A Forever Kind of Love (Kimani Romance) (16 page)

“I don’t know,” Andre said. “Anywhere but here.”

“And what’s so wrong with here?” Corey asked.

“No one wants me here.”

“Did you and Kendra get into a fight or something? Did she tell you that she doesn’t want you here? Is that what you’re saying?”

“Kendra don’t give a damn about me. And now T.J. don’t want nothing to do with me either after I wouldn’t deliver that package to that guy for him.” Andre hunched his shoulders. He sniffed and wiped at his face. “Don’t make sense for me to be here.”

“You need to stay the hell away from T.J. anyway,” Corey reminded him. “And I know your aunt Kendra isn’t the most attentive person in the world, but you’ll be out of her house soon enough.”

“She already kicked me out of her house,” Andre said.

“She what?” Corey twisted in the seat to face him.

“She does it all the time,” Andre continued. “If she brings a man home, she makes me leave. I can’t just go to my room and shut the door—I have to leave the house. I used to hang out at T.J.’s when she made me leave, but now he won’t let me come to his place.”

Corey brought his hand up and massaged the tight muscles in the back of his neck. Expelling a tired sigh, he said, “You’re coming home with me.”

Andre sniffed loudly and looked over at him.

Corey nodded. “I’m not letting you leave Gauthier. I don’t know what would have to happen legally, but you’re almost eighteen anyway.”

“In two months,” Andre interjected.

“And once you graduate in May, you’re going to college.” He clamped a hand on Andre’s shoulder. “Everything is going to be okay.”

“What about Kendra?” Andre asked.

“Don’t worry about your aunt. I’ll take care of her,” Corey said. He opened the door and slid out of the truck. Before closing it, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his key ring. He unwound his house key from the ring and handed it to Andre. “Go and put your things at my place, then get back here and enjoy the celebration.”

Corey closed the door and headed back toward the center of Main Street, his mind on one thing. He spotted Kendra Thomas walking toward the food booths.

“Kendra,” he called. “I need to speak with you. Now,” he said.

She turned, a coy smile tipping up her lips. “Hi, Corey,” she said, running her fingers along his arm.

Corey jerked away from her caress. He had been turning down Kendra’s advances for the past twenty years, ever since she first asked him to the homecoming dance their freshman year of high school. One would think she would have gotten a clue by now.

“Do you know what it means to be a legal guardian?” Corey asked her.

Her smile instantly dimmed. “I don’t want to hear anything about Andre,” she said. “Andre is fine.”

“The hell he is,” Corey bit out. “Andre has been getting into trouble left and right, and you act as if you don’t see it. You’re supposed to be taking care of him.”

“I
am
taking care of him,” Kendra said. “Andre’s not starving. He’s not naked. Though God knows he eats like a damn horse and grows out of clothes faster than I can buy them.”

“Taking care of someone is more than just buying food and clothes,” Corey pointed out. “And you don’t put them out of the house when you have ‘company’ over. Your nephew should come first.”

Kendra’s pencil-thin eyebrows drew together as a sneer lifted up one corner of her mouth. “Don’t you get self-righteous with me, Corey Anderson. I didn’t ask for this. I could have let Andre go into the foster care system, but I stepped up and was there for my family. That’s more than you can say.”

“What the hell are you talking about? I was there for my dad until the day he died. Even when I moved away, I made sure he was taken care of.”

“Oh, please. You know I’m not talking about your dad.” Kendra rolled her eyes. “Don’t act all innocent. I was there when Mya chewed you out after catching you with Tamika Hillard.”

Corey winced. He wanted to strangle Kendra for throwing his long-ago mistake in his face. As if it had any bearing on the current situation with her nephew.

“Mr. Stand-up Baseball Star, who turned into a model citizen after years of running the streets with his twin brothers. You wanted to pretend you were so much better than Stefan and Shawn. Yeah, right,” Kendra snorted. “Did either of your brothers cheat on their girlfriend after she’d just lost their baby?”

Corey’s neck stiffened. “What did you say?” he asked in a soft voice.

Kendra huffed out a cynical laugh. “There’s no need to play dumb, Corey. I know all about that baby. You all tried to keep it a secret, but my mama was a nurse at the hospital back then. She took care of Mya the couple of days she was in the hospital after her miscarriage.”

Corey’s breath caught in his lungs as memories from fifteen years ago assaulted him. He remembered going to visit Mya in the hospital, sitting at her bedside and holding her hand as she recovered from a “stomach virus.” He remembered thinking that no stomach virus should be severe enough to put someone in the hospital, but what the hell did he know at the time?

He remembered her crying in his arms and a few weeks later, telling him that she was leaving Gauthier.

A
baby?
Mya had been
pregnant?

Just the idea of the two of them creating a tiny life together tightened his throat with enough emotion to smother him. How many times over the years had he imagined raising a family with Mya? Dozens? Hundreds? They had been closer to that reality than he’d ever realized, yet he’d had no clue.

Mya had been pregnant with his child and had not bothered to tell him.

No, it was worse than that. Not only had she not bothered to tell him. She’d
lied
about it. For fifteen years she’d been lying to him. How could she have kept something like this from him?

There was only one way to find out.

Anger blurring his sight, Corey spun on his heel and headed straight for her. He spotted the contingent of tourism officials surrounding the wooden waterwheel in the center of Heritage Park. His eyes quickly zeroed in on his target. She was as animated as a theme park tour guide, pointing out features and smiling at the visitors.

He wondered if that smile would remain when she explained why she’d lied to him for fifteen years.

Chapter 14

M
ya pointed out the features of the waterwheel, the centerpiece of Heritage Park. She gave the members of the tourism board a brief overview of the history of the wheel and crossed her fingers as she gave Carmen the nod to flip the switch. The waterwheel hesitated for just a second before it jerked to life.

Applause erupted, not only from the tourism board, but from the gathering of Gauthier residents who had congregated a few yards back to watch the big wheel churn after years of being idle. Once the entire park was completely rewired, the wheel would pedal water 24/7.

“If you follow me, we will now visit the Heritage Park gazebo,” Mya said. “It dates back to 1867 and was a gift to the town from its founder, Micah Gauthier.”

Mya guided the group to the southern edge of the park where the wooden gazebo stood, shaded under the curving branches of centuries-old oak trees. The gazebo was the last stop on the guided tour before she released the tourism board to enjoy the festivities on their own.

As they walked, she searched for Corey in the crowd. He had been gone for nearly a half hour. She wanted Corey by her side when she gave the final pitch for Gauthier to be considered a destination for tourists.

Once they reached the gazebo, Mya pointed out the complex design, with carvings that were so intricate they resembled wooden lace. As the guests studied the workmanship, Mya took the opportunity to scan the crowd once again.

“Finally,” she murmured as she spotted Corey striding across the grass toward them. But as he drew closer, Mya’s senses went on red alert. Something was wrong. His face was tense with anger, his steps swift and powerful.

Something must have happened with Andre. Mya had no idea what the boy had done to raise Corey’s ire, but it must have been really bad.

“This is wonderful,” one of the tourism board members remarked.

“The attention to detail is absolutely outstanding,” another said.

“Yes, it is, isn’t it?” Mya said. She needed to cut this short. From the look on Corey’s face, he needed her.

She pasted on another smile for the officials. Taking a deep breath, Mya went in for the kill, reciting the spiel she’d practiced last night. Painting Gauthier as a picture of Southern charm and small-town life, she pleaded with the board to find the town a worthy candidate for marketing Louisiana’s rich culture and history to tourists.

Gesturing to the grounds, Mya finished with, “I invite you all to explore everything our town has to offer. Sample the food, get to know the residents. I’m sure you will come to love it as much as everyone in Gauthier does.”

Mya shook the hand of each board member, letting out a much-needed sigh of relief as the seven-member group headed toward the festivities on the other end of the park.

“Thank goodness that’s over,” Mya said.

“You did wonderfully,” Carmen said. “They looked very impressed.”

“I think so, too.” Mya grinned. She turned to Corey, who had stopped just to the right of the gazebo steps. “I could have used a little help from you,” she said. “Where have you been?”

He stared at her for several long moments without saying a word, and when he did speak, it was in a voice so soft, so low and deadly, Mya’s skin iced.

“Carmen, can you excuse us for a minute?” he asked.

“Sure.” Carmen looked from Mya to Corey. “Is everything okay?”

“We’re fine,” he said.

A bigger lie had never been told. Mya knew him well enough to know that everything was definitely
not
fine.

She waited until Carmen was well out of hearing distance before she asked, “Corey, what’s going on with you? Is everything all right with Andre?”

He didn’t say anything, just grabbed her by the arm and yanked her down the gazebo’s two steps. He marched them behind the structure, past the last of the park benches and into the heavily shaded area of the park that had yet to be cleared by volunteers. It was still thick with dank vegetation and as private as one could get while still in the open park area.

Mya tried to pull away from him, but his grip was tight, biting into her skin.

“Dammit, let me go,” she said with a vicious jerk, finally breaking free. “What is the matter with you?” She rubbed her arm where marks from his fingers had already colored her skin.

“You got something you want to tell me?” he asked.

Mya recoiled at the fury in his tone. “Corey, what are you talking about?” she asked, her own rage escalating at his unwarranted attack.

“You know, Mya, I’ve been teaching high school kids for a few years now. I know how crazy things can get at the end of the year. Everybody is thinking about prom, graduation, leaving for college. I get it. But one would think that being pregnant and having a miscarriage wouldn’t just slip your mind.”

Mya’s entire body stiffened in shock. Panic twisted around her heart, threading through her bloodstream as reality slammed into her.

Her fifteen-year reprieve was over. The secret was out, laid bare before her.

“I mean, come on,” Corey continued with false nonchalance. “You were in the hospital for two days. I remember because I spent every free minute sitting next to your bed. You never once thought that maybe I should know you’d just lost my baby, Mya? Or maybe that
stomach virus
had you so sick, you just couldn’t think straight. Was that it?”

Her eyelids slid shut as instant tears streamed down her cheeks. She knew this would eventually come to light, but
she
had wanted to be the one to tell him.

“I was going to tell you,” she started.

“When?” he bit out, his mock casualness replaced with stinging fury. “It’s been fifteen years. What, was it never the right time? What was it, Mya?”

She held her hands out, pleading. “You don’t understand. That baby represented everything I had feared would happen to me, Corey. Look at what happened to Shelly Hunt and Brandy Thomas. They both got pregnant young, and they both got stuck in Gauthier.

“As horrible as it was to lose that baby, it turned out to be a blessing,” she said. Corey flinched. A mixture of hurt and anger encompassed his face, but Mya soldiered on. “I wasn’t ready to be a mother any more than you were ready to be a father. I wanted more for myself,” she stressed. “I wanted more than this town could provide, and when I got pregnant I saw all my dreams slipping away.”

“It still doesn’t explain why you never told me about the baby,” he seethed.

“What could you have done, Corey? You were on your way to Arizona State. If I had had that baby, I would have been the one stuck here to raise it. Or worse, I would have pulled an Elizabeth Dubois and left it here for Grandma or Aunt Maureen to raise. I refused to allow that to happen.”

“Well, I guess that miscarriage was pretty convenient.” His stare intensified, his brow creasing into a deep V. “Tell me something, Mya, was it really a miscarriage or did you assist in destroying my baby?”

Mya pulled in a swift gasp. “Are you asking me if I had an abortion?”

He shrugged. “It’s a valid question, especially after you just admitted that you were happy you lost my baby. How do I know you didn’t get rid of it on purpose?”

“I had a miscarriage,” she asserted, “and I never said I was happy. Losing that baby was one of the hardest things I’ve ever gone through.”

Mya wrapped her arms around her upper body, fearing if she let go, she would crack into a million pieces.

“Corey, please listen to me. I’m sorry I kept this from you for so long. I was scared back then. I thought if I told you about the baby, you would have insisted on something crazy, like us getting married or some other noble nonsense. You were so hell-bent on doing the right thing so you could prove you were better than your two brothers.”

“And the thought of marrying me just scared the hell out of you,” he stated.

“We were
seventeen!
” Mya practically screamed. “Of course it scared me. Everything scared me. I wanted out, Corey. And when I found out I was pregnant, I felt trapped. So maybe you’re right. Maybe I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to be tied to you. Because you were tied to Gauthier. You still are.”

“And you still want out,” he said. “Like mother, like daughter.”

The look in his eyes was deadly enough to kill, pure venom, and leveled squarely at her.

“Corey, don’t do this,” Mya pleaded.

But he’d already done it. Mya witnessed the moment the shield went up. He’d cut her out.

Out of his life.

Out of his heart.

Without another word, he turned and walked away.

Mya lowered to the moist ground, her knees cushioned by the uncut grass. But nothing could soften the pain that racked her body. She covered her face with her hands and sobbed until her entire being shook with it.

* * *

Corey gripped the SUV’s steering wheel so tight his fingers cramped in protest. He couldn’t decide what pissed him off more, Mya or his own conscience, which had been niggling at him since the moment he walked away from her.

Why in the hell should he be concerned about her feelings? She’d just admitted to being relieved that she’d lost his child—a child she’d never bothered to tell him about.

Corey gripped the wheel even tighter, his knuckles white underneath his skin. If he moved his hands, he was liable to punch his fist through the window. And he sure as hell didn’t need a broken window heaped onto the rest of his problems.

Fifteen years. She’d lied to him for fifteen years.

Her excuses weren’t worth a damn in his book. She’d been afraid. He’d give her that one. If she had told him about the baby back when they were in high school he would have been scared, too. Terrified. Neither of them had been in the position to become parents back then. But why in the hell didn’t she tell him about the baby after she’d miscarried?

She said she was afraid he’d try to do the honorable thing and marry her. Well, what in the hell was so wrong with that? Back then, before he’d had that monumental slip in judgment and cheated on her, Corey had thought they were heading for marriage. He had not contemplated a life without Mya.

But she had been just fine getting on with her life. Without him. Without their baby. The truth bore down on Corey like an avalanche racing down a mountainside, smothering every sympathetic feeling toward Mya in its path.

She saw him as nothing but an anchor, weighing her down, tying her to this place that she’d continuously sought to break free of. It was the reason she’d run from him years ago. It was the reason she was running now.

Corey slammed his fists against the steering wheel, then jerked the keys out of the ignition. He got out of the truck and stalked into his house, slamming the door so hard the window rattled.

He walked into the living room and spotted Andre lounging on the sofa, a handheld gaming system device balanced in his lap. In a few hours the boy had made himself at home. Their new living arrangement was temporary, but being able to keep tabs on Andre gave Corey peace of mind he was sorely lacking in every other aspect of his life right now.

Andre looked up from the gaming system. “You okay, Coach?”

“I’m perfect,” Corey lied. “How does pizza sound for dinner?”

Andre gave him a thumbs-up. Corey went into the kitchen and speed-dialed Gauthier’s sole pizza restaurant, amazed at how something as mundane as ordering dinner could help soothe his frayed state of mind. It was the first step in getting on with his life.

If Mya was so anxious to get back to her life, then it was something he’d just have to deal with. She wanted out? Fine. He was letting her go.