Jilted (22 page)

Finn looked at his mother with a questioning glance. “Is it him? Is it our Daddy?”

Skylar had thought she’d have to delicately break the news to them but apparently that didn’t seem like it would be necessary. “Yes. He’d like to meet the three of you.”

“I thought Tristan was lying. So we do have a Daddy!” Harper exclaimed.

“Everyone has a Daddy, dummy.” Tristan glared at his sister.

“Tristan! That’s not a very nice thing to say. Apologize to your sister right now.”

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

“I can’t hear you,” Skylar scolded.

“I’m sorry, Harper.”

“So when we do meet him?” Harper asked, not seeming the least bit bothered by her brother’s name-calling.

“I was thinking we could meet him this weekend at Cheesy Charlie’s.”

“Cheesy Charlie’s!” The three kids screamed in unison, making Skylar laugh. She wasn’t sure if they were more interested in going to Cheesy Charlie’s or meeting their father, but she was happy that they seemed to accept the concept of meeting him.

It took a while for them to settle down after that news but Skylar finally managed to get them tucked in. As she was about to turn out the lights Harper called out to her. “Mommy?”

“Yes, sweetie?”

“Do you think Daddy will like me?”

That question nearly broke her heart. She walked over to her daughter’s bed and knelt beside it. “Of course he will. I think he will absolutely love you.” Skylar bent over and gave her daughter a kiss on the forehead.

“Then how come he was gone?”

These were exactly the type of questions she feared because Skylar didn’t feel that the truth was appropriate for four year olds. “It was because he was very busy, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t care about you and your brothers.” That lie stung in her mouth but she wasn’t about to tell her daughter it was because Ashley was being a dick.

Harper grinned. “I can’t wait until Saturday!”

Now that Saturday was here for some reason Skylar felt just as nervous as her kids. She hoped that Ashley wouldn’t say or do anything stupid in front of them. She thought that Cheesy Charlie’s was a nice safe place to meet. It was part family restaurant that served mediocre pizza that kids seemed to love nonetheless connected to a gaming center. So after the kids gorged themselves on cheesy goodness, they could go jump in a giant ball pit and play games to the heart’s content while a guy dressed in a raccoon costume played the banjo.

“Not, yet honey.” Skylar glanced at her watch. Ashley was five minutes late. If he stood the children up she vowed this would be the last time she set up a meeting with him willingly.

“When will he be here?” Finn demanded.

Skylar was about to reply when she caught sight of Ashley coming toward them with an arm full of gifts. Her heart began beating quickly and she wasn’t sure if it was because she was anxious for the kids or for herself.

When Ashley stopped at the table, he placed his gifts down and gave her sheepish grin. “I’m sorry I’m late, I stopped by the toy store to pick up a few items. I’d wanted them gift wrapped and that was what took me so long.”

From the way they’d been acting before, Skylar was sure the triplets would be jumping up and down and tackling Ashley to the ground in excitement but instead they all stared at him with wide-eyed wonder.

Ashley stared back at the children, his eyes glistening with tears. The staring contests seemed to go on for an uncomfortable amount of time and Skylar realized that she’d have to be the one to make the first move. She pushed aside all the bad feeling between them for the sake of the triplets.

Taking a deep breath, she stood up. “Ashley, I’d like for you to meet your children. “This is Tristan, you’ve already met informally.”

“Hello Tristan.” Ashley said softly before walking over to him. He touched the top of the child’s head, as if to see if he was real or not. “I’m very pleased to meet you.”

“Hi.” Tristan grinned before wrapping his arms around Ashley’s leg. “I’m happy to meet you too, Daddy.”

The tears that Ashley had apparently been holding back fell freely and it didn’t look like Tristan wanted to let go.

Skylar swiped away her own tears, moved by the scene before her. “Um, Tristan, give your brother and sister a chance to say hi, okay?”

“Okay, but I want to show you my favorite game, okay?” Tristan asked Ashley.

Ashley smiled at his son. “Of course.”

Skylar directed Ashley’s attention to their other son. “This is Finn.”

“Hi.” Finn gave his father a quick hug but didn’t cling to Ashley like Tristan had.

“And this is Harper.”

“Hello.” She was much more formal than her brothers. She seemed a bit hesitant to approach him, but Ashley took the initiative to go to her. He knelt down in front of his daughter. “Hello beautiful. It’s nice to meet you.”

Harper started to giggle uncontrollably. She always did that whenever she liked something.

“Daddy, we waited for you to order the pizza,” Finn tugged at his hand. “I like pepperoni but Harper likes plain cheese and Tristan likes sausage. Mommy like vegetables. What do you like?”

Ashley laughed. “I like them all. I’ll tell you guys what. Why don’t we order two pizzas? One half plain, half vegetable. And one half pepperoni and half sausage.”

“But which is your
favorite
?” Tristan wanted to know.

“I’ve always been partial to pineapple and ham.”

“Oh, well I want that too.”

“Me too!” Finn agreed.

“I want that too,” said Harper.

Her kids weren’t the most adventurous eaters so Skylar figured it would be pretty amusing to watch them try. “We’ll get you a Hawaiian in addition to the other two pizzas you suggested. Whatever we don’t finish we’ll take home for leftovers.”

“Sounds good.” Ashley nodded his agreement.

Skylar waved the waitress over and put their order in.

Once that was done, Ashley picked up the pile of gifts and placed them on the table. “I got presents for everyone.” He handed gifts to each child. All of them got two gifts a piece.

“Ashley, you didn’t have to bring presents.” Skylar noted.

“I’ve missed birthdays and holidays, this doesn’t come close to what I’d like to do for them.”

Skylar bit her tongue. She didn’t want to ruin the triplets’ joy as they happily tore into the gifts. The boys had got toy cars and a train set, while Harper received a pink car that was similar to the boys along with a doll that had Harper’s skin tone and curly hair. They were all thoughtful gifts.

“Oh, Daddy! I love her! This is just what I wanted!” Harper exclaimed.

“This is so cool,” chimed in Tristan as he admired his train set.

“Thank you,” Finn said as he ran his car across the table.

“You’re very welcome.” Ashley wiped the corners of his eyes.

It didn’t take much to win the children over. By the time the pizzas came, the toys were forgotten. The children spent most of the meal vying for their father’s attention and Ashley seemed to eat it up. The kids barely touched their food which was a rarity because they loved pizza. For that matter, Ashley and Skylar didn’t have more than a slice, Ashley because he was occupied with the children and Skylar because she was anxiously watching the interaction.

Finally when the kids gave up the pretense of eating Finn turned to his father. “Daddy, can we have tokens so we can play games. I want to show you the chicken game.”

Skylar raised a brow. She felt silly for feeling a little jealous that any of her children would defer to their father so quickly but she pushed that emotion away. They were excited to be around their father for the first time so it was only natural that their enthusiasm would be expressed this way.

To his credit, Ashley looked to Skylar. “Is it okay if they get tokens?”

“Yes, but you don’t have to pay for them. I still have left over tokens from our last visit.”

“Save them for when you bring them again. I’ll get some more. This is my treat okay.”

Once again, Skylar decided not to argue about it in front of the children. She was used to looking out for their needs and making the decisions for them it made her feel a little strange to see someone else having that say so. “Okay. Why don’t you four go play games and I’ll stay here with the gifts.”

The boys grabbed one of Ashley’s arms and Harper the other as they dragged him to the game room. Seeing how well Ashley had hit it off with the children, Skylar knew that Ashely was back in her life again and this time he was here to stay.

<><><><><>

As he drove home later that night, Ashley couldn’t keep the smile off his face. The night couldn’t have been gone better. That instant connection he’d felt when he’d first seen Tristan was the same one he had with Harper and Finn. His children were amazing.

His
children.

They were beautiful, sweet, funny, full of energy and they were a part of him. Now that this bond had been established he intended to be in their lives as much as possible. He lightly touched his cheek where Harper had kissed him when she’d said goodnight. She’d be a heartbreaker when she grew up…just like her mother.

Skylar was another issue he’d have to deal with. Seeing her tonight and how she was with the children, it was clear she was a good mother who adored them and they her. It was hard to reconcile her to the cold-hearted bitch that’d broken his heart. Tonight she was the sweet, shy beauty who he’d fallen in love with. The contrast was enough to mess with his head.

Williams’s words came tumbling back to mind. Did he still love Skylar? Had he been holding on to all this anger because he couldn’t reconcile his feelings for her? When he made it back to his penthouse, Ashley didn’t bother taking off his jacket or shoes. He headed straight to the wall safe in his home office and punched in the combination. Ashley reached for the manila envelope in the back and pulled it out. His hands shook as he held it. He hadn’t touched this in years. It was something he should have burned, but he wanted to keep it as a reminder to harden his heart.

Ashley then headed to the living room where his entertainment center was set up. He pulled out the disk inside the envelope and placed it in the DVD player. He waited for it to play and sure enough an image of Skylar with her mystery man came on the screen. They were in bed naked and Skylar was moaning while the guy said things vulgar enough to make a sailor blush.

He’d taken the disk to an expert to see if perhaps this was some kind of digital trick because surely, it couldn’t have been his Skylar, but it was. The dozens of pictures were taken from an angle where Skylar’s face clearly showed, all of them with her eyes closed as if she were in the throes of ecstasy.

It made him sick to see it again after all these years. Tonight, he’d nearly fell for her act again because of how she was with the children. He reconciled in his head that just because she was good with the kids didn’t mean she wasn’t a faithless cunt.

His anger built as he watched the DVD until he couldn’t look at it anymore. He was about to turn it off when his buzzer rang.

His good humor from earlier was now completely gone and he wasn’t in the mood for company whoever it was. He walked over to the intercom by the door. “Yes?”

“Mr. Hollingsworth, I have your sister at the desk. Should I send her up,” the desk attendant asked.

Ashley dragged his fingers through his hair. He hadn’t heard from the twins in weeks, not since they’d stormed out the restaurant like a couple of spoiled children. His mother hadn’t called about them so he assumed they were getting along just fine. “Yes, send her up.”

The DVD was still playing and he walked over to the player to turn it off.

“Did you get that?” A soft voice on the DVD asked. It was so faint he thought he’d imagined it. He’d only watched this DVD a couple times, the first was to see what was on it, and the second was to verify what he’d actually seen. He’d never gotten this far into it before turning it off. Ashley grabbed the remote and rewound a couple frames back.

This time when he played it, he turned the volume up several more decibels and forced himself to watch. “Did you get that?” This time he heard it loud and clear. If one wasn’t paying attention, they’d miss it.

That question was followed by a giggle also off camera but he got the distinct impression that it was someone else.

He rewound it again. And again. And again. The voice was so familiar. When there was a knock he paused the DVD. Ashley opened the door to see his sister standing on the other side. Her hair was a mess and her clothes looked as if she’d slept in them. Her fishnet stockings were torn and her eyes were red-rimmed as if he she hadn’t slept in a long time.

“What the hell happened to you?” he demanded. “Get inside before someone else sees you and thinks I’m getting a visit from a streetwalker.”

She rolled her eyes as she walked inside. “Hello to you too big brother.”

“What are you doing here and why are you dressed like that? I thought I made it clear to you the last time that—”

She held her hand up. “Save the lecture. Look, you and I both know I’m not cut out for a nine to five or just being an ordinary person, so let’s save ourselves the pretense okay? I need money. At least 50 grand.”

He narrowed his gaze. “I’ve already told you that you’re not getting a damn dime from me unless you straighten up your act.”

“But I need it. It’s very important for…school. I want to go enroll in school.”

There was nothing about way Colleen was acting that indicated that she was interested in going back to school. Ashley folded his arms across his chest and decided to call her bluff. “Okay. Give me the information and I’ll send a check to the Registrar’s Office on Monday.”

Colleen shook her head vehemently. “No. That’s not necessary. It would just be easier if you gave the money to me. You can make it out to cash, because some of it would be for tuition and the rest for books. I’ll know best how to spend it.”