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“He yours?” I bristle at this question because I’ve spent years defending my choices to what feels like everyone we know. It’s difficult to accept it as an innocent question.
“Yes.” Pulling my boy’s hat down a little further to distract myself, I’m surprised by Sebastian’s curiosity.
“How old?”
“Three in March.” I can feel my son’s head turn a little to stare at the stranger now that he’s calmed down a bit.
“Can we hurry this along already?” my mother yells out from her window. Her impatience is showing and wearing me down.
“Maybe this was a mistake. We’ll go. I don’t want to waste your time.” I’m upset because I’d come here to have something made special for Damien so he could take a bit of Alaska with him wherever he goes in life. I should have known I couldn’t succeed with my mom in tow.
“Ema, wait.” Sebastian’s sizable hand grasping my daintier one stops me in my tracks. It’s like that day at the plunge a few weeks ago. I touched him and nearly melted inside. Opening the driver’s door of my SUV, Sebastian looks my mom dead in the eyes and tells her, “If you’re in such a hurry, take off. I’ll drive them home once Ema’s decided on her design and I’ve got her squared away.” Her mouth hangs open, and if not for the fire in her eyes, I’d laugh, but I know I’ll take a verbal lashing for his words later. “Anything you two need from in here?” Opening the back door, I grab Damien’s comfort bag and my purse and step back.
“Don’t forget about this.” Sebastian quickly grabs Damien’s car seat before stepping out of my mother’s way.
“Fine. Don’t expect me to come back up here to get you,” Mom snaps as she climbs out of her side and around the hood. Slamming the door behind her, she speeds out of the driveway like her ass is on fire.
“Lovely lady,” Sebastian comments, and I bite my lip.
“That’s my mother for you.” It dawns on me that we’re stranded here, and I don’t even know this man. Until this year’s polar plunge, I don’t think I’d ever seen him before. I know his name, of course, given that his artisanship is unmatched in the area, but otherwise, I know nothing about him. “You’re not going to kill me and bury my body behind the barn, are you?”
I can feel him staring at me, but he doesn’t say anything. With a cross between a growl and a huff, he begins walking back to the barn, leaving us to either follow or start hiking down the mountain. “Cold, Mamma.” Damien pulls on my jacket. He’s not the most verbal child, so when he speaks, I listen.
Slipping his bag over my head and my purse on my shoulder, I pick him up and go after Sebastian. Entering the barn, it feels bigger than it looks. With both front doors spread wide open, it’s warmer than I would have imagined too. Several types of wood lean against one wall, crafter furniture covered with clear tarps sits against another, and in the middle is the machinery and instruments he uses to work.
A traditional totem is used as a support pole up to the roof, and I’m immediately awestruck by his talent. “Did you do this?” I nod at the pillar.
“My grandfather and I did it together when I was a teenager. Before he got sick.” A nostalgic look enters his eyes, and I envy him that. To have a fond memory about family.
Mine are all filled with bitterness and hatred. My parents aren’t the nicest people, and when I turned up pregnant with Damien at seventeen, they weren’t pleased and tried to force me into an abortion three times. Thankfully, the doctors they took me to had morals and refused to do the procedure unless I consented.
When Damien’s father explained he wasn’t ready to be a parent and wanted to live life first, I was angry and spiteful. I wanted to toss him into the nearest lake. But after some space and time, I understood. At least, he wasn’t trying to talk me into doing something I didn’t want. He didn’t try to tell me that the baby wasn’t his. He just wanted me to understand his position in life.
He was the only one who was honest with me, and he stayed through the pregnancy as a support system that I didn’t have at home. I left his name off the birth certificate, and he signed over his rights right after the baby was born. He met Damien just that once at the hospital after I gave birth, but otherwise, he’s never laid eyes on him.
When Clayton left for college, he promised he’d send money when he could. I told him he didn’t have to, but he knew what life was like at home. And like clockwork, every month, he has sent us a little bit of money to help with things that Damien is continually growing out of. We decided that I wouldn’t send pictures and he wouldn’t ask for them, neither of us wanting the guilt of a forced relationship between the two of them, and for now, it’s what’s best. I can only hope I’m making the correct choices.
“EmaLeigh?” Startled by my name, my eyes focus on Sebastian as he sits at a drafting table. “You want to tell me what it is you were wanting?”
Nodding, I put Damien on his feet again, but he doesn’t let me go and walks with me as I move forward to give the drawing to Sebastian. My lips twitch as his eyes roam over the paper. “This is nice work. You draw this?” I shrug when he looks up. “Why don’t you two come sit?” Pulling out stools for us, he waves us over, but Damien refuses to budge, and my anxiety begins to climb when I fear Sebastien will get annoyed with the only man in my life that’s never let me down.
* * *
Sebastian
Someone has done a fucking number on these two. I’ve not been able to stop thinking about EmaLeigh since she put those ridiculous mukluks on my feet. Her soft hand against my roughened body has kept my dick hard as a rock for weeks. Having her show up today, with a damn kid in tow, was shocking, but not enough to scare me away.
Offspring isn’t a deal-breaker for me, but she’s already got one foot out the door. It’s going to take convincing her that I want them both to get her to stay. I’ve always liked a challenge.
“What’s his name?” I nod at the boy who won’t let her go. Christ, when he let that scream rip, I thought someone was out there slaughtering them. Her excuse about not recognizing his surrounding was a lie I let go of. When she’s ready, she’ll tell me more. Though, if I had to guess, it had more to do with the wretched mother who was so eager to leave.
“Damien.” She rubs a loving hand over her son’s head.
Opening a drawer in my drafting table, I pull out a miniature totem I carved before I left in the spring and offer it to him. “Do you like bears, Damien?” His eyes don’t leave the stunning woman at his side. Even when she nods, he won’t reach out for it or acknowledge my existence.
“I’m sorry, new people make him nervous. Add in unfamiliar surroundings, and it’s a domino effect.” I can hear the tears in her voice, but I suspect it has nothing to do with her son and everything to do with the way people react to him.
“Nothing to be sorry for.” I hand her the item. “When he’s interested, you can give it to him. He doesn’t know me from Adam. No reason he should treat me like a long-lost friend.”
