“It’s not six o’clock yet,” Amanda said without any other preliminaries. “We still have him for a few more hours.”
A ring of clarity settled over Saylor at the sight of her, with her pointed nose and thin mouth. This selfish woman who first stole Saylor’s husband and was now after her child. Never mind the fact they were already expecting Saylor to pick him up in a few more hours—for their wedding. This was how Amanda talked to her? Conviction followed, conviction which allowed Saylor the freedom to breathe. It was freedom she hadn’t felt in months.
“It’s one thing for you to sweep in when I wasn’t looking and steal the man I loved out from under me.”
Amanda folded her arms, and Saylor saw it. Bitterness. Defensiveness. Challenge in her green eyes.
“As one mother to another, I’m sure you’ll understand what I’m saying.” Saylor forced herself not to snap. “Parker is my son. Not yours. Mine. And if I want to see him, I’m going to see him.”
Pursing her lips, Amanda pressed a hand to her stomach and stepped aside. It’d been only an assumption—based on something David had said being the reason they’d bumped their wedding up—but it turned out Saylor was right. Amanda was expecting.
Saylor pushed past her into a glistening foyer she would only ever dream of owning.
“He’s in on the couch,” Amanda finally said.
Saylor ignored her. She wasn’t here to see Parker—for once—though she did glance across the open living area toward where a TV blared. Parker’s little head poked above the top of the leather couch.
“David?” Saylor called, shouting at the top of her lungs at the base of their gaudy staircase. “David!”
Amanda muttered something about her yelling, but again, Saylor ignored her. Noises shuffled above. A door opened, and David appeared at the top of the stairs wearing a sweater and slacks, his hair hard-parted to one side.
“Saylor. Good, you’re early. We need you to have him ready by six-thirty—”
“Stop.” Saylor gestured with the hand holding Parker’s suit, which was still wrapped in plastic.
David’s face hardened. His hands tightened on the banister above. “The wedding is happening, Saylor, whether you like it or not.”
“A lot of things happened whether I liked them or not. I know you’re marrying her tonight, which, frankly, is the best thing you could do if you’re going to have Parker around. He needs that stability from you.”
David blinked several times as though he didn’t recognize her. “Oh.”
Cogs turned in his mind. He set his brow in some kind of inward resolution and stepped down the rest of the way to stand level with Saylor. Something in the air shifted between them, as though he was lowering an inner barrier with each step.
Amanda moved in, too, her face softening. She stood off to the side by a large, potted fern.
“You broke my heart,” Saylor said, without any trace of the usual tightness brought on by the thought. “You both did.”
“Saylor—”
“Let me finish. It hurt, David. It crushed me. I haven’t said much. I haven’t wanted revenge. In fact, I’ve been trying as hard as I can to make the best of things. You of all people know how difficult that is for me.”
David lowered his head. He’d been there, after Caleb. He knew what she’d nearly done to herself.
“But you’ve been in a bad habit of thinking, because I’m nice, you can walk all over me. It’s probably the new money, and slowly being accustomed to getting your way all the time.”
Amanda sniffed and looked away. Saylor expected another rude comment, but she said nothing.
“Like it or not, Parker is our son, David. Yours and mine. Which means I expect you to do me the courtesy of consulting with me before decisions are made. No more extensions to have him spend time with Amanda’s parents. No more telling me to do things, like you did last week, ordering me to have him ready for you by a certain time. I’m a human being. Someone you once loved, even if you don’t now, and I deserve to be treated with respect. If you have a problem with that—”
“Okay,” David said. His tone was soft and humble, the farthest thing from what Saylor expected.
“What?”
“Okay. You’re right.”
Her mouth parted. Amanda sidled closer to him, a sour glare on her small-nosed face.
“She’s right,” he told her apologetically. Then he turned back to Saylor. “I’ll make sure to consider your feelings in the future where Parker is concerned.”
The old Saylor would have smarted at that last phrase. Where Parker is concerned. But after today, that was all David would be to her. Parker’s father.
“Thank you,” she said, digging into her coat pocket. “I have one more thing for you. You can consider it a wedding present, since I won’t be coming tonight.”
“You—what?”
She smiled, a tender, non-confrontational smile. “You’re his father. You’re capable of finding a way to get him there. Next time, you’ll know to check with me before assuming I have any desire to be at your beck and call.” Especially when you’re marrying the woman who threw my life on a tailspin, she thought but didn’t add.
Saylor pulled the thin, rectangular package out and handed it to David.
“Mistletoe?” he said, confused. “Christmas is over.”
Amanda stepped forward, huffing. “Is this supposed to be a joke? You know we’re about to get married.”
In that moment, Saylor pitied her. She pitied her defensiveness, her derision, her constant negativity. So territorial. So insecure in her high and mightiness. You can have him, Amanda.
Saylor’s smile was anything but forced, and she turned back to her ex.
“Before it was the symbol of kissing and Christmas, there was an old pagan legend where the god of peace’s life was destroyed and later, restored. That god’s mother hung mistletoe up as a token of peace when his life was returned to him. It was a symbol to help others, to represent love and forgiveness.”
The two
