Personal Possessions (45 page)

“Kip, sometimes I don’t
understand a fuckin’ word you say!”

“That makes two of us,
McHale.”

He laughed his smoky laugh
as I heard him hang up the phone.

Crazy ole man.

I thought to
myself.

Reaching the country club,
I decided to step into the bar for a moment, I was early and wound
tight. I was like a bomb ready to explode at any minute. I asked
the bartender for a Jack straight up on the rocks and in no time, I
was sipping on the smooth liquor that always made me feel
comforted. I felt as though I was back to where I was before I
stepped into that conference room…alone. I never wanted to be there
again, yet here I was.

I finished off my drink
and raised my glass asking for one more. I looked at my watch,
Rachel was set to arrive in fifteen minutes. I grabbed my drink and
set up a tab, shit knows…I just might end up needing it.

Walking down the hall,
this place was like I never left it. I had basically grown up here,
my mom and her balls and galas. As a child, there wasn’t a weekend
I didn’t find myself here, laying down in the back room, watching
cartoons until I’d nod off, then have to be carried out at all
hours of the night. I didn’t blame my mom, it was what she loved. I
knew that I would’ve never picked that life for my
children.

What was I talking about,
I didn’t have a say so in my children’s lives. Here they were,
seventeen…about to go away to college and I missed out on
everything. The more I thought about it, the madder I became. I
cleared my mind with a sip of Jack and continued walking down
towards the dining room.

Finding the maître d was
easy, it was finding this room that was difficult. We were back in
a newer section of the club where no one was allow to come. The
view was beautiful but I wasn’t there for that. I sat down and
stared at the plate that was in front of me. I felt against my
jacket pocket to make sure that I still had the documents and they
were still secure.

I finished off my drink
only moments before the door opened and there she stood. Elle, as
though not a day had passed. Her body produced a vibe that was so
calming because as she walked closer to me, the more I felt it.
Comforting and reassuring me that all would be ok. I’m not even
sure she knew she did this to me.

As she arrived, I heard
her voice thanking the maître d for showing her to the table. I
smiled and stood. As soon as she sat, I returned to my seat and
immediately begun in the discussions, after all…this was the main
reason why we were here.

“Elleny…”

Elle’s eyes came up to
meet mine and I knew we were both on the same page…her heart was
laying right there in front of me as mine was for her.

I cleared my throat,
pushing away the thought.

“We need to talk,
Elle.”

Chapter 22

Here we were, sitting in
this amazing dining room, the view was unexplainable and yet the
both of us could look at nothing but each other. I made my face as
hard as stone so that she knew…I hadn’t forgotten.

“You wanna talk to me…now?
Three weeks ago I was practically begging you to talk to me, but
what, that wasn’t a good time for you…is that it….everything has to
be done on your timetable, Trevor? Well…I’m sorry, I don’t work
that way.”

Obviously, neither had
she. Elle got up quickly as to leave the room, there was not going
to be any running away again. Her time for dramatic exits were
done…finished.

“Please, sit. This meeting
isn’t about us, this is about our children. I want to meet them,
get to know them; I want to be a part of their lives. I’ve missed
out on everything. Please Elle, I don’t want to miss out on
anything else.”

I wanted to give her the
benefit of the doubt that she would work with me here. I wanted the
decision to be left up to her. Bear was nothing but a bystander in
this equation now, I would make sure that my children were
safe.

“
I’m sorry Trevor, I can’t
take that chance. Now if you’ll excuse me…”

Elle went to stand up, I
joined her.

“What if I’m not asking,
Elleny…what if I’m telling you.”

Elle turned around
quickly, in a defensive stance as I reached into my jacket pocket
and pulled out the birth certificates and laid them on the plate in
front of her.

There they were, right in
front of her face. Two brand new copies of my children’s birth
certificates; completely filled out and legal. Once where there was
no father’s name now read…mine.

TREVOR JORDAN
McHALE

“I’ve made some friends in
high places.”

I said in a snide way, I
didn’t mean too…well, ya maybe I did.

“You bastard! Do you know
what you’ve just done? You’ve signed my death certificate. He’s
gonna fuckin kill me, Trevor and he’s gonna take my kids….no our
kids and no one will ever find them.”

Elle went to walk away
from me again, but this time I reached out and took her arm in my
hand.

“Elle wait.”

She pulled her arm from my
grasp harshly.

”Wait for what Trevor… for
you to come to my house and tell my kids, a perfect stranger to
them, that you’re their father? Or wait for the guillotine to come
down on top of me while I sleep…you do what you’ve gotta do, Trevor
cuz I’m gonna do what I’ve gotta do.”

Elle walked out of the
dining room and down the hall, I could hear her whimpering as she
walked. I didn’t want to cause a scene, so I quietly followed her
until we reached the parking lot. She was looking around, probably
for Rachel who I made sure was gone…she wasn’t coming back. See,
that was the main part of my plan, there was no options other than
the one I was getting ready to present to Elle. We were going to
sit here and work at it until there was no other door to open. I
knew that we both wanted to be together, we were both secret free.
We were starting over…our slates were clean.

I saw Elle reach into her
bag and pull out her cellphone. I grabbed her hand before she had a
chance to open it. She needed to hear what I had to say.

“
I want us to be together,
Elle….I want us to be a family.”

Elle’s eyes meet mine and
immediately fill with tears. I wrapped her up in my arms and just
held her. There was no more running…there was no more denying. This
was us; Trevor and Elleny. Two little kids who played telephone and
made a promise that one day we would be a family. It took us awhile
and a whole lot of walls that tried to keep us apart, but we were
here…in this moment and we needed to be together. We wouldn’t be
able to survive if we weren’t.

“
Nothing’s gonna pull us
apart this time, Elle. He’s not gonna hurt you anymore or my
kids.”

I heard her sobs get
louder. I ran my hand over her back…if she needed reassurance that
this was a good thing, then she would get it from me, no one
else.

“
I told you babe, I was
anchored to you forever and always, that doesn’t mean when we
fight, we go our separate ways. It means when we fight we may pull
away but we’re strong; supported by each other. You’ll always be
joined to me, babe. No getting away from me again. I can promise
you that.”

Elle giggled and looked up
at me with that sparkle that was still as bright as a
star.

“
We’re bendable…not
breakable.”

You bet your ass we are. I
thought to myself. There was nothing that we couldn’t make it
through.

I pushed Elle’s hair off
her face and mouthed “That’s right.”

I noticed Elle her trying
to pull up to me so I bent down and kissed her mouth a sweet gentle
kiss, just as quickly, she broke away. Her hand came to mine and
pulled me in the direction of the parking lot, I looked at her and
laughed.

“Where we
goin?”

Elle giggled
back

“Doncha wanna meet your
kids?”

We drove to the school
early afternoon. On our way, Elle called Rach and asked would pick
up Harlee so that we could spend some time talking with the twins.
She agreed. So here we were, parked out in the parking lot, I was
going to wait out here in the car, nervously as Elle went in to get
the kids.

“You ready?”

She asked me.

I cleared my
throat.

“I think so.”

Elle smiled at me and
grabbed my hand as I smiled back.

“
It will be
fine.”

Yeah, tell that to my
nerves. I knew we should’ve stopped by a bar first. I chastised my
mind for even thinking that shit while I was here meeting my
kids.

I watched as Elle walked
towards the school, I concentrated on her legs. Seeing them walk in
those heels had to take some practice. I couldn’t see how women
could walk in them, then my mind went to her laying across the bed,
wearing nothing but those heels.

“Fuck me, Trevor…get your
mind to a nice place.”

I said to myself so that I
wouldn’t go back to that thought, there had to be some kind of
sacrilegious law or rule about thinking of the mother of your
children sprawled out on a bed, wearing nothing but a fine set of
heels while you’re picking your kids up at school.

“Oh my god,
stop!!”

I kept telling myself it
was nerves. I took some breaths and thought about work. I
remembered that I had a meeting set up with Loren tomorrow morning
and I needed to make sure that Ruby faxed that paperwork over to
him.

I saw them walking out. I
was speechless. I could not stop looking at them. My children were
absolutely beautiful. My son was tall, just like me…he had my
build. His hair was his mother’s color but he was all me. My
daughter was all Elle. Her face was the face of an angel, so
beautiful and bright. Her eyes had that sparkle, just like her
mom’s.

“
JoJo, Luc, this is my
friend Trevor… all of us call him TJ.”

I stuck out my hand. My
eyes kept going back and forth between the two of them. I couldn’t
believe these were my kids.

Luc spoke
first.

“Ummm, nice to meet you,
TJ.”

I couldn’t find my voice,
I barely could draw breath to keep from passing out. . After Luc
spoke, JoJo thought it was safe for her to speak so she said the
same exact thing.

“
Nice to meet you,
TJ.”

I had just heard my kids
say my name. That was so fucking awesome to me. I didn’t know
whether to laugh or to cry. I decided to change the entire
subject.

“Well, let’s go grab a cup
of coffee”

We made it to the coffee
shop but decided to grab a cup and head to a park where there
weren’t as many people. Elle thought it better since she wasn’t
sure how they were going to react to this news.

We got to the park and
found a cozy little area. I ended up having an emergency blanket in
the trunk, so I took it out and laid it down on the grass. We all
sat down and just looked at each other.

Finally, Elle looked at me
and nodded. This meeting was about to get real.

“Before I get started, I
just want to tell both of you how proud I am of you and how much I
love you. Everything that I have ever done in my life has been for
the benefit and well-being of all three of you. Even though, at the
time it seemed like the best way to go and then down the line it
really wasn’t, I’ve thought about ya’ll before myself.”

They both looked at each
other and said ok.

“
I’ve known TJ here since
second grade. He is Auntie Rachel’s cousin and he was my first
boyfriend; my only boyfriend.”

Out of nowhere JoJo chimes
in “before daddy right?”

Elle brought her eyes to
me and I knew she could see me holding my breath. She decided not
to answer JoJo right then and continue on with the
story.

“My senior year of high
school something happened, ya’ll.”

They could see something
wasn’t right.

“I got
pregnant.”

I could see Luc start to
sit up. He was starting to put this puzzle together. Elle sped up
telling the last of the details because Luc was becoming
anxious.

“I didn’t tell TJ that I
was pregnant. He was just offered a scholarship and he needed to
go. Daddy was TJ’s best friend, he knew about ya’ll. We made a deal
he’d be your daddy if I never told TJ about ya’ll.”

Luc stood up and pulled
his hands through his hair.

“
No…No…No…No… tell me this
isn’t happening”

I sat up straight, I
wasn’t sure how he was going to react to his mom’s confession so I
was kind of being cautious.

“
Luc…”

“No momma, you mean to
tell me all those times that motherfucker has been shitty to
you...”

“Dylan Lucas! What have I
told you about that tongue, son!”

Oh shit, was he was hot
headed…just like me.

He dropped down to his
knees and held his head in his hands, I could see his chest
vibrating. He was quiet for a long while.