Want You Back - River Laurent Page 0,54

relieved, I wanted to scream.

“I’ve already started. I’ll make dinner,” he said.

I laughed at his enthusiasm. “When did you learn how to cook? From what I recall I did all the cooking.”

“I had to learn.”

The playful mood dissipated as we were both transported to another period before it all got so complicated.

“Let me put the groceries away and get dinner started,” he said.

He kissed Kayden on the forehead before grabbing the shopping bags hanging from the stroller. Tears of relief filled by eyes. I dipped my hand into my handbag and pulled out my phone. I texted Hannah and let her know that I would be at work the following morning.

Her reply text came back almost immediately. She sent celebratory emojis and words to the effect that she was relieved to have me back. I popped into the kitchen to help Alex with dinner but he more or less chased me out.

I returned to the living room and plopped down on the floor to play with Kayden. With the sound of cooking in the background and myself and Kayden playing with toys, it was the kind of scene I had dreamed of years earlier and I’d almost let myself forgot what had derailed those dreams.

At six, I warmed Kayden’s food and carried him clutching a teddy bear to the high chair at the small dining area at the far end of the living room. Alex joined us and watched as I fed him.

“He’s a good eater,” he said.

“Kayden’s an all-round fussless boy,” I said and kissed his cheek smeared with sauce.

We chatted easily, returning to our old friendship where we never ran out of things to talk about. After Kayden’s dinner, Alex helped me with washing him and then after a sippy cup of milk, we tucked him into bed.

“Does he like bedtime stories?” Alex asked me, eyeing a pile of story books that I’d bought when he was a baby with the plan that we would be reading together. Reading was tough for me and a strain but I didn’t want to tell Alex that.

“He does.” Every kid liked having someone read them a story.

“Do you mind if I read to him?”

Emotion rose up my throat. “Please do.”

Kayden watched Alex’s movements from his crib. “Boo,” he said pointing at the books.

“That’s right. You get a story tonight, my love,” I said.

Alex turned and showed me the cover of the book. “Is this okay?”

I couldn’t see a thing. “It’s fine.”

He plopped down on a rug beside the crib and showed Kayden the cover. Then he started reading. I sat on the floor and allowed myself to relax to Alex’s deep soothing voice.

He acted out the character’s voices, making us giggle, though I doubt Kayden knew why he was laughing. He probably just found the sounds that Alex was making funny.

I only realized after ten minutes that Alex’s voice had gone very low. I peered into the crib and saw that Kayden was asleep. “He’s out,” I said to Alex.

We both went to the crib and looked down at Kayden’s peaceful sweet face. I tucked the blanket around him and kissed his forehead, inhaling his sweet baby smells.

“You’re very lucky,” Alex whispered.

Emotion expanded my chest to almost painful proportions. I bit my lower lip to stop myself from blurting out the truth. I hated to doubt him but It was too risky to tell Alex now. I needed to know whether he was still the same Alex who could stand up to the right thing and to his parents.

I had woken up drenched in sweat plagued by nightmares of them taking Kayden away from me. I could survive many things, including the loss of my eyesight but not losing my son.

He was the reason why I kept moving forward even when things got tough.

Alex

“I emailed Amy and told her that I’d reconnected with you,” I said to Charlotte as we sipped an after-dinner glass of wine.

She went still before swinging her gaze to me. “You kept in contact with her?”

“Yes, we emailed back and forth a few times. She insisted from the first day you left that there was a mistake. That you must have had a reason for doing what you did. She wasn’t ready to see the truth. Even now. She said she has to hear it from your mouth to believe it.” I shrugged.

Charlotte didn’t say a word. It was an uncomfortable topic for both of us but mostly for Chaz. She had sacrificed so much for him