Read Online Because This Is Forever by Lena Hart - Free Book Online Page B

baby stop
you.”
    “Whatever,
Mia,” Leah snapped. “Don’t try to guilt trip me. You know I love Mouse and
would do anything for him, but he’s your son. You need to start thinking about what’s best for him .”
    Leah’s
last comment riled her like nothing else could. How dare she? Everything she did was for Mikey. “My son always
comes first,” Mia snapped. “Everything I do, I do for Mikey.”
    Leah
raised a brow. “Right. So is that why he doesn’t know about his father? I bet
the next thing you’ll be telling him is that you’re his mother and his father, right?” Leah scoffed. “That
may have worked when Mama said it since our deadbeat dad chose not to stick
around. But no one knows why Mikeys’ dad isn’t around.”
    “Because
it’s no one’s business,” Mia said through gritted teeth. “And it certainly
isn’t yours.”
    Mia
had been lucky that she hadn’t had to explain to Mikey why he didn’t have a
father. Her son had asked once and she had easily sidestepped it by reminding
him he had a different kind of family that included only Mommy, Auntie, and Grandma.
But when he got older, and eventually entered school, she knew the questions
would come again.
    Leah
rose from the kitchen table and dropped the stack of bills down. “You’re right,”
she said. “It isn’t any of my business. But it’s Mikeys’ and, good or bad, he
should know about Nate. Especially when the man can afford to take care of the
both of you.”
    Though
Mia hated to admit it, her sister’s comments forced her to acknowledge her
decision to keep Mikey from Nate. She had always stood by her actions,
believing she was giving Nate the space and freedom he obviously wanted while
protecting her son. She remembered the way he had declared with cold finality that
he did not want children, and she would die before she let anyone make her son
feel rejected or unwanted.
    Yet a
strange guilt began to plague her as she realized she was purposely keeping
father and son from knowing one another. She entertained the idea of going to
Chicago then immediately dropped it. Just the thought of going back to confront
Nate about this was daunting and caused her stomach to clench.
    But
another, persistent part of her wouldn’t let the thought go.
    She
spent the next several days making phone calls, trying to postpone the bank
from putting up the foreclosure notice. With the help of legal aid and her own
minimal knowledge from law school, she was able to negotiate a ninety-day
postponement on the foreclosure.
    Now
she had until the end of September to pay the bank but still didn’t know how
she would manage to get all the money.
    Unless
she went to the one man she had vowed never to go back to.
    Mia immediately
repelled the thought then shoved her pride aside as she rationalized her
approach. Whether Nate wanted children or not was irrelevant now. He had one and
the least he could do was ensure they didn’t go homeless. What she had to do was
cast her feelings aside and ask for his help.
    The
next day, she began making arrangements for their trip to Chicago. She was moving
without feeling, mentally preparing for the most important, the most unnerving reunion
in her life. A million scenarios crossed her mind as she thought about their
initial meeting. None of them were comforting. She wouldn’t back out of this
though.
    “Auntie!”
Her son’s shriek signaled her sister’s arrival. Mia turned as Leah strolled into
the kitchen carrying a giggling Mikey in her arms.
    “Look
Mia. I caught us a mouse.”
    Mia
smiled over her son’s giggles. She reached for him and held him up. “Hmm, what
should we do with him?”
    Leah’s
eyes sparkled. “I think we should eat him.”
    Mikey’s
dark eyes widened in horror as Mia brought her face down to his tummy.
    “Mommy,
no!” he shrieked but Mia continued her soft nibbling as his little body squirmed,
wiggled, and shook with laughter.
    She smiled
over her son’s wild, carefree laugh.