"I'm on my way." Sutton said into her iPhone. She threw the phone onto the passengers seat and continued down the highway. Kendall was asleep in her carseat, a small duck shaped stuffed doll hung from the handle of the carrier seat and swayed with the gentle motion of the car. Sutton had taken notice that her driving had become ten times safer now with Kendall in the backseat than it ever was before she was a mom. The long strip of highway past slowly, the tree lined road blurred her vision. Thayer had asked her to meet him at the Rybaks because he had something "Important to tell her." Her heart pounded in her chest. Her mind wandered, what had she done? He didn't sound upset, but he'd been so distant lately. They'd only been back together a week, he could possibly want to break up so soon, would he? She thought of her daughter, of Thayer holding her in her bedroom, falling asleep on the bed beside her. She thought about the note he'd left her, when he first told her he was leaving town. What could he possibly have to tell her that was so important?
For a moment, she thought about when Ethan proposed to Emma. Could it be that Thayer was going to ask her to marry him? Finally make this family official? A mother, a father, husband, wife and a daughter. The thought made Sutton smile and her heart pound for a different reason. Suddenly she was nervous, knowing now how Emma must have felt. As she pulled off the highway onto a dirt road and down a long driveway to a steel gate, she opened her door and pounded the code she'd known ever since she was 10 years old. The gate opened slowly and Sutton drove down the long driveway to the Rybak's home. The house Alec raised his children in, even after his wife had left him. They'd been at Char's old house so long, she'd forgotten what it was like to be here. It was an eerily familiar and yet somewhat distant feeling. She past the long spanse of lawn where she'd chase Laurel and Mads until they were so out of breath they'd crash to the ground in laughter. She had memories of squirt gun fights and raking fall leaves into piles only to jump into them. There were so many memories made on that lawn and now, maybe, just maybe another memory could be made there, in the form of a proposal. For a moment she stopped and stared at it. The grass was dead from the blistery winter wind, the leaves on the trees were gone. The trees that Sutton had scraped her knees many times trying to climb. The same tree that Laurel had broken her leg from falling out of after she'd tried to emulate her sister's leap of faith to the ground. She remembered the blood curdling scream that had stopped Mads and Sutton dead in their tracks and turn around. She looked at the spot where Laurel had laid, grabbing her leg, crying. She remembered yelling at Mads to get her dad and ran back to comfort her little sister. Part of her missed those simple times and part of her prayed that wherever she was going in this world, she could provide those kinds of memories for her own daughter. She hoped that Kendall too would have a little sister, someone to sneak out on Christmas eve to spy on what Santa had left for them. Someone to tell secrets to that no one else knew. She hoped that Kendall would have a best friend like Mads, the tough cookie who never let anyone put her down. She pulled her foot off the brake and the car began to slowly roll forward towards the large brick house that was all too familiar to Sutton.
She parked the car and opened the back door, pulling her daughter from her carrier, but leaving the seat attached this time. She walked up the stone walkway to the large black solid wood doors. She rang the bell and then let her gaze pass once more over the landscape where most of her childhood had taken place. When Thayer opened the door, Sutton whipped back around her, "Hey." She said with a smile.
Thayer smiled back and moved aside, "Come in. Get out of the cold." Sutton smiled and stepped into the corridor. The house was dark and smelled of the same patchouli smell it always had. It seemed like nothing had changed but the people. Thayer guided her into the den and instructed her to take a seat.
Sutton drew in a deep breath, she laid the baby on the couch and pulled down her blue 'I love mommy' t-shirt. The baby sucked on a pacifier and blinked up at her mom. Sutton gave her a smile and then looked at Thayer, "So what's so important you needed me to come all the way out here?"
Thayer looked at Kendall. This precious angel was still such a hard thing to grasp. His daughter. The words still rang in his mind. He looked up at Sutton. He loved her there was no doubt of that. But now his heart pounded and he didn't know what he was doing, "There's something I need to tell you."
Sutton's heart pinged her chest, she knew nothing good ever preceded those words, 'we need to talk,' "Ok." She said slowly. She chewed her lip nervously.
Thayer sighed, "Ok. Well when I left town, I didn't intend to end up in Stanford and I certainly didn't know that Emma would be there too. But I somehow found myself."
Sutton looked at him, "Where is this going, Thayer?" She asked picking at the ruffles of her daughters socks.
"I met a girl." Thayer said suddenly. The words just seemed to come out. Sutton's heart swelled at those words. This wasn't a proposal at all. In fact it was what she'd feared all along.
"You're leaving." She said softly, looking down at Kendall.
Thayer sat up, "No." He said, then he slumped back into the leather couch, "I don't know. But it's not because I don't want to be with you."
"What are you trying to tell me, Thayer?" She said, suddenly feeling agitated and mad at herself for letting her fall into his trap. It hadn't even been a week and he was ready to back to some girl he'd only known a few months.
Thayer sighed, "She's pregnant." There. He said it. His heart felt lighter and yet the look on Sutton's face seemed to keep it weighted down.
She sat there, that typical Sutton Mercer devil look on her face. Anger surged through her and somewhere instinct made her want to rip out that girls eyeballs, but it wasn't her fault. Not exactly. She shook her head, "Well aren't you just on a roll. Two in one year." Tears filled her eyes and her voice softened, "How could you Thayer?"
Thayer's heart sank, seeing her cry was painful. He wanted to hold her but he knew Sutton well enough to know that right now, the last thing she was going to let him do was hold her, "Please Sutton. Don't be mad. I just found out. I didn't know how to tell you."
She shook her head at him, "I knew this was going to happen. Now you're going to leave me and Kendall like you did before for this bitch and her bastard child."
Some kind of paternal instincts must've kicked in Thayer somehow and he snapped at her, "Hey! Don't you dare talk about my child like that. And if you want to talk about bastard children, look at what's laying on my couch."
Sutton shook her head, "Fuck you, Thayer. You never should have come back. You know what? Go back to that bitch. Kendall and I can do this alone. We don't need you." Then she grabbed her keys and lifted her daughter. This whole storming out in a huff act would have gone over better if the baby wasn't in her arms.
In the car she let herself break down, hot tears poured down her cheeks. She slammed her hands against the steering wheel, "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" She screamed. Her upset and anger must've scared Kendall because all of a sudden she began crying. Sutton turned swiftly to look at her daughter. Her heart pounded. Confusion, frustration, anger and hurt all overwhelmed her and she turned back to face the front of the car. She put the key in the ignition and pulled out of the Rybak's driveway.
A/N: whew! Long time no talk! What's up guys? Are y'all liking the story? I'm trying to keep it interesting. I know a lot of you are wanting lot of fluff and whatnot so I am trying to balance fluffy happy romantic things with drama. I wanna keep it interesting so let me know how you're liking it. Anyways, has anyone read the last book? Did you catch a similarity in the first quarter of the book? I nearly freaked out when I read it! :) Anyways, if you know what I'm talking about leave me a comment and tell me if you caught it too. ***For the record, I had NO idea that she was going to put that in the book and came up with that story line completely on my own about 3 or 4 months ago (obviously cause that's when I first published it.) But still how cool is that? Well, I thought it was cool! :)