Remember Me (13 page)

None of those reasons could explain how I fell in love with him. I did, however remember when I knew for sure that it was happening to me.

We’d had a long talk about love and what it meant. I was only offering him my honest advice, but as the words came out of my mouth, especially pertaining to not wanting to spend a day without the person in your life, I felt it. Much to my surprise it wasn’t Ford that popped in my head.

It was Shayne.

Then hiding my feelings became suddenly hard.

His touches were innocent, yet meant so much to me. The little things, like when he covered me with a blanket, or carried me to my room if I’d fallen asleep on the couch. Day after day Shayne kept giving me more reasons to love him.

The only problem with that was the fact that I knew telling him would make things completely awkward for both of us. I didn’t want that.

I had more important things to be worrying about besides Shayne. He’s promised to take care of the twins, but I didn’t want to force myself on him, not when he was so determined to be happy without his ex-girlfriend.

Then I got hurt, and in that terrible instant Shayne came to me with a confession that I could hardly believe was actually happening.

In that moment when he told me he loved me everything changed. I wanted to be smart about it and keep my distance, in case he changed his mind.

To this day he was still giving me reasons to love him even more.

I think part of the reason that my dad hated him so much was because Shayne bent over backwards for the twins. My father had always picked the government and community over his family. He traveled and was never around for any of my school or outside activities. I could count on my hand how many times he attended one of my birthday parties.

Instead, he’d buy me extravagant gifts that none of my other friend’s parents could afford, and act like it made up for everything else.

While all this was happening, my mother, who is actually my step-mother, because mine walked out on my dad when I was too young to remember her, decided that she’d cope with his absence by drowning herself in evening cocktails until she would pass out. Now in her thirties, she’d become addicted to fitness, or more less her fitness instructor. Even my dad knew it was going on; he was just too busy with his own life to give a damn.

After Ford broke up with me and then Harley died, I tried to seek out my birth mother, but failed horribly. I’d made the mistake of calling a local private investigator, who happened to do a bunch for my dad.

I thought about calling someone else, in hopes of maybe find her now that I wasn’t living with him, but his newest conquest to destroy my boyfriend’s dreams was making me feel like I was never going to completely be free of him.

I felt someone touching my arm and jumped, not realizing that Shayne had come up behind me.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare ya. I woke up and you were gone. You alright, baby?”

“Yeah,” I replied. “I can’t get rid of this damn headache. I got up to take something for it and couldn’t go back to sleep.”

He started rubbing my shoulders, relaxing me while he spoke. “Did the rag help earlier?”

“A little.”

“If it continues I want you to call the doctor. You’ve got me worried that somethin’ in the farmhouse made you sick.”

I looked back at Shayne and saw how concerned he was. “It’s just a headache. Besides, you’d be sick too. If it was airborne it would have gotten to you before it did me. I’ll be fine. It’s got to be stress. My dads just
gettin’ to me again. He loves to make me miserable.”

Shayne b
rought his hands down to wrap them around my stomach. He rested his chin on my shoulder as he spoke. “Ash, I’m so tired of that man tryin’ to come between us. What the hell is his problem now? I’ve done right by you and the kids, and he still has to fuck things up for us.”

I turned my body to
rest my head against Shayne’s hard chest. “I’m sorry.”

He rubbed my back and kissed me
on top of my head. “It’s not your fault. He’s just a dick. I swear, if it wasn’t for my family, I’d take us far away from here.”

“Shayne, you know we can’t do that. As much as you don’t get along with your dad, you love your family. What would your sister do if she couldn’t come runnin’ to you every time she had a problem? I’m envious of the way you protect your siblings. If I had a brother, I’d want him to be like you. You wear the weigh
t of the world on your sleeve and they don’t even understand how lucky they are that you have their back.” I was mostly talking about Parker. He’d let Shayne take responsibility for the twins without argument. As long as he had nothing to do with them, he didn’t care what happened. Still thinking about that made me queasy. He could look at himself in the mirror every day and know that he had kids, but that he never wanted anything to do with them. “You know I’m surprised that your parents haven’t noticed how distanced Parker is to you since the twins were born. To me, it’s pretty obvious he’s tryin’ to avoid us.” I shook my head, disgusted. “I’m sorry, Shayne. I just can’t stand the way he’s handled this. I never expected him to want to be a father, but since they’ve been born he’s never even inquired if they’re healthy. I mean, he doesn’t have to be a dad to them to care. No matter who donated the egg, they’re still family. He just sits around pretending they are invisible.”

Shayne grabbed my arms at my elbows and started rubbing them. “Calm down. My brother takes after our dad. Out of sight out of mind. It’s wrong, but honestly, I don’t want him around the twins. It makes me feel uneasy. Don’t get me wrong, Ash, I know I’m their dad, but a part of me wonders if someday he’ll try to be more than an uncle. I don’t know what I’d do if that happened. It’s not even my parents that I worry about findin’ out. It’s just about losing the respect of two children that I consider mine in every way.
I hold Beka every night and I tell her that her daddy loves her. I don’t say that about someone else. I say it about me, because I’m her daddy. God, I’m too tired to be talkin’ about this.”

I leaned my forehead against
his lips. While he kissed me there, my hands lifted up around his neck. “As long as I’m alive, no one will ever take those children from you. I promise.”

I meant that too. I wasn’t going to let my family, or even his, take those kids from him. Shayne had changed his whole life for us, and if they couldn’t see that he was a wonderful father, they were blind.

When I looked into Shayne’s eyes they were glossy. He wasn’t crying, but I could tell he was emotional. “I don’t know what I’d do without you, Ash.”

“You don’t ever have to wonder, because I’m right where I belong.”

He lifted up his hands and put them behind my neck. Our heads were leaning together. “Somewhere down the road you’re goin’ to have to start thinkin’ about takin’ my name.”

I pulled away and smiled. Though my head was pounding, I heard him loud and clear. “Shayne, we don’t need to talk about that yet.”

He laughed. “Look, I’m not sayin’ I’m ready for that either.”

Then there was that…

I went from citizen high to citizen disappointed.
I don’t know why it bothered me. We’d only been a couple for less than a year. Of course we needed time to grow and be sure.

The thing was, I felt like I was sure. It didn’t matter to me if it had been one week, year, or
decade. I wanted Shayne. I wanted us to always be a family.

I think when I didn’t respond he knew he’d put his foot in his mouth.

He grabbed my hands and started pulling me into our bedroom. “Let’s go back to bed. We’re both tired and we’ve got plenty of time to talk about that stuff.”

It was nice being led to my side of the bed and having the covers folded down for me. Shayne was always great with the twins, but usually too tired for little details like he was showing me. Being that I felt so crappy, I
appreciated feeling important. “Love you.”

He walked around to his side of th
e bed and climbed in before leaning over to kiss me. “Love you, too.”

For a little while I forgot the pain and focus on how happy we were. My dad wasn’t going to stop us from moving in that farmhouse. Like Shayne, I could see the kids growing up there. It’s what I wanted.

Chapter 17

Ashley

I woke up with less pressure than the day before and hoped that after talking with Shayne I was less stressed out about the damage my dad could do to Shayne’s plan. For the most part I knew it would be a waiting game. Lucky for me, I had another idea to put both of our minds at ease.

While Shayne headed over to the house to meet the Asbestos crew, I got the twins fed
, changed and loaded up in their car seats. It was difficult, but I managed to carry both children and my purse. After getting them each fastened, I climbed in and started to back up the car. Peyton pulled in behind me and I slammed on the brakes. My two sleeping infants never flinched.

Peyton, wearing a pair of pajama pants, walked up to my car window. “Where are you goin’? Shayne said I needed to get over here.
He said you were sick.”

“I’m fine. I’ve got an appointment,” I lied. I did have an appointment, but not one my dad knew about.

“Let me move my car. I can come with you.”

As much as I didn’t want her going, I knew I didn’t have the time or energy to argue. Shayne was going to be angry at me for dragging the kids out, e
specially when I hadn’t been feeling well, so Peyton would give him a little relief.

I didn’t give Peyton information on the drive over to my father’s office. The less she knew the better. I didn’t want Shayne’s family knowing the things my good ole’ dad was doing to cause us problems.

“Why are we here?” She asked when we pulled up at his office.

“I just need to run inside and get somethin’. Can you sit in here with the twins?”

“You don’t think your dad would want to see them?”

“I don’t think he’s here.” Another lie. I’d spotted his car with government tags as soon as we pulled in.
This wasn’t a friendly visit to show off my beautiful little angels. This was about getting to the bottom of whatever he was up to.

I left Peyton sitting with the twins and rushed inside with my mind set on tearing into my father.

His secretary stood up as I walked through the glass doors. “Ashley, you look great. Are you here to see your father? He’s in a meet - ”

I didn’t let
her finish as I walked right to his door and opened it. He was in a meeting all right. While he sat at his desk a young brunette, looking a little older than me sitting on his desk facing him. She had one shoe off and was poking her toes into my father’s crotch.

I le
ft the door open, crossed my arms and cleared my throat. “This is your idea of a meetin’? Are you planning on investin’ our tax dollars on sluts in skirts now, Daddy?”

“
Ashley.“ He shoved the girl’s foot away and she quickly jumped to her feet. “We were just - ”

I held
up my hand. “Save it. I don’t even care anymore.” I looked toward the very embarrassed office slut. “You need to get out of here, before I start posting on all of my social media sites that you were my father’s newest conquest.” I paused for a moment, getting a kick out of her despair. “Yeah, you heard me. He hits on everyone.”

“Enough!” He yelled from behind his desk.

I wasn’t giving him my respect. “It’s the truth. The last time I was here, he had someone bent over, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t you because that woman had killer legs.” It was meant to crush her. I hadn’t caught him with another woman, not in a very long time. I wanted her to be so disgusted that she never gave him another glance.

She ran out of the office with one heel on and the other in her hand.

My father stood up and leaned his hands on his desk. “What’s the meaning of this?”

I kept my arms folded and shook my head. Once upon a time my father spoke with an accent, but after a few years being involved in the government and he acted like he’d come from the city, instead of a little farm town off the beaten path.

“The meanin’ of what, Daddy?” I smiled, like I was innocent. “Are you referrin’ to this incident today, or the fact that you’re tryin’ to sabotage my boyfriend?”

He pointed his finger at me, as if I would be scared. “Young lady, you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I walked right up to that desk, my heart beating it’s way out of my chest. Without blinking, I looked him right in the eyes. “You are a liar, a cheater, and nobody that I want to admit I’m related to.”

I didn’t usually talk to my father with such disrespect, and when I had it was usually resolved quickly.

However, this was different. I wanted this man to stay the hell away from me and Shayne. He wasn’t going to destroy our relationship.

“Don’t you dare talk to me that way.”

“I’m an adult. I’ve got a family now and I won’t let you hurt us. You had no right to show up the other day, and certainly no right to tell us what to do. That house is goin’ to be our home and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.”