Miles Carter
I found that drinking was a great way to subdue any feelings that came about when thinking about my secret child. I decided to call up Ava myself and schedule a meetup with her at this downtown restaurant and she said that she'd bring my 'Son' too.
I was seated under the floral gazebo sipping on an iced tea and I stared at her as she made her way through the crowd. Luckily I had on shades or she wouldn't have seen how many times I'd rolled my eyes.
Once she stepped away there was a little boy standing behind her leg. He was very skinny and actually did look like me. He had those signature freckles and my skin complexion. I smiled a little once I'd seen him.
"Sorry I'm late I had to stop for gas." She stressed as she took a seat. "Come on Chase sit right here."
The little boy took the seat next to her and laid his head on her arm.
"Wassup little man I'm miles and what's your name?"
He was silent and still hid behind his mama. It made me smile a little seeing how shy he was.
"Boy stop being so shy what's your name?" She asked while pushing him off of her causing him to giggle.
"I'm chase!" He said enthusiastically.
"It's nice to meet you chase, do you know who I am?"
"Yeah you're my dad." He said giving me a toothy smile. It's sad he knew about me but I didn't know about him.
"That's right, and how old are you?"
He smiled and held up five fingers. The timeline is about right I mean it has been that long since I'd last been with Ava.
"How old are you?" He asked.
"I'm 27." I chuckled. He was very open minded like me and didn't care what he asked, but he's also really shy.
"So um how long...did you know?" I asked Ava. I took off the shades and placed them on the table and the sun glared off the lenses.
"Five years, before we uh separated." She said not making eye contact.
"Why you tell my parents, but didn't tell me?"
"I don't know I feel really stupid about the decision I made. It's my fault you missed out on all the things that happened with him like his first steps or his first birthday or his first day of kindergarten."
"And then you come up to my job and made a deal with me, why did you change your name in the first place?"
"I was in a really bad relationship and I just had to find a way to escape and I moved back here um I changed my name and I got the position at the magazine company with the snap of my fingers. And then I remembered that you were the CEO of our competition and that's when I met you again."
"I can't believe you right now, so what do we do going forward since I know for a fact that he's my son."
"Well I have something really important to tell you that I haven't told anyone else." She whispered. I wondered what was so important that she had to tell me that would make me change the way I felt about her.
"What's the problem?" I asked scrunching up my face.
"I'm...Dying..." she whispered only for me to hear. Chase was too busy coloring to notice what was said.
"What do you mean you're dying? What the hell?"
"I have stage four cancer. The chemo isn't doing me any good um I've been to every specialist and they can't help me. My little boy is gonna grow up without a mother and I want him to at least know his father."
Everything was moving so fast right now my heart had to be beating two hundred beats per minute. I couldn't believe this right now.
"So what do you want me to do? How long do they expect you to live?"
"I would love to sign off my parental rights to you and for you to have full custody rather than my obnoxious sister taking him in or going into foster care, and they don't expect for me to live not much long maybe a month?"
"Fuck Ava how could you do this to me? You should've reached out and told me sooner. What about this thing that happened in the office? Why were you acting like that?"
"Because I knew then that you wouldn't have done anything and besides you only live once and my life is ending in another month or so."
I sighed heavily feeling myself growing agitated. She's dying and I have a son who doesn't even know me and my girlfriend is pregnant possibly by me or another man, it's just too much.
It was silent between us until the waitress came over and took our orders. Ava continued to look between chase and I before she spoke.
"You don't know how much I love you both. You guys are my everything and I'm sorry about all the bad that happened between us. I want things to be right before I leave this world."
"I know I love you too. This is all too much to take at one time. I have a son, you're dying, and my girlfriend is pregnant possibly by another man due to some miscommunications at the beginning of our relationship."
"Oh wow. Really? That's really tough...I feel for you, but if you need me you have my number I'm always here for you, even in the afterlife."
"Okay I appreciate how mature you've gotten, you were always the childish one." I chuckled. She laughed lightly and coughed a little into the gray scarf that hung low around her neck.
"Oh be quiet, it was never like that...Do you think that you could ever forgive me for what I did?"
"Of course, I already did five years ago."
She gave me a warm smile and grabbed my hand that rested on the tabletop.
"Thank you. Take care of him when I'm gone. I'm counting on you Miles." She smiled.
It made me weak in my heart to know that she was actually dying and I could do nothing about it and that he would grow up without a mother. How could I ever fix this? He didn't deserve this at all...She didn't deserve this at all. She's going to miss out on so many things and I hate it.
"Trust me, he's in good hands. This is my son I'm there for him now and I'm going to make up for lost time."
She laughed and a tear fell from her eye. She quickly wiped it away and started to fan her face.
"Ugh You're making me emotional. I appreciate you so much Miles you just don't understand. I want you to get him this weekend if you can, I think it would be great for you guys to bond on such short notice."
"Yeah I'd love to. How about I take little man to a basketball game?" I directed to him. He cheered loudly and started to clap his hands. It made me smile really hard to see him happy.
"Yeah! I'm going to a basketball game with my dad!" He cheered.
"Shh shh calm down." Ava said while smiling. She still looked beautiful with the dark circles under her eyes and her chubby face that would form a smile that made me fall in love with her five years ago.
"Wow enough with the bad news, lets talk? Catch up maybe? How have you been?"
This was the start of a short and interesting relationship between us, maybe the best one we'd ever had.
Melanie Stephen
I was sitting at the table with my brother eating noodles while playing board games with my parents. It was times like this that I really enjoyed.
"Uno!" My dad yelled while slapping a card down onto the table. We shared a laugh as I looked over to my mama and Magic. I wasn't playing but I enjoyed watching them play.
"똥 오. (Oh Shit.)" My mom yelled and threw a card down.
"Uno game!" My dad screamed and laughed while jumping out of his chair. My brother started to curse along with my mother in their native tongue and I sat there laughing.
I knew that Miles was out with Ava and his son today so I decided to come chill with them until he came home. I checked the time and it was going on 7 and since it was fall, it was dark outside. I wondered what he was doing.
"Babygirl you okay?" My dad asked while touching my shoulder.
"Oh yeah I'm fine dad just wondering where Miles is right now that's all."
"I'm pretty sure he's on his way. It's still shocking that he has another child though."
"Yeah I felt the same way." I sighed and stood to throw away my trash. My phone started to vibrate in my sweat pant pocket and I pulled it out and answered.
"Yeah." I said rolling my eyes.
"I'm on my way to you're parents house I got caught up in time, you wouldn't believe the shit I found out today."
"Yeah me neither."
"You don't sound happy baby you okay?" He asked.
"Yeah I'm fine just can't wait for you to get here that's all."
"I'm on the way don't worry, I love you." He said in this weird ass voice that caused me to smile.
"I love you more baby."
He hung up afterwards and I went back to join the rest of my family as we turned on some Netflix and tried to find something to watch.
"What was that all about?" Magic asked as I took the seat next to him and laid my head on his shoulder while propping my legs on my mom's thighs.
"Nothing he's coming." I smiled.
"Mhmm what was he doing? I thought it was just lunch with them and then he'd be back."
"No I think they went out for ice cream and went to the movies, but I don't know what they just got finished doing."
"If he cheated on you we gone have some problems, and I mean that shit too."
"Magic don't worry he's not cheating on me I know for sure."
-
"Woah woah woah so you're going to have to get Chase because Ava is dying of cancer? And she has less than a month to live?"
He nodded slowly and grabbed my hand, bringing it up to his lips to kiss.
"Yes babe, but I don't mind it. Do you know this little boy has the IQ of Albert Einstein? He's smart just like me and he's also funny just like me, and he has my looks." He said while scrolling through his phone and pulled up a picture of the both of them.
I smiled a little and agreed with what he was saying. They indeed look like twins except Chase was a little lighter. I looked up to miles and he had a huge smile on his face.
"So you feel really excited about this huh?" I asked passing him his phone back and leaning against a pillow.
"Yeah I mean I'm a hundred percent ready for whatever is being thrown at me because I know you're gonna be there through it all...no matter what."
"I know that, I have to be there for you. When are you getting him so that I can at least meet him too."
"This weekend. The entire weekend. I can't wait I have so much planned out for us to do and I just-why are you looking at me like that?" He asked with a smirk.
"You seem so happy about this and I'm happy for you."
"So what's the problem?"
"You think you can handle two kids at once?"
"I can handle a thousand at once-"
I gave him a look and raised my eyebrow before laughing.
"–Okay maybe not a thousand, but you get my drift."
"I get what you're saying...and I agree with you a thousand percent." I smiled while eloping our hands. He played around with my ring finger for a while before giving me another kiss on the hand.
"I love you so much, we're gonna get through this no doubt in my mind that we aren't."
"I know because you got me, and I got you." I leaned my head against his and felt myself starting to doze off to sleep.