Page 101 of Born to Scar

He nods and opens his mouth like he’s going to say something, but he snaps it shut. A beat of silence fills the space between us before his mouth opens again. “Ken came to me a few months after the blowout in the office. He told me what you were dealing with in terms of her father.”

I asked him to keep his mouth shut about that. Annoyance takes over as I shake my head.

“Son?” Dad places his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t be angry with him. He needed access to Asher. Asher is expensive. I had to approve it. Though he ended up doing it pro bono anyway. We all wanted Ricky behind bars. No child should ever have to go through those things.”

He did that for me? I’d hardly said a word to him at that point, business or not. I don’t know when it happened, but I have tears falling down my cheeks. He grips my shoulder tighter.

“You were wrong that day in the office, Cameron. You said you grew up to be just like me. You were wrong. You are a much better man than I am. And for that I’m grateful.” He pulls me into a hug. “I’m proud of the man you’ve become. Your mother and I both are.”

The code on the door sounds, and Indy walks in. “Hey, sorry, Mik needed to get back for his shift tonight. I forgot I scheduled him.” She chuckles with a lift of her shoulder. She takes a look at my face, and hers drops. Worry furrows her brow. “Are you⁠—”

“Great,” I answer. “Really, really great, Indy.”

Her smile lights up the room, and she gives a single nod. “I’ll just get out of your way. Nice to see you again, Mr. Beck.”

“You too, Indy.”

As she walks past us into the kitchen, Jay comes through the door, holding a shit ton of bags.

“Cam. Mr. Beck,” he pants with a nod. Mik comes through with even more bags. He nods at us and walks into the kitchen with Indy. Jay takes his bags up the stairs.

“I don’t like them calling me Mr. Beck.”

“No? What would you rather they call you?”

“Chris or…” He trails off, silent for a moment. Is that nervousness in his eyes? “…Dad?”

I gasp. A full-blown can’t-get-air-into-my-lungs gasp. Did he just really say he wanted them to call him dad?

“Too soon?”

I shake my head. “No. No, probably not. Remember who we are.”

He chuckles and nods.

Three hours later, Mom is here too, and we’re having dinner together, talking about everything under the sun and then some.

And it finally feels like we’ve achieved our perfect family.

EPILOGUE TWO

TWO YEARS LATER

INDY

I’m squeezed in between my two men. They’re fast asleep while I just put Evelyn back into her crib. Through surrogacy, we were able to have the baby we dreamt of. They wanted this badly, and I was happy to give it to them. We made it happen any way we could.

I’ll never regret this decision. She looks exactly like Jay but has my olive skin. She’ll be two in a few weeks, and her favorite thing is to play with Lainy and Kia’s son, Braxton.

Once Evelyn came into our lives, Cam’s parents turned into godsends, given the once-touchy relationship they had with their son. Cam and his father are still mending theirs, but they have been nothing but the best grandparents to her.

His mother came to see me after my father’s sentencing hearing. She’s been an unexpected mother figure. She’s taught me so much, without trying to change me. I’m so glad his dad came around, too. He can be a really great guy.

Evelyn has three sets of grandparents that she adores equally. Cam’s parents may not understand our relationship, but they are trying, and they love that little girl. James is like a big kid when she’s around and would pull the moon from orbit if she asked him to.

Bik and Ray are definitely the wild ones, because of course they are. It’s Bik and Ray. Ray can’t wait to teach her how to cook. And she thinks Bik’s split tongue is the funniest thing ever.

We bought a bigger house to accommodate our growing needs. The garage is massive in this new house and allows everyone to park in it—four bays for cars and one for bikes. Jay has a separate building to keep his race car and shop in. There are two offices and five bedrooms, two masters. It is absolutely massive.