The next morning, a half-asleep Brooke wandered out into the kitchen. She barely registered anything around her as she sat down on one of the bar stools in front of the island. Even the cup of coffee Julian placed in front of her didn't help. She just thanked him as she drank her coffee.
"I know you're nervous, but everything will be just fine," Julian said as he put a comforting hand in her hands and squeezed them. "I'm sure this conversation will go much smoother than it did last time."
Brooke managed a small smile. "Thanks." She wanted to say more, but she heard the door open behind her. She turned around and greeted her son. "Hey buddy." She lifted him up and sat him down on her lap. Julian prepared a bowl of cereal for him as Brooke told Ethan about her surprise. "How would you like to spend the day with me? You can come to the store with me and we can start doing your measurements. After all, we want to make your suit fits you for Aunt Millie's wedding."
"Because I carry the ring?" Ethan asked. He had been thrilled when his mother told him about his important duty for his Aunt Millie's and Uncle Mouth's wedding.
Brooke nodded. "That's right. Because you carry the ring."
The three of them ate breakfast together before they got ready for the day. She packed the two a picnic lunch since Brooke wanted to tell him at the park. Julian offered to drop them off at the bridal shop, but Brooke told him that she could handle it. She wanted to make sure they were alone and had total privacy when she would tell Ethan the news.
When they arrived at the shop, they found Millie and Sam working behind the counter. Sam seemed in a foul mood until she saw her nephew. She happily greeted him. "Hey, here's my nephew who has come to save the day."
Brooke was amused until she heard a familiar voice. "Nice try, Samantha. Nobody is going to save you from working today," Victoria said as she made an appearance.
Brooke recognized that tone. Sam wasn't the only person she was angry with, and she had a feeling it was because of her. She remained cool as Victoria greeted her grandson before turning to her. "Brooke, may I speak to you for a few moments?"
It was confirmed. Her mother was angry at her, and there was no doubt in Brooke's mind that it was because she was going to allow Lucas to have a relationship with his son. "Sure. Keep an eye on him," she told Millie before she followed her mother to the back office.
Brooke didn't even to say a word before her mother spoke. "Are you really going to go through with this? Are you really going to allow this man to be in your life? Your son's life? It may start off as just a visitation. But how do you know he's not going to be asking for joint custody?"
"His name is Lucas, and he knows all about a single mom trying to raise her son when his father didn't want anything to do with him," Brooke said.
Victoria just scoffed at her. "Oh, now I understand. This is all about your father leaving us and making sure history doesn't repeat itself. May I remind you that you're the one who not only left him, but you also left Owen? So there's no point in trying to stop the cycle because you already failed."
"If Lucas didn't want a relationship with Ethan, I wouldn't have pushed him into doing it," Brooke defended. "But he wants a relationship with Ethan, and I'm willing to give him a chance. We already established some ground rules so we're both on the same page. He nor his family will take advantage of my son or he won't see him anymore."
That didn't seem to satisfy her mother. "I do hope you know what you're doing," she said. "Because I would hate to see Ethan get hurt."
"Trust me. This is the right thing to do," Brooke said before she left the office. She returned to the front where Sam was entertaining Ethan by making him laugh and giggle. Brooke watched the scene fondly for a few minutes before she interrupted them.
"Okay, are you ready to do your fitting measurements?" she asked, approaching them. She took Ethan's hand. "Aunt Sam needs to get back to work."
"Watching my nephew is work," Sam said.
Brooke tried not to smile. "It's work when you're babysitting him, not when you're here at the boutique." There was a short pause. She shot a warning finger at her younger sister. "Next time you want to baby-sit, I appreciate it if you wouldn't lie to me and tell me that you were free to do it when you really had to work."
Sam sighed. "I'm sorry. It won't happen again."
Brooke was satisfied with that answer before she led Ethan to the workroom. Millie was right behind her while Victoria joined Sam in the front.
Brooke did her best to focus on the measurements, but she kept messing up and having to start over. Ethan began to get restless and Brooke began to get frustrated with him. She realized she had to calm down and she wouldn't be able to get any work done until after she told him.
She gave her son an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, buddy. Why don't we take a break? We'll go to the park and then we'll have a picnic lunch. How about that?"
Ethan gave her a wide smile. "Yeah."
It wasn't long before they were at the park. She let him play on the playground equipment before she called him back to the bench. It gave her enough time to figure out what she was going to say. Ethan ran back over to her. "We need to talk."
"Am I in trouble?" Ethan asked in a soft voice. Even at the young age, he knew those words meant business. He had heard those words enough between his mother and grandmother.
Brooke shook her head as she pulled him into her lap. "No, you're not in trouble. I want to talk to you about daddies." She wanted to put it into simplest terms. The little boy didn't know how complicated the situation was and she wished he could stay innocent forever. "You know how Owen is your daddy? Well, you have another daddy."
"I have two daddies?" Ethan asked with wide eyes.
Brooke nodded. She thought he was too young to understand the difference. "That's right. And he wants to meet you."
Ethan's face brightened. "Really? He wants to meet me?"
Brooke smiled in return. Julian was right. She had nothing to worry about. Ethan was taking the news well. In fact, he seemed to be enjoying the fact that he now had two daddies. "Yeah, he does."
The excitement in her son's eyes disappeared for a moment. He put his head down. "I don't want to."
Brooke frowned. How did this turn around so quickly? "What? Why?"
"What if he leaves like my first daddy did?" Ethan asked in a soft voice.
This was exactly what Brooke was trying to avoid. She didn't want Ethan to feel abandoned like she had with her own father. She gave him a sympathetic look. "Oh buddy. I know you miss Daddy, and you wish he was here. That's why I told your other daddy that we're going to take things slow. I want to make sure he's going to be there for you, okay?"
Ethan nodded as he embraced his mother in a tight hug. "Love you, Mama."
"Love you too, buddy," Brooke replied, who now felt relieved that she had finally told both Lucas and Ethan about each other. Now all she had to do was arrange the first meeting. She waited until the end of the work day and they were back home before contacting Lucas and telling him that he could now fly back to Tree Hill to meet his son in person.
After a little bit of discussion, it was decided he was going to tag along with Nathan and Haley when they were planning to go house hunting in Tree Hill that next week. He assured her this didn't mean he wanted Ethan to meet his aunt and uncle. Even Haley promised that she wouldn't pressure Brooke into meeting them. They were going to let Brooke have Ethan meet his daddy first so they wouldn't overwhelm him with too many new people at once. However, they did make plans to meet up and have a girls' lunch date.
Brooke put her focus on getting Millie's wedding dress done. She also started discussing the colors Millie wanted her to wear for her maid of honor dress. Although, Millie did tease her about it being called her matron of honor dress.
Brooke then realized she hadn't heard anything about the private investigator and the update about their marriage license. Perhaps they would discuss it while Lucas was in town.
On the morning the Scott family arrived in town, Brooke received a text from Haley saying they had arrived at Tree Hill airport, and she was looking forward to meeting up with her tomorrow. And Lucas was excited to meet Ethan.
Meet Ethan. It was really happening. Lucas and Ethan were going to meet face to face.
Brooke had the last few days to prepare for this meeting, but it still felt surreal. She hoped the first meeting would go well. This time, she took Julian up on his offer to be there for support. She had a feeling she would need it more than Ethan. He seemed excited at the prospect of meeting his dad.
The next morning, Ethan helped Julian and Brooke clean the house to make sure it looked nice for their guest.
However, he wasn't his usual self, reminding Brooke he was really nervous to meet Lucas. It wasn't unusual. Ethan was always shy around new people, but Brooke knew he would warm up to them once he got to know them.
Ethan then was sent off to play until their guest would arrive. Julian helped Brooke take a few deep breaths as they heard a knock at the door.
Brooke took one last deep breath before she answered the door. She was shocked to find Owen standing there instead of Lucas. He had an angry look on his face. He didn't even let Brooke say anything as he stormed into the house. "Why am I the last one to know about your husband who now wants a relationship with my son?"
"Your son?" Brooke asked, trying to keep her anger in check. "Where the hell have you been the last couple of months?"
"Don't put the blame on me," Owen hissed. "You're the one who pushed me away."
Brooke wanted to respond, but Julian stepped in to diffuse the situation. "Look, it's obvious you two need to work out some issues, but now is not the time. We're expecting some company and they need some privacy."
Owen crossed his arms. "Oh, I know all about your company, and I can't believe you're doing this! Without even consulting me! How do you think I feel? I've raised that kid since he was a baby, and now you're replacing me with a stranger. Why? You and I both know it's not because of Ethan. I accepted a long time ago that that kid wasn't biologically mine, and I was still willing to raise him. Why? Because I still love him. You do know that, don't you?"
"I'm not trying to replace him with you," Brooke defended. She really didn't want to argue with him. "Look, this is really not the right time to discuss it. We can talk about it later."
Owen scoffed. "That's always your excuse. You know what? If you're planning to give your husband time with Ethan, then I want the same courtesy."
Brooke wanted to respond, but Owen already stormed out the front door. She didn't know the right words to say to state her frustration. "Did he just demand time with Ethan? I can't believe he thinks he has the right to spend time with him when he hasn't even been around for the last couple of months. Just because we broke up didn't mean he could have still been there for Ethan. Do you know what he told me when I told him that Lucas wanted to meet him?" She didn't wait for Julian's response. "He didn't want to meet him because he was afraid he would leave like Owen did." Julian looked at her sympathetically. He embraced her in a tight hug as she spoke again. Her words were soft this time. "Maybe this whole thing is a mistake."
"Hey, this kid's lucky because he has so many people who love him and want to spend time with him," Julian said. "I still think you should give Lucas a chance. He really seems like he wants a relationship with Ethan, and he isn't demanding to be the dad. He just wants to get to know Ethan so let him."
Brooke sighed, knowing Julian was right. She even admitted to him as they heard another knock at the door. "I'll answer the door, and you go and get the drinks started," she suggested. Julian nodded before she went to answer it.
She opened the door and gave Lucas a friendly smile. His hands were full of a couple of gift bags. "I'm sorry I'm late. The realtor found one last house last minute and it took a little longer to go through the house than we first thought."
"So the house hunting is going well?" Brooke asked.
Lucas nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure Haley will tell you all about it later." He handed one of the gift bags to Brooke. "I hope you don't mind, but I brought you a bottle of wine for my hosts. And the other gift is for Ethan because I heard he loved books."
"That's very sweet of you," Brooke said, realizing Ethan hadn't come out of his room at all. She hoped he didn't hear too much yelling between her and Owen. "I'm sure he will love it. Why don't you sit and relax? Julian is making coffee for us and I'll go and get him."
Lucas just nodded as Brooke put her gift bag on the counter. She went to the bedroom door and knocked on it. She poked her head in and saw Ethan playing with his trains. She gave him a gentle smile. "Hey buddy. Why don't you come on out here? There's someone I want you to meet."
Ethan put his trains down and got up from the floor. He grabbed his mother's hand and she led him out into the living room. He gripped his mother's hand tightly as he stared up at the new visitor.
Lucas just stared in awe as he looked at the shy little boy. That was his son.
He knelt down to Ethan's level. He felt bad the little boy was wary of him, but he wasn't going to push him into doing anything he didn't want to do. He spoke in a soft gentle voice. "Hi Ethan. I'm Lucas. I heard you love books, and I got a new book that I hope you will love." He offered the gift bag to him, and Ethan looked up at his mother as if he was waiting for her permission to take it. "It's okay. Go ahead."
Seeing Ethan was still a little nervous, Brooke knelt down to his level. "Let's see what you have in there," she said. She helped him pull out the tissue paper of the bag before they were able to find the goodies. Ethan gasped in delight as he saw his gift. Brooke was happy for him. "Look, it's another book to add to your collection. What do you tell Lucas?"
Ethan had a wide smile on his face. "Thank you," he said as he held the book close.
"You're welcome, buddy," Lucas said, returning the smile.
"Can you read it to me?" Ethan asked, locking eyes on Lucas.
Lucas looked at Brooke for approval, and she nodded her head. He turned back to Ethan. "I'd love to."
Both Brooke and Lucas stood up as Ethan hurried over to the couch. Lucas was lost for words. "Wow, that was fast. I thought it would take longer than that for him to warm up to me. Was it because I had a book?"
"You still have a long way to go before you earn both of our trust," Brooke said, remembering the conversation she had with Ethan. "But you're definitely off to a great start. Now go and spend some time with him. Julian and I will be right in the kitchen if you need anything."
Lucas just nodded before he joined Ethan on the couch, ready to read aloud to him. Brooke smiled fondly as Ethan was willing to climb up on Lucas's lap so he could see the pictures better. She was happy the first meeting was going so well, and started to believe she had made the right choice in allowing Lucas into Ethan's life.
