His Perfect Match (8 page)

He sighed in relief. He'd first seen the mark simply by chance the first night he'd tucked Marc in. The boy had been crawling across the bed and his shirt rose with his body movement. At first Darius had been dazed, not believing what he was seeing. But he'd checked for the mark every night since and it was still there.

He placed a gentle kiss on the mark and tucked the covers back around the small body. And he just stood there looking down at his son.
His son.

From the moment he'd met Marc he'd immediately recognized the similarities. How could he not? It was like looking in a mirror, except that Marc seemed to take after Nanna, his maternal grandmother, more than he did. He'd originally just assumed such similarities were to be expected. After all, the child was his nephew. His brother's child. And he was perfectly aware that he and
Darren did indeed look a lot alike. They had many shared features and characteristics. But the birthmark on his lower back was not one of them. That was his and his alone. As far as he knew no one in his family had ever been born with that mark before. Except now…his
son
bore it as well.

It had taken every ounce of his self control over the past few days not to lash out at Liz for keeping this from him. How dare she? What was she thinking? He felt his hands forming fists as he fought down the anger building in his chest every time he thought about it. He took a deep breath and relaxed both hands.

He knew what she was thinking. She was thinking that he would never find out. And if it hadn't been for tucking Marc in that night and happening to see the birthmark, he probably wouldn't have.

He glanced around the blue-painted bedroom, decorated in primary colors and a rainbow mural that took up one whole wall, the bright-red race car bed with matching dresser and chest, and several toyboxes overflowing with every toy a boy could want. On the opposite side of the room sat a large TV with so many contraptions attached to it, he thought the child must have every video game system in creation.

This one room was in stark contrast to the rest of the little house. The living room had beige lumpy furniture that had definitely seen better days. The chair cushions in the dining room were losing their filling. The kitchen was neat and clean but the cabinets were sparsely filled with dishes and cookware. And Liz's bedroom was the saddest of all, containing a full-size bed and one battered dresser. He hadn't been to the basement where Dee had taken up residence, but he could only imagine it wasn't much better.

After participating in the testing over the past week it was no great mystery to understand where her money went. Hospital bills, lab tests and medications were all costing a fortune, and, despite her good medical benefits and modest lifestyle, she was probably still drowning in debt.

On the island he'd been given the impression she was living in comfort. This wasn't comfort. This was barely getting by. Why hadn't she come to him sooner?

He finally decided to hell with the whys, he was here now. And he would not allow her to keep him away from his son ever again. His eyes narrowed as he considered how discreet she'd been up until now. No, not discreet—sneaky. Maybe he should talk to a lawyer…just in case she decided to be unreasonable.

“Everything okay?” Liz's soft voice from the hallway startled him, and he turned to see her.

“He's out cold.” He moved to the door, turning the light off as he came out of the room closing the door behind him. He leaned against the wall, shoving his hands down in his pockets.

The pair simply stood watching each other for several seconds. So much left unspoken, so much both were afraid to bring out into the open.

“Did Darren know about Marc?” Darius asked.

“No.” She sighed and leaned back against the opposite wall. “I found out I was pregnant only shortly before he died.”

“Hmmm. You couldn't have been that far along—unless…”

Liz left the question lingering in the air. She had no idea what he'd been about to say, but if it involved her relationship with Darren it couldn't be anything good.

He shook his head. “No, I would've known.”

This one she couldn't resist. “Known what?”

“If you'd been sleeping with both of us at the same time, I would've known.”

“Of course, I wasn't sleeping with—” Suddenly remembering where she was she lowered her voice. “Of course I wasn't sleeping with both of you at the same time!”

He shrugged. “That's what I figured.”

He turned and headed toward the living room, but she grabbed his arm. “Why did you ask me that?”

“I just wondered if Darren knew. I'm sorry he didn't.” He looked directly into her eyes. “A man has the right to know if he's fathered a child. Don't you think so?”

“Of course, but in this case, fate took away that right.”

“What about me?”

Her eyes widened in terror, and Darius bit his lip to keep from confirming her obvious suspicion. He wasn't ready yet. He hadn't figured out how he wanted to reveal this newfound knowledge, so he continued to play dumb. “Didn't I deserve to know I had a nephew?”

“I told you—I didn't know where you were.”

“Right. But you found me when you needed me, didn't you?”

“That was different. I'm pretty sure I was the last person you wanted showing up on your doorstep for a social call.”

“Maybe.” He closed the distance between them in two steps. Bracing his arms against the wall he trapped her in place. “Maybe not.”

Darius tilted his head to the side and took in her blue-jean-clad legs. “I mean, motherhood has filled you out nicely. You use to have little skinny chicken legs—but
those things, umph.” He shook his head. “Those thick thighs would fit around a man's waist nice and snug.”

She folded her arms across her chest but did not attempt to break out of the flesh prison.

When his eyes finally came back up to her face it was to find her studying him with curiosity. “Are you done?”

He dropped his arms and backed away. “For the moment.”

“And here I was concerned because you were being such a gentleman. Should've known you couldn't keep up that charade for long.”

He shoved his hands back in his pockets and looked down at the floor. “You're right. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that.” When he looked up again, his soft brown eyes were filled with regret. “Forgive me?”

She nodded slowly.

He leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. “I'll see you tomorrow.” He turned and headed toward the living room once again.

Liz stood in the hall and watched as he said his goodbyes to Dee, and then he was gone out the door. Soon after, his rental car was pulling out of the driveway.

Liz tried to recall the look of regret in his eyes right before that apologetic kiss on the forehead. He'd said he was sorry. He'd
looked
sorry. But she knew he wasn't. He'd been lying through his pretty white teeth. She knew it as true as she knew her own name. Why? What was he up to?

She cracked the door to Marc's room to look in on him. She smiled, seeing that he'd already tossed off the covers. He was the worst sleeper she'd ever seen and usually spent most of the night traveling around to the four corners of his little bed. By morning, the covers
would probably be on the floor and sometimes that's where she found her child, as well.

She shook her head and started to pull the door closed and stopped. Her eyes narrowed.
Could Darius know?

No,
she decided.
How could he?

He and Darren were so similar in appearance any questions he asked could be answered by that. Feeling only slightly reassured she pulled the door closed and went to find her own bed.

“I
forgot how damn cold it is here in the winter time.” Darius leaned toward Liz to speak above the wind whistling around them.

“Hey, don't look for any sympathy from me. This was your idea.”

“Correction—this was Marc's idea.” He curled his gloved hands and blew on them. “I just wanted to build a snowman.”

“Exactly. What the hell were
you
thinking?”

“I haven't built a snowman since I was a kid, I thought it would be fun. You know—like reliving a part of your childhood.”

“Uh-huh. How's that working for you?”

“It was working fine until he stumbled over that dead squirrel and decided it needed a decent burial.”

“It's the respectful thing to do. I'm very proud he thought of it.”

The look of shock he gave her made her laugh out loud. “What? He's sensitive!”

“Too sensitive. It's a dead squirrel. I say we just dump the thing and let the vultures find it later.”

“Shh. He'll hear you.”

A few feet away, Marc was walking along the treeline of the backyard looking for small twigs and rocks. Dee followed a few steps behind holding the plastic bag for his collection. The pair stopped and both focused on some brown thing on the ground. A second later they were in deep discussion about it.

“Oh, God. What are they looking at now?”

Liz squinted trying to see what had captured their attention. “Don't worry, it's not another squirrel—at least, I don't think it is.”

Darius sighed and looked down at the shoe box on the ground at his feet which held the partially decomposed corpse of a small, brown squirrel. “Should Marc be out here in the cold this long?”

She glanced at him, not liking the proprietary tone he'd begun taking with her son in the past couple of days. “I try to let him have as normal a life as possible. As long as he's bundled up, he'll be fine.”

Darius rocked back and forth trying to warm his body. He blew on his hands again, stomped his feet and returned to the rocking, and all the while Liz watched him in fascination.

Finally she said. “You've been living on that tropical island too long. Your blood has thinned out. Why don't you just go back inside where it's warm?”

He looked at her with wide eyes. “And let him think I'm a wimp? No way.”

She shook her head. “Suit yourself, but I don't think we're going anywhere until Tommy—”

“Tony. He named it Tony.”

“Until Tony the squirrel gets a world-class funeral.”

“Well, they better hurry up. I can't feel my toes anymore.”

Liz toyed with the ends of the red knitted scarf hanging around her neck. “Can I ask you something?”

“Shoot.”

“Other than the beautiful weather, why did you stay in New Zealand?”

“A lot of reasons, really.” He glanced at her. “It's peaceful there. After—you know—all I wanted was a little peace and quiet, time to think.” He bent and picked up a small pebble from the ground. “The first couple of days after you two left were the hardest. All the looks of sympathy, pity, everyone being nosy and gossiping—”

“Darius, I'm sorry. I didn't think about—”

“I know. Anyway, my dad kept telling me to go after you. Like, what good would that have done?”

“I kinda wish you had.”

He turned to face her while toying with the pebble in his hand. Liz continued to watch her son and aunt, knowing that if she turned and looked into his eyes she might not have the courage to finish her thought.

“Things were not…when we got to Vegas—it didn't go the way I thought it would. I regretted what I'd done almost from the moment I did it. But by then it was already too late to undo it.”

“I really wish you would've talked to me, Liz. I
could've told you what Darren was like. But I had no idea you two had gotten so
cozy.”

“I was just young and stupid. It wasn't like we planned it, Darius.”

He huffed loudly. “Maybe
you
didn't—but I know my brother.” He tossed away the pebble.

She quickly glanced at him and looked away. “It wasn't all Darren's fault. It started as just friendship, you know. Joking around at the engagement dinner, then he suggested we have lunch together. It all started so…innocently.”

“Where the hell was I during all this innocence?”

“Busy with the delis and supermarkets. It seemed like you spent ninety percent of your time doing one thing or another for one of those stores.”

“I was trying to build a future for us.”

“That was part of the problem, Darius. You never asked me what I wanted for the future. You just started making plans.”

“Oh, so it was my fault?”

“No, that's not what I meant. Just forget it.”

“No, no, this is good. I want to hear this. These questions have been driving me crazy for years. So, tell me, Liz, when did the relationship stop being innocent?
That's
the part that confuses me the most. Every time I touched you, every time we made love, you still felt like mine. Never once did I think you were with someone else.”

“I told you—it wasn't like that.” She took a deep breath to fortify herself and slowly turned to face him.

“Then what was it like?”

“If I told you the truth of it, you would never believe me.”

“Try me.”

“What's the point?” She tucked her gloved hands in her coat pocket. “Besides—”

“Mom! Uncle Darius! Look!” Marc came racing back to where they stood, with Dee walking slowly behind him. Marc opened his small hands to reveal an empty bird's nest. “We can bury Tony in this.”

“Great idea, sweetheart.” Liz touched his cheek. “Come on.” She headed toward the other part of the large open yard. “I know just the spot.”

Dee shivered and scrunched her neck down in her coat. “Think we can make this a short ceremony? It's freezing out here.”

As the small group discussed several spots for the burial, Darius couldn't seem to take his eyes off Liz. He wanted to finish their discussion, but knew it was done—at least for now. What had she meant?
If I told you the truth of it, you would never believe me.
Was she about to tell him the truth about Marc?

Finally, Tony was firmly planted under a pile of twigs and rocks—seeing as the ground was too frozen to bury him beneath the earth. Darius stood listening to his son give the sweetest eulogy you could give for a dead squirrel, but at the same time his mind was spinning with contradicting thoughts.

All the strong emotions Liz had always inspired in him seemed to have returned triple-strength. Every time he saw her he wanted to take her in his arms, shake her senseless for the hurt she'd caused him and then make passionate love to her until neither of them could stand.

In one month, this woman had completely torn down all the walls he'd constructed over the past ten years to deal with the pain of losing her. And now on top of those intense emotions he was struggling to come to terms
with the fact that he was a father. And that he'd been denied access or even awareness of his child for almost ten years. All those firsts he missed, all those precious moments he could never get back. Thinking about it only made him want to shake Liz senseless again, and round and round he went.

As they climbed the back-porch steps to the house, he caught Liz's arm and whispered in her ear. “We're not done.”

“I know.” She looked at him and the sadness in her eyes stunned him. “And knowing that terrifies me.” She pulled away and went into the house.

 

So far, he'd spent every available moment with Marc and Liz. The idea of letting his family know he was back in the States was somewhere on the periphery of his brain. Although, after finding out how they'd treated Liz all these years, he wasn't sure he could be civil long enough for a reunion.

“Ready, champ?” He smiled at Marc, hoping his face did not reflect his concern.

The following Tuesday, Darius stood at the bedside of his son in the nursing unit of the Cleveland Clinic where the surgery was to be performed. This was the last time he would see Marc for the next couple of days while they were both recovering from the surgery.

“Yep.” The boy smiled bravely, and Darius remembered the words of his mother.
He's the bravest person I know.
She was right.

He bent forward and kissed Marc's forehead, fighting back his own tears. The past two weeks they'd spent together had been perfect. They'd done the simplest things and yet he'd learned so much about his
son. Like the mischievous nature and quick wit that he knew sometimes annoyed Liz. And the even quicker temper that Darius immediately recognized as his own and was shocked to see manifested in this tiny replica of himself.

His son made him think, made him reconsider things he thought he knew for certain. He couldn't help wondering
what if I'd never had a chance to know this incredible child?

What if…?
He shook off the morbid thoughts, just grateful to God for intervening. And at this point, he was certain it was divine intervention that had brought Liz to his island.

When she'd left Tairua to return to the States, all he'd wanted was to punish her for her betrayal. If she made him miserable on their wedding day, he would make her miserable by forcing her to go on their honeymoon. He knew it was the last thing she'd
ever
want to do. But now all he wanted was to hear her tell him that this child he already loved was his. After spending time with both of them, all he wanted was a chance to start over.

He glanced across the room to where Dee sat knitting quietly and noticed that despite her busy fingers her eyes were firmly trained on him. She smiled at him with warm, knowing eyes, and he realized that she knew he knew. Somehow…she knew he knew.

Without acknowledging the silent message, he turned to the side to quickly wipe away the tears hanging on his lashes. The last thing Marc needed going into surgery was the memory of him crying over his bed.

“Okay, that's that.” Liz came walking into the room at top speed. “All the paperwork is finally done.” She
clapped her hands together and gave her son a bright smile. “This will be over lickity-split, and you'll be back to beating me at chess in no time.”

Darius immediately recognized the nervousness she was trying to hide with her false enthusiasm and sensed that Marc did, as well. But the boy just smiled at her.

“When I'm better, Uncle Darius promised to take me to New Zealand to see dolphins.”

Damn.
The boy's timing definitely left something to be desired.

Liz suddenly swung around to face Darius with an odd expression on her pretty face. “Did he?”

Well, Darius decided, now was as good a time as any to stake his claim.

“Yes.” He stepped closer to the bed. “I was thinking maybe over summer vacation you three could come visit me on the island.”

Dee's eyes lit up brighter than Marc's. “Oooh, I've never been outside the United States. That sounds like a great idea.”

“We'll see.” Liz deliberately turned her back to him and focused on her son.

Yes, we will.

Marc reached up and took her hand. “Mom, I'm going to be fine. You'll see. Uncle Darius has really good kidneys. Don't you, Uncle Darius?”

“The best God makes.”

“I'll be good as new, and then we can go to New Zealand because I'll be healthy again.”

Darius watched Liz reach forward and cup Marc's small cheek. “Have I told you how much I love you?”

“Yes.” Marc sighed dramatically. “You're not going to get all emotional, are you?” She curved her fingers
under his neck and his little body twisted as laughter filled the air. “Stop! Stop, Mom! That tickles!”

“I know,” Liz said, but she stopped. “Look, I'm going to go help Uncle Darius get settled in and then I'll be right back, okay?”

“Okay.”

Darius waved his goodbyes to Dee, and gestured for Liz to lead the way since he had no idea where he was supposed to check in.

Marc called to Liz's retreating back. “Can I get a burger this evening?”

“No, sweetie, not tonight. But first thing—when you get out of the hospital.”

He rubbed his little hands together in a sinister way, and whispered, “eexceelleennt.”

“And you get in my case about Sugar Babies?” Darius whispered close to her ear.

“That's different.” She frowned.

“Right.” He just shook his head as she led the way out into the hall.