The Game of Love: (BWWM Romance) (30 page)

             
“You still make me sick,” Austin told his father. “How could you, as a human being, see something so inhumane and then decide to live your life the way you did? Even going so far as trying to convince your children that they should be the same way too?”

             
“To help you,” William growled. “Look at Arielle. With all of her smarts, she ended up with a nobody like this Justin kid. And you, Austin? Do you think that you and Sommer will still be together ten years from now? Do you really think that all of your sponsors and endorsement contracts will remain intact now that your little Black whore has been rev—”

             
Austin’s fist went to his father’s face before he had a chance to finish his sentence, and William stumbled over his chair before he crashed to the floor. No one rushed forward to impede Austin’s path to his father, and even as Arielle moved forward to calm her brother, both Emma and Sommer stopped her. Sommer, remembering the look in Austin’s eyes when they first found out that they were having a little girl, knew that he needed this moment.

             
“First of all, I let no one degrade Sommer. No one. It’s been that way since we were kids, and it’s always going to be that way. Secondly, Justin is a partner at a very prestigious law firm. His career would be an admirable success story for any lawyer, White or Black. He’s hardly a nobody. If you’d pick up a newspaper and read sometimes, you would know that. Lastly, I never want to see you again.
Ever
. Although people change every day, you’re not one of them. You never will be. So, I highly suggest that you no longer consider yourself tied to me, Ma, or Arielle in any way. Just as it has always been, I have no father. I despise you and have no respect for you.”

             
William’s eyes widened and he touched his lip. He grimaced at the pain and drew back a finger dotted with blood. Yet, even though the pain was only increasing as the area swelled, Austin’s words had felt much worse. All this time, the image of the son he thought he had was wrong. He’d held out hope that Austin really had been just like him, cut from the same cloth, but the man standing in front of him wasn’t even an eighth of that. Austin really was more of a man than he could ever hope to have been, no thanks to him.

             
“Are you okay, Austin?” Sommer asked, rising and walking over to where Austin stood. He nodded, pulled her into his arms, and kissed the top of her head.

             
“I’m good, baby.” Then, he turned to Wendy. “Are we finished here?”

             
Wendy motioned for someone to come and help William off of the set.

“
Not yet,” she replied. “I want to apologize to you two first. I want to also especially apologize to you, Austin, for the assumptions I made. I’m woman enough to admit when I’m wrong, and looking at the two of you gives me hope that my prince charming is still waiting for me somewhere out there.”

             
Her eyes flicked up to Austin. As delicious as he was, and despite the seven years she’d spent trying to get him to creep between her sheets, this one was definitely off the market. Austin only had eyes for one woman.

             
She motioned to the director. “I don’t want to edit any of that out. I want to do a final shot with Austin, Sommer, and Olivia, and then my closing remarks.”

             
The director nodded and then signaled that everyone had a five-minute break. Austin made his way over to the Cartwright family.

             
“Since my father won’t do it, I want to apologize for the grief that his maliciousness caused your family,” he expressed softly, but clearly. “He committed a horrible crime, and there are no words for how sorry I am.”

The family members parted to reveal an elderly woman in a wheelchair, her face still moist from tears and
holding a damp tissue. Austin offered her the linen handkerchief from his pocket, and she smiled as she motioned for him to come closer. He knelt next to the chair and she brushed a finger over his cheek.

             
“Mrs. Cartwright?” Austin guessed.

             
“Call me Helena,” she reassured. “And I just wanted to say thank you, young man, for what you did here today. It tormented me for years, wondering what was going through the minds of the boys who killed my son. I even found myself getting upset with Henry at times over the fact that he’d gone off with strangers, something that I was always sure to remind him not to do in New York. But he was just ten years old. All he saw were boys that wanted to play with him. He wasn’t privy to the things that were going on during that time. That’s just the kind of kid he was.”

She called
Sommer over.

“You two may not realize it,” she continued, “
But you set a precedent here today. And it’s not only because of the interracial couple that you are, but it’s because you asked people to challenge their convictions. To open their eyes and to look at love bare, stripped of the unsavory things we attach to it: jealousy, deceit, and lies. At its base, you’ll find unconditional and undying affection between two people, no matter their creed or origin. The world is a giant puzzle, children. Remember that. So, when you find that person who fits you, that piece of the world that makes life a little less jumbled and distorted, celebrate it. Dance to it. Never let it go.”

She pulled Austin in for a loving hug, and then did the same for
Sommer. “Those are my wishes for you as you embark on this journey together.”

“Ten seconds everyone,” a man behind them shouted, and after another hug, Austin and Sommer took their place beside Wendy, and Emma brought out Olivia who was dressed in a pair of overalls and pink socks. When the cameras started rolling, Wendy flashed a grin.

“There you have it, folks. Austin Riley and
Sommer Hayes. Just another part of love…and the game.”

She
turned to Sommer. “So, tell us about those wedding plans, Future Mrs. Austin Riley.”

Chapter Fourteen

The dense fog that Sommer and Austin had been living in for the past few weeks was finally starting to dissipate. After the interview, the support for their relationship increased ten-fold, along with nearly unanimous contempt for William Riley after seeing how deep the old man's prejudices went. A petition had even begun requesting that federal officials try his case in a higher court. And although garnering that support was exactly what they’d needed to ease their lives back into some sort of normalcy, Austin was just relieved to finally have the ability to share the woman that he loved with the world, and that people had a chance to witness the love that he had for his family. He was also relieved to know that when Olivia got older and was eventually exposed to what had happened, she'd be able to take pride in the way her parents had handled the situation, and the small step that they'd taken in creating a better world for her existence.

A sudden gust of cool wind whirled through the trees, and
Sommer hugged her sweater closer to her body. Spring had descended upon North Carolina, which was evidenced by signs popping up around town for the Yearwood Founding Festival that was held every March. The days were finally sweater friendly, ponds were now bursting with wildlife, and the violets that welcomed visitors and residents at the entrance to the city were in full bloom. Life was moving on, which was something that Sommer found strange, yet accepted. As she read her mother’s headstone a fourth time, she could accept that life would move on because it needed to, but it was still strange that the concept didn’t hold true for all. Some people would never move on again.

“I think she would have been extremely proud of you,” Austin encouraged as he placed a bouquet of flowers on Caroline’s grave. “As hardheaded as you are, you still allowed all the things that she wanted for you to come to fruition.”

She smiled up at him. “You just had to throw the hardheaded part in there, didn’t you?”

Austin innocently shrugged before pulling her into his arms.

“Want to hear something weird?” she asked. “The other day when I was giving Livvie a bath, I noticed that she had a birthmark right down near her ankle.”

“Like her mother,” Austin pointed out.

“And her grandmother.” Sommer’s eyes went back to the headstone. “Some of my mom’s features, I see in Livvie, and that somehow makes me feel a million times better. Then, when I came back here and saw everyone outside the bakery…”

Her voice trailed off as her throat swelled with emotion. They’d arrived in Yearwood earlier that morning to handle some business with the bakery only to find nearly the entire city inside the café, and spilling out into the parking lot. They were bombarded with hugs, kisses, and congratulatory pats as they made
their way through the crowd. Reese and Marcie were standing at the counter with the new girl, Faye Westwood, a transplant from New Orleans. According to Reese, Faye had fit in perfectly with the customers and staff. She seemed to have caught the interest of Cameron Yearwood, the middle son of the town’s family namesake. Cameron had stopped in to the bakery nearly every day since Faye arrived, and Sommer had made a mental note to warn the girl against succumbing to a man who’d had a “Playboy Certificate” created for him by a few women he’d dated.

Reese, Marcie, and Faye had stepped aside to reveal a beautiful three-tiered cake congratulating
Sommer and Austin on their engagement. Next to it was a smaller photo cake of a picture that Sommer had taken with her mother and a then three-day old Olivia. Sommer had burst into tears and received hugs from the congregation of townspeople before being wrapped up in Austin’s familiar and welcomed embrace.

It had been the perfect way to be welcomed home, and although her life was now in Dallas, Yearwood would forever be at the center of her heart.

“Austin, Sommer.”

Kyle appeared behind them in a camel-colored pea coat and matching Burberry scarf. A wool cap was pulled down over his ears and for once, sunglasses didn’t hide his eyes.

“How’s it going, Kyle?” Sommer asked.

“Good,” he answered with a nod. “Do you guys have a minute?”

His eyes flicked to Austin who had yet to say a word.

“Sure, why not,”
Sommer answered.

Kyle rubbed his gloved hands together as though unnerved by something.

“I want to make a confession first,” he began. “I just wanted to say that I was the one who told the press that your father was still alive, Austin, and I was the one who gave them your name as Olivia’s mother, Sommer.”

“But why?” Austin finally spoke. “What made you even think to want to do that?”

“Because I was no different from everybody out there who thought that Sommer was just a passing curiosity for you,” Kyle revealed, pointing off in the distance. “A brief case of jungle fever. I thought that you were taking advantage of her and knew that she would fall for it because she was always swooning over you.”

“Kyle, you’ve known me ever since your family moved here from Detroit when we were in the third grade,” Austin reminded. “You were one of the only people I ever told how I felt about
Sommer. You were also the only person I told about my father and what he did. You were even there that day when we were throwing his stuff into boxes and found that picture. You’re the last person I would expect to think that I was somehow faking my feelings. So, what were you trying to do by sending a reporter out to Alabama? Do you have a problem with me?”

“Not with you,” Kyle answered, “
But with this. You two. I thought that, deep down inside, you were like your father and I didn’t want Sommer to end up getting hurt when she realized that you didn’t really care about her.”

“But you’re using the past tense,”
Sommer acknowledged. “Are you saying that you don’t think that anymore?”

His shoulders fell. “I watched Wendy’s show. Just like everybody else, I tuned in expecting that I’d see
evidence of what I’d thought. Evidence of the truth. But the show only made me angrier with each passing minute.”

He clenched and unclenched his fists.

“You really do love her, don’t you, Riley?”

Austin laughed. “That’s not obvious yet?”

Kyle turned to Sommer. “I’m not used to not getting what I want,” he confessed. “You know that. My father sold his business for millions at forty and then retired in Yearwood with my mother, who was only twenty-five at the time. I was an only kid until my cousin Andrew came to live with us, and even then I was still the center of attention because Drew’s six years older than me. I was spoiled, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t know when to quit.”

Sommer
begged to differ, but she kept her thoughts to herself.

“And I
never chase women,” he added. “So, first off, I want to apologize for any harm that my actions might have caused. I wasn’t thinking straight. Secondly, I want to apologize to you, Sommer, for what I did to you back in New York. That was childish, I’ll admit, but I thought that putting you out would make you come crawling back to get into my good graces. Guess I was wrong there.”