Chapter Text
“Aurora, am I having trouble with my sight or is that really you throwing paper napkins at Apollo?”
My youngest was a firecracker. At only seven years old, she was able to set a whole city on fire just with a smile and a twinkle of her blue eyes. Her favorite hobby nowadays was to make her brother angry at her. When I called her name, she stopped dead and smiled at me, that beautiful angelic smile, completely innocent and devilish at the same time.
“I wasn’t, mommy, I swear.” She answered, while Apollo took the last piece of paper out of his shirt with a simple roll of his eyes. She was lucky that Apollo was the most patient brother she had, because if it were Zuma or Kings at his place…
“You two, go at the back to see if Kingston need help unloading his instruments. You guys can carry some wires or whatever.”
“Yes, mommy.” And they went their way, running to see who would arrive first. I shook my head, going back to what I was doing before my interruption.
I couldn’t believe that I was about to open my sixth restaurant in the West Coast, the first one in LA, tonight. It was a dream coming true. Not only I was a successful business woman, I was also raising four of the most beautiful children I’ve ever seen. Despite the occasional fuss and some misbehavior here and there, they were all very polite and mature for their ages. And thank God for that, because I surely couldn’t have done this alone otherwise.
Since that rainy day almost eight years ago, I didn’t let anyone come closer. I shut my heart, threw the key out the window and started focusing on my business. I moved to Seattle, where there was almost none paparazzis and I could live a somewhat normal life and raise my family. Now, I had a 19 year old music undergrad, a 17 year old senior in high school, a 10 year old just entering the moody phase and a 7 year old that was the princess of the house. A handful, but I wouldn’t change that for the world.
Kingston would play tonight with his band for the opening, leaving this proud mamma even more of a train wreck than she already was. They were amazing, truly talented, and I could sense they were about to make it. I could only hope that he would continue at the path I set out for him, finishing his studies before touring the world.
It was almost 5 o’clock, the tables were done, everything in the kitchen was in the capable hands of Luke, my main chef, and all the waiters and waitresses were already arriving to put the finishing touches on everything. I had assembled a great team, using my past experiences, hiring new personnel months earlier and getting them trained at the other subsidiaries to get them used to the way we worked.
My brother and my sister-in-law would arrive soon to help take care of the kids while I welcomed our guests and clients. On normal days, the kids stayed at back in Seattle with the nanny, doing homework and going to bed early, but today they really bugged me to come see the new restaurant, especially with their big brother playing, so I had no choice but to bring them.
I checked my outfit one last time on the mirror across the room. I was finally believing my mom: I needed to gain some weight soon. With all of the stress those past months, I lost a few crucial pounds, and now I was looking like a ghost in my black sequin dress. I had Gregory and Danilo, my best friends and beauty team, to come and doll me up, because tonight I would have some magazines and newspapers over and I had to look good on the pictures.
I was organizing the cashier’s counter when I heard the door opening. Thinking that it was Todd and Jen, I didn’t mind, so I stayed with my head down, separating the tabs of each table on our schedule. All of our seats were booked for the first two weeks, thanks to my awesome marketing team.
“Hello?”
I heard a familiar voice, and instantly my heart skipped a beat. No, this can’t be .
“Gwen, are you there?”
I tried to stay in the shadows while I calmed my crazy heart. I haven’t heard that voice in seven and a half years. I thought I was over him, I thought I was done losing my mind over what happened between us. But apparently not, giving that my heart was beating so fast that it would break my ribcage at any moment.
I heard him getting closer to where I was at, so I took a deep breath and got out of my hiding.
“Hi, Blake.”
He was even more handsome than I remembered. His hair was fully grey now, but the unruly trait of his curls remained. His trace of a beard was also covered with white hairs, but the most shocking thing was his outfit. He was using a deep blue suit with gray tie and normal shoes instead of boots. He looked ready to buy some stocks on Wall Street or whatever. No jeans or plaid this time.
“It’s so nice to see you. I just got back in town when I read on the news you were opening a new restaurant in LA.”
“Yeah, it’s nice to see you too.” Steady, heart. Don’t give me away now. “What are you doing here?”
“I… I don’t have a good excuse.” He approached me, and my hand flew instinctively over my stomach, in a gesture that he interpreted as back out . “I just saw your name and wanted to see you again.”
“It’s nice that you remembered me after almost a decade.” I replied, sounding way more bitter that I intended. But the memories were flooding my brain and it was too painful to be polite.
“I’m sorry.” He simply said, as if that would make up to all the tears I’ve cried over him. But this Gwen would not be crying no more. “I’m in town because… because Carson is sick. I wanted to see him before the worst.”
“Oh no… How did I not know this?” Despite of everything that had happened, despite my retirement of the music world and Blake’s sudden change of lanes, Carson was a good friend of mine and I hated to learn that he was sick like that.
“It’s kind of a secret. I only found out because I called Siri one day and he had just been rushed to the hospital unconscious. She was desperate so she ended up telling me.”
I leaned by a table to keep me on my feet, suddenly feeling the world spin around me way too fast. “What does he have?”
“Brain tumor. He will undergo surgery in a couple days to get it out.”
I lost my breath and felt my sight go black. Blake rushed to keep me from falling and placed my on a chair until I was alright. But he was too close and I was feeling trapped.
“A-also… Miranda and I got a divorce.” My head snapped back at him, but before I could answer. I heard a noise behind us.
“Mom… Is everything okay?”
I got up, still a little dizzy, and went closer to Kingston, talking to him on a low voice. “Yeah baby, everything okay.”
“What’s Blake doing here?” A part of me felt pain of hearing Kings say his name with such anger. Blake was a role model for him. But he was old enough to understand when it all happened and he saw first hand how bad I got after he left.
“Hi, Kingston.” Blake awkwardly tried to say, but the only response he got from King was a stink eye.
“He’s just passing by. Go keep your brothers and sister at the back while I finish talking to him.”
“You got it. But I’ll be close if you need me.” King was always my protector and I loved that about him.
He disappeared by the door and I took a moment before turning around to face Blake again.
“I’m sorry, Blake, but this is not a good time. Send my love to Carson and tell him I promise I’ll visit him as soon as I can.” Please, be gone. I can’t breathe with you here. “I have a lot to do before the clients start arriving.”
“Yeah, sure, I’ll get out of your way.” He adjusted his tie, feeling uncomfortable. “I’ll see you around.”
“Uhm, yeah…. Please come have dinner before you head back to Nashville.” I said, wondering if he could tell that my invite was totally fake. I didn’t want to see him ever again. The sooner he leaves, the better.
“Don’t worry... I’ll be here in LA a long time now. I’m opening a branch of my label in town.”
Oh, fuck.
Just as he was about to open the door to leave, I heard tiny footsteps running over the tables area and I knew I was ruined.
“Mommy, mommy, look! I found a weird flower on the patio!” Aurora had her cheeks flushed with the exercise, the pink fabric of her dress having trouble keeping up with her pace. She got to my side and lifted her arms for me to pick her up. Noticing that Blake was standing my the door, she got shy and hid her face on my neck. “Who is him, mommy?” She handed me the flower and started playing with my hair.
“He is just a friend, sweetie. He is on his way out.”
“Hi, pretty girl.” Blake turned his body around and came closer to say hi to her. I was trembling, so I tried my best to hid her face with her own pretty blond, curly hair. But she was more curious than shy, so she lifted her face to stare at him.
“Will you eat at my mommy’s place tonight?”
“Probably not, dear… But I’ll come back with a present next time I can.” He must have noticed something about her, I’m sure, it couldn’t be. But he didn’t show. “I didn’t know you had another baby.” He said at me, and I swear I heard a hint of pain on his words.
“Yes, she is my youngest.”
“So, are you married?”
“No.” It was all I could reply. I’m sure he was asking who her father is, or who took his place on my bed after he was gone. But I couldn’t bring myself to answer those questions just yet.
He waved goodbye to me and Aurora and nodded his head on his way out, respecting my lack of words.
There is no way he didn’t notice the resemblance. He was probably doing the math right now in his car. I’m sure of it. And now my bubble of peace and quiet was forever ruined. I hugged my little princess, with the same exact blue eyes as the man that just left, and put her on the floor, watching her as she jumped danced her way back to the patio outside.
I wish she could remain this innocent and cheerful for ever. I wish I could leave her out of this. But probably Blake will realize the truth sooner or later and hell will break loose. I hid my face in my hands, completely lost.
I felt Kingston’s hands on my shoulder. He was taller than me by at least five inches, so it was easy for me to cuddle inside my oldest arms. We also shared a deeper connection that I did with his siblings, mainly because he was my rock when everything fell apart. He was just 12 at the time, but he wasn’t dumb. And, without a male figure on the house, he stepped in for his brothers and later, for his sister.
“Did you tell him, mom?”
“I couldn’t.”
“You should have told him.”
“He will probably guess. I mean, how can he not to? Aurora looks more and more like him by the day.”
“Even the dimples.”
“He didn’t see those, but I’m sure the eyes told him the truth.”
“What are you going to do when he comes back?”
“Pray that he doesn’t.”
“Mom.” He scolded me.
“I know, I know. I have to think about it. I don’t know what to do. I wasn’t expecting him to just show up like that.”
“He deserves to know, mom. She is his daughter too.”
“Shhh…” I adverted him. Aurora was just about to enter the phase of asking who her daddy was and I didn’t need that added pressure on my mind right now. She could not hear that word or I would never get peace.
“I’ll think about it. But now I have a business to open and you have a concert to play.”
He kissed my forehead, leaving me alone. I took a series of deep breaths, trying to organize my thoughts. After all this time picking the pieces up of a heart that Blake completely shattered without looking back, here he was again, leaving a path of destruction like a tornado.
In his defense, he didn’t know I was 8 weeks pregnant when he left me.
But how could I tell him? He accused me of cheating on him, and if I told him I was pregnant he would just laugh and tell me to find my lover because the kid was probably his. Even after he got proof that I was innocent, he was already married to Miranda and never came looking for me again. I moved to Seattle, stepped back from music for good and I was living a happy quiet life.
Until now.
Because a goddamn hurricane was headed my way and I had absolutely no shelter to protect me from it.