Better for Us (3 page)

Chapter 4

N
oel had experienced a lot of things in his thirty years on earth. He’d been a superstar on the basketball court since grade school, graduated college with honors, was a first-round draft pick, had earned a championship ring his second year in the NBA and had become a millionaire several times over. But he’d never experienced anything like the joy he was now feeling as Jaylen hugged and kissed him. He gave her a tight never-want-to-let-you-go kind of hug. And then Noel put her down and stepped back. He had to be mindful that the DNA test had yet to be done, and as far as he knew, Jaylen could belong to another man. It could’ve been Ryla’s sick, twisted mind that decided it would be a good thing to give another man’s child his middle name. Not knowing what else to do, Noel stuck his hand out and said, “Hi, I’m Noel Carter.”

Jaylen giggled as she shook her father’s hand. “Silly. I know who you are.”

That’s right, Noel reminded himself, Ryla did tell him that Jaylen kept an old photo of him and Ryla on her nightstand. “I wasn’t sure that you would recognize me from an old photo. I have aged a bit since then,” Noel said in a deeper, older man’s tone.

Jaylen laughed again as she told him, “I saw you on the TV, too. You look the same.”

Noel turned to Ryla for clarification on this. Had Jaylen been watching one of his old basketball games? Had Ryla taped his games and watched them as a way of having him around her...why hadn’t she just picked up the phone and called him?

“Jaylen and my mom went to Dallas for the weekend and she saw one of your ads for Congress. Congratulations, by the way. I guess you finally found a way to help your community.” Ryla was biting her finger again.

“Yeah, I’m finally pulling it all together,” he told her as he racked his brain, trying to remember when he’d shared this particular dream with Ryla.

The front door opened again, and with that same big Texas grin, Juanita Evans said, “Well, hello, Noel. It’s about time you showed up around here.” She opened the door wide. “Y’all might as well get off the porch and come on in the house. We can all sit down and catch up over breakfast.”

Jaylen grabbed Noel’s hand and began pulling him toward the door. “Come on, Daddy, we’ve got the bestest breakfast ever this morning.”

“French toast,” Juanita said.

Noel rubbed his stomach. “It’s one of my favorite breakfast meals also. So, I’ll gladly join you.”

Jaylen stopped walking and looked up at Noel in awe. “We have a favorite thing together?”

Noel smiled. Jaylen was speaking in seven-year-old language, but he knew exactly what she meant. “Yes, little one, you and I like the same kind of breakfast.”

Noel followed Juanita and Jaylen in the house, and the smile left his face as he glanced back at Ryla. The look he gave her simply said, you’ve got some explaining to do.

* * *

Sitting at the breakfast table stuffing her face with more starch than she had put in her body in over a week, Ryla noticed that she was not receiving the you’ve-got-some-explaining-to-do looks from just Noel, but from her mother also. The beautiful and sophisticated Juanita had never fathomed that a woman would walk away from a man who could provide for her in ways she couldn’t provide for herself. But Ryla was looking for more than a checkbook kind of man. She wanted love, respect and faithfulness. Noel had proven himself to be unfaithful, so Ryla had had no choice but to leave him or end up like her mother.

After breakfast, Jaylen turned to Noel and said, “Wanna see my room?”

Noel Stood. “Sure thing. Lead the way.”

Jaylen stepped back as she looked up at her father. “Whoa. You know, you’re a lot taller than I expected. I hope I’m not going to be so tall.”

“I don’t think you have anything to worry about. My mom and my sister are both about five-seven.”

“Good,” was all Jaylen said before turning to march off to her room. Noel followed close behind, smiling but also appearing to be suppressing a giggle.

When they were alone in the kitchen, Juanita turned to Ryla and said in an accusatory manner, “Well, he certainly doesn’t look like a man who wants nothing to do with his child.”

Ryla picked up the plates off the table and took them over to the sink.

“Don’t try to ignore me, Ryla Evans, because I can tell you right now that I am fighting mad.”

Ryla turned around and leaned against the sink. She had asked her mother to stay for breakfast because she wanted to tell her and Jaylen about Noel coming for a visit, and then she had intended to explain the lie she’d told her mother when she’d come home pregnant with no husband. “I know I owe you an explanation.”

Juanita’s hands went to her hips in outrage. “I want to know what you did and I want to know it right now.”

“Okay, Mom, calm down.”

Running a hand through her honey-blond bob, Juanita said, “I’m confused, Ryla. I really don’t understand what is going on, so please enlighten me.”

Ryla lifted a hand, trying to bring her mother’s volume down a notch. “I know I told you that Noel wanted nothing to do with Jaylen...but the truth is that I—I never told him that I was pregnant.”

Juanita shook her head in disbelief. “Ryla, now, why would you do something like that to Jaylen?”

“I wasn’t trying to do anything to Jaylen but protect her from heartache,” Ryla said, trying to defend her actions.

“What are you talking about? How could not allowing your child to have a relationship with her father protect her from heartache?” Juanita’s voice was just above a whisper now.

“Well, for one thing, she wouldn’t have to go through what I went through.”

“Your father was with you throughout your adolescent years, Ryla. You were a daddy’s girl and loved every minute of it.”

Ryla sat back down at the kitchen table. “Yeah, but when he left you, he left me, too. He started a whole new family and just forgot all about me.” She looked her mom square in the face as she declared, “I’ve never gotten over how he treated me. And I could never put Jaylen through that.”

Juanita walked over to her daughter, putting an arm around her, and said, “Not every man is like your father, sweetheart. Jaylen has missed the opportunity of having a father in her life for all these years, so please don’t stand in their way any longer. You fear things that may never happen.”

But Ryla knew that her fears were founded by facts. Because she’d already seen how unfaithful Noel could be with her own eyes, and she didn’t know if she could ever get over that. “Okay, Mom, I’ll try.”

However, before she could fix her mind around working out a solution so that Noel could be just as much a part of Jaylen’s life as she was, he came back into the kitchen and asked to speak with her in private. Ryla got up from her seat and followed Noel outside to his Escalade.

Once they were by the side of the truck, Noel turned to her and said with pride in his voice, “She’s a pretty amazing kid.”

Thinking this was their time to share, Ryla perked up and said, “And she’s smart, too, Noel. Her teachers are constantly telling me how quickly she learns and moves on to the next subject with ease and understanding.”

“My mother used to tell me that the teachers said I was so smart that they couldn’t keep up with me when I was in elementary school.” Then his eyes clouded over with sadness as he said, “I’ve missed a lot of her life.”

“I know,” Ryla admitted. And then as if she had thought of something that would help him look on the bright side, she said, “But, Noel, you were running around living the single life and doing all sorts of crazy things the first five years of Jaylen’s life—you wouldn’t have had time for her anyway.”

Anger replaced sadness as he ripped into her. “Don’t tell me what I didn’t have time for. You never gave me the chance. And maybe I wouldn’t have gotten myself in so much trouble if I had known that I had a daughter to take care of. Did you ever think about that?”

“I know you’re not trying to blame me for all the womanizing and drinking you did while in the NBA?”

“I see that you know how to read the tabloids. It’s a shame that you couldn’t figure out how to pick up a phone and use it.”

“I didn’t have your number,” she protested.

“You had my mom’s home number, and you knew her address. So, you have no excuse for what you did—you’re just selfish.” He shook his head. “I had no idea that you could be so heartless.”

“Heartless!” she exploded. “That’s rich, coming from a cheat.”

His eyebrows furrowed as he questioned her. “What are you talking about? I never needed to cheat.... I won or lost all of my games fair and square.”

“I’m not talking about basketball,” Ryla said with a roll of her eyes. “Everything doesn’t start and end with a basketball.”

“Then what are you talking about?”

Ryla hugged her arms around her chest and changed the subject. “I’m not going to even go there with you. All we need to talk about is Jaylen and that’s it.”

“Whatever.” Noel was frustrated and knew he needed to get out of there before he said some things he’d end up regretting. “So, when can we schedule the DNA test?”

Ryla uncrossed her arms as she swung around to face off with Noel. “You just met Jaylen. Can you honestly tell me that you don’t see the resemblance between the two of you?”

He nodded. “She has my complexion, my nose and my eyes, but the rest is all you.” He waved a hand in the air as he said, “Don’t get me wrong. After spending time with Jaylen, I do believe that she’s mine, but you’ve already wronged me once on this. So, I’m going to make sure that I’m not being put in a trick bag by you.” He then repeated for emphasis, “So, what date is convenient for you to do the DNA test?”

Chapter 5

Two Weeks Later

“A
re you happy now?” Ryla asked Noel as they held the results of the DNA test in their hands. Noel was indeed the father and although it took two weeks to confirm that fact, Noel had traveled to Houston both weekends and spent time with Jaylen.

“Actually, no, I’m not happy,” Noel responded.

Ryla’s jaw hung low, as she thought Noel was saying that he wasn’t happy to be Jaylen’s father.

He continued, “I’ve only been able to spend a couple of weekends with my seven-year-old daughter and now I have a campaign to focus on, so I can’t keep coming to Houston on the weekends.”

Since he wasn’t all that polite to her when he came for his weekend visits, Ryla really couldn’t say that she’d miss him that much. But still she said, “That’s too bad, Noel. But I’m sure Jaylen will understand as long as you let her know what’s going on.”

The smirk on Noel’s face couldn’t be disguised as he said, “Actually, it’s too bad for you. Because since today is Jaylen’s last day of school and she is now officially on summer break, I intend to spend as many days as possible with my daughter this summer.”

“What are you saying, Noel? You just told me that you’ll need to be in Dallas, so I don’t see how you’ll be able to spend the summer with Jaylen.”

He held up his paternity test, so Ryla could get a real good look at the 99.99999 percentage points that proclaimed him as Jaylen’s father. “This little paper, and the fact that you kept my child from me for years, ensures that Jaylen will be able to spend the summer with me.”

From his comment, Ryla figured that Noel was thinking about taking her to court, so she said, “I thought we agreed to leave lawyers out of this?”

“Woman, you must think I’m a fool,” he said as he towered over her. “Why shouldn’t I get my lawyer involved when I’m dealing with someone like you?”

Ryla started chewing her fingers as she tried to come up with something that would get Noel to see reason. He had accused her of trying to put him in a trick bag, but now she realized that he had put her in one. Noel had wanted that DNA test so he’d have proof that he was Jaylen’s father. Then no one could deny him his rights, and she had fallen in line and gave him all the ammunition he needed to fight her in court. “Noel, can you just tell me what you want? Maybe we can work this out without involving outside parties.”

“You just know that you’re in the wrong. That’s why you don’t want to involve anyone else.”

She held up a hand, trying to halt his incoming tirade. “I understand why you would see it that way.”

“Ha.” He laughed. “Me and the entire world would be able to see how wrong you are.”

“Okay,” she said calmly. She didn’t want to argue with Noel. She wanted to try to work with him, so he could get out of his angry, win-at-all-cost mode. Ryla knew that an angry Noel was also a determined Noel. And when Noel set his mind to something, he would be dead set on finishing it. “I understand that you’re upset, Noel. But can you please tell me what you want so we can work something out?”

“I want Jaylen in Dallas with me for the summer.”

She got in negotiation mode. “Why don’t we start with a weekend or even a week? I could bring her up and then you could bring her back to me. Or I could even come back and get her if your schedule is too busy.”

“No.”

She backed up, stared at him for a moment. “What do you mean, no? I’m trying to work with you. So, you need to work with me also.”

“No,” he said again. “You’ve had Jaylen for seven years, and I want her for the entire summer. That’s the beginning and end of my negotiation.”

When she didn’t readily respond, he said, “What’s your answer?”

“Dang, even your opponents on the court were able to at least dribble before they took a shot. Just hold on, I’m thinking.”

Noel took out his cell phone.

“Who are you calling?” Ryla asked as he unlocked his phone and searched through his contacts.

“I’m looking for my attorney’s number. If you and I can’t settle this, then I’m going to pursue other options.”

“Okay, okay,” Ryla said. “She can come with you for the summer. I just have one stipulation.”

“And that is?” Noel asked while putting his phone away.

“I have to come with her.”

“Oh, heck no. I am not about to spend my summer with you,” Noel raged.

“I could think of better things to do than spend my summer with a grouch, too. For one thing, I have a new business to get off the ground. But we need to think about Jaylen, Noel. She needs her mother. And you’re going to be busy with the campaign, so you won’t be able to watch out for her all the time. You’ll need me there, as well.”

Relenting, because he knew she was right, Noel said, “Okay, you can come, but I have a stipulation myself.”

“What’s that?”

“Stay out of the way.”

With that, Noel entered his SUV and backed out of the driveway, leaving her with no doubt that fun had just been canceled for the summer. Noel wanted nothing to do with her. Even though she had been the one to leave, Ryla had not been able to purge Noel from her heart and mind. She was still in love with the man. Ryla ached every time she saw him. She only wished she could go back in time and change what had happened.... She would have stayed and fought for their love. But to accomplish that she would actually have to send that time machine back in time to when her father divorced her mother for his twenty-one-year-old girlfriend. Or go back to when her mother’s new boyfriend tried to make a move on her, or when her mother went through divorce number two, because, big surprise, the mongrel cheated on her.

After what she watched her mom go through, Ryla swore she would never let a man cheat on her. Every one of her friends had warned her about dating Noel. They said that a big-time alpha dog like Noel Carter would never be anything but a player. But Ryla didn’t want to believe them. Noel loved her and she loved him. Then she caught him kissing Cathy O’Dell after the play-off game. That happened to be the same day that Ryla had planned to tell Noel about the baby. But then she had visions of Noel walking out on her and her baby, refusing to have anything to do with his own child, just as her father had done. She then dropped out of college and ran from Noel and every man who would surely be another heartache. But now Noel was back, and her heart was aching for him in ways it hadn’t in seven long years.

Ryla went into the garage to grab her and Jaylen’s suitcases. She would need to start packing.

After bringing their luggage into the house, she sat down on her sofa and called her mother. Every bit of Ryla’s event-planning skills had been garnered from Juanita Evans-Berkley. The woman had style and grace and decorating skills that were second to none. Her mother had also just taken an early retirement from the publicity coordinator position she’d held with the government for twenty years. Juanita had big plans of traveling around the world and finding husband number three, but Ryla needed to put those plans on hold for a little while. “Hey, Mama,” she said when Juanita picked up the phone.

“Hey, yourself. What are you and my wonderful granddaughter doing today?”

Ryla sighed. “It looks like we’re going to be packing.”

“Oh, really, where are you going?”

“Noel now has the DNA evidence to prove that he’s Jaylen’s father, and he has informed me that he simply can’t live without his daughter being in Dallas with him this summer.”

“Oh, I’m so thankful that he wants to spend time with Jaylen,” Juanita excitedly said.

Ryla knew her mother was thinking about how Ryla’s own father basically discarded her when he began his new life with his teenage bride. And at that moment, she had to admit that it felt good to know that Noel wanted to include his child in his life no matter how busy he was. “I’m glad you’re happy about this, Mom, because I’m going to need your help.”

“Tell me what you need. I’m all ears.”

Ryla hesitated for a moment, but just a moment. She needed to be in Dallas with her child, so she needed help from her mom. “I know you wanted to travel this summer, but I was hoping that you would stay around for a little while and help me with my new business so I can go to Dallas with Jaylen.”

Juanita was silent.

“Come on, Mom, I need your help.” Ryla was prepared to go to her mother’s house and get down on her hands and knees and beg if she had to.

“Well, I did have plans for this summer,” Juanita began.

Ryla rolled her eyes, but held her tongue.

“But I don’t want you to be without Jaylen for the summer, so I can help you out for a month or two.”

“Thanks, Mom, I really appreciate this.”

As she hung up with her mother, Ryla felt better about the situation. She would get everything in order and be prepared when Noel came back for Jaylen. The last thing Ryla wanted was for Noel to think she was jerking him around again. Ryla knew that judges frowned on parents who tried to keep the children away from the other parent. If she pushed Noel, he could end up with sole custody of Jaylen, with her begging for visitation. And that just couldn’t happen.

* * *

Although Noel thought he came up with the perfect solution for spending time with his daughter, the idea wasn’t going over so well at his campaign headquarters.

“Are you insane?” Ian Walters, Noel’s longtime friend and campaign manager, asked after Noel told him what was going on.

“Why does the fact that I want to be with my daughter while I’m campaigning sound like such a bad idea?” Noel demanded as he sat behind his desk with his leg propped on the table.

“Do you realize how much bad press I have already had to deflect from this campaign?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Noel waved away the problem. “I’ve heard it all before. The bad boy turned politician is the way they like to paint me. But I’m not just some former bad boy. I care about this community and I want to make a difference. I’m not doing this for fame or fortune—I clearly already have both of those.”

With a frustrated sigh, Ian tried again. “I know that your reasons for running for office are honorable. But Dan Bridges believes that he is honorable also, and he thinks he has just as much right to claim that empty seat as you do. Dan Bridges is a family man with no skeletons in his closet that I’ve been able to find. But you have just pulled out a closet full, and now you want to bring her on the campaign trail.” He lifted his hands in surrender. “I’m telling you, my friend, this is suicide.”

Noel took his feet down from the top of his desk. Then he stretched and leaned back in his chair as he studied Ian a moment. They had been friends since high school, so Noel was willing to give him a pass this one time. But he wasn’t about to let anyone speak negatively about his daughter. She was a part of him; he’d been denied access to her for too long as it was. He had no plans of waiting until the campaign was over to build a relationship with the most important girl in the world to him. “I’m going to say this once and once only, Ian. I will not be denied my daughter. I would rather lose this election than spend another day without her. Is that understood?”

Ian threw up his hands again. “You’re the boss,” he said as he walked out of the office, shaking his head and mumbling something about the press and a field day.