On My Own: Book Three in the Who's Your Daddy series (3 page)

Emanuel
Hines, the school principal stood and cleared his throat. “I may not be a native of Devinne, but I’d like to think you’ve accepted me as one of your own.” Many heads bounced up and down in agreement. Caroline suppressed a groan. The man had been after her since his arrival three years ago. Despite her numerous refusals to date him, he hadn’t received the message. Right now he was eying her like she was an oversized piece of birthday cake, making her skin crawl.

“In my opinion, I don’t think this town owes him anything. From what I’ve heard, the town went out of its way to help him once his parents passed and what did he do once he got a little taste of fame
? He turned his back on you all and skipped town.” More shouts of agreement filled the room.

Caroline glared at him and held her hands up to silence the crowd once more. “Before I was interrupted, I was about to tell you that despite my best efforts, Dirk saw JJ yesterday. He knows.” Groans went up from the crowd and the previous nods turned into shakes of the head.

“I assume he didn’t take it very well, huh?” the mayor stated.

Sh
e gave a humorless laugh and shook her head. “He didn’t, especially when he realized JJ knew of his existence”. She could still see the pain on his face when she confirmed JJ was his son and hear the anguish in his voice when he repeated his son’s name. Just thinking about yesterday’s events made her shudder.

The mayor stepped forward and wrapped his arm around her quaking shoulders. “I’m sorry about all of this, Caroline. What else did he say?”

Collecting herself, she stepped out of his embrace and began talking again. “He kind of hinted that if the town cooperated with the film crew, then he wouldn’t take JJ from me.”

A collec
tive gasp went up. “How dare he?” Mrs. Brown shouted. “We won’t let him take JJ.”

Caroline ga
ve them a wobbly smile. “It won’t be up to me or any of you if he decides to take me to court for custody. He’s JJ’s father and despite what any of us thinks, he has a right to see his son.”

“Tell us what we should do to help, Caroline?”

She let out her breath and finally let a smile cross her face. “I’m thinking we can do everything in three days, starting with a welcome home gathering Wednesday evening. Thursday he can address the kids in a joint assembly, and we’ll finish things off with a parade leading to the football game on Friday.”

“Sounds like a lot of trouble,”
Emanuel groused. “Especially since the man doesn’t deserve it.” A few in the crowd mumbled their assent, and Caroline glowered in Emanuel’s direction.

“Anyone who doesn’t want to help can leave now.” She held her breath and waited for people to exit. But no one did to her relief. “Since we have that out of the way, let’s break up the work and get moving.
I’ll need an estimate of costs: Dirk said he’ll cover them. Wednesday will be here before we know it. We have to make the film crew believe we’re proud of Dirk, or I’m screwed.”

“I’ll have the signs ready,” Frank Collins, the owner of the town’s
printing company offered. “Just let me know what you want on them, okay?”

“Thanks, Frank.”

“And I’ll get started on a menu for the party.” Mrs. Brown pulled a pen out of her towering hairstyle and snagged a piece of paper from a nearby table.

Soon the room was humming with the sounds of people tossing ideas back and forth.
Caroline visibly relaxed and flitted between groups, throwing out her suggestions. Although there was still some lingering discontent amongst the group regarding Dirk, they acknowledged that maybe they could have some fun in the process.

“You know this is all a waste of time.” Caroline turned to face her father who had a sour look on his face. “That idiot is still going to try to take JJ. Mark my words.”

Caroline tried to tamp down the anger attempting to rise up, and forced herself to smile at her father. “Dad, he gave me his word.”

“Yeah, and I bet he gave you his word in the past, too. How’d that turn out?” He smirked and strode away before Caroline could answer.
Please God, let my father be wrong about Dirk.

Dirk’s thumb hovered over the number for his attorney in his phone’s contact list, but just like the last ten times, he couldn’t do it. Caroline said she was going to meet with the good residents of Devinne last night and let him know their decision regarding cooperating with the network. She didn’t call last night and now it was past ten in the morning. Why hadn’t she contacted him?

He wiped away the sweat rolling down his face and arms and tossed the towel aside into a growing pile
beside him. The gym in the hotel was deserted except for a couple employees who’d been instructed to leave him the hell alone. His nerves had been stretched thin by Sunday’s events. It wouldn’t take much for him to snap.

Trying to sleep
the last couple of nights had been a waste of time. Thoughts of Caroline, his sweet Caroline filled his mind every time he closed his eyes. They used to joke about the song, claiming the songwriter had been transported into the future and was singing about her. He even considered going to the university that sang “Sweet Caroline” during their game. But after everything that happened to them, he was glad he hadn’t. His memories were bad enough to handle.

How had things fallen apart between them? One day their future l
ooked so bright, the next it all went to pot. They weren’t attending the same college, but they were in the same city at least. He was well on his way to becoming one of college football’s stars and she was a top scholar in her class. Then all hell broke loose. He ended up on the other side of the country and Caroline threw his love back into his face.

“There you are.” Monique’s stiletto heels clicked on the gym’s hardwood floor as she approached him. As always, she was impeccably dressed, today wearing a slate grey pantsuit with a purple blouse underneath. “You’ve been down here forever.”

“It’s not like I have any place to be,” he growled. “The rest of the team’s not getting in until Thursday.”

“By your sparkling demeanor, I’m guessing Caroline hasn’t contacted you yet.”

“And you’d be correct.” He walked over to the free weights and hoisted a couple twenty pounders. Standing in front of the mirrored wall, he alternated lifting them, concentrating on his form. He envisioned that each time he lowered a barbell, it was pounding into the head of that bastard Ty Jackson. That brought a smile to his lips and lightened his mood a bit.

“Can I ask you something?” Monique asked as she propped her butt on
the edge of a nearby weight bench.

“Have I ever been able to keep you from asking me anything?”

“No, but you’ve failed to answer me on numerous occasions,” she replied with the hint of a smile.

He did on more rep, set the weights aside and grabbed a new towel. “What do you want to know?” he asked while wiping down his body once more.

“What happened to you and Caroline? Is she the reason you’ve never had a serious relationship? And how come this was the first time you’ve been home since college?”

Dirk tilt
ed his head to the side and stared off into space. Monique sure knew how to get to the heart of the matter. But how was he going to answer her when he didn’t know the answers himself? A quick look at her and the determined gleam in her eyes let him know she wasn’t going to accept silence today. “Let’s get out of here and I’ll tell you.” He wiped down the equipment he’d been using and within minutes they were headed back to his suite.

By the time he took a shower and ordered an early lunch for both of them, he could tell Monique was beyond ready to hear his side of the story.
“Come on, Dirk! Talk already.”

He had no intention of giving her all
the gory details. Even he had a hard time thinking about them. “Well, I haven’t had a serious relationship because I haven’t met the right woman.” He slid a glance at her and by the expression on her face, he could tell she wasn’t buying his explanation. It sounded hollow to his ears too, but he wasn’t going there today. He needed more time to come to grips with seeing Caroline. More time to mull over this new complication in his life.

“Alright,” she drawled. “You know that’s a lame excuse, don’t you?’

“I’m not going to discuss my love life with you, Monique.”

She huffed and twisted her lips.
“Okay, I’ll let you slide on that one. But why not return to Devinne? I mean, it’s been over ten years since you’ve been home.”

“No need to go home,” he said with as little emotion in his voice as possible.
“Nothing there for me. You know my folks are dead and there aren’t any other relatives there.”

“What about friends, classmates?
Your old football coach?”

“
Didn’t have many friends. Most of them moved on when I did. Some are in jail or dead.” 

“Was your breakup with Caroline so bad you couldn’t keep in contact with her? The way you were looking at her the other day makes me believe she was someone special to you back in the day.”

Dirk turned his head and took in a deep breath. He didn’t want to let Monique know just how close she’d hit the mark. Caroline had been the first woman he fell in love with, and truthfully the only one. Despite his playboy ways, always in the company of a beautiful woman, he never let anyone get too close. He’d experienced the kind of heartache that brought him to his knees. No way did he want to do that again.

Before she could press him further, his cell phone rang and he let
out a relieved sigh. Caroline, finally. He stood and started for the bedroom. “Excuse me, I gotta take this.” Monique’s eyes narrowed as he retreated.

Once he closed the door, he pressed the answer bar. “Hello, Caroline.”

“Hi, Dirk,” she replied in a breathy voice. “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”

“No,” he lied. “I was just about to grab a bite to eat.”

“Well, I’m not going to keep you then. Just wanted to let you know everything is in place for the next three days. We’ll have a welcome back party Wednesday, school assembly on Thursday and a parade before the football game on Friday.”

“Sounds great.
Did you have a hard time convincing the folks to go along?”

“A bit,” she replied. “But it’s all good.”

“I bet your father’s not happy about this.”

“He’s not, but I assured him everything will be alright. It will be
okay, right Dirk? You’re not going to take my son away from me.”

“You mean our son,” he bit out. “Like I told you, I will not pursue any legal action against you concerning custody as long as you and the town do what I’ve asked.”
He paused to ease his temper. “Don’t forget to give me an estimate on the cost, okay?”

“Okay
. I’ll send you a text with a detailed itinerary so you can pass it onto the film crew. Goodbye, Dirk.” She disconnected the call before he could say anything more. But it was all good. He got what he wanted, hadn’t he?

Chapter Four

“Now
that’s more like it.” Monique gave him a thumbs up as they entered Devinne’s city limits. On their right was a huge, wooden sign proclaiming Devinne as the birthplace of Dirk Benedict, league MVP and championship quarterback. There were even several banners suspended on telephone poles along their route welcoming him home. “I knew they’d come through.”

Dirk
’s left eyebrow rose as he tried his best not to laugh. Caroline must have done a lot of tap dancing and probably outright begging to get the townsfolk to cooperate. But she did it, that’s all that mattered.

He casually glanced out the window of the limo and took in the
miraculous changes on Main Street. Instead of the dirt and trash he saw just three days ago, the area was now tidy without a lick of litter in sight. The young men hanging out on the corners were gone and the boarded up storefronts now had colorful photos hung up to disguise the blight.

Instead of the blank stares
that met him on Sunday when he drove through town, today the citizenry smiled as the limo passed. A few even waved and shouted “Welcome home”. He almost wanted to roll down the window and return their greetings, but stopped when he realized it was all part of the show. Caroline probably ordered them to be on their best behavior.

After speaking with her yesterday,
instead of delighting in the upcoming week, he spent the rest of the day in a funky mood. How could she have kept his son away from him all these years? And how could she or her father have persuaded a whole town to keep that secret? He knew his acceptance of the scholarship to USC and transfer upset some people, but to go so far as to deny him the opportunity to be a father was too much.

He spent much of the early morning hours today in the gym, working himself so hard that Monique had to practically drag him back to his suite. Physical exertion made him forget about his problems, and he certainly had a ton right now. First and foremost was how he was going to establish a connection to his son.

Just thinking about the boy, Jordan, made his breath hitch. He’d only seen him for a few minutes on Monday, but he saw enough to know that he was his splitting image. Same nose, same eye color, same smile. The back of his eyes burned thinking about all he’d missed in his son’s life; his birth, his first steps and first words. He missed him saying “Dada”.