Stolen Moments (And Then Came Love Book 2) (17 page)

BOOK: Stolen Moments (And Then Came Love Book 2)
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“I’ll do whatever I can. I’d like to have a good relationship with all my children. That doesn’t always happen, but the distance is pretty noticeable.”

“Be there for him. Make time for him. I think that will help him out. Show up unexpectedly. Make him deal with you.” Arianna chuckled. “I’m surprised Jackie hasn’t found a way to force you two together.”

“Sometimes, I think she thinks I’m hopeless.” Everett laughed. “She’ll get the kids into things, but not as much with me anymore. Maybe she’s grown tired of trying to change me.”

“I don’t think Jackie will ever get tired of you.”

The door opened.

Arianna looked up to see Trevor standing there.

“Are you ready to go?”

Arianna nodded.

“Thanks for the talk.” Everett offered a hug.

Arianna hugged him back.

Everett turned to Trevor. “You have a good woman here.”

Trevor walked over and put his arm around her. “I agree.”

“Good for you.” Everett paused and then laid a hand on Trevor’s shoulder. “I don’t tell you enough, but I’m proud of everything you’ve done. I should have been there more for you all as kids. I’d have to say your mother raised you right, because I wasn’t around for enough of it. I love you, son.”

“I love you too, Dad.” Trevor nodded and shifted his feet. “And you both raised me. I was too selfish to see it at the time.”

“You’re my son. I hold a little more of the responsibility there than you. All you needed to do was be a kid and I failed you.” Everett took a step back. “Why don’t you call me sometime, we’ll go fishing.”

Trevor smiled. “I’d like that.” He squeezed Arianna tighter. “We’ll see you later, Dad.”

“You two have a good night and if you two need a break, Jackie and I are always up for extra kids.” Everett smiled.

Trevor laughed.

Arianna waved to Everett as she turned around and headed back through the house.

Trevor walked with her. He reached out and squeezed her hand. “Thank you.”

She looked over at him. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Arianna turned to find Mina and Candace and motioned them toward the door.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Fifteen

May 7th

Arianna was cooking dinner Monday evening when there was a knock on the door. “Can you get that?” she called to Mina and Candace. She glanced at her calendar, Candace had another OB appointment next week. She had appointments every two weeks and it wouldn’t be long before weekly appointments began. Missing school would become an issue at some point.

“I’ve got it.” Mina shouted.

Arianna shook her head. The girl could never answer in a normal volume.

“It’s Trevor’s Mom.” Mina’s voice was loud enough the whole neighborhood could hear her.

Arianna turned down the heat and walked into the living room. “Hi, Jackie.”

Jackie smiled. “Lovely to see you, dear. Can we talk in the kitchen?”

Arianna raised an eyebrow. “Sure.” She walked into the other room and waited for Jackie.

“Nothing bad, I was wondering if you’ve planned a baby shower for your young adoptee?”

“A baby shower?” Arianna shook her head. “I hadn’t even thought about it. Who would I invite? I’m not sure many of her classmates are going to want to come to a baby shower.”

“Well us, of course.” Jackie grinned. “You’re dating my son and she is in your household. You don’t think we’re going to let you do this on your own, do you?”

“But what if something happens with Trevor and me? There’s no guarantee that we’re going to stay together.” Arianna’s breath caught at the thought. The idea of her and Trevor not being together was something she didn’t want to think about.

“Right.” Jackie flicked her wrist. “A baby shower, when do you want to do it?”

“Um, well she’s thirty-one weeks.” Arianna counted on her fingers. “Maybe thirty-six weeks?”

“Oh let’s do it before that.” Jackie yanked out her phone and scanned through her calendar. “How’s Saturday the 26th? She should be about thirty-four weeks by then.”

“That’s like four weeks away. How am I going to put a party together in that amount of time?” Arianna wracked her brain. Hell, she didn’t even know where she could host an event.

“Leave the party preparations to me. I’ll handle everything. Have Candace get me a guest list of people she’ll want there.” Jackie entered the information into her phone. “Do we know the sex yet or is she keeping it a secret?”

“It’s a boy.”

“Wonderful.” Jackie nodded, still typing on her phone. “Is the baby going to share a room with Candace or do you have a separate room?”

“I don’t have another room, frankly, I hadn’t thought everything through yet.” Arianna sunk into the chair by the counter. “Jackie, I don’t know how she’s going to do this? I don’t know how I’m going to do this. An infant and two fifteen-year-olds? What was I thinking?”

“That there was a young girl in trouble and you’d been through the same thing.” Jackie patted her on the back.

“But, I’m a single parent. I don’t even know if I’m going to make it through financially.”

“Hogwash! You’re not going through this alone. My son is involved and will gladly help out and if you’re involved with my son, that means his family will help out as well.” Jackie held out her hand. “Let’s see the room. We can figure out how much space we’re dealing with.”

Arianna stood and followed Jackie. She pointed out Candace’s room.

Jackie knocked.

Candace opened the door. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to see your room dear, we’re discussing your baby shower and trying to figure out how much furniture you can fit in here.”

“Baby shower?” Candace rubbed her belly and glanced at Arianna. “Furniture?”

“You’ll need a crib, changing tables are nice, especially when you’re in such a small space.” Jackie scanned the room. “You’ll need a bigger garbage can for sure. A dresser for all the clothes, unless you want to share your closet space.”

Candace’s eyes grew wider with every word Jackie spoke. “How am I going to afford all this, I don’t even have a job?” Tears filled her eyes and she dropped the papers she was holding.

Arianna picked them up, and then hugged Candace. “Don’t worry about it, we’ll make sure you get through this.” She held the papers out to Candace, but then brought them back to look at them. “These are from Stanford.”

Jackie turned around and raised an eyebrow.

Arianna unfolded the letter and read. She dropped to the bed. “Why didn’t you tell me?” She handed the letter to Jackie to read.

“Because I’m having a baby, there’s no way I can make it on my own in California with my baby.” Candace dropped to the bed and grabbed a pillow. She clutched it as if it were her lifeline.

“What about adoption?” Jackie gave the letter back to Candace.

“I don’t know how the father would feel about that.”

“Honey, you haven’t given us any indication who the father is. If he’s not in the picture anymore, he doesn’t have much say in the matter.” Arianna sat down next to Candace and pulled her into a hug.

“He wants to help me with the baby, but we’re terrified of what his parents will say.” Candace threw the letter on her desk. “As much as I’d like to go, I got pregnant. My life is put on hold.”

Arianna stared at her hands. “What if it doesn’t have to be?”

“What do you mean?”

“What if I took guardianship over your baby until you were done with school and on your feet enough to take care of him?”

“You’d do that?” Candace said. “For a girl you barely know?”

Arianna nodded. “I want you to go to Stanford in the fall, I want you to have the best education you possibly can. I’ll raise the baby until you’re ready to be his mother and if that never happens, that’s okay too.”

Candace blinked rapidly. “I’d still get to come and see him?”

“Every time you possibly could and I can bring him out there to see you too. You can’t give up an opportunity like this.” Arianna rubbed her shoulder.

“How can I thank you for this?”

“Go to school, do the best you can, get good grades, and take care of yourself. Then come back and be the best Mom you can be to your little guy.”

Tears streamed down Candace’s face. “Ari, I—” She burst into tears and threw her arms around Arianna.

Arianna hugged her back. She glanced at Jackie, who smiled.

“Thank you, I’ll never forget this.”

“Go call the school, accept their offer, whatever it is you have to do.” Arianna turned and headed out of the room.

Jackie followed behind her. “That was selfless of you.”

“You saw the letter. She has the opportunity to go into an accelerated math program at Stanford. A math program that will end her with a college degree before the age of eighteen. I can’t let her walk away from that.” Arianna sat down at the table. God, what was she going to do? She wasn’t prepared to be the mother of an infant again. Her work schedule alone was going to make it damn near impossible.

“There are people around you who can help. And don’t forget you have a wonderful boyfriend, whom I’m sure would love to help out.”

Arianna nodded. “This is all new to me. I’m not used to people being around to help. I mean Scott’s parents were there for me, but it was in a different way than you and Trevor are offering.”

Jackie patted her on the shoulder. “Well, you’ll have to get used to it. When there’s a child involved we jump in and tend to stay that way. Talk to Liza if you don’t believe me.”

“Maybe I’ll do that.” It would help to talk to someone else who had the Vitalli family thrust onto them.

Jackie glanced at her watch. “When’s the next time you have time off?”

“I work until eleven on Friday and then I’m off after that.”

“Good. We’ll pick up Candace early from school and go baby shopping.” Jackie smiled. “I have to go, dear, but don’t hesitate to call me.” She turned and disappeared out the door, almost as quickly as she appeared.

Arianna’s phone rang and she picked it up.

“Hey baby.”

She smiled at Trevor’s voice. “What are you doing?”

“Sitting at home thinking of you.”

“Why don’t you come over?”

“I’m in the middle of a project, otherwise I would.”

“If this has anything to do with gaming I’m going to smack you.”

Trevor laughed. “No gaming, I promise. No, I’m doing some research for a friend who’s trying to find someone. It’s gotten kind of complicated.”

“Well that doesn’t sound like fun.”

“It’s not.” Trevor paused. “I’ll be out of town for the next couple days.”

“For the research you’re doing?”

“Yep. Can I stop over tomorrow morning before I leave?”

“Of course.” Arianna stared down at the table. “Your mother and I are supposed to go baby shopping on Friday and she’s planning a baby shower for Candace.”

“Not surprising. I’ll be back before then. I can go with you. Shield you from my mother’s sometimes over the top theatrics.”

“I’d like that. Will you come when you get back?”

“Yep. It will be late Thursday night. I’ll meet you at your office on Friday.”

“Why don’t you come over no matter how late it is on Thursday? Then you can stay with me.”

“That sounds like an even better plan.” Trevor chuckled. “Why don’t we try and spend the weekend together. I’ll see if Marissa can watch the girls, while we have a little time to ourselves.”

“Might as well take advantage of it now. We won’t have that option once the baby’s born.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Trevor said. “I have to go. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

*****

May 14th

Trevor paced Pops’ living room. “How in the hell am I going to pull this all off without her finding out?”

“We’ll figure it out.” Pops shook his head. “You’re stressing too much instead of thinking logically.”

Trevor glared at Pops.

“Trevor, we are offering to help you puzzle this out.” Petur spoke calmly as he tugged out a notepad to make a list.

“Well then enlighten me. What am I missing?” Trevor stopped pacing and pointed to his fingers. “I have to find a way to get two kids out of school on Friday. I have to get everyone packed and ready to go. Including Arianna. I have to find a place for the kids to stay when they get back here on Sunday night ...” Trevor cringed at the scratching of Petur’s pen across the note paper.

“Vivian or Marissa are your best chances for places the kids can stay after they get back.” Pops stated.

Petur wrote again on the note pad. “You’ve told her you’re spending the weekend together, correct?” He finished writing the names of the sitters

Trevor nodded.

“Can you tell Arianna that Marissa or Vivian is going to watch the kids for the weekend and is picking them up from school on Thursday? That way their packing won’t seem odd.” Petur suggested.

“What about her stuff?”

“Doesn’t she work late on Tuesdays?” Pops bounced his cane off his foot.

“She works until seven tomorrow night.”

“Then Candace and Mina can pack her things then.” Pops shrugged. “See, easy solutions to everything.”

Petur finished the list and tore the paper from the note pad. “Here you are, Trevor: your plan of action.” He smiled. The paper contained a T chart with the headings PROBLEMS and SOLUTIONS written in Petur’s even hand. Under each heading were the corresponding elements of their discussion.

Trevor put the paper down on the table. He looked from Pops to Petur. “If I pick up Arianna at work, do you think you two can handle taking all the kids to the airport and we’ll meet you there?”

“Have you even talked to Candace about going? As far along in her pregnancy as she is, she may want to stay home.

Trevor shook his head. “I’m trying to avoid as many people knowing as I can, that Arianna doesn’t catch wind of it.”

“You need to talk to Candace. In fact, I don’t think you’re supposed to be on a plane during your third trimester.” Pops said.

“I’ll have to find out.”

“I think she’s safe until thirty-six weeks, but I would ask her if she wants to go.” Petur nodded.

“Well, if they both go, do you think you can handle them?”

Petur glanced at Pops. “Will the children mind riding with me?”

“Don’t forget Gramps.”

Trevor let out a heavy breath. “Right. Gramps is coming.”

Pops winked. “Three adults to two children. I think we can handle it.”

Petur nodded. “Then I shall pick up Mr. Vitalli first and then pick up the children. Let them know to expect a black Jeep SUV.”

“Someone will have to sign them out of school. Why don’t we all meet here?” Pops shrugged.

“You’ll need a bigger vehicle as well,” Trevor said.

“I already talked to your Aunt Laura. I’m borrowing her Suburban.” Pops smiled.

“Perfect.” Petur nodded. “Any other concerns?”

“Where’s everyone going to stay?” Trevor looked to Pops. “There’s five of us. Petur, Gramps, and Mina are going home on Sunday, but still five of us for three nights.”

BOOK: Stolen Moments (And Then Came Love Book 2)
9.93Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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