So somehow the chapter posted like 3 times on this and it was all jumbled up and really crazy so I had to fix it and that took forever but im hoping its working now
HelplessRomantic814- So in chapter 24 and 25, Kayla talked about his deformities… Harlan has what's known as amniotic band syndrome or ABS he has missing fingers and webbed toes Kayla goes more into detail about his fingers and toes in Chapter 25 when she's making up the 'This little Piggy' song to better fit his situation with missing/webbed toes
Tubba- My niece has ABS and as she knows she's different she doesn't let that stop her from living her life with a positive attitude so I figured why not give one of my characters that kind of positive outlook on life… It's okay sometimes I forget it's Ry's story instead of his there are some people who don't like Max's povs so it's nice to see that some people look forward to his storyline also no they won't be making up soon it's gonna get worse…
Juliejustdance- Yeah I tried to make her not so annoying but it just wasn't working out but it won't be getting better for those two for the time being
Yuki Kamea- I've only had heat stroke once and it was when we moved to Vegas in the summer from Chicago I was not ready for that it was terrible sorry for the random little story lol enjoy reading…
Max's Pov
I was beyond angry and confused, how the fuck could she do this to me? She wanted to hurt me so badly that she kept my fucking kid from me for nearly three years, the tears stung my eyes but I refused to cry I am not about to give her that kind of satisfaction again. "Max, come on." My lawyer buddy Randy motioned for me to come into his office. "What do you need taken care of today? DUI? Possession?"
"Child support."
"What?" He looked confused.
"My ex told me she got an abortion about three years ago and now I come to find out she lied about the abortion and is taking me to court for child support.""So the kids around what two?"
"Yeah…"
"And are you going to pay the child support?"
"After I get a paternity test."
"You don't think it's yours?"
"I never said that, Cambry is a lot of things but she isn't a liar she wouldn't be doing this unless she was actually sure that kid was mine but we had a difficult relationship."
"Difficult?"
"It was an open relationship, I didn't care if she had sex with other dudes she didn't care if I had sex with other girls as long as we came back home to each other."
"So there's a possibility it's not yours?"
"I guess…"
"Shouldn't that be a relief?"
"I honestly have no idea… My life is just one big fuck up after another."
"Look I'm not a family lawyer or a child custody lawyer."
"But your husband is." He smirked.
"Yeah he is."
"So can you ask him to help me?"
"Help you with what? If it comes back your the father, does that mean you just don't want to pay child support or you want her to keep the fact that you have a kid a secret?"
"If the kid is mine I want full custody."
"Max-"
"She kept-"
"You couldn't get full custody."
"Why the hell not?"
"When your on tour how many times are you home?"
"Sadie-"
"Your ex will fight you on that Max, get the paternity test and if it comes back you are the father you sit down with her and work out a custody agreement because if you take that to court chances are you will get the shitty end of everything."
"I think the kid gets the shitty end of things."
"I'll talk to David give him your number and he'll set up a meeting get in contact with her lawyer and do the test and we move on from there."
"Can you have her lawyer send me her number or something? So I can talk to her?"
"Getting her pissed off is the last thing to do Max."
"I have some fucking questions I want answered and I want them now." I yelled.
"Go home Max, cool down, David will call you in a few hours."
"Don't tell me what to-"
""Max you are gonna solve nothing screaming and yelling." He said I knew he was right but I was just pissed off everything pissed me off right now.
I went home like he said there was nothing else I could do there except sit and be pissed some more, when I got home the kids were watching some lego movie, Sadie was watching me she was trying to give me space which I appreciated. "Daddy!" DJ yelled coming towards me.
"DJ give daddy some space." He stopped and nodded.
"I'm fine," I said she gave me a sad smile. "Come here player." He ran the rest of the way and jumped to me I lifted him up hugging him tightly, this would of been so much worse if I didn't have them. "I love you buddy."
"I love you too daddy!" DJ said kissing my cheek.
"Me too!" Rosie yelled holding her hands up to me I shifted DJ to pick Rosie up as well.
"Hey baby girl." She smiled at me and everything felt okay for a moment.
"You sure your alright?" Sadie asked I put them down on the couch and pulled Sadie into a hug.
""I just…." I couldn't understand the feeling right now I didn't know how to explain that my heart felt like it was just ran over by a truck and thrown into a blender. "It's hard."
"Max-"
"If it's mine I know she won't let me be around as much as I want she'll keep him or her away from me."
"You don't know what it is?"
"I didn't read the entire thing once I saw child support I kind of lost it…"
"Come on." She said grabbing my hand.
Kayla's Pov
I always loved the rain when I was little I would sit by the window watching the rain pour down and the lighting, it wasn't really raining when we landed in Seattle a light drizzle more like it Harlan decided rain meant play time and ran through the parking lot of the airport jumping around. Willow cried when she started getting wet Cambry took her from me because Harlan was begging me to play with him in the rain. "Why don't Willow want to play?" Harlan asked jumping into a puddle.
"She doesn't like the rain actually I don't think she's seen rain before."
"I love rain." Harlan said jumping into another puddle.
"We have to go okay?"
"But the rain." He said looking up at the sky.
"If it's raining later we can go back out."
"Okay mommy, Cambry wait for me!" He ran to her grabbing her hand.
We got to her mom's house Harlan was complaining about being hungry. "We'll get you something to eat in a minute."
"Okay." We went inside and Cambry disappeared for a minute. "Mommy?"
"Yeah Har?"
""It smells good." He said sniffing around Willow laughed because Harlan was jumping around, Cambry came back out with who I assumed was her mother.
"Kayla this is my mom Maria, mom this is Kayla."
"Hello dear." She pulled me into a hug thanking me for coming with Cambry.
"It's infusion day right?" Cambry asked Maria nodded. "I'll set everything up."
"No, you just got here."
"It's alright mom…" Harlan's stomach began to rumbled and Maria smiled.
"Do you like tacos?"
"Yeah!"
"Do you mind?" She asked I shook my head and her and Harlan went into the kitchen.
"She always makes way too much food… Enough to feed a small village." We walked up stairs Willow was starting to fall asleep she didn't have a nap at all so she was getting crabby.
"Cambry went into a room and pulled me along with her. "Hey…." She said softly sitting on a small bed. "How's my sleepy baby?" Movement from the bed. "Sleep good." Cambry lifted a small boy up he nodded. "This is my friend Kayla." Cambry said pointing at me. "Can you say hi?" He dropped his head down.
"He's shy?" I asked Cambry gave me a sad smile.
"He um… He doesn't really talk much but he's been going to speech therapy so he's been getting better."
"Does he just not like talking?" I asked she kissed his head.
"He can talk but he's not very good at.. it's a long story." She said.
"I got time."
"Did you want to put her down?"
"Is she asleep?"
"Yeah, you can put her in his bed." I laid Willow down and she didn't even stir.
Cambry led us down into a room with a lot of medical supplies she put the little boy down on a couch. "I guess I should start at the beginning well the short version since you've already heard most of this…" She pushed his dark hair out of his face. "I met Max at a party he went to with my brother."
"Max?"
"That's my ex's name."
"Oh…" In all the months I've known Cambry I never asked her ex's name but then again we don't usually talk about the men in our life unless we are ranting to each other but the names we call them are less than appropriate.
"So I met Max through my older brother at a party and we hooked up it was supposed to just be a fling I didn't expect him to call me or anything but he did and we dated but I use the term dated loosely because it was a different kind of relationship something I never really had before…" She was playing with his hair and he was leaning his head against her. "Our relationship got dark I don't really want to go into detail about that because it's kind of embarrassing."
"You don't have to go into detail." I said she smiled.
"We had an open relationship and I hooked up with a few guys in the beginning of it but I fell in love with him… I knew he could never love me he was only with me for one reason."
"What reason?" I asked but she shook her head.
"That's his secret, he may think I'm a heartless bitch but I'm not." I nodded I wouldn't go around spilling Ry's secrets. "Anyway he decided to sleep with my best friend and our one rule was no best friends god I can't even describe how much that hurt."
"Is that his kid?"
"Yeah it is."
"How often does he see him?"
"Never… He doesn't know about him… That was my fuck up, he fired me and with how sick he is I needed that job and it was the only thing I could think to do."
"He's sick?"
"Yeah…" She said a giant name that I couldn't repeat if my life depended.
"Is that life threatening?"
"It makes his life a lot harder, he can't play like normal kids he gets way to exhausted after five minutes." She looked at him and sighed. "It's all my fault." She said.
"I don't think-"
"No it really is…."
"How?"
"I was planning on getting an abortion I told Max I had already gotten the abortion because if he found out I was planning on going to get one he wouldn't of let me, I was addicted to drugs I knew I couldn't bring a child into the world when I was so fucked up and so was he."
"But you didn't though."
"I went to the appointment and they did an ultrasound to make sure I wasn't too far along and I saw the baby, it wasn't a little blob like I thought it would be it was moving around and had hands and legs… It was my baby. I couldn't do it, and I couldn't go back to Max and tell him that I lied that didn't have the abortion yet he already hated me and that was probably for the best."
"What did you do?"
"I came back here to Seattle told my mom I needed help getting clean I went to rehab for him because he deserved the best mother and I couldn't give him that if I was addicted to drugs."
"That's amazing you got clean for your son."
"The damage was already done though, he had three surgeries before he was even one."
"You couldn't have known that Cam, once you found out you got clean."
"His body can't regulate blood flow properly and he has a partially paralyzed stomach, the treatment for him is long term so they implanted a port in his chest and that's how he gets his infusions it's medicine-"
What is a port?"
"It's a catheter that runs to his heart."
"Oh okay."
"He gets infusions three times a week."
"What do they do for him?"
"He has low blood volume and the infusions help increase blood volume, before the infusions he'd walk around for five minutes and he'd be crying because he'd be tired and hurting and now he can walk around for like half an hour sometimes an hour if he doesn't push himself."
"Is the talking thing an effect of that as well?"
"He can talk just not very well and not with people he doesn't know."
"So when it's just you and your mom he talks?"
"Yeah, before speech therapy he only knew about seven words no matter what we tried, now with therapy he can speak some sentences and he gets better with it every day." I nodded and just stared at this precious little boy who clung onto Cambry
"How long do his infusions take?" I asked, I was curious about everything he went through.
"He has to have it slow because his body can't handle it going too fast so it takes about six to eight hours for both bags but we have an on the go system."
"It must've taken a long time to learn everything." Cambry laughed and then nodded.
"Sometimes I feel like I still don't know what the hell i'm doing…" She pulled his shirt off and he atomically laid back. "He got a feeding tube a few months back because he wasn't getting enough nutrition and they said the best option was a feeding tube."
"Poor baby…"
"He's a trooper." She was setting up stuff and he was watching her. "Aren't you Kai?"
"Ya." He said so lowly if it wasn't quiet I wouldn't of heard him. So that was his name, Kai? It seemed to fit him. Cambry left the room and came back with her hands wet as she started setting everything up.
"Can I ask you something? Kind of personal?" She glanced at me nodding. "Why does he live with your mom?"
"I was waiting until I got my new apartment so he could have his own room."
"Yeah…."
"So is he coming back with us?"
"A few days after we come back my mom is gonna fly out with him, my mom's going back to work she took time off to care for him while I got my life sorted."
"But what are you going to do? I mean without a job."
""I'll find something… I hope…"
"You have a brother right?"
"Yeah."
What's he do?"
"In a band."
"Oh, anything I've heard of?"
"Um maybe, it's called Princes Under New Authority."
"What….?" I really wasn't expecting her to say that.
"The band he's in is called-"
"No I heard that… Who's your brother?"
"Gabe, he plays the bass in the band."
"Wait… Your shitty exes shitty girlfriend… Is her name Sadie?" I asked and Cambry's eyes shot to mine.
"How did you know that?" Oh god….
"Sadie's my sister." She was in the middle of cleaning Kai's port but she stopped and looked at Kai to me and back down.
"Did you know who I was before we met? Did she ask you to befriend me?"
"No, I didn't even know you knew Sadie." She went back to working on Kai.
"No… Hurt…" He said.
"I know Kai, it won't hurt for long it's just a little poke remember?" He nodded. "Is he okay?"
"He doesn't like when we put the needle in it scares him but after it's in he's fine." She said and put the needle in he didn't even move or seem to notice.
"You are such a brave boy." I said Kai looked at me and smiled, he looked like a health little boy.
"Can you hand me that backpack?" I nodded picking up the bag that was next to me while Cambry put the IV line through a little portable machine and then put it into the backpack. Kai was connected to it Cambry put a tank top on him you could see the tip of his port and the IV coming from the top of his shirt, he put the backpack on his back and gave Cambry a thumbs up.
"He's so sweet." I said as Cambry picked him up to sit him in her lap, that was Max's son…. I couldn't judge her or ridicule her I didn't want Ryland to know about Willow in the beginning but I felt terrible for him, I wonder what's going on in his head right now, Kai looked just like Cambry I wish I could get a better look at him.
"Did grandma do your feeding tube already?" She asked him but he didn't answer he just wrapped his arms around her neck.
"Mommy, they have a doggy!." Harlan yelled as he came in with what looked like chocolate on his face Kai turned to look at him watching him intently. "Hello." He said but Kai just watched him. Kai said something but I couldn't understand but Cambry just smiled.
"Yeah maybe."
"What did he say?" Harlan asked.
"He wanted to know if you would play with him."
"We can play, what game?"
"Ta." Kai said Harlan looked at me.
"I think he wants to play tag." I said and Kai nodded.
"I'll be it!" Harlan said and Kai got up and ran Cambry bite her lip.
"You don't like him running?"
"It takes to much out of him… He'll probably end up taking another nap."
"So you have a dog?"
"Service dog for Kai."
Oh." I said maybe it was the way I said it because she looked at me and sighed.
"You want to talk about Max don't you?"
"Max is like a brother to me and I know that this is probably going to break him."
"Well he fired me because his bitch girl-"
"Cambry." I sighed.
"Shit sorry… She's your sister…" No matter how mad I was at Sadie I wouldn't let someone talk about her, not that Sadie would do it for me but still….
"Aaaa." Kai came running back in and jumped onto Cambry breathing hard.
"Baby maybe you should take a break." Kai shook his head and a dog came trotting in the room straight to Kai.
"Ar." He said kissing his nose.
"What's his name?" I asked Kai looked at me.
"Ar." He said I looked at Cambry she smiled.
"Arlo." She said.
"For din sar." Kai said.
"Oh, Arlo from the good dinosaur?" I said and Kai nodded he had brown hair just like Cambry and dark blue eyes like Max although Cambry kind of had the same eyes as Max.
"Dinners ready." Cambry picked up Kai and grabbed my hand and we walked towards the dining room with Arlo in tow.
"You sit here and eat with Harlan and grandma, mommy and Kayla are gonna go talk okay?" Kai nodded he had a small plate of food he didn't look to pleased to be eating though.
We went out to the backyard we sat down on a bench swing the view of Seattle was amazing from the backyard. "Before we talk about Max, how do you know him? Is it just from your sister?"
"No my fiancé and Max are best friends and um well cousins."
"Your getting married to Ryland?" She blinked at me a few times.
"Oh god… Did you and him sleep together because I-"
"No we did not, remember Max and I had that no best friends rule?"
"Oh right…"
"Well i'm happy for you, Ryland's…. Nice."
"Why'd you say it like that?"
"Ryland and I never really got along he doesn't really like me so now that you know the truth I know when you go home you won't be calling me to hang out anytime soon."
"Who cares if Ryland doesn't like you, you are my friend and sure you did something super shitty but i'm not gonna stop being your friend just because Ry doesn't like you."
"And your sister, and Max, and everyone in the entire world pretty much."
"Does Gabe like you?"
"He's my brother, he has no choice but to like me."
"He's also Max's friend why didn't he tell him about Kai?"
"Gabe and I had this huge fight when Max and I broke it off, Max told everyone I cheated and Gabe never liked Max and I together he said if we ever broke up things would be awkward for him and Max. Well he wanted to hear my side of the story but I couldn't tell him what I did he would've told Max and I wasn't ready for that as selfish as it was it was my choice."
"So you never told Gabe about the baby?"
"The only one in my family who does know is my mother."
"Not even your father?"
"No he's not really big on talking to me, when my parents divorced I picked to live with my mom he wasn't to happy with me."
"And Gabe picked your dad?"
"He's my half brother his mother died when he was seven."
"Oh…" I said softly not knowing what else to say.
"You know why I never told Max, you know everything."
"I can't judge you Cambry because when I got pregnant with Willow I was so mad at Ryland I didn't even want him knowing about her I didn't want him in my life or hers, I was ready to raise her all on my own so i'm the last person who can judge you… We all do shitty things every now and then it doesn't make us terrible people, it makes us human."
"I'm sure Max won't see it that way."
"When he meets Kai-"
"I don't want him anywhere near my son."
"Cambry."
"What?"
"Do you honestly think Max is just gonna sit on his ass? You made him aware of Kai that was your own fault but sooner or later he was going to find out about him."
"I just want enough money to pay for his medication and make sure if he needs anything I have the money for that's why I fucking sued him and now i'm regretting everything."
"What's done is done."
"You aren't being very friendly right now." She muttered.
"It's called tough love."
"He's gonna try and take Kai from me I know he is."
"I don't think Max is that heartless he wouldn't rip a kid from his mother."
"He isn't good with strangers."
"Stop thinking about everything that could wrong Cambry… Right now just enjoy your time with your son and mother."
"Your right…" She sighed standing up pulling me up. "Hungry?"
"A little." When we went back in I was surprised to see Willow sitting on the table picking up meat shoving it in her mouth.
"I hope you don't mind but she woke up and I figured she was hungry."
"It's okay thank you."
"It a we bab." Kai said I wasn't very good at understanding him but I was getting better, he still had his backpack on from what Cambry said he's gonna have that on for awhile, I felt bad for the little guy but at the same time he was such a happy little boy like he didn't care life through a bunch of shitty things at him.
"Yeah she is a baby." Cambry said laughing as Willow tried to use a spoon to pick up the meat but it all fell off.
"Ma."
"Yeah Kai?"
"Her name?"
"It's Willow." Harlan said.
"Ellow."
"You can call her Lo if you want." Harlan said, he understood what it was like to be different so he was gentle with Kai which I loved.
"Lo." He said and smiled when Willow looked at him.
"Good job." Harlan said patting Kai's back with prosthetic hand.
Ryland's Pov
I slept through all my alarms I was trying to wake up early to call Kayla because it was Willow's birthday and I wanted to see my little birthday girl but I overslept, I sighed as I hit the call button and to no surprise Kayla didn't answer the phone, she was pissed at me because I wasn't there for Willow's birthday she acts like I didn't want to be there that it was solely my choice to stay here to go over stupid plans for album and release dates and switching record companies. Maybe she still asleep and I was just being a big baby but when I went onto Instagram I saw that she had just posted a little collage of pictures of Willow not less than twenty minutes ago… I read the caption before I blew her phone up with calls and text.
I don't think words describe how much I love my little peanut, one year ago this beautiful crazy girl came into my life and changed it for the better, I couldn't imagine what my life would be without you or Harlan mommy loves you to the moon and back. Happy first birthday my little crazy girl
I scrolled down a little more to see a picture of Harlan at the space needle, she's in Seattle? What the fuck? I called her but she didn't answer again I really wanted to throw my fucking phone.
Ryland: Can you please answer your damn phone?
My Love: Took the kids out can't really talk right now
Of course, she answers her damn text.
Ryland: Were you planning on telling me you took the kids somewhere?
My Love: Do I have to tell you every little thing I do?
Ryland: Please don't start today's supposed to be a happy day can we not fight?
My Love: You are the one getting pissed for nothing
I dropped my phone onto the bed and pulled the cover over my head sighing heavily I just want to go home, my phone started to ring. "Hello?"
"Hey." Kayla said a lot of noise coming from the back.
"You didn't have to call me." I said I could tell she was rolling her eyes.
"I did because if I didn't you would've just been mad at me when I did call you."
"I know."
"Why-"
"Mommy can I talk to daddy?" Harlan yelled.
"Do you want to talk to Harlan? Willow is crawling around somewhere so i'll go get her while you talk to him."
"Yeah."
"Hi daddy!" Harlan yelled into the phone.
"Hey buddy."
"Did you know that today is Willow's birthday." He asked I laughed.
"Yeah I know it's her birthday."
"She's one and i'm five."
"Yeah I-"
""And Kai is two."
"Who?"
"He's-" The call ended I was about to call back when my phone started to ring again this time with Facetime.
"Dada!" Willow smiled she was getting more teeth in which made her smile even cuter.
"Hi baby girl." She waved at me I remember getting that random text in the middle of the night with Kayla telling me she learned how to wave. I always get updates on the new things Willow learns and it kills me that i'm not there to see her grow up. "Happy birthday baby…" I said and of course she couldn't understand what I was saying and what today was but I still felt like a bad father.
"Daddy," Harlan said popping up behind Willow. "Willow has a new favorite word."
"Oh? What word?"
"It's no." Harlan said Willow looked up at Harlan.
"No." She said and Harlan giggled.
"See?" Harlan said patting her head.
"No." Willow said standing up and taking a few steps before falling and crawling away.
"She can walk?" The phone moved and I saw Kayla and just like always my heart picked up some.
"Not very well but she's been trying."
"Oh…" I've missed so much…. Maybe after the tour is over we can take a little break, I know Max needs time after he gets his surgery.
"So you are coming home at the end of the week right?"
"Actually i'll be home tomorrow morning."
"But you said-"
"I know but I didn't want to spend anymore time away then I had to so i'm coming home."
"We are coming home tomorrow evening."
"Is Nugget with Max and Sadie?"
"No I don't want her around any child of mine whether it's a furbaby or a real one." I tried not to make a face but I did and her eyes narrowed at me. "You have something to say?"
"No baby."
"Good answer."
"Who is Nugget with then?"
"Aaron."
"What?"
"My friend you remember him right?"
"Uh huh…."
"He offered to take him for the weekend he was going hiking and some stuff and Nug likes to be in the great outdoors so I let him take him."
"Ya."
"What's wrong?" I know Kayla says they are just friends and nothing's happened between them but god I hate him and it's not like I can tell her to stop being friends with him they were friends before I came back into her life that wouldn't fair for me to do that.
"Nothing."
"He's a friend Ry…"
"I know he is i'm not saying anything…." She rolled her eyes.
"I think Willow is trying to escape." A familiar voice said Kayla turned away from the phone and looked at me quickly.
"I have to go, I love you and i'll see you when we get home."
"I love-" She hung up. "You too…." Well I might as well get ready for the boring shitty day i'm going to have.
Sadie's Pov
No matter how many times Max said he was fine I knew he wasn't he didn't sleep last night he was either staring at the fan or walking around the house, I didn't know what to do for him I couldn't help him I didn't know how. "You alright?" Max asked my hand was on my stomach feeling the strong kicks from the baby I nodded not trusting my words. "Is the baby okay?" I nodded again. "Are you gonna talk to me?"
"Just kicking that's all." He cautiously put his hand to my stomach I moved his hand to where the baby was at. "Did you still want to go next week?"
"For?"
"To find out the gender? I know you have a lot going on right now and we can wait if you want."
"No I don't want to wait I want to find out." He said his hand still on my stomach.
"Did Kayla call you?" He shook his head. "I thought maybe she'd want you to at least come over for Willow's birthday."
"I can call her and see if we can come over."
"She won't want me there."
"Kayla loves you Sadie."
"She hates me right now with a very good reason but still she hates me." The baby kicked again and this time it hurt a lot I groaned but Max seemed to enjoy the not so little kicks.
"Empire is getting strong." He said.
"Can we talk about real names for the baby?"
"You remember when we told my parents?"
"Yeah."
"Well I never did tell you what names my pops was trying to sell me on did I?"
"No you didn't."
"Well for a boy he said Alexander." Max had a smile on his face a real one it felt like months since i've seen that smile.
"And a girl?"
"Alexandra." We both laughed. "That's what he calls the baby."
"What does your dad think about that?"
"I really don't know I asked him once and all he said was I didn't have to name it after him."
"Did you want to?"
"I don't know…" He said softly and then shook his head. "You name the baby."
"Why me?"
"I remember back when we first started seeing each other you told me that your mom picked out DJ and Rosie's names you said you didn't have a choice in naming them, I want you to pick the baby's name."
"Well Alexander Empire Lightwood-Bane has a nice ring to it for a boy."
"And Empire can also be for a girl to so-"
"Definitely not I was thinking about something cute and subtle like Addelyn that's a cute name."
"Addelyn?" He said softly thinking it over and he smiled. "It's cute."
"It's not for sure I mean we can look at more names it's just one that I liked."
"What do you think the baby is?" He asked rubbing my stomach I wanted it to be a girl because Rosie absolutely loves Willow and I think it would be nice to have two daughters but I know DJ now wants the baby to be a boy.
"I think I will be happy either way." I said and Max nodded in agreement although I know he wants a boy as well.
I know from what the paper says Cambry had a boy so maybe Max already has a son, I didn't know how to talk to him about it he seemed so fragile right now like everything was kind of moving around him in slow motion I didn't want drag my feelings into this because it wasn't about me it was about Max. "D-do you know when you go for the paternity test?"
"My lawyer has to talk to her lawyer i'm hoping by the end of this week or sooner but I don't really know."
"What happens after?"
"I guess it all depends on if he's mine or not."
"Okay." I said Max pulled me towards him wrapping his arms around me as best he could.
"We work through it together I know everything is crazy right now and I honestly don't know what the fuck is happening but what I do know is with you by my side everything is a little easier."
"I'm sorry you have to through this at all… You don't deserve any of this."
"I know but neither does he… If he's mine I just hope Cambry won't try and keep him from me." He said he didn't sound angry he sounded drained.
"Morning." DJ said running in and jumping on top of Max hanging half on him and half on the bed.
""Hey sleepy boy…" I said as he yawned.
"Hi."
"Is Rosie still asleep?"
"Yeah she's drooling all over everywhere." He said with a look of disgust. "Daddy?"
"Yeah Player?"
"Can I spend the night at Harlan's house? I want to play with him." Max looked at me for an answer.
"I'll try and call Kayla." I said but Max shook his head picking up his phone.
"Let me do it…."
"Right she probably wouldn't answer for me." I mumbled Max didn't say anything to me just pressed the phone to his ear I didn't think she'd answer though.
"Hey Kayla, how's the birthday girl?" Maybe she didn't hate me after all? "Oh wow…. I didn't know that, well nevermind then." He said frowning. "Oh no DJ wanted to come over to play with Harlan." He got out of the bed and walked away for a few minutes.
"She said no?" I asked once Max got off the phone.
"No she's not in California."
"What do you mean she's not here? Where did she go?"
"Seattle."
"What the hell is in Seattle?" I asked Max titled his head.
"Um well she's your sister so you'd probably know more then I would."
"Well right now i'm sisterless." I said DJ had taken Max's phone and started playing a game so he no longer cared about anything going on around him.
"Baby she's still your sister."
"You said you got into it with Rylie once, how'd you two make up?"
"I uh… I don't really know if I should tell that story."
"Why?"
"It's really a sensitive subject for her."
"It has something to do with her ex right? The one from Italy?"
"Yeah it has everything to do with him."
"You don't have to tell me."
"Don't ever tell her I told you this…."
"Max-"
"No one liked him, my parents hated him, I hated him, hell even Ryland hated him."
"Because he cheated on her?" Max looked surprised that I knew that.
"Well that's why my parents hated him but Ryland and I hated him for a different reason…"
"Which was?"
"He got her pregnant."
"But-"
"She had a miscarriage and he blamed her losing the baby we hadn't talked for a few months but she called me crying she could have called anyone but she called me even though we were both mad at each other I dropped everything and flew to Italy… He made her feel like shit because of what happened she was already broken, Jessie was living with Rylie in Italy at the time with her boyfriend and Ryland was visiting Jessie. Rylie told Ryland what happened and then he came back from work or wherever he was and decided to try and start some shit while we were there."
"So let me guess… You beat the shit out of him?"
"Yeah we did."
"Is that why she seems so sad around the kids?"
"She always said that it hurt but that in some ways it was for the best she was young and she wasn't ready."
"Did she want the baby?"
"I don't know I never asked her, all I know was that Jessie said she freaked out when she found out her and the asshole got into a huge fight about the baby he didn't want her to have the baby."
"Men…" I whispered.
"Did Daniel not want you to have kids?"
"My mom came to me and told me it was a good time to start having kids and I like the stupid brainless idiot I was listened to her, I never thought he'd be a good father because he wasn't even a good husband but we had kids and he was a terrible father."
"Mommy stop being mean." DJ said looking from the phone to us Max gulped.
"What?" I said.
"Daddy is the bestest." He said hugging Max. "Why mommy being mean to you?" He asked and Max smiled.
"Mommy was making a joke."
"Oh." He said and went back to the phone, I had forgotten about him for a minute.
"I think we should continue this conversation when children aren't around." I said Max nodded.
Kayla's Pov
"Apy bar aaaa." Kai said to Willow he was such a sweet little boy, he was trying to feed her cake at the same time as Harlan and my poor baby girl was so confused.
"Happy birthday Willow Pillow." Harlan said Cambry laughed because she started the whole Pillow thing when Willow tried to throw a tiny pillow at Kai who thought it was hilarious. Cambry and I had talked more about Kai when all the kids were asleep I had asked why she started speech therapy so soon he was still really young but she said because she didn't want to take him when he was older and have it be too late, she said that he was talking so much more now and even though it wasn't perfect it was a lot better then before she sent him there, she was trying to afford a better speech place and if I had the money i'd give it to her because Kai deserves the best chance at life.
"Kawa." He said i've come to realize that's him saying my name.
"Yes sweetie?" When I first met him he stayed away from me and clung closely to Cambry but she sat down with him and explained that I was a friend he still didn't seem to sure around me and if Cambry wasn't around and it was just me he'd scream his little head off I didn't feel to bad about it though he didn't like new people Willow was that way as well unless someone had food then all bets were off, I think she got that from Cecily.
"Mommy wait." Harlan said and he leaned forward to whisper into Kai's ear.
"We…" Kai said as Harlan still whispered to him. "P-lay?" He said and Harlan clapped his hands.
"Good job Kaiser." Harlan said and Kai clapped his hands as well, he'd say the word play as pa or pla before and Harlan seemed very proud to teach him how to really use the word.
"We can play if you want, what did you want to play?" Harlan jumped up and down.
"Hide and seek." I looked at Cambry to make sure she was okay with that, we took the kids to the park and after about fifteen minutes of playing Kai took a nap I didn't want to push him too hard.
"You'd just have to count to a higher number because he needs a little bit more time to hide." Cambry said.
"Yeah i'll count to five hundred and sixty thousand." Harlan said seriously.
"I think thirty would be good because I can help him hide." She said and Harlan looked at Willow.
"Mommy can you help Willow hide?"
"Yeah we can all play."
Kai was giggling the entire time Harlan was searching for him Willow didn't like hide and seek very much because she was babbling so Harlan found her first but felt bad because she was the birthday girl once he found Kai it was Willow's turn to find them so in reality it meant it was my turn to find them and they both hid really well because as I was searching for them Willow ended up falling asleep from all the excitement that hide and seek has to offer to a one year old. I heard little laughs coming from the bathroom. "Hmmmm I wonder if anyone's in hear…" I said flipping the light on, more little laughs coming from behind the shower curtain, I pulled it back and Harlan and Kai both erupted into laughs. "You two were hiding together?"
"No." Harlan laughed I love little kid laughs they were so adorable and when it was your child laughing there was no better sound.
The boys fell asleep in Kai's bed that night but I didn't feel right having Harlan sleep in there because Kai was hooked up to an IV for some antibiotics and I don't want him to end up hurting Kai but Cambry assured me everything would all right Arlo was sleeping at the foot of the bed keeping a close eye on the boys, I really didn't want to go home.
Ryland's Pov
I hate the house empty now and seeing the toys on the floor just made it more depressing, I knew she was coming home later today with the kids but it didn't make me feel any better. I wanted her home now because I was bored and missing my kids Max called me a few times but I didn't feel like hearing the whole can you tell Kayla to just forgive Sadie already thing again, I literally did nothing I watched movies and played with the cat I would've taken Nugget to the park or something but he wasn't here. "Sergio what are we gonna do for the rest of the day?" I am left talking to the cat like a fucking idiot, he meowed at me and then ran away. "No come back and love me." I groaned. "You're an asshole cat I hope you know that you're dick and I am just gonna call you cat from now on because you don't deserve a name." He looked at me from the other end of the couch and meowed again. "No I don't want to talk to you now." I called mom to see what she was doing because I was going insane.
"Hey Bubbie."
"Hey mama."
"Are you finally home?"
"Yeah I got home like an hour ago maybe two."
"What are the kids doing?"
"No idea whatever Kayla has them doing in Seattle."
"Kayla's in Seattle?"
"Yeah with the kids."
"She left you?"
"No! Why would you think that?"
"I don't know," She mumbled.
"You don't just jump to conclusions mom…"
"Well when I talked to her she sounded tired of you always being gone, I mean I understand what that's like when your father was gone on important days sometimes it got to me and I just wanted to leave, I did once…"
"So you think Kayla's leaving me?"
"No I didn't say that I was talking about my personal experience."
"She didn't call you to ask you about leaving?"
"No baby boy she didn't I talked to her yesterday to say happy birthday to Willow but that was it I didn't even know she was in Seattle."
"Well great now i'm worried that when she comes home she's gonna pack up her shit and leave."
"Kayla loves you RyRy I don't think she'd just up and leave not without telling you and i'm sure you'd put up one hell of fight on that."
"Yeah I would… Enough about that I don't want to think about that, tell me how your art gallery thingy went." Mom went on to talk about how amazing everyone was and how she sold three paintings I loved hearing her talk about art, I fell asleep to the sound of her voice.
Kayla's Pov
Ryland didn't answer his phone when I called to see if he could pick us up at the airport but Aaron was willing to so we were waiting around for him Cambry was on the phone with her lawyer, for the most part, she had left Kai in Seattle because her mom was bringing him next week because he still had some infusions left this week and Cambry didn't want to mess up his cycle. "Hello beautiful ladies." Aaron said winking at Cambry, I think.
"Hi uncle Aaron." Harlan said he ruffled his hair.
"Hey little dude." He said as Harlan got into the car and Aaron started putting bags into the back. "So Kayla you remember that promotion I was up for?" Aaron said as he threw stuff into the trunk.
"Yeah."
"Well-"
"Dennis got it didn't he? I should send him a cake." I said teasing him he flicked me. "Owww…."
"I got the promotion."
"Which one? For LA or Miami."
"LA."
"Are you serious?" He nodded I hugged him tightly I didn't have many friends anymore he was basically my only one left other than Jenny who talked to me on rare occasions and of course Cambry.
"So I need a hot assistant." He said I rolled my eyes.
"I'm hoping that's not directed at me." I said he smiled.
"No, I was talking to Cambry I know you lost your job and I don't know how you feel about LA but it's a pretty good job and I won't even make you go on coffee runs."
"My hero." She joked.
"It's only because he doesn't like coffee." I said he shook his head.
"I like coffee just not as much as you." He took Willow from me putting her into the car and held the door open for Cambry. "Don't you dare try and open that door Kayla."
"Such a gentlemen." I said as he closed the door and came around to my side.
"You know I was thinking,"
"Don't hurt yourself."
"Shut up," He laughed. "Harlan's birthday is in March and as his favorite uncle I was thinking we could take him to Disneyland or maybe Legoland?"
"Yeah I think that would be fun, I know Ryland's going back on tour in three weeks so he won't be home and I know Harlan will miss him so maybe a little fun will take his mind off his dad being away."
"Are you hungry or anything? We can stop get some grub."
"You guys hungry?" I asked.
"Yeah…" Harlan said softly.
"I could use some food." Cambry said.
"Where to ladies?"
"Can we go to Ihop?"
"I knew he was going to say that." I said Aaron didn't seem to mind going there to eat." I guess I'll just come over tomorrow and pick up Nugget when I drop Harlan off at school?" I said and he smiled, I hope Ryland isn't in a bad mood when we get home I really didn't want to fight with him and I missed him a lot so I was hoping we could just spend time as a family and not argue about stupid shit.
Kayla's dad makes his first in the next chapter and Max finds out if Kai is his son