Taking Chances (54 page)

“Well it’d sure
be awkward right now if I weren’t.” I laughed and accepted her numerous hugs
and kisses on the cheeks, only to be replaced by the same from Carrie and Dad.
At least Dad was more controlled with only one gentle hug and kiss for me, and
a big man hug for Brandon.

“You’re already
so big!” Carrie was crying happily as she kissed her son and turned back to my
stomach, “How far along are you?”

“I’m twelve
weeks, and trust me, I had the smallest of bumps until Thursday morning, and
then all of a sudden this was here.”

“Twelve weeks!
Oh my goodness, congratulations! Jeremy Allen Taylor, get your butt over here
and congratulate them.”

“Mom,” Jeremy
huffed a laugh and pulled Aubrey closer to his side, “already beat you to it.
You guys are a little behind on the news.”

That, of
course, got me a couple glares and Brandon a smack on the back of his head, but
soon we were all sitting down arguing over whether I was having a girl or boy.
Brandon shifted Liam back onto my lap and excused himself when he got a phone
call. When he came back five minutes later with a nervous expression, I was
worried about who that had been, but tried to keep shut until he was ready to
tell me. It didn’t help that he continued to check his phone every few minutes,
and my patience soon ran out.

Hugging Liam
close to me, I leaned into Brandon and waited until he looked directly at me
before speaking low, “Was that Scarecrow?”

“What?”

“On the phone.
Was that him?”

His eyes
softened and he kissed my temple, “No. I told Crow on Sunday to delete my
number and that I was done with the Underground.”

“You did?” I
couldn’t stop the smile that crossed my face.

“Of course. I
know I messed up, I’m not about to do it again. Him calling would just be a
temptation that I don’t need.”

I took a deep,
relieving breath and thanked God again for giving me a man like Brandon. “Well
then who called, you look nervous.”

He opened his
mouth, shut it, and quirked the corner of his mouth up, “Is it okay if we talk
about it later?”

Maybe my thanks
had come too soon. “Uh, should I be worried?”

Brandon checked
his phone again and searched my face, “No, I don’t think so.”

My heart
dropped, “Babe that doesn’t exactly help!” I hissed between clenched teeth.

“I’m sorry.
Don’t be worried, it’ll be fine.” He leaned forward to kiss me, but when the
doorbell rang he paused and blew out a deep breath. Mumbling something, he put
a hand on my shoulder and said he would get the door.

“Are you
expecting someone baby girl?”

“No Dad…we
aren’t.” I turned to look at the door, but Brandon had stepped outside, the
door barely cracked and all I could see was his back blocking whoever was out
there. Standing up, I repositioned Liam on my hip and turned just as Brandon
stepped back into the house, followed by a fit older man with salt and pepper
hair and a stern, weathered face. All the air left my body with a loud whoosh
and my hand covered my mouth.

Brandon watched
me with worried eyes before stepping around the chair to stand by my side and
grasp my hand. “Harper?”

What was he
doing here? How did he even know where I was? The stiff-postured man holding a
faded olive-drab colored seabag in his right hand stared at me silently, and I
seemed to only be able to do the same. I vaguely registered Brandon taking Liam
and passing him off to a family member behind us so he could pull me close to
his body.

“Sweetheart,
please say something.” When my voice continued to fail me, he leaned closer and
spoke in my ear, “If you don’t want him here, just tell me.”

Brandon knew
about this, I realized. This is who called him, why he was so nervous. Why
wouldn’t he tell me? I mentally thought about the way I looked, trying to
figure out if anything was unacceptable. My make-up was light, but probably
still a drastic change, and thank God I’d taken my Monroe piercing out when
Liam continued to grab at, or head butt it. Was my tank top too revealing? What
is he thinking and why isn’t he saying anything?

“Brandon,” Dad
cleared his throat and stepped up to my other side, “who is that?”

“Th-that –” I
paused for a moment to collect myself, determined to not start crying. With my
hormones all over the place already, it’s safe to say I was having a difficult time,
“That’s Sir. That’s my father.”

The room fell
quiet for about three whole seconds. “And may I ask what makes you think you’re
welcome here?”

My jaw dropped
and Dad audibly inhaled. You just didn’t talk to Sir that way.

“Please forgive
my wife.” Dad started and shifted a fraction closer to me, “I’m Robert Grayson,
that is my wife Claire,” he gestured over to Bree, “my daughter Breanna and her
fiancé Konrad.”

Sir nodded and
cleared his throat, “The ones that called and e-mailed.” He stated. “I
appreciate what you’ve done for Harper.”

Brandon left my
side to take Sir’s bag and set it down in the hallway, “You can sit, can I get
you anything to eat or drink?”

“No thank you,
I’m fine.” With an outstretched hand he closed the distance between us,
“Harper. You look well.”

I took a step
away from him and looked at my husband, “You knew about this?”

His face was
tense but his eyes were full of worry. Before he could answer, Sir did it for
him.

“He’s been
writing me at least once a month for over a year now. The last one he sent with
an airline ticket.”

I couldn’t hold
back anymore, I was about to finish what Mom had just started, “So that’s the
only reason you would come see me or talk to me? Because my husband bought you
a ticket here? What makes you think I wanted to see you? You disowned me!” My
voice was shaky but raising, “You cut me out of your life, you wanted nothing
to do with me or Liam.” He took a step toward me and again I took one back,
“You’ve
never
wanted anything to do with me!”

“That’s not
true.” Sir’s voice wavered and it stopped me where I stood.

Had the world
just stopped turning? Had hell frozen over? The Sir I knew was emotionless. The
man in front of me looked pained and his chin was quivering slightly.

“Do you know
that in the last two years I’ve felt more love from this family” I pointed
toward where everyone was sitting behind me, “than I ever felt from you?”

“Mom.” Brandon
said softly and gave her a look.

“Oh. Right,
we’ll be outside.” She said and everyone started standing.

Turning, I saw
Bree holding Liam and reached my arms out. “Please Bree.” I needed to hold my
son, I needed that comfort of having him in my arms. Bree gladly handed him
over and was the last one to walk into the back yard.

“Babe, do you
want me to go out too?”

I grabbed
Brandon’s hand and gripped tight, “Don’t you dare leave me right now.” Looking
directly into his eyes, I shook my head, “I can’t believe you would do this
without telling me.”

“Harper I –
even with everything that’s happened, I know you wish you had a different
relationship with him. You were devastated when there was no response from him
again last summer, I couldn’t just stop trying to reach him yet. There was
never any word from him and I sent him an open ended ticket over a month ago,
with the last letter I was going to send him, and I told him that. He called me
a week and a half ago, we talked for a bit and he decided he would come.” He
cupped one cheek and brought his other arm around both Liam and me, “I know
this is hard for you, and Robert is a great Dad Harper, but you need Sir in
your life too. Please understand why I continued to try to reach him.”

Oh Brandon. Of
course I understood. I just wish he would have given me some warning. I pressed
my lips to his for a few seconds and gave him a small smile, “Thank you. You’re
right, thank you so much.” Brandon’s relief was palpable and it helped ease the
tension in the room. Turning to Sir, I gestured behind him, “You’re more than
welcome to sit, Sir. We can talk.”

He offered a
smile much like the one I had just given Brandon and sat down in the chair
closest to him. Brandon and I sat on the couch facing him, and I kept a tight
grip on Liam as I tried to figure out what would make Sir want to be in my life
suddenly.

“He sure looks
a lot like you.” Sir said after a few awkward minutes of silence. His gaze was
fixed on Liam and…was that a smile?

Clearing my
throat, I instinctively hugged Liam closer. I’d never seen baby photos of
myself, but my son definitely didn’t look anything like his father. Other than
his eyes, there wasn’t a trace of Chase in him. And even those were different,
Chase’s had been a darker electric blue, Liam’s were such a pale blue that
people did a double take and then were completely mesmerized by them. They
looked like a Siberian husky’s eyes.

“I know I’m
late, but congratulations on the wedding and him…it’s Liam, right?”

I nodded, “Liam
Chase Taylor.”

“Brandon told
me the significance of his name, that’s a great way of honoring their lives.”

“And what else
did Brandon tell you?” I asked through clenched teeth. This man wanted nothing
to do with my life, and he thinks he can comment on why we named him Liam
Chase?

“Sweetheart.”
Brandon said softly.

“No, I want to
know what all you’ve told him.” Looking back over to Sir, I continued, “And I
want to know why you’re here. This is the longest conversation we’ve had in
years, I haven’t heard back from you in over a year and a half, then all of a
sudden you’re in our home!”

“I’ve told him
everything,” Brandon pulled me closer to his side, “Chase, my fighting, Liam’s
birth, our wedding, the gym…other than what’s happened in the last month, he
knows everything.”

“Well then, let
me fill you in.” I seethed, I couldn’t seem to control my anger right now,
“Brandon and I are having another baby, Brandon fought again, and I disappeared
for a day.”

Sir’s eyes
dropped to my stomach and Brandon looked like he was regretting not telling me
about this. As he should.

“Oh!” I started
again, “And Jason Carter came back into our lives and told me how you helped
him come here so he could be with me. Thanks for that by the way, it’s nice to
know you two tried to plan out my life without asking me first.”

Sir shook his
head, his eyes narrowing slightly, “That was never my intention, from my
conversations with Sergeant Carter, it was implied that you shared his
feelings, I was simply helping.”

“Helping?
Nice.” I had barely found out that Carter had been ranked Sergeant when his
service ended. How did Sir know that? Were they still in touch?

“Harper,”
Brandon whispered close to my ear, “baby try to calm down. He wants to talk to
you.”

“Then talk.” I
directed at Sir.

Brandon sighed
and ran a hand over his face, keeping it there for a moment. Sir shifted
forward in his chair just watching me until my anger slowly started to subside.

“I know I
wasn’t the best father, and I know there are a lot of things I should have
handled differently since you moved here.” He stopped to clear his throat, “But
I always wanted you Harper, you were the only thing that kept me going when
Janet di – when she died.”

His eyes
watering finished off my almost non-existent anger. My chest ached watching the
strongest – emotionally – man I knew slowly start to break down.

“If it weren’t
for you, I don’t know how I would have continued my life, but I didn’t know
what to do with a baby, especially a girl. Her family hadn’t approved of our
relationship, and I’d run away from mine when I joined the military. Your life
wasn’t ideal for you, I’m sure, but that’s all I thought I could do for you.
You being there was what made me get up every day, and I know I wasn’t around
much, but you look and act so much like your mother it killed me to be around
you. Not that that constitutes as an excuse, nothing excuses my behavior. It
wasn’t your fault you reminded me of her, and I should have embraced it rather
than pull away from you.

“When you left
for school, I had a hard time adjusting, and hearing your voice over the phone
made it harder. I started working more, staying on base longer, and only
communicated with you via e-mail. I thought distancing myself further would
help me cope with you leaving.”

My head was
swimming, I couldn’t believe everything he was telling me. I hadn’t known
anything different until I moved here, so I hadn’t hated my life growing up
until I started hanging around with the Graysons. I started hating Sir for how
distant he’d been, and though I’d always figured it was because of my mother, I
had no idea how much her death still affected him to this day. Hearing his
words made it difficult to continue hating this man at all. My arms were
twitching, wanting to wrap around Sir for the first time in my life, but he
didn’t usually say this much to me during one month of living together, and I
was afraid if I moved or said anything, it would all stop.

“I will never
forgive myself for the way I responded to the e-mail you sent when you found
out you were pregnant.” Sir whispered, his tear-filled eyes never leaving mine,
“It was the exact same thing Janet’s parents told her when we found out she was
pregnant with you. They hated that she was with someone in the military, hated
me even though I’d never spoken to, or seen them. We hadn’t been together long,
but I knew I wanted to marry her, and the only thing that stopped us was her
parents. When they disowned her for not aborting you, we married that next
weekend and I’d never been happier. We were so young, she was barely eighteen
and I was nineteen, but we were on top of the world and I couldn’t wait for you
to come along.

“I was
terrified for you when I read that e-mail, and I stupidly thought I could keep
you safe if I could stop you from going down the same path your mother and I
had been on. As soon as I sent the e-mail, I wanted to die. I couldn’t believe
I’d done that, I knew you would never do something so heartless, and that you
would probably never forgive me either. Claire Grayson called me that day, and
to put it mildly, she didn’t hold anything back. I was glad you had a family
that loved you the way I’d never shown you, and figured you not forgiving me
would be for the best. So that’s why I stayed silent, even after you all tried
to reach me before Liam was born and for your wedding. I thought staying away
would be the best thing for you and your new family. Brandon’s letters helped
me with that; I was able to know more than I probably would have if we’d
continued talking the way we always have. But when he said he wasn’t going to
continue writing me, I panicked. I thought I was helping you, but I know all
I’ve done was hurt you. I do love you Harper, I’ve always loved you.”