Page 21 of The Regrettable Mistake

“You didn’t have to come,” I told my brother.

“I was already on my way to deliver a message from Hutch when the story broke.

“Did you hear it?”

“Yeah, Hutch was on the line with me and turned it up so I could hear as I drove.”

“What did you think?”

“I think it was a whole lot of drama you should have never been a part of. He talks a big game for a man who fucked up all on his own. I admit, it sounds like he was knee deep in it with that bitch. The fact remains, he still went there willingly at least once for her to have any blackmail to hang over his head.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’ve been thinking too. Besides, you were right all along about him just wanting me to be his nanny.”

“Did he tell you that?” My brother’s eyes bulged with anger at the thought.

“No. It just makes sense.” I shrugged my shoulders and then moved away from my twin. “I never even realized, until it shocked me to see him text it the other day, that he’s never once said, “I love you” to me. He’s never said it directly to me in all the time we’ve been together. Now that he’s been caught cheating on me and turned me into a laughing stock for the entire world, he can’t seem to stop declaring his feelings.”

I laughed as my brother stood there looking shell shocked. “My dad does love you,” Denmark said. That knocked me right out of my tangent as I only spoke openly about it because I thought he was still napping upstairs.

“Den, I didn’t…”

“No, Steph. I know he loves you because he tells me all the time.” His little face scrunched up before he added, “He used to tell me all the time before. When he used to come home like normal.”

“You’re not wrong, Den.” All three of us turned to see Ollie standing there in the doorway. I couldn’t even yell and shout that he wasn’t supposed to be there because his son was in the mix and I wouldn’t do anything to traumatize him any further than he already had been.

“Why did you and that lady do bad things to my mom?” Denmark asked his father in such an angry tone that even I was shocked by it.

“Your mom is the one who did bad things, Den,” Ollie explained quietly. I knew exactly what he meant and it was a stab to my damn heart that he still had the audacity to call that bitch Denmark’s mom.

“What did you do that was bad, Momma Steph?”

My mouth opened and closed a couple times because I didn’t know how to address this situation properly.

“Wait,” Ollie back peddled. “When I said ‘your mom’ I was talking about your real mom.” Ollie’s explanation drove those little daggers of betrayal deeper into my heart and offered a little twist while he was there tearing me apart.

“Steph is my real mom!” Denmark screamed at his father before running to me. “Steph is my mom! Only Steph!” As his arms wrapped around my midsection I leaned in and wrapped my boy in my love as best I could.

“I… Shit…” Ollie groaned as he swiped his hands through his hair in frustration.

“You just can’t help yourself, can you?” My brother asked.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“That freaking woman who set you up, blackmailed you, and threw my sister under a bus of her lies… You know, the same one who hauled ass seven and a half years ago without an ounce of remorse for who she left behind? That bitch is the one you keep giving the “mom” title to. Meanwhile, my sister has been in your son’s life, feeding him, wiping his nose, taking care of him when he’s sick, teaching him shit, and being the best fucking mother possible and still you can’t even allow him to bestow that title on her. You just keep beating my sister’s heart to pieces with that bullshit and now you’re doing it to your son as well.”

“Julianna is Denmark’s biological mother, whether she’s a horrible human or not.”

“Then call it like it is – like anyone else in your situation would – she’s his bio-mom. Steph is the mom that counts.” Steve pointed to where Denmark was still huddled into me. “Obviously. Maybe you should take some social cues from your boy. He’s not stupid. Can’t say the same for you.”

“Steve!” I called in warning. Not because I didn’t agree with him but because Denmark didn’t need to hear his uncle call his father names.

“Sorry, Den, but sometimes adults act dumb and we need to call them out on their crap so they can see the problems and fix them.”

“You’re right, Uncle Steve. My dad is dumb. I keep telling him that Steph is my mom and he won’t let me call her that.” Denmark glared at Ollie as his dad sank down onto the couch with a defeated sigh.

“You’re right. I got so caught up trying to make sure he knew the difference, I forgot the difference was staring us all in the face. My boy was smart enough to know it all along. He understood that Julia wasn’t here and Steph always was. I got stuck on thinking she’d come back and be a mom to him at some point.”

“Why the hell would you wish that on your kid?” Steve asked. I wanted to know the answer to that as well. “You think your son doesn’t realize that woman has never been around, never said happy birthday to him once in his life. Damn man, why would you even want a woman that could so easily remove herself from your kid’s life to come back to it?”

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