Page 9 of Their Stolen Kisses
Chapter 5
Cameron
Traffic. There was always traffic in Chicago, but somehow I seemed to have chosen the worst time to navigate through the airport and along the freeway this evening on my way home.
No,I reminded myself as I shifted impatiently in the back seat,you didn’t CHOOSE this time at all.My flight from San Francisco was scheduled to arrive in Chicago at 5 PM. Unfortunately, storms up north had caused planes to reroute to San Francisco delaying my flight for nearly four hours. So, here I was at 8:45 PM, battling traffic to get home to my son.
If Diana hadn’t been able to come over tonight… I had no idea what I would have done. As Amy had told me before, she absolutely could not stay past 6:30 PM, and 8:45 was obviously way too late. Thankfully, when I called Diana to ask if she could help me out, she’d immediately said, “No problem, I’d love to come over and spend more time with Noah this evening.”
The first court date had gone as well as expected, considering I had just met the attorney who would be handling my case and she’d only had a couple days to go over the information and documents I had sent her.
When Johanna and I had been together - both before and during marriage - she’d always wanted to look crisp, fashionable and beautiful. She couldn’t set foot outside the house without a full face of makeup, hair done perfectly and clothes selected carefully for the occasion.
Once, I had admired that about her. She wanted to always look her best and be her best, no matter the situation.
Now, I realized that was a lie I had told myself to spare my heart. Jo wanted to look strikingly beautiful so that everyone around her would be intimidated.Not very motherly,I thought as I stared sourly out the window at a large delivery truck which had pulled over and stopped in our lane. But she didn’t need to present herself as a great mother before the court. She just needed to convince them that a mother would be better for Noah than a busy business executive.
And women won custody cases more often than men. It was a fact my attorney had mentioned and one I had already known and hadn’t needed to be reminded about. Then, there was Noah’s shyness and our visits to the counselor. The fact that I cared about Noah’s health and was going to these meetings with him was good. The shyness was bad in the first place, though, and Jo’s attorney had already made sure to blame my parenting for that.
I just needed to see Noah. Once I saw my boy, everything would be okay - if only for a few moments while I held him in my arms.
“Here we are,” my driver said turning in the driveway.
The plane had been delayed four hours. I wasn’t going to let him delay me for another second. Not wanting to waste time on idle chit-chat while I dug out my wallet to retrieve his tip, I quickly threw down several twenty-dollar bills before we stopped, and jumped out of the car - almost jogging to the back of the black SUV to grab my suitcase. After one close call on the icy stairs and a fumbled turn of a key later, I swung open the door of my home.
Diana stood there with her hand extended toward the door. “Whoops,” she said, straightening up with a slightly pink face. “I heard you at the door so I was going to let you in.”
“Don’t worry about it.” The television was playing, but all the toys had been picked up. “Where’s… oh yeah. I guess he’s hiding not wanting to go to bed.”
“He’s already in bed. I didn’t want to tell him you’d be back soon or he would never have allowed me to take him upstairs.”
I nodded; that made sense. Anyway, Noah didn’t have to be awake for me to check on him and give him a goodnight kiss-
“Wait, he’s already in bed?”
“Yes…? I thought 9 PM was his bedtime.”
“It is, just... You got him to sleep by himself? In his room?”
Clearly, Diana didn’t see this for the momentous news that it was. “Yes. He’s been sleeping by himself since the first night. I know he said he’s afraid of the dark, but I thought I could change his mind… I hope that was okay.”
“That was...” I lost my words for a moment. “That was one of the things we were working on. At counseling, I mean. Not being afraid of the dark.”
My admiration worked a pink flush into her cheeks. “Oh. Well, the counseling must have helped a lot, then.”
Or you helped a lot.Bless Chloe for bringing Diana and Noah together. “Well, thank you,” I told her earnestly. “For everything. And especially for coming over today after work.”
“Really, it was no problem. Noah is the best kid I’ve ever nannied.” Diana’s assurance reinforced what I already knew: Noah was a wonderful boy.
“I… I, uh...” I thanked her like two times already, why did I keep stuttering like a pimple-faced teenager? “I’m glad to hear that. I have the rest of what I owe you, by the way. Except for the cash for the extra hours today. Can I give it to you tomorrow at the office?”
“Oh… sure.” Tastefully painted nails clutched her purse to her stomach as she slipped the envelope I handed her inside. We stood there for a moment. “Anyway, I’d better get going.”
I wanted to stop her. I wanted to reach out, take her hand, tell her not to leave yet, not to go out in the cold. “Okay. Thanks again.”
Her full, pearly-white smile lit the room brighter than the foyer chandelier, then she closed the door behind her.
I turned off the lights and the TV kissed a soundly sleeping Noah goodnight, and dragged my suitcase to my room, trying to ignore a feeling that grew inside me with every second. A feeling that told me I’d forgotten to do something - or should have done something more.
