Blinding Trust (5 page)

I put my arm around my son and we walked back to the house. I could only hope that no matter how exciting Zeke seemed, Noah would see him for what he really was.

Chapter 5

Savanna

I had to take a Xanax
thirty minutes before Zeke and his wife showed up. Noah kept asking when they were arriving about every five minutes, making me on edge. At one point he came in the kitchen and whispered to me if he could download just one of the guys songs. I was reluctant to tell him no, but only because I didn’t want there to be any animosity between him and I before his uncle showed up.

When I heard the car pulling up out front, I had already opened a bottle of wine and filled a glass for myself.

The more I continued to try to be positive, the more I feared the worst possible outcome.

Voices filled the living room and I knew they had arrived. I washed my hands and took a deep breath before heading out to greet them. Unlike his normal self, Noah was hiding behind his father as the couple entered. The dog w
as going crazy, so Noah took her by the collar and locked her in the office. It was weird, because Sam loved people. However, she did not like them.

I smiled when I caught eyes with his wife. Unlike her husband, she was able to make herself look more presentable without seeming emo. Her blonde hair had streaks of black through it, but it wasn’t anything that Miranda hadn’t done to her own hair. She had her nose pierced and a tattoo on her wrist, but wearing long
sleeves had hidden all of the rest of her skin. I reached my hand out to her. “I’m Savanna.”

“Hi, I’m Piper. Thanks for having us over. Zeke has been talking about this for a while now.”

I put on a fake smile, trying to ignore the lump in my throat. “Noah is very excited,”

He had come back into the room as I said it. I put my hands on his shoulders and waited for Zeke to talk.

He reached his hand out for Noah. “What’s up, little man?”

“You’re my uncle?”

Zeke laughed. “Yeah, I am. Your mother was my sister.”

It was another punch in the face for me. I know it was selfish. I had no right to claim him as my own, but I did it anyway.

“I don’t remember her.” He didn’t seem sad; just making the statement out loud.

Zeke looked at me and then back to Noah. I guess he was trying to be respectful and I did appreciate it. “I can tell you stories about your mother, if you’d like. She was real special to me.”

Piper seemed like she felt out of place. She kept looking around at the walls and pictures in the house. I walked over to where she stood. “So, I’m trying to get this recipe right with all these organic foods. Do you think maybe you could help me in the kitchen for a minute? I will just die if it tastes like dirt.”

She smiled and
followed me into the kitchen. “I like your house. It’s so cozy. None of our houses look anything like this.”

I wasn’t sure how to take that. Was she saying that our house was crap, or was she missing living a normal life. “So, what do they look like?”

Her eyes got real big. “Don’t you watch Cribs on MTV?”

“No. I haven’t watched that channel since I was in college. Once I met Colt, I just lost interest. It’s not exactly the kind of thing to watch with little kids around.”

I handed her a spoon and let her taste one of the items I had made. She blew on it before putting it near her lips. “Wow. You did great. Zeke will love this.”

“That is a relief. Do you like it?”

She looked toward the doorway and then back to me. “What you made tastes good. Zeke is all about eating this way. If it were up to me, I’d have a hamburger and fries.”

We both laughed together.

“It must be crazy being married to someone famous. Do you mind me asking how you met?”

She shook her head. “You know, I really thought you’d have checked us out online or something. Don’t you read magazines?”

I felt embarrassed for buying those tabloids, so I didn’t bother sharing the things that I had learned about them. “I read Better Homes and Gardens.”

“It’s probably a good thing. Some of those papers just like to cause drama. Half of the things you read in those articles aren’t true. In fact, I’m pretty sure that they cause most of Hollywood’s divorces.”

I started thinking outside of the box, realizing how hard it must be. “So where are you originally from?”

We sat down at the kitchen table. It was better than me having to go back into the other room with the guys.

“I was born in Berlin and then my parents moved to America when I was two. My father started a small bakery and he and my mom still run it together in Richmond, Virginia.”

“Have you been back to Berlin?”

She tapped her fingers on the table. “Not until I married Zeke. We were the last of my family to come to the states, so we never had a reason to go back. My parents moved here for a better life.”

“How did they feel when you married a rockstar?” I just had to know how her parents felt about her marrying someone so rough looking.

She shrugged. “They stopped talking to me. Picture the most old fashioned parents in the world and multiply that times ten. Then you will have my parents. It wasn’t just the tattoos, or the piercings. I think they could have lived with that. It was the fact that he was married when I met him. My mother is very serious about her beliefs and extramarital affairs aren’t acceptable. I kept it a secret from them until I landed on the cover of one of those supermarket tabloids. My parents only spoke to me one time since they saw that picture and it was to tell me that I was no longer a part of their family.”

I felt so sad for her. I could see the pain in her eyes. “That’s horrible. I’d do anything for my kids, no matter what.”

“It’s fine. I’m used to it. Besides, I was the one who decided to live this life. The night I met Zeke, I wasn’t even supposed to be where I was. I lied to my parents so that I could sneak out to a concert with my girlfriends. I had no idea I was going to meet him.”

I remembered reading about her meeting him in rehab. It was hard to wonder if she was telling the truth,
or the tabloid. I held up my hands. “I’m not judging you, but were you like a groupie?”

She laughed. “No way! Groupies are little sluts who just want to sleep with the band. I wasn’t promiscuous at all. In fact, I wasn’t very experienced. When I met Zeke, I was standing in the corner of the room, avoiding the drinking and drugs that were all around me. He took me up to the roof and we spent the rest of the night just talking.”

“So, you got together then?”

She smiled and shook her head. “No. I didn’t see Zeke again until a year later. I didn’t exactly hang around with the good crowd, so it was no surprise that one of my friends had to go into rehab after drunk driving and killing someone. Part of their sentence was to spend eight weeks in rehab. On one of the visitation days, I saw Zeke sitting outside smoking. Of course, I didn’t think he would recognize me
. He’d been drinking the night we met and he was around so many women that I never thought I’d made an impression. My hair was a different color and I even dressed differently.” She laughed out loud. “He called me by name when he saw me. I was floored. That’s actually the day that our picture was taken and my parents disowned me.”

“
Without a place to go, Zeke moved me into one of his houses. The paparazzi went wild, taking photos whenever we were together. I knew he wasn’t a saint. He’d cheated on his wife a million times, but I didn’t sleep with him until he had filed for a separation. You probably think I’m terrible.”

The thing was, I actually didn’t. For some reason, I really liked her. Of course, I wouldn’t have chosen her life, but she seemed like a nice girl. You can’t help who you fall in love with, or when it happens. “Don’t feel bad. When Colt and I got together, I had kind of promised myself to his cousin. We’d known each other for years, but something happened between us and we just couldn’t stop it. I’ve been with him ever since.”

“He’s very handsome. I can see how he’d be hard to resist.” She looked like she was embarrassed for saying it.

“He was. My ex was also very good looking and he was in
a coma. Now you probably think I am the horrible one.”

She put her hand over her mouth, like she was in shock.

After a few seconds, she finally dropped her hand back down on the table. “Did it cause problems in the family?”

“Only for a little while. We’re all best friends now. He’s very happy with his own family.” I wasn’t even going to explain that Ty had married Colt’s cousin Miranda. That was just too hard for people to interpret.

We talked for a little longer about our parents and then she helped me set the dining room table. The guys were still in the living room and I was completely fine keeping Piper occupied. Besides, it gave me a chance to get to know her more. I had to admit, she was sweet and seemed to be more normal than I ever could have expected.

When it was finally time to eat, I heated up Noah some chicken tenders, so that he wouldn’t have to eat the concoction that we all had to. I saw his lip curl when he saw me open up the pot. It didn’t smell bad, but I was sure it didn’t taste good.

Watching my husband trying to swallow the mystery food was so hard to do without laughing. He tried his best to keep an even face, but as each spoonful hit his mouth, I could tell he wanted to spit it out. The texture and taste were nothing like we’d even eaten before.

“This tastes great, Savanna. Thanks for going to the trouble. Next time I can have my chef make it for us, so that you don’t have to spend the whole day in the kitchen. I know it’s time consuming, but it’s so good for the body.”

He didn’t look anything like a guy that took care of his body. “It was no trouble. I’m glad you like it.”

“You have a chef at your house?” Noah seemed amazed.

“I do. He goes where we go,” Zeke explained.

“Wow! How much money do you have?”

“NOAH!” We both yelled at the same time.

Zeke put his fork down. “It’s okay. He’s just curious.” He gave all of his attention to Noah. “Every time the radio plays one of my songs, I make money. When I perform in concerts, I make money.”

“You make money when you sleep?”

Zeke laughed. “Yeah, I do. It’s pretty rad huh?”

“You’re like, the richest man in the world.”

We all laughed at that one.

“No, I’m not. I’ve worked hard to make it where I am, though. It’s not as easy as you think; just ask my wife.” Zeke nudged Piper.

“Whatever. You get to buy whatever you want. You have a
limousine. All we have is tractors and trucks. You’re so cool!” I think Colt felt like he got kicked between the legs. He cleared his throat and excused himself from the dinner table, using the excuse that he had to use the men’s room. I knew that if I went after him, it would only cause them to be alarmed, so I chose to ignore my husband, when I knew he needed me. I felt horrible about it, too.

Noah continued to ask Zeke a million questions. Most of the things he asked were just absurd, but the guy kept answering him. When they finally settled back into the living room, and started talking about Krista, Colt took me out on the
porch swing.

He put his arm around me as we rocked back and forth. “You alright, darlin’?”

I shrugged. “I’m hanging in there. How are you?”

“I’m tryin’ to be fair. They’re family and it’s important that they know about each other. Zeke seems alright. He ain’t all strung out like I thought he would be. He seems to have his problem under control. What about his wife? Does she seem alright?”

I leaned my head against my strong husband’s shoulder. “She’s nice, actually. I don’t know how the two of them fell in love, but she seems like she has her head on straight. She told me a whole different story than I read in that tabloid.”

He started laughing at me. “I think maybe we both overreacted about all of this, Savanna. Aside from his weird ass food that he eats, the guy seems fine. Maybe we shouldn’t even be worried about him being in Noah’s life. It ain’t like he’s got him listening to devil worshippin’ music and wanting to tattoo his body.”

I pushed him. “My God! I hope not. He’s just a kid.”

He grabbed my hand and kissed it. “I’m just playin’ with you. It’s all goin’ to be just fine. Once they leave town, everything will go back to the way it was. You’re always goin’ to be that boy’s mom.”

After all of the worrying, I was feeling like it was possible. I leaned my lips up to Colt’s and kissed him before standing up and heading for the front door.

Noah met us at the door. He grabbed my hand and started pulling me. “Mom, come on. You have to help me pack.”

I looked back at Colt, feeling confused. “Pack for what?”

“Uncle Zeke said I could go stay at his house. Can you believe it? I’m goin’ to see a real
rock stars house.”

Everything wasn’t going to be okay. In fact, it was far from being okay.

Chapter 6

Colt

It took Savanna a while to get Noah settled down enough to go up and get a shower. The last thing he wanted to do was say goodbye to his new, famous uncle. When we knew he was upstairs, I led Zeke and Piper into the kitchen to talk.

Savanna wasn’t doing well. She always lost it when it came to our kids. She sat there just staring off until I started speaking. “I think we need to talk about some things, Zeke. I think we might not be on the same page here.”

“Sure, man. What’s up?”

I opened up my hands that were sitting on the table. “Look, don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for my son to go stay with you.”

He crossed his arms. “Why is that? You’ve known me for years. I didn’t tell him he could come with me tonight, but I think I deserve to have a relationship with my nephew.”

“I knew you when you were a child. Times have changed. Savanna and me are goin’ to have to talk about this first. Noah ain’t never been somewhere far away from us. He just met you and it’s obvious that you live a different kind of lifestyle.”

He got up from the table and started pacing around my kitchen. “I get it. You think I am going to corrupt your kid. You know, Colt, I may look different than you, but I’m still that same guy you knew before.”

Savanna couldn’t take it anymore. “As much as I want to believe that you both are good people, I have to keep my guard up when it comes to my child. I think before Noah can go to stay with you, he should get to know you here, where we know he is safe.”

“Safe? Lady, I don’t know what magazine or news channel you get your information from, but I’m not some child molester or serial killer. I’m his blood
. It’s way more than you share with him.”

I banged my fist on the table. “Enough! This shit is not happenin’. You will not come into my house and degrade my wife in front of me. That woman has been the only mother that kid has had since he was dropped off at our doorstep. She loves him as much as if she had him herself. You need to leave, before I remind you how we handle things around these parts and I can promise you that you’re not goin’ to like it.”

“Colt, don’t threaten me for stating the facts man. I have every right to know that kid.”

“Where have you been for the past ten
and a half years of his life? I know I haven’t seen you for almost seven. You knew where we lived. You could have sent cards. Hell, my number is still the same. You never gave a shit about him.” I wasn’t going to tolerate him any longer. This guy had come into my house and been disrespectful. He needed to get the hell off of my property.

“Things have been tough for me. I had a lot of problems and I didn’t want to taint our relationship with them.”

Who did he think he was? “We never had a relationship, Zeke. You were a child when you lived here. I helped your sister take care of you, for a short time. I owed you nothing and my opinion doesn’t even matter. This is about my son. Your sister didn’t even bother to tell me about him. Do you have any idea what that was like for me, for my wife? No, you don’t! You couldn’t, because you were out getting drugged up. I reckon that’s how you had to deal with her loss, but that ain’t how I do things. She should have told me about him. I would have taken care of them.”

Savanna walked out of the room and sat on the couch. I didn’t mean it like I wanted to be with Krista. I think she’d just had enough for the night. “Look, I think it’s best that we just sever ties. Noah has met you. If you want to see him, it’s going to be here. I don’t want my son knowin’ your lifestyle. It’s not the place for a kid.”

“So he can’t come and stay with us?”

“No!”

Zeke grabbed his wife by the arm and almost pulled her out of the kitchen. “If you’re going to refuse me to see my own nephew, I’m going to have to contact my lawyer. Do you really want to go about it that way, Colt?”

“You do what you gotta do! No judge in his right mind is goin’ to think that Noah bein’ around all that partyin’ is a good idea.”

Zeke shook his head again. “I hoped this would go better, I really did.”

Once we watched them pull away, I hugged my wife. “It’s goin’ to be fine, Savanna. He’s just mad that we wouldn’t let him take Noah. He’ll calm down and it will be fine.”

“I hope so,” She cried with her face tucked into my chest.

Our kids had never been threatened like this. I didn’t know what to t
hink. On one hand, I was hoping that it was just some phase that the guy was going through. Maybe after he left and calmed down, it would just all blow over and he would decide it wasn’t worth his time or his money. It wasn’t like I forbid him to see my son. I just said it had to be on my terms. I’m his father. He had to know that I would throw that card out there. Any good father would have done the same.

It also wasn’t because Zeke’s appearance. I knew there was a g
ood guy somewhere in that tough armor he wore. The problem with Zeke was the package that came with him. He may not have been using and he could have been married to a princess for all I cared. It was the crowd of people that surrounded him wherever he went. It was the type of things that his songs implied.

He couldn’t get away from the life he’d made for himself.

I got that he broke down after losing Krista. It made sense. The kid came from nothing and she was his only lifeline. Before they stayed with me, it was Krista who fed him and made sure he went to school. Their dad wasn’t much of a father at all. They had no supervision.

“The bottom line is that Noah is our son. We decide what happens.”

Savanna turned and looked at me. She was so serious and I knew what she was going to ask. “Colt, I am going to ask you something and I need you to tell me the truth, no matter how much it would hurt me.”

“Don’t do this Savanna. I know where you’re goin’ with this.”

She put her hand over my lips and was already starting to tear up. “When I was going to marry Ty and your father had his fall, what would you have done if Krista was on your doorstep, pregnant with your child?”

“I would have done the right thing.” She was starting to get up. I pulled her back down beside me. “You wanted the truth and you of all people know what kind of man I am. As much as I was in love with you, I’d have to take care of them. I would have felt obligated.”

She covered her face and I could hear sniffling. “I get it. You’re a good man, Colt. I just can’t imagine coming here and the pregnant woman at your door not being your cousin. I can’t imagine a life without you in it.”

“You don’t ever have to, because you’re right where you belong, darlin’. I didn’t say I would ever love Krista. She came from nothin’ and if I wanted my child to be taken good care of, it would have been under my roof.”

She still wouldn’t turn to look at me. “It doesn’t bother you that things could have turned out so differently?”

“If your askin’ if I would have showed up for your and Ty’s wedding, I’m not goin’ to answer that.” I wasn’t that guy that runs in and breaks it up, even if it was what I wanted to do. “I’d never get over you, Savanna. Losin’ you would kill me.”

She finally turned to face me with a face full of tears. I brushed them away as she spoke. “You’re saying that after being with me for over ten years. You don’t know what it would have been like back then. Having a baby with someone changes people.”

“I know what I know. You were always the one. Thinking about y
ou bein’ with Ty still makes my blood boil.”

“Well, I feel like I’ve been kicked in the stomach when I hear you say that you would have just been with Krista.”

Why did she even ask if she knew what path I would have chosen. Women were so difficult. “Oh, so it was alright for me to go to sleep in that carriage house while you were showering with my cousin?” It was a low blow and I knew that my frustration had caused our disagreement to escalate. She stood up and started walking away from me. I tried to grab her arm. “Wait!”

Savanna turned and pointed at my face. “How dare you! You knew how hard it was for me. I wasn’t showering with Ty. He came into the bathroom. Why are we even
rehashing this, Colt. It was years ago!”

“You started this!”

“Screw you!” She threw her little temper tantrum while walking away.

I followed her and grabbed her from behind. “We shouldn’t be fightin’. Everything turned out the way it should have.”

Just as Savanna finally started to relax her shoulders, we both caught a glimpse of Noah standing on the stairs. His eyes were wide open and he had tears in them. “You wished my mother dead!” He ran up the stairs and we heard his door slam shut.

Savanna followed me up the stairs to Noah’s bedroom. He’d locked the door, so I knocked to get him to open it. “Open the door, son. We need to talk about this.”

Silence.

“Noah, I’m not kiddin’. If I have to break down this door, you’re goin’ to be sorry.”

I heard footsteps and then the door knob jiggling. He didn’t open it. When I pushed the door ajar, I saw him jumping back on his bed, face first. “Are you goin’ to talk to us?”

“I heard you, D
ad. I heard you say it turned out right. You wished her dead! You wished my mom dead so you could be with her!” He pointed at Savanna and then threw himself back down on the bed.

The damage was done. Savanna walked out of the room and I was so mad at Noah that I couldn’t think about running to her. “You watch your mouth, boy! Savanna is your mother and you don’t…”

“SHE’S NOT MY MOTHER!”

His words hurt me and I knew she heard them too. I grabbed him by the shirt and lifted him off the bed to a sitting position. “Don’t you ever say that!”

“I hate her! She took my mother’s place. I wish she never even lived!”

My bare hand made contact with Noah’s mouth faster than I could realize what was happening. I’d never been so upset with him before. He covered his mouth and started crying.

When I stood up and got to his door, I turned back around and looked at my son, laying on his bed, bawling his eyes out. “You will stay in this room until you can apologize to your mother. Savanna may not have had you, but she is your mother in every way possible. What you just said to her, you can never take back. You remember that, Noah.” I started to walk down the hallway. “And you can forget about seein’ your uncle again. This is not happenin’ anymore!”

Savanna was in the bathroom, in
a ball, in the corner. Her head was in between her knees and she was hysterical. I couldn’t imagine the pain of Noah’s words and how they had affected her. She didn’t deserve that; not after everything she’d done for that kid. In one sentence, he had ripped her whole world apart. Nothing was more important to my wife than being a mother. I knelt down beside her. “Darlin’, he didn’t mean what he said.”

She pulled her knees away. “Yes he did.”

“Oh hell, Savanna. He couldn’t live without you. None of us could. He’s just mad and he’s a kid, so taking it out on us is all he knows to do.”

“Please just leave me alone,” she cried.

“No!” I picked her up and carried her to our bed. Once I had her on it, she turned and put her face in the covers so I couldn’t see her. “He will apologize and everything is goin’ to be alright. I promise!”

She looked up at me, with makeup running down her face. “Did you see his face, Colt?
I know Noah and I know when he’s serious. He meant what he said. He meant every word of it.” She cried harder. I watched her face scrunch up as the tears poured out.

What was I supposed to say to her? Noah was probably still crying because I’d hit him. Naturally, I just wanted to walk away and come back when it was all settled.
Unfortunately, I was right in the middle of it all.

I left Savanna and Noah crying and headed to my mother’s to get the girls. At least if Savanna had them to keep her busy, she wouldn’t have time to be so emotional.

My mother had this intuition about her. She knew when something was wrong. I’d no sooner walked in the door when she started asking me questions. “What’s wrong? It didn’t go well?”

“Mom, nothin’
about it was well. Zeke wants to take Noah home with him. Noah told his mother that she wasn’t his mother. He said he hated her.” I shook my head in disappointment. “I slapped him.”

She walked over and
hugged me. Right away my daughter reached out for me to pick her up. She was getting entirely too big to be carried around. I looked down at the couch and saw that Christian was asleep and laying on Lucy’s leg. Christian didn’t get naps like her sister, so she was always the first to conk out. Lucy smiled but stayed quiet so she didn’t wake her. “Son, this is what being a parent is all about. There is good and there is bad. I hate to tell you this, but the rebelling doesn’t go away over night. I’m afraid this is probably just the beginning.”

“Savanna is never goin’ to forget this. I’m afraid this can’t be undone.”

“Time heals all wounds. You and I both know how much that kid loves her. He reminds me of someone I know.” She patted me on the back.

“What did you do when I got mouthy?”

“I hit you with a wooden spoon!”

I suddenly remember running from the wooden spoon. “You never caught me.”