It looked as if all the air left her as she sagged to a chair. “She wouldn’t let me.”
“What?”
She wiped her tears. “I went to your mother. She said you couldn’t ever know. She offered me money.” She launched out of the chair. “I didn’t take it, Devin. I didn’t take one cent from her.”
I thought my heart was broken, but now it was decimated. I didn’t want to believe my mother would do this, and yet, deep down, I knew she would.
It was my turn to feel like I had no life in me. I sagged against the wall. “Why didn’t you tell me when I got back.”
“I was afraid of losing him. Of how your mother might treat him. Then I was afraid of this. Your anger and hurt.”
“You’re damn right I’m angry and hurt. What were you going to do Serena? Let me believe he wasn’t mine?”
“I was going to tell you. Honest, Devin. I was. Today at lunch was going to be my next attempt.”
“So, it’s my fault? It’s my mother and my fault that I missed four years of my son’s life.”
She only stared at me.
I shook my head as I took in the woman that I thought I knew. The woman I was beginning to think I might spend my life with. “I used to think you were different. Beyond all the bullshit. But you’re not.”
“What are you going to do?” she asked.
Good question. “Does he know?”
She shook her head. “No. I was waiting for you. We could tell him together.”
I didn’t want to do anything with her, but I had enough common sense to know that she was Andrew’s center. She’d need to be involved.
“I’m going to get a lawyer and fight for my son.”
She pressed her hands over her heart. “I’m not going to keep him from you.”
“You already have, Serena.”
She rushed to me, and this time I couldn’t stop her from grabbing my arms. “Please don’t take him from me. I know I was wrong. So wrong. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost him.”
I scoffed. “There you go again, thinking I’m a monster. I can’t stand to be with you right now, but I know he needs you. I wouldn’t take that from him. But I’m not going to let you keep him from me any longer.”
“Yes. Of course.” She sniffed, releasing my arms. When she looked at me, I saw pleading in her eyes. “Please don’t let your mother hurt him. I know she’ll have unkind things to say about me, but please don’t let her do that to him.”
“I won’t.” The room started to feel small and my instinct was to run away. But I had a son. “I want him to visit me.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
“Tomorrow. I want him to meet my family and take his rightful place as a Roarke.”
She flinched.
“I have an extra room at my place. I’ll fix it up for him. Right now, I’m at my parents. He needs to know his family.”
She nodded. “I’ll have him ready, but…except for my parents, he’s never been away from me.”
“If he gets scared, I’ll bring him home.”
“Thank you.”
The door opened and her parents walked in. The way their eyes darted between us, I could see they were assessing the situation. Her mother was the first to recognize that what Serena and I had was gone. She rushed to Serena and hugged her.
Mr. Moore’s eyes narrowed toward me. “Now son, I know she hurt you—”
“You don’t know the first thing about what I feel.” I had no reason to want to impress her parents. Not anymore.
Andrew’s eyebrows arched up in surprise. “Are you mad?” He looked around the room stopping at Serena. “Did you hurt my mommy?”
“No, I—”
Andrew drew his fist back and punched me in the thigh. “You don’t hurt my mommy.”
“Andrew!” Serena rushed to him, kneeling down to hug him. “Mommy is okay.”
“You’re crying. Why are you crying?” His little lip quivered and I hated that I was the one coming out to be the bad guy.
She stayed on her knees as she leaned back to look at him. “Because I did a terrible thing and I feel really bad about it. I hurt Devin. He has a right to be mad.”
Andrew narrowed his eyes as he glanced at me.
“You need to tell him,” my mother said. “Graham, let’s go in the kitchen.”
“Let me grab my whiskey first.” Graham grabbed his bottle and disappeared in the kitchen.
Serena stood and took Andrew’s hand leading him to the living room. “Sit on the couch, baby. I…we have something to tell you.”
“Is Devin leaving us?” This time when he looked at me, sadness filled his eyes.
“I’m never leaving you, Andrew. Not ever.” Holy hell, I was a father.
“See. It’s going to be fine.” She smiled and I had to hand it to her, she sure seemed to know how to pull it together for the boy. She sat on the coffee table and motioned me to sit next to her.
“What’s going on?” he asked, and I hated how worried he seemed.
“Remember when you asked about your dad?”
He nodded.
“I wasn’t completely truthful.”
His head tilted to the side. “Why?”
“I don’t have a good reason, but I’m going to tell you the truth now, okay?” She held his hands, pulling one to her lips and kissing them.
“Okay.” Again, he looked from me to Serena again.
“Baby, Devin is your daddy.”
I tried to smile which was hard because inside I felt like a fucking mess.
“My new daddy?”
“No honey. He’s your real daddy.”
He looked at me. “Where were you?”
I looked at Serena as resentment built. He blamed me for all this.
“Andrew, look at me, baby.” She squeezed his hands. “He didn’t know about you. I didn’t tell him. That’s why he wasn’t here. But now he knows and he’s here.”
He still looked confused and I hoped this wasn’t going to mess up our relationship.
“He wants to spend time with you. He wants to be your daddy.” She
