So this is my new story Golden Sun. Yes, I'm still working on the others that need working on but I just couldn't get this out of my head so I decided to write it and see what you all thought! Bella is 20 years old, has a pretty good, quiet life with her son Breckyn, her best friend Emily and her bf Jared, but she has a secret: Who is Breckyn's father? And what happens when said person comes back to town after almost 4 years of being away? Chaos, drama, tears, and love of course! Now to warn you it is labeled as a Bella/Sam (hint hint) but I honestly don't know who she's going to end up with at this point so its category is subject to change! This IS also rated M as all of my stories are because you never know where things will lead but there is swearing, adult themes, and maybe some steamy stuff later so if you're uncomfortable with that, please do not read. Thank you! With that said (long windedly may I add ;P ), here's chapter one!
Texas Plates
As I walked out of Burton's Drug Store and down the street of my small town of Lindale, Texas, I thought about everything that I had going on this week. Breckyn has football (even though he's only three) on Thursday and Sunday from three to five PM, I have class Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from eight to eleven AM, the annual historical benefit is Friday, Saturday and Sunday with various times and I have to pick Mama up from her doctors appointment at five today. The list goes on and on. I sighed and walked into Miss Linda's Daycare center.
"Bella! How are you?" Miss Linda Bates greets me with a huge grin like always. She's always smiling, always patient and always helpful. I smiled back.
"I'm doing good. I just got off work, sorry I'm late." I motioned down to my pharmacist attire.
"Its perfectly fine deary. Breckyn is a little angel, just like his mother." She smiled even wider. I smiled again thinking back to the days when it was me waiting for my momma in this same brightly colored building with Miss Linda. She hasn't changed much, her hair was now a little whiter and her face lined more with age but overall she was the same Miss Linda.
I looked around the room. "Where is he?"
"Out back on the swings with Jared."
"Jared's here?" I asked starting toward the back door painted with rainbows and suns.
"Yes my dear. He said he was going to surprise you and meet you here but you were running late. I asked him if he just wanted to sign Breckyn out but he said it probably wouldn't be such a good idea if Breckyn wasn't here when you got here." She laughed. "He's such a lovely young man."
I found myself smiling widely watching Jared push Breckyn on the swing. Jared has always been there for me, even before Breckyn. He was a year older than me and one of my best friends. He helped me through everything and when Breckyn turned one, we started dating. He never asked me about his father, I suppose he thought I didn't want to talk about it and he was right. I had just turned 17 when I got pregnant. I was supposed to be going to Georgia State but instead I finished out high school and settled for Texas College in Tyler, Texas, which was only about twenty minutes from Lindale. So here I am twenty years old with a three year old, my own house, a boyfriend, I'm going to college and I maintain a pretty good job. All in all I can't complain.
"Mommy! Mommy!" Jared helped Breckyn down from the swing and he came running over, throwing his wide spread arms around my ankles.
"Hey little man. Did you have a good day?" He looked up at me nodding excitedly. His almost one of a kind, dark chocolate brown eyes shining against his medium-dark tan skin as he beamed at me. I giggled and ran my fingers through his short cropped raven colored hair. It didn't matter how bad my day was going, one minute with my little man and it was like my whole day brightened. He was my little golden sun. Jared walked over as I picked Breckyn up into my arms. I smiled and he returned it with a quick kiss.
"What time did you get out?" I asked as we walked back through the daycare center.
"About four. Figured I'd meet you here…" His voice was smooth and sweet with the ability to instantly calm me. He held the door to the street open as I waved goodbye to Miss Linda. She waved back and then continued washing the tables.
"Yeah, Kim was running late again. I just got here. Oh no what time is it?" I struggled to get my phone with my free hand.
"Its 4:45." Jared said calmly looking at his watch. "Why?"
"I have to get Momma at five from the doctors. Shoot! Can you take Breck home?" My look was pleading. Jared simply smirked at my frazzledness and held out his arms for Breckyn. He did so much for me and I really didn't know where I would be without him in my life. I love him so much and I don't deserve him.
"Of course. See you at home." He smiled. I handed Breckyn over to him and then kissed them both goodbye.
"I love you." I said over my shoulder as I ran up the street toward my car.
After dropping Momma off at her house, I drove down Cranston Street which intersected with Main Street, making a left on to Mulberry and finally a right on to Clanston Drive. Our house was a ranch-style cabin with four bedrooms, a wrap around porch decorated with white wooden chairs. The smell of roasting chicken and potatoes greeted me as I walked through the screen door.
"Jared, you're being ridiculous…yeah, I know but seriously don't worry. Hey, you should be excited." Emily's voice rang clear through the kitchen door.
"I am. I just haven't seen him in what three, maybe four years." He sighed. I wonder who they're talking about.
"Hello?" I called pushing through the swinging kitchen door.
"Bella!" Emily jumped off her stool and ran at me, wrapping me in a hug.
"Hey. What are you all wound up about?" I pried myself from my best friend's grip and stepped back.
"Just welcoming home my bestest friend!" She said twisting long dark hair.
"Emily, you've been my best friend since we were two. What's going on?"
"Nothing." She smiled innocently.
"Mhmm...Jared, baby…what's going on?" I made my voice light and sweet.
"Uh…umm…is that Breckyn? I better go check on him." He called and practically ran out of the room.
"Emily. Tell me." I said in a flat voice. She looked a little worried, little lines crinkling her tan skin.
She took a deep breath. "He's coming home tomorrow."
"Who?" I asked confused. I watched her eyes dart to where Jared headed.
"Oh no." I gasped, feeling like I had just been punched in the stomach. I grabbed for the chair behind me for support. "Its been four years, why now?" I practically cried. Their conversation from before ringing in my ears. It all made sense now.
"He's coming for the historical benefit. His family is having something donated I think. Some family heirloom."
"But that's this weekend! Tomorrow is only Wednesday!" I could feel the tears brimming and my chest tightening with an approaching anxiety attack.
"Calm down Bella. It will be okay honey." Emily put her hand on my shoulder and smiled reassuringly.
"No it won't." I said sighing and lowering my voice so Jared wouldn't hear. "Emily he has no clue about him. I couldn't tell him, that was his dream, his chance. You know how he is, it would have ruined him."
"Bella, are you ever going to tell him? I think he has a right to know." Emily said with a knowing look.
"He hasn't called or even emailed in over a year and a half. We're better off with out him and he's better off without us."
Emily just nodded. I knew she had a point but I couldn't tell him. He had a full ride to Texas State for football, he has a chance to be somebody.
"Mommy! Mommy!" Breckyn came bursting through the kitchen door with Jared trailing behind him. "Pitchure Pitchure!" He held up a piece of paper with lines and scribbles that slightly resembled people.
"You drew a picture Breckyn?" He nodded happily and handed the paper to me. Across the top of each deformed person was Jared's neat handwriting.
"He wanted me to write the names of everyone." Jared clarified.
"Wow, these are really good Breckyn. Let's see there's you, me, Emily, Jared and who's this?" I pointed to the last figure and looked at Jared. He shrugged.
"He wouldn't give me a name."
"Who's this Breck?" I asked Breckyn.
Breckyn shrugged his shoulders. I knew he knew who it was but he wanted me to guess. I studied the picture. Emily was first, then Jared, who's "hand" was connected to mine, then Breckyn with what looked like a football in his hand and on the other side of Breckyn was the mystery figure. I looked at Emily, she half-smiled while biting her lip. I took a deep breath and looked down at Breckyn.
"Is that your Daddy Breck?" I asked. Jared flinched a little while a wide smile spread across Breckyn's face. He took the picture back from me and raced back through the door, Jared following him.
"Man, is he brilliant. With good timing too." Emily exhaled with a light laugh.
"I know." I turned toward the counter and started to pick at the vegetables on it.
"Cheer up B, that's a good thing."
"I know. Its just he's only three and already making questions about him, when we read family books or watch movies. He loves Jared but he wants to know where his own daddy is. And what am I going to do when he's here? Hide him? Because I'm not going to."
"I don't know hun, but you gotta figure out something."
…*…*…*…*…
I couldn't sleep last night. I tossed and turned thinking about today, accidentally waking Jared up twice. I sat in class trying to pay attention, but failed as I thought about the dreary day to come.
Eleven o'clock hit and my class ended, I dawdled a bit before heading to my car in the student parking lot. I took the long route home from Texas College, giving myself some time to breathe before grabbing Breckyn from Mama's and heading to the store.
His eyes lit up as I unbuckle his car seat and pick him up. He loved coming to the store with me, loved seeing all the people milling around.
"Dow Mommy, Dow" I smiled, my independent little boy. I put him down and he walked along side of me as I grabbed a cart and headed inside.
"Bella?" A smooth, deep voice questioned just as I turned down the cereal isle. I ignored it, a panic starting to set in. No, no, please no!
"Bella! Hey!" The voice caught up to me in no time and gently grabbed my arm to stop me from walking.
I took a silent breath as I turned and plastered on a confused but happy face. "Sam? How are you?"
He smiled his perfect smile, his teeth gleaming against his dark russet skin. "Pretty good and you?" His voice so gentle and caring. I missed it. I felt like I was seventeen again, back in that room. As the memories came flooding back, I became hyper aware of Breckyn hugging my leg.
"Great." I smiled and ran my hand through Breckyn's soft hair to assure him everything was alright. Sam looked down, his unique dark chocolate brown eyes showed he was stunned but his smiled never faulted.
"And who's this little guy?" I took a deep breath and hoped he hadn't notice it. "This is my son, Breckyn. Breck for short." Sam's eyes softened and his smile widened as he knelt down.
"Hey there Breck, I'm Sam." His tone was softer, sweeter than before. Breckyn moved further toward. Sam stood back up and looked at me, then down back at him.
"He has your smile. Must have gotten the skin color from his father though." Sam said still smiling and nudging me, referring to Breckyn's medium-dark tan skin compared to my paler skin tone. I nodded. That's not the only thing he got from his father, I added in my head. My eyes are a light golden hazel unlike Breckyn's.
"Sam? Sam!" A dark haired girl about 5'6 in high heels and a mini-skirt came walking around the corner. "There you are, I've been looking for you. How long do we have to stay here again? Its so…" She stopped and looked at me. Her eyebrows raised as her eyes met Breckyn.
"Leah, this is Bella and her son Breck. Bella is an old friend of mine. Bella this is Leah, my…"
"Girlfriend, I'm his girlfriend." She smiled but I could tell it was fake. I smiled back, mustering all the Southern charm I could.
"Its very nice to meet you Leah. How long are ya'll going to be staying here?"
"About a week or so. We got some time off from classes so my mom asked if I would come home for the dedication ceremony." Sam answered.
"Oh you go to Texas State too?" I kept my voice light as I spoke to Leah.
"Yes, my parents thought Texas would do me some good." Leah rolled her eyes and examined her nails.
"Oh? Where are you from?" I asked sweetly trying not to let he obvious lack of manners get to me.
"San Francisco, California." Her smile was proud, almost snobbish. He's dating a California city girl? Oh boy was his momma going to love that one.
"Long way from a big city here in Lindale." I smiled running my fingers through Breckyn's hair again trying to sooth him as I felt him move more behind my leg again. "Tell me about it." She laughed and I felt like hitting her. I felt Breckyn pull on my leg, getting very antsy. He obviously wasn't a fan of Leah either.
"Well, we better go. Emily and Jared are waiting for us at home."
"Really? Emily and Jared?" Sam's face brightened. Shit.
"Yeah. When I had him I figured I'd have to start us a life sooner or later. So I bought a house down by old Mr. Weaven's place. Emily left home and needed a place to stay, and then Jared moved in."
"Mind if we swing by?" Sam seemed excited and Leah, well Leah just stood there tapping her perfectly manicured fingers against her arm.
"Well we're heading back now, you could follow." What am I doing? Inviting him back to the house, I am losing my mind.
"That'd be great." He smiled. Damn it.
I loaded my groceries into my jeep, then strapped in Breckyn. He smiled widely watching Sam pull up behind me in his truck. I sighed and got into the drivers seat and started the engine.
"Bella, what the hell took you- Oh my goodness gracious." Emily came out of the house yelling as I picked up Breckyn out of the car and put him on the ground. She stopped on the porch as Sam hopped out of his truck. "Samuel Anthony Uley, is that you?"
"Why yes it is Emily Rebecca Young." Emily laughed and ran to hug him, something I longed to do. Snap out of it Bella.
"How the hell are ya?" Emily smiled.
"Emily watch your mouth around Breckyn."
"Sorry Bella." She laughed and looked around. "Where is my little genius?"
I turned away from the car and looked around, he was gone.
"Breckyn? Breckyn!"
"He's right here babe." Jared came around the corner of the house with Breckyn in his arms. "He came to find me." He laughed, his smile lighting up his features.
"Jar?" Sam called. Jared stopped walking toward me and turned toward Sam's truck.
"Sam?" Jared asked as he squinted his eyes against the sun.
"Hey!" Sam walked over to where Jared was standing. He gave Jared a half hug, being careful not to hurt Breckyn.
"How have you been Jar? Its been years!" Sam excitedly asked his former best friend.
"I know." Jared shifted Breckyn in his arms. "I've been great. How about you? How's football and school?"
"Pretty good. Got a few weeks off. Are you-" Leah cleared her throat, making her presence known. She had walked up behind Sam silently and made him jump slightly. "Jared this is Leah, my girlfriend. Leah, this is Jared, my best friend."
"And I'm Emily." Emily came bouncing up next to me. She glanced at Emily and then turned her attention back to Jared. "He looks like you. Is he yours?"
I froze. It was true. At first glance, Breckyn does look like he could be Jared's child. The darker skin, raven colored hair, but it was the eyes and mannerisms that gave it away. Jared looked down at Breckyn and breathed in deeply. "No."
"Oh." Leah seemed disappointed. I looked at Jared, who was looking at Breckyn, smoothing his hair as Breckyn smiled at him. "Well where is his father then?" Leah pressed.
"Gone." I said moving to Jared's side. I was starting to get annoyed, quickly.
"Well-" Her phone started to ring, saving her from anything she was about to say. "I have to take this." She walked away, disappearing into Sam's truck.
Emily snorted. "You brought that primpy, conceded city girl home to meet your momma? Good luck with that. You must not really like her that much." Emily laughed in disbelief as she picked up groceries and headed into the house.
"She's really not that bad Emily." Sam defended, following her actions. I let out a tight laugh. Jared put Breckyn down, letting him run into the house as we grabbed the rest of the groceries.
I kept my distance from Sam and Leah the rest of the night as best as I could. Jared carried a sleepy Breckyn upstairs while I finished the dishes from dinner.
"Do you need any help?" Sam came through the kitchen door, his voice low, almost ashamed.
"No. You might want to go help your girlfriend though, you left her out there with Emily." There was a icy bite to my tone that I couldn't even bring myself to be embarrassed about.
"She'll be fine." He said as he came closer. "Bella." I hated the way he said my name, so sweet and caring. I moved away from him. "I'm sorry."
"For what? There's nothing to be sorry about. It's not like we were together or anything." I bit out.
He flinched and took a deep breath. "There is, I'm sorry about leaving, about losing contact with you. I'm sorry for surprising you by coming home, I'm sorry about bringing Leah with me, I'm sorry she was rude to you and your son. I'm just sorry." I cringed a bit and bit back the tears that were brimming. I looked away from him as he came closer, reaching out to touch my cheek.
"Please don't cry Bella." Too late. I had tears crawling their way down my cheeks, I angrily wiped them away. He came up behind me and turned me so I was facing him. He wrapped me into a hug, smoothing my hair. I hated how much I felt at peace. Where the hell was Jared.
"He has your soft hair too. He really is beautiful." I could here the smile in his voice. "And its great that he has all three of you. Especially you and Jared, I'm happy for you two. I'm glad you found happiness after my dumb ass." I laughed a little. I pulled away from him and wiped my eyes again. Hopefully Jared would be back down soon.
"You better get out there." I said picking up the last dish. "Emily is probably convincing her to leave before Old Man Wicky gets her with his axe." He started laughing as he headed toward the door.
"That would be a sight." He chuckled and then he was gone.
Jared came in a few minutes later as I was putting the now clean dishes into the cabinet.
"They left." He sounded upset and exhausted as he put his head in his hands at the island counter.
"Okay." I shrugged as I grabbed a glass from the cabinet and filled it with water. I put it in front of Jared. "What's wrong?" I asked. His uncharacteristic quietness was worrying me.
"Why didn't you tell me?" He didn't look at me or even move when he asked.
"Jared…I…" I could feel the tears coming back.
"Does he know?" He looked up at me this time, his face grave.
"No. I never told him." He lowered his head again.
"He was my best friend, he is my best friend. I knew this would be hard, him coming back, because I knew you had feelings for him but I didn't think-" I flinched as he just stopped, letting the sentence just hang there. I had always had feeling for Sam, that was no secret, him and Jared were two of my closet guy friends but no one knew that Sam and I had gotten together. It was right after we graduated and we had kept a secret from everyone preferring that our business stayed our business. I hadn't even told Emily, that is until I ended up pregnant.
"No one knew anything happened between us. Only Emily knows. I couldn't bring myself to tell anyone else."
"Bella, look at him. If you pay enough attention, you know Breck is his son. He has his eyes for crying out loud. Hell, if anyone pays attention just to the way you are when they're near each other they'd know."
Tears streamed down my face. "I'm sorry. I couldn't believe it happened, we only…once and I…I just don't know. Please don't hate me." I cried.
"Hate you?" He sounded like someone had just crushed his chest. "Bella, I could never hate you. I love you and Breckyn so much, that's why I wish you would have told me." He got up from the counter and came to wrap his arms around me. Twice in one night, no better yet, twice in one hour, I found myself wrapped in a guy I love arms', crying.
After I had calmed down a bit, Jared had poured himself a cup of coffee along with one for me.
"So he doesn't know." His voice was calm and sweet this time. I shook my head no. "Are you ever going to tell him?"
"I honestly don't know. I didn't have the heart to tell him when I first found out. He was so happy about his scholarship, I couldn't mess it up. I just…I don't know."
"But what about your life? You were going to Georgia State, but now you're just stuck here in Lindale." He wasn't trying to be mean or rub it in, he genuinely wanted to know the reasons for my actions.
I smiled. "I am not stuck. I chose to stay here. I could have gone to Georgia State and still had Breckyn but I wanted to raise him here. Plus, in staying here, I got you." I laughed and he laughed too. I moved over to him and sat on his lap. "I love you." I smiled and kissed him.
"I love you too." He whispered, his lips still on mine.
Now in this story to clarify: Bella and Jared are together(for now?) Leah is a city girl and a bitch and dating Sam. Emily also has a little more spice to her personality in this story instead of being so mild mannered as you will see more later on. Breckyn goes by Breck so I will be using them interchangeably, when its thoughts its Breckyn but when he's being referred to or talked to its normally Breck. Umm…I think that's it. Oh and the title is a song by Kellie Coffey, it sort of fit…Any way, let me know if you want me to continue! Review, Comment, Question! =)