14
Dylan
I was relieved that Tessa agreed to my crazy plan, and at the same time, I felt guilty asking her to get involved in something so questionable. I didn’t know if it was against the law to get married simply for a custody case, but it was deceptive, and I hated asking her to lie not just to court but to her friends and family as well.
When she’d said yes, I followed up with details that should have made her change her mind. Details such as, she needed to tell her parents and invite them to the wedding so it seemed real. Same with her friends. I emphasized how we needed to act like a real couple and spend time together in the community.
I meant what I said about not touching her, because I didn’t want to hurt her like I had before, and yet if we played married, we’d have to appear to be in love when others could see us. I wouldn’t fuck her, but out in public I’d have to touch her like a man in love would.
But as I explained further, she continued to agree to my crazy plan. For some reason it made me feel worse. I really shouldn’t have been asking this of her.
The next day, I invited her over to start the ruse, beginning with telling Maisie and arranging for us to spend the day together like a couple would. We’d also get a ring to help add to the legitimacy.
Maisie and I were making pancakes when Tessa showed up the next morning.
“Daddy and I are making pancakes. Do you want some?” Maisie said, waving her spatula in the air.
“Sounds delicious,” Tessa said. She smiled, but I saw uncertainty in her eyes.
“We don’t have to do this,” I said quietly to her as I poured her a cup of coffee and she sat at the kitchen table.
“I want to. I want to help you and Maisie.”
I set my hand on her shoulder. She jerked slightly, and I pulled my hand away, wondering if we’d be able to pull this off if my touch bothered her.
“Are you sure?”
She looked up at me. “Yes. I’m sure.” She reached out and patted my arm, as if she knew her reaction to my touch concerned me.
With one long look at Tessa to give her a chance to change her mind, I then went back to Maisie, who was pulling the syrup from the fridge.
“Hey Maisie, Tessa and I have some news for you.”
“What?” she said, putting the syrup on the table and then climbing into her chair.
“Well …” Christ. Was I really going to do this? Was I going to lie to my kid? What happened if Maisie got even more attached to Tessa than she already was? This marriage was about helping keep Maisie with me, but at some point, this custody issue would be done. We’d be able to go our separate ways. Would it be hard on Maisie when that happened?
“Dylan, if you’re changing your mind …”
“No. I’m just … it’s a lot.”
She nodded. “We can wait.”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t think we can.”
“Can what?” Maisie said, grabbing a pancake off the serving platter and flopping it onto her plate.
I sucked in a breath. “Maisie, Tessa and I are going to get married.”
Her head looked up at me with her little brows furrowed. “Like a wedding?”
“Yes. We’ll have one of those and Tessa will live with us. What do you think about that?”
“Yay!” Maisie clapped her hands. “Will you be my mommy now?”
“No, honey,” Tessa said gently. “Your mommy will always be your mommy.”
“But you’ll be here with us?”
“Yes. Like a family, Maisie.” I put my hand on Tessa’s shoulder and this time she didn’t flinch.
“Can we still play together?”
“Yes. I suspect not much will change where that is concerned.” Tessa helped pour syrup on Maisie’s pancakes. Then she looked up at me. “It must be a special day to have pancakes with syrup. That’s a lot of sugar.”
I nodded, again appreciating that she understood how important I felt it was to feed Maisie healthy foods most of the time.
“We have to celebrate. What should we do today, Maisie?”
“Can we go to the park?”
I sat at the table, offering the pancakes to Tessa before taking a stack on my plate. “Sure. Maybe we can have a picnic.”
Once we stopped talking about marriage, and acted like we usually did, the morning felt more comfortable. It was a reminder at how easy this could be since Tessa fit so well with me and Maisie.
I packed us a picnic while Tessa helped Maisie get dressed and ready to go. We drove to the park. As we walked to find a place to set up our picnic, I took Tessa’s hand. She looked down at our linked fingers like it was weird but didn’t pull away. It was weird, and at the same time, it felt nice.
We played with Maisie in the park, pushing her on the swings, kicking her soccer ball around, and later having lunch.
“When you have babies, will they be my brother or sister?” Maisie asked as she took a bite of her sandwich.
Tessa choked, and I reached over to lightly pat her back. “Yes.” I had an image of Tessa all round with my child in her belly. It wasn’t an unpleasant image. The fact that it wasn’t bothered me. This was a fake relationship. There wouldn’t be any children for Tessa and me. “But if that happened, it would be a long time from now.”
Later, we watched as Maisie entertained herself on the jungle gym.
“I should take you out for a date,” I whispered to Tessa. I stood behind her with my hand on her hip. Her scent was sweet and alluring, making it easy to kiss
