Page 18 of The Homewrecker's Fate

“Yes, ma’am.”

Gavin turned back to me, and his tone wasn’t as nice as he asked his next question. “So, you’re my dad’s girlfriend?”

I shook my head. “No,” I started to say.

“We talked about that, Gav.” Surprisingly, it was Braxton who stepped in.

“I know, but…”

“Nope. No buts. Aviva didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I’m sorry,” I told the mini version of Rich. “I’m so sorry, honey. If I had known about your mom and you and your sister, I never would have dated your dad.”

He shrugged and blew out a heavy breath. “It’s okay. At least this way, the little babies will have someone else to play with. I’ll protect them, but they’ll have more fun playing together.”

Oh, my heart.

Tissues were thrust in front of Mel and me. I looked up through watery eyes to see Brax smiling at us. “Damn hormones,” he said before turning back to the stove.

Mel’s daughter was still missing in action, and it made me wonder if the 8-year-old was having a harder time with understanding everything that was going on. I couldn’t imagine being in Mel’s position and having to tell my children that their father got another woman pregnant and that they were expecting two siblings from two different mothers.

Just about the time Brax finished up what he was making, Mel’s daughter finally appeared. Whereas her son had been the spitting image of Rich, their little girl was Mel’s younger doppelgänger.

“Mommy,” the little blonde beauty pouted as she came into the room. Her shoulders stiffened when she noticed me sitting there, but she didn’t turn her full attention to me. Instead, she made sure to keep her eyes locked onto her mother the entire time she walked across the kitchen. It felt as though something was stuck in my throat and I couldn’t swallow it for the life of me. It was a mistake for me to be here.

These poor children. They didn’t understand. How could they? I barely understood everything that happened over the past year. It made me want to strangle their father for being so callous and such a cowardly, assholish fool. It might not have been as bad if they’d stayed 600 miles away and we never had to know about one another – or at least the children would never have had to find out about me. This seemed a bit like torture, though, and it was directed at the wrong person.

“Gwennie, can you say hello to our guest?”

The little girl shook her head, sending blonde ringlets bobbing across her shoulders. My heart was breaking into pieces inside my body. A strong arm wrapped around my shoulders and tugged me into a warm chest. Braxton’s kindness astounded me. I was no one to him and still, he could tell that this was hard on me, too. His offered support without being prompted nearly made me cry for different reasons.

“Gwen, Miss Aviva is mommy’s friend. It’s rude not to say hello and introduce yourself.” When the girl tucked her head further between her mother’s belly and arm, Mel leaned down and spoke in a softer voice. “Your brother introduced himself to Miss Aviva.” That caused the girl to pick her head up and look for him. When their eyes met, hers narrowed as if accusing him of being the traitor she obviously saw him as. If it wasn’t such a heartbreaking moment, I’d have laughed at the sheer will to put him in his place with just a look.

The boy shrugged his shoulders as if her look didn’t bother him. “Mom’s not mad at her, so why should we be? She didn’t know about us. Dad lied to her, too.”

The little girl finally swiveled her head from her brother over to where I was sitting. She sucked in a shocked breath. “Uncle Brax, what are you doing?”

“I’m giving Avi a hug because you being mad at her is making her sad.”

“Well, she stole my daddy away, so she made me sad first.”

“Oh, sweetie,” I cried and then buried my face in my palms to hide the onslaught of tears. Brax squeezed tighter on my shoulders before he left me to go kneel down in front of Mel’s little girl.

“You love your daddy, and no one here ever wants you to stop,” he started to explain. “No matter how badly adults mess up with one another, that doesn’t change how they feel about their kids. You know that, right?”

I peeked between my fingers and saw a watery image of the two as she nodded her head in understanding. “Your dad is still in your life. He still loves you very much and it is okay for you to love him right back.” She nodded again, even though it hadn’t been a question. “Miss Avi is not the reason your daddy doesn’t live in this house with you. Your dad is the one who made the decisions to lie to both your mom and Avi. Neither one of them is to blame for your dad not being here.”

“Then I should be mad at Daddy, not loving him.”

Brax shook his head. “We can be angry with people and still love them, sweetheart. It’s okay to be mad at your dad, but it isn’t okay for you to be mean to Miss Aviva. She did nothing wrong, and you know what?”

“What?”

“Lots of people are being mean to her where she works because they thought, like you, that she was a bad person who tried to take your dad away. They’ve called her names and said very bad things to her, and she didn’t even know your dad was married or had children. She thought she was dating a man she planned to marry and have her own children with. It’s not her fault that she was lied to, but everyone has been very mean to her. Do you think that’s fair?”

The little girl shook her head as I continued to quietly sob. “Me either. That’s why your mom and brother, and you and me are all going to be extra nice to Avi. She needs some friends right now. That baby she has in her belly will be your brother or sister and Avi will always be their mom. Do you think your brother or sister would like it if we hated Avi?”

“No!” She cried out.

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