Rough Terrain (Vista Falls #1) (9 page)

“I’ll admit you’re in a unique position,” she said, sinking back in the chair as she crossed her legs. “Most parents have the luxury of screwing up with their kids every day and getting another chance to do it all over again the next day. Nick doesn’t have to let you in. He can choose to keep you out of his life. Both you and Sage.”

“Thanks for the reminder.”

“So if you only get one shot with him, you have to make it count.”

“I know, but how?”

“Think about what you want to say to him. If you only get one hour with him, what do you want him to know, not about you but about how you feel about him? What do you want to know about him? Remember, this isn’t about you or the man you’ve become. It’s about the man your son is becoming.”

Wes pondered those words, knowing they were true. His son was on the verge of becoming a man, and the father who’d raised him was no longer in his life. Did that mean there was a place for him? “I don’t want Sage to get hurt. If Nick lashes out at her, I’m not sure how she’ll react.”

“You still care about her.”

“Of course I do.” His gaze lingered on the picture that had scarcely been out of his sight since he got it. “We share this bond. I guess I’ve never stopped caring about her, even when I was mad as hell about the way things went down.”

“We’re all entitled to our mistakes. No one is perfect. Not you. Not Sage. Not her parents.”

“But the difference is Sage and I have learned from our mistakes,” he said. “Can you say the same for her parents?”

“It’s not up to me to judge Sage’s parents. I don’t know what they were thinking or how they were feeling when they insisted she give that baby up for adoption. But I have to assume they were just looking out for their daughter because they loved her and wanted to protect her. When you’re a parent, you don’t always make the right calls. But as long as you do it from a place of love—”

Wes raised his hand. “Mom, the Brevilles are nothing like you and Dad. They’re selfish, manipulative—”

“They’re Sage’s parents, Wes,” she said, her tone brooking no argument. “And your son’s grandparents whether you want to acknowledge that or not. If Nick does want a relationship with you and Sage, what do you plan to do, exclude them from his life to punish them for what they did?”

Wes hadn’t thought that far ahead, but he couldn’t imagine Sage’s parents wanting to have a relationship with the baby they’d wanted nothing to do with all those years ago.

“If you want to pave the way for Sage with Nick, I’d suggest offering him a copy of her book. She poured her heart out on those pages. After reading that, there’s no way he could question how much she loves him. He’d know that she was only doing what she thought was best for him when she signed those papers.”

Wes turned over the book to see Sage’s beautiful face smiling at him from the glossy cover. “Maybe you’re right. If Nick reads it, he might see the real Sage, even before he meets her.”

“Well,” she said, standing, “I’m sure you have some phone calls you’re dying to make, so I’ll let you get to it. Call me and let me know how it goes?”

“You know I will,” he said, walking her to the door before giving her a hug. “You’re the best.”

“So are you, sweetheart. I love you, and good luck.”

After getting the go-ahead from Sage to make the call without her, Wes held his breath as the phone rang once, twice, three times, before a woman finally picked up.

“Hello?”

“Mrs. Martin, my name is Wes Davis, and I’m—”

She gasped. “You’re Nick’s father. His birth father. Oh my God, I’d never forget your name. How could I? You gave me the greatest gift in my life.”

Wes swallowed several times, overcome by her praise. He’d been so caught up in his grief over losing his son that he’d never thought about what it would mean to this woman to get the child she’d likely spent years praying for. “I hope you don’t mind that I’m calling—”

“No, not at all. In fact, I hoped you would someday.”

Wes was relieved that she wasn’t going to make this difficult or awkward. “You were?”

“Of course. After Roger died—that’s my late husband—I was so worried about Nick. I even thought about calling you myself, but I didn’t know how you’d feel about that. He was going through such a rough time losing his father, and I thought meeting you might help.”

“I wish I’d known.” Wes thought of all the times he’d considered reaching out to his son but had been afraid it would be like pouring salt in an open wound so he’d suffered in silence.

“He’s doing much better now. I’m not sure if the agency told you… I’m assuming that’s how you got my new number?”

“Yes, ma’am, it is. I hope you don’t mind?”

“Oh, goodness, no. That’s why I gave it to them. I always wanted you to have a way to reach Nick if you decided you wanted to. Anyways, my husband died about four years ago now. I remarried just a couple of years ago. Thankfully Nick gets along pretty well with my new husband. I wouldn’t have married him otherwise, you know.”

Knowing that she put Nick first put Wes’s mind at ease, no matter how selfish he felt for thinking it. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Anything.”

“Has he ever asked about me and Sage?”

“Of course he has.” He heard the smile in her voice when she said, “I told him that you were both very young and didn’t have the means to support a baby, so you gave him to us because you loved him and wanted him to have the best possible life.”

“Thank you.” Wes breathed a sigh of relief, knowing how lucky he was that his son had been placed with a caring, compassionate woman.

“When he was seven, we told him he was adopted. He asked why he didn’t have brown eyes like us or red hair like me.” She chuckled. “And Roger had blond hair. Nick’s hair is very dark, almost black, and his eyes are blue.”

Like mine.

“He was also quite the athlete, even from an early age, and I’m embarrassed to admit the both of us struggled to throw a ball in a straight line. We knew it wouldn’t be long before he started asking more questions, and since we never intended to keep the adoption from him, we decided that was as good a time as any to tell him.”

“Does he, um, still play sports?”

She laughed. “It seems that’s all he does these days. That and hang out with his friends. He really is a wonderful young man, Mr. Davis. I think you’d be very proud of him. I know I am.”

Wes was humbled that she would think he had any reason to be proud of him when she and her husband were the ones who’d done all the hard work raising him. “You must wonder why I’m calling now, after all these years.”

“I am curious.”

“I returned to Vista Falls not long ago and reconnected with Nick’s mom, uh, I’m sorry, with Sage.”

“You don’t have to apologize. She’s as much his mother as I am. She did give him life after all. She kept him safe until he could be brought into the world and…” She sighed. “Never mind. I just have very strong opinions about the roles we play as birth and adoptive parents, I guess.”

“I wasn’t sure you’d think we had a part to play at all to be honest.” Sometimes Wes thought of himself as little more than a sperm donor, though not a day had passed without him wishing he could be more.

“You said you and Ms. Breville reconnected recently. Does that mean you’re a couple again?”

“No.” Wes wondered if she felt threatened by the prospect of Nick’s parents reuniting and wanting to be a family. “I want to assure that the reason I called has nothing to do with us wanting to interfere in the way you’re raising your son. I’m sure—”

Before he could continue, Mrs. Martin asked in a rush, “Nothing’s wrong, is it? You’re not calling because something hereditary came up, did it?”

“No, no! Not at all. I guess we just want the chance to meet him, to see if he has any questions for us, you know, about why we gave him up.”

“Oh! I’m sure he does have questions, though I think Ms. Breville’s book may have helped to answer some of them.”

“Nick’s read Sage’s book?” Wes wondered how Sage would feel knowing that their son had read her personal account of the most trying time of her life.

“I read it first,” she admitted. “See, we don’t live too far from Vista Falls, and our local newspaper ran a story about Ms. Breville’s book. She was having a book signing at our local bookstore.”

“Really?”

“I’m ashamed to admit I went there to see her. I thought about introducing myself when she signed my book, but I wasn’t sure how she would react. I didn’t want to embarrass her in front of all those people, and honestly, I think I just lost my nerve.”

“Wow, it’s a small world. I can’t believe you’ve met Sage… and read her book.”

“It was beautiful, the book. I cried most of the way through it, knowing what she’d gone through and how much it cost her to trust us, two strangers, with her precious baby.”

“How did Nick react when he read it?” Wes knew that would be Sage’s first question when she found out Nick had read the book, and he wanted to be able to provide her with some answers.

“I think it helped him to understand why you did what you did. It answered a lot of his questions about the adoption and the kind of people his birth parents were.”

“I’m glad, but there’s no substitute for meeting face-to-face and talking, is there?”

“No, I guess not. But you understand that has to be his decision, don’t you? I can encourage him to meet you, assuming he asks for my advice. But I won’t pressure him into doing anything he’s uncomfortable with.”

“I understand.” Suddenly remembering there was another man in the picture now, Wes felt compelled to ask, “Your current husband, do you think he’ll be okay with this?”

“I know he will. We’ve talked about what would happen if you and Ms. Breville ever reached out to us. We want Nick to have the opportunity to meet you, Mr. Davis. Whether he chooses to or not, we want him to know that you want to get to know him.”

“I’m glad, and please call me Wes.”

“Okay, Wes.” She paused. “Would it be strange to admit that I know a bit about you?”

“Not at all.” Since she’d had their names all these years, Wes would have thought it strange had she not Googled them from time to time.

“Congratulations on your success with your company. Backwoods Outdoors is one of Nick’s favorite stores. Whenever we’re in the city, he always wants to go there. Of course, he orders from your online store too, but he always says there are some things you just need to hold in your hands.”

“He’s, um, into the outdoors?” He closed his eyes, imagining all of the things they’d missed out on: hunting and fishing trips, camping, hiking… Wes was getting a clearer picture of who his son was, and he couldn’t wait to get to know him better.

“Didn’t I mention we live on a small hobby farm? He’s loved nature and animals for as long as I can remember.”

“Wow, that’s amazing.”

“Oh, I think I hear the school bus now. Yup, there it is. If you want to wait a minute, I’ll step outside and have a word with him. See if he might be up to talking to you now?”

Wes wanted nothing more than to hear his son’s voice for the first time, but he didn’t want the kid to feel as if he’d been ambushed. “Do you think that’s a good idea? I mean, if you’d rather talk to him first, I can leave my number. If he wants to talk, he can call me.”

“Trust me, that boy knows his own mind. If he doesn’t want to talk to you, he won’t. It’s as simple as that. So do you want to wait?”

“Sure. Thanks.” Wes heard her put the phone down, and he held his breath, wondering if she’d return to tell him his dream of meeting his son was never going to happen.

“Hello.”

Wes immediately recognized the sound of a boy on the verge of becoming a man trying to sound older and more mature than he was. He realized he should have taken more time to rehearse what he wanted to say because now that he had Nick’s undivided attention, he was at a loss. “Hey, Nick. I hope you don’t mind that I called.”

“No, it’s cool.”

“Okay, um…” There were so many things he wanted to say, so many questions he wanted to ask, but none seemed appropriate over the phone. “I was wondering if it would be possible for us to meet sometime. We’d love to talk to you, get to know you better.”

“We?”

“Me and Sage.”
Your mom.
He’d stopped just short of saying that, knowing the kid could argue he already had a mom and it wasn’t some woman he’d never met. “Your mom said you don’t live too far from Vista Falls…?”

“No, we’re in Brock.”

Less than an hour away. Wes couldn’t believe he’d been so close yet so far away.

“Do you have any plans for this weekend?” Nick hadn’t even expressed an interest in seeing them yet, and he could still shoot him down, but Wes prayed for the best.

“I have a football game on Friday night. You guys can come if you want. Maybe after we can go grab a burger or something?”

“Yeah, sure. We’d love that.” Wes didn’t even have to ask Sage first. He knew nothing in her life would take priority over this meeting. “Why don’t I give you my cell number? If there’s a change of plans or if you change your mind, you can call or text to let me know.” He didn’t want to believe Nick would have a change of heart after he’d had time to think about it, but it was a possibility.

“Sure, hold on. Let me grab my phone. I’ll put you in my contacts.”

Wes couldn’t believe how casual he sounded. Meanwhile, his heart was beating so fast he could feel it through his black Henley. As he rhymed off the numbers, he debated whether to ask Nick for his cell number. Before he could ask, Nick said he’d text him in a few with the time and place of the game.

“Your mom told me you’re really into the outdoors,” Wes said, not ready for the conversation to end. “Anything you need, you know, in terms of gear?” It was the least he could do given how much he owed him.

“No, thanks. I’m good.”

Wes tried not to be hurt or offended. He didn’t know many fourteen- or fifteen-year-old outdoor enthusiasts who would turn down the offer of free gear.
Baby steps,
he told himself. He’d never given Nick any reason to trust him or his word. “Okay then, I guess we’ll see you on Friday night.”