I handed the picture back.
She put the photo back in her purse. “I’m prepared to compensate you. Sometimes money can soothe the hurt.”
I was pretty sure Fort Knox wouldn’t fix my hurt. I shook my head. “No. That won’t be necessary.”
She studied me for a moment, and I guessed that the other women she’d had this talk with had taken the money.
“So, you won’t go?” she asked.
I shook my head. “I have to finish school. I graduate in May.”
“How wonderful. Your parents must be very proud.” She handed me a business card. “If there’s anything we can do to help you get a job after you graduate, let me know.”
I felt numb as I shoved the card in my sweatpants’ pocket. “Thank you.”
I didn’t respond to Devin’s calls or texts that night or the next day. I didn’t show up at the airport when he left. Within a month, I began to feel like maybe I’d be able to put him in the past. And then I discovered I was pregnant.
1 Serena—Five Years Later
Life can change in an instant. One impulsive action can rewrite the trajectory of a life. For me, it had been getting caught up in Devin Roarke. One minute I was a college student studying business with the goal of a corporate job and the next I was planning to run off to Europe with a man I’d only just met. That short encounter changed everything that would happen in my life from then on.
I looked in on Andrew, the sweet child borne from that impulsive week. I wasn’t complaining about the impact he had on my life. While I’d been terrified to learn I was pregnant, I couldn’t regret that it had happened.
My parents were disappointed and even suggested I consider adoption for my unborn child. Of course, once he was here, he gave new joy to all of us. My mother retired from teaching to help me care for him as I set out with my degree to find work.
Lucky for me, I got a job at an events planning firm. It turned out I was good at it, and with Nikita Wilson as my mentor, in five years, I had my own office and my own team. My clients were mid-level status, but I was working my way to the big-time celebrities and hotshot businessmen.
With Andrew still sleeping soundly, I hurried through the morning routine I developed when he was one and I committed myself to achieving success and giving him the best life possible without his father’s family’s money.
I meditated for ten minutes, read something inspiring, journaled, and did thirty minutes on the treadmill. The exercise wasn’t about my weight, as I was still a big girl. The short morning workout helped me keep up with a four-year-old boy. I showered and then went back to his room.
“Drew, Drew…time to get up,” I said leaning over him.
His arm snaked out from under his sheet and wrapped around my neck. “I want pancakes.”
I laughed. “Maybe Grandma will make you some. I’ve got toast and peanut butter with a glass of milk for you.”
His eyes popped open. They were an unusual mixture of green and blue. Almost like my and Devin’s eye color were mixed together. He had my dark hair, but Devin’s features were strong in the shape of Andrew’s face. Like his father, Andrew would be handsome. I hoped he wouldn’t be as cocky or irresponsible with people’s hearts.
I left him to get dressed in the clothes I’d left out for him, going to the kitchen to fix his breakfast and get a second cup of coffee for myself. I’d been lucky to find the tiny one-bedroom apartment in my parents building in the East Village not far from Tompkins Square Park. It had a little nook that I was able to turn into a room for Andrew. My parents lived one floor down in a two-bedroom. All in all, things turned out well despite my impulsive behavior five years ago.
Even so, I wasn’t impulsive now. I learned how rash decisions could impact a life, and now that I was a mother, I couldn’t afford to have anything happen to hurt the safety and security I’d built for me and Andrew.
Andrew ran to the table with his toy airplane making jet noises. He grinned up at me, and in that sweet face, I saw the same smile as his father. In times like this, I wondered what Devin would do if he knew about Andrew. Would he deny being the father? Would he try to shirk his responsibility? Would he want to take Andrew away from me? Would he be happy?
Most people, including my parents, believed Andrew was the result of one night of a nameless hookup. It wasn’t so far from the truth and so it had been an easy secret to keep. If people knew the truth, they’d either hate me for keeping Andrew a secret from his father or wonder why I wasn’t going after him for money.
I knew keeping Andrew from Devin wasn’t a nice thing to do. The truth was, I’d tried to reach him, but he had a new phone number in Europe, which meant I had to seek out his mother to get his contact information. I hadn’t wanted to tell her about the baby, but she’d left me no choice as she refused to give any information. Even after knowing I was pregnant, she didn’t give it to me.
To say she reacted badly was an understatement. She tried to say he wasn’t the father, but I told her a DNA test would prove that he was. She must have believed me because she then offered me an obscene amount of money to go away and never speak of the issue again. She said that Devin was building his life in Europe and hadn’t mentioned me once since leaving, so clearly, I wasn’t important to him.
I
