Page 181 of Tied to You
“This him?”
I smile when Mollie and her father both frown. “Yeah, boy, it’s me. I’m your dad.”
He frowns, eyes narrowing. “My dad’s dead.”
I breathe in, hearing the ache in his voice. “I’m sorry.”
“Are you?” He looks at Mollie, and I can just tell she’s fighting the tears.
“Can I tell you why?”
Mollie looks at me, clearly stressed. This is either going nothing like how she imagined, or exactly how she thought it would.
“I know why! Now he’s gone, you get my mum all to yourself,” he snaps.
“Riley,” Mollie scolds, stepping closer to him.
I notice her dad move too, his worry for his grandson evident.
“Wrong,” I simply say, as calmly as I can.
I’m stunned when he strides towards me, stopping ten feet shy of where I’m standing, his little face scrunched and so fucking handsome. I’m not biased, but he’s definitely my son. “I’m not wrong,” he argues, balling his fists. “Admit it, you’re glad he’s dead. You’re glad he’s never coming back! You’re so selfish to be happy that another man has died!”
Oh, kid, you have no idea. Never will.
Of that, I am one hundred percent fucking certain.
I’m knocked for six when he takes another step closer, letting me see his milk chocolate eyes, so big and so round like buttons. Those, he got from his mother, and I’ve never been more grateful. They’re my favourite thing about her. So when I see them fill, I suddenly can’t breathe. Can’t find my words when he,like his mother, fights with his emotions, trying to show me that he’s not afraid.
I don’t want him to try and be anything he’s not. He can be afraid asmuch as he wants because he has me now. They both do. And with God as my motherfucking witness, I will not fail either one of them again. Period. I’ve known my son all of thirty seconds, and the way it kills me hearing his juddering sobs getting louder and louder is unlike anything I’ve felt before. I already know I’d kill for this kid. My son. My boy.
Mine.
“Hey.” Mollie’s by his side, her father by hers. I want to reach out and hold onto them, but I can’t, not yet.
Instead, all I can do is swallow the ball of fire and look at him, watching as his tears begin to flow. I won’t ever let another one fall without being there to catch them and wipe them away. “I’m not glad Hen… your dad died, Riley,” I say, correcting myself. I am his father, but I did not raise him. I haven’t earned my title yet. “I’m not glad because I never got the chance to thank him.”
All eyes swing to me. All of them soaked.
“He took care of you and your mum when I was too scared to. It takes a real man to love another man’s family, protect them and give them a life. It also takes a real man to admit his mistakes.”
I flick a look up to Mollie and her father, my own emotions now brimming. There’s been a weight sitting heavy on my shoulders for eleven years but with every confession, I feel myself growing lighter. I have to keep going. Not just for us, but for everyone else; Rocco, Dean and Mads.
Rocco was robbed of getting to know Mads. And Dean… my breath chokes me at the thought that he might never get to meet his child. So I can’t be that selfish bastard anymore. I have to take the fucking opportunity to get this right whilst Ihavethe opportunity to do so.
“I should have been there. It should have been me taking care of my family. Not a day went by where I didn’t imagine this, kid,” I lift a hand gesturing between the three of us, “all of us together. I may not have known you were around, but I wished for it. Prayed every day that I could go back and have a second chance with the kid I thought I’d lost. I was given that when your dad made sure he brought you here. He loved your mum just like I do, so he knew if he couldn’t be around, there was only me who could take over from him.”
Mollie’s father coughs.
“And maybe your grandad. But the jury’s still out on that one.”
He lifts his head, frowning at me, but I detect a small ray of happiness when his face brightens.
“Your dad gave me my chance to love you. He wanted you and me to get to know each other. I’m not saying we have to do everything you two did together because they were yours and his things, your memories. But if you’ll let me,” I step closer to them both, stopping in front of them, “I’d like to make sure I show him that I can take care of the people he loved the most.”
I feel overcome. Full to the brim with every single emotion you could imagine. I don’t know what to do, and I don’t know where to start.
It’s Mollie who helps me, stepping closer, skating her arms around my waist. She tucks her head into my shoulder, and I feel my shirt instantly turn damp with her tears.
