moved to stand a few feet from where she sat and met her gaze. “I want to see my son again. Every chance I get. I want to know him and I want him to know me. I want to be there for him. I want to be a part of his life. I’m not a man who will walk away from my child. I have rights as a father.”
He paused before adding, “And just so you know, if you deny me those rights, I will fight you legally with every penny I have.”
Bristol knew she needed to do something before she began crying. Already it was taking everything within her to fight back the tears glistening in her eyes. She doubted Laramie knew just how much his words meant to her.
A part of her had known that she’d fallen in love with him during their holiday fling for a reason. Although she hadn’t gotten to know him in the way she would have liked, in her heart she’d believed he was a man with character. A man of honor. A man who believed in doing the right thing.
When she discovered she was pregnant, letting him know had been automatic because of what her mother had done to her father. But Bristol hadn’t known, until this very minute, how Laramie would feel about their son. Whether he would accept him or walk away. Even when he’d said he believed Laramie was his and had wanted to see him, there hadn’t been any guarantees as to what his reaction would be. But she could not deny him the right to see his son and if he’d walked out the door after doing so, it would have been his loss. Not hers or her child’s.
But from what he’d just said so passionately, he didn’t plan to walk out the door. He wanted to be a part of his child’s life...just like her father would have wanted to be a part of hers had he known about her sooner. Laramie Cooper was proving there were decent men out there. Just like her father.
Tears she couldn’t contain any longer wet her cheeks. Why was she getting so emotional? Especially now? She blamed it on the fact that the man she’d fallen in love with three years ago, the man she’d thought was dead, was not only very much alive but was here, in her home, standing in front of her and accepting his child without any hesitation. Of course that didn’t mean he wanted to renew a relationship with her or anything; she understood that. That was fine. The most important thing was that he wanted a relationship with his son.
“Hell, Bristol, you’re crying over what I said? Just because I want to be a part of my child’s life?” Laramie asked in an incredulous voice.
More tears she couldn’t control flooded her eyes, and she saw both anger and confusion in his features. She wasn’t handling this very well and now she had him thinking the complete opposite from what she was feeling.
“I need to get some tissue,” she said, quickly getting up to go into her kitchen to grab a few. Moments later, when she returned, Laramie was standing in front of her Christmas tree with his back to her. His hands were shoved into the pockets of his jeans. She wondered if he’d noticed the ornaments.
