because mom had shown up at the house midweek and commandeered my son while muttering about him being too young to see certain things and how it was grandparents’ day or some such crap. I’m not sure, though, because mom would find any excuse to hog the baby, and since he doesn’t seem to mind, I let her have her way until his mother, and I start to miss him and have to go get him back from her clutches.
“Hello?” I was surprised at the caller. Why was her grandmother calling me instead of her? The two of them have been spending part of each day together, and she was another one with baby fever. Sometimes I’d catch Giselle with this wistful look on her face when she thinks no one else is looking, and when I asked, she explained that she always felt bad that our boy would have no one but her his whole life. Now she’s overwhelmed at the amount of love he’s now surrounded by.
He’s the first great-grandchild on both sides, and his mother’s aunts and uncles have already started spoiling both of them. It’s fun watching from the sidelines as she gets reacquainted with her dad’s siblings and their children, her cousins. It’s also freaky as hell seeing other people who look like her since her features heavily resemble her dad and his side of the family.
“Hello young man, I bet you’re wondering why I’m calling you and not my granddaughter. I’ll answer all your questions, as I’m sure you’re also wondering why I didn’t allow that creature to be arrested that first day for what she did to my son. I will answer all of your questions very shortly. Bring your wife and my great-grandson to the estate tomorrow morning at nine; you will have your answers then.”
She hung up, leaving me to stare at the phone. It’s true I was a bit confused when she refused to have Ann arrested right away. I had the audio recording as well as the video, both edited, of course, to take to the cops. But when they were ready, and I alerted the family to what I was about to do, Giselle’s grandmother had stopped me without giving any reason at all.
I was a bit put out thinking that she was doing it out of some archaic need to protect the family name and reputation, but Giselle had asked me to obey the older woman’s wishes as she was old and frail and, as she put it, must have her reasons. Maybe there was more to the story; what the hell do I know? If it were up to me, I’d put that bitch under the damn jail.
Giselle stirred as I made my way back to the bed. It still hits me in the gut each time she opens her eyes on mine. I’d missed the hell out of her, out of seeing her in my bed. Two years of trying my damnedest to hate her has been vanquished in a handful of days. I find myself sometimes wondering if some part of me hadn’t always known, like my annoying ass mother, that there had to be a legit reason for her leaving.
I can think that now, but the truth is I was too hurt in the past to think clearly. I’ve been secretly beating myself up for not going after her for letting pride and ego stand in the way. When I think of what could’ve happened to her and my son had Donovan not seen them that day, my blood runs cold.
She held her hand out to me, and the sight of her bare fingers reminded me of something else I had to do. I’d planned on waiting until the renewal ceremony mom had hinted at to give her back her rings when Delores had brought them to me in the study earlier, but now I find that I don’t want to wait. “Give me a second.”
She frowned at my refusal to take her hand as I walked across the room, naked, to open the drawer where I’d placed the jewelry case. One of the things that had gutted me was the fact that she’d left these behind. It was like a slap in the face to find them with the letter she’d left behind with the divorce papers. I’d put them away with the intent never to see them again, but of course, it was one of the first things Delores had had