Chapter 6

MarleyPOV

"So you two still aren't talking?" Kitty asks as we sit down in the giant chairs at the Lima Bean.

"No… and I don't particularly want to discuss it now either." I say, muttering the last part.

"Well, you need to, because if you can't tell your best friend your problems, you won't fix it… and you know it." Damn it, I hate when she's right.

"Well, basically… I told Ryder that he needed to get his dad to visit and fix everything and apparently Charles said something that pissed Ry off and then he told me I didn't know what it was like to not get what I want, and I snapped…"

"Marley, Marley, Marley… don't you know you never take what he says when he's mad to heart? That boy doesn't mean anything when he's angry." Kitty scolds me.

"I know, I know… I just felt like he'd thought I hadn't gone through everything I had… I don't know… I guess I'm just crazy."

"You're not crazy… you're just tired, and stressed. Both of you are." Kitty assures me.

"I just don't know what to do now…"

"Well first, you both need to start to think when you get angry and that you need to stop running away, and start talking."

"I really hate when you're right…" I moan, rolling my eyes.

"Well if I'm right, go fix everything."

"No, I always try to fix everything… I think its Ry's turn." I say bitterly. Kitty scoffs.

"If that's the outlook you're going to have, nothing is ever going to get fixed."

"Well… then things are going to be pretty rocky for a while…" I state, as we pay the bill.

RyderPOV

"Is this Ryder Lynn?" A voice I don't know asks over the phone.

"Yes it is… Can I ask who's asking?"

"Ummm… well, this is weird… My name is Austin and I think you might know my mother." The person on the other end of the line explained.

"Well, if you let me know who she is I might be able to help out with what you need." I assured him.

"Well, ummm… my mom's name is Marissa… but I think you might know her as Katie…" The boy, Austin admits hesitantly. I was shocked, I hadn't heard from or about Katie in almost a decade.

"Well, what do you need from me?"

"I was wondering if we could meet and talk for a bit. I'm in Lima visiting family." Austin asks.

"Um… Sure. How about we meet at this little diner in town?" I suggest to him and then continue to give him the address.

"Okay… How about we meet in like an hour?"

"Sure thing." I then explained where my normal booth was in the diner. I just hope that Marley doesn't freak out about this.

"So… What's going on? How's Katie- I mean Marissa?" I ask Austin, who turned out to be a seven year old boy.

"Well, I found this…" He told me, handing me a letter as he did so. "And I believe it is for you… Just- don't tell my mom I gave it to you…"

"Does she know you're here?" I ask him once I take the letter.

"No… she thinks I took a train to my Grandmother's in Boston. We live in Columbus."

"She is going to kill me…" I whisper to myself, thinking of Marley.

"who? My mom? Nah, she'll just be mad at me."

"No, my fiancée, Marley." I explain. "Do you have anywhere to stay?" He shakes his head. "Give me a few minutes, okay?"

I walk away and open the letter, take a deep breath and begin to struggle through reading it.

Dear Ryder,

So, if you're reading this, it means we are no longer together. It also means I'm in the process of explaining the biggest secret I've kept from you. I know this is going to be very hard for you to understand, and that it will take some time. I just hope that you will learn to adjust to how your life could change.

Ryder, you're a father. His name is Austin. He was born on September 15, 2017. I learned I was pregnant right after we'd broken up. Why not tell you when I'd found out? I was scared, worried you'd still leave. I didn't know what to do.

I just hope that one day you can meet Austin and learn to love him the way he deserves to be. I see so much of you in him, every single day. He really is your son.

There's another thing too. My name is not really Katie. I used that name because I was afraid of letting anyone truly know me. My name is really Marissa, and I just want you to know, everything in our relationship was real, all of it was the real me.

I'm so sorry

~ Marissa

"Wow, this is crazy…" I say to myself before I pull out my phone. I dial Marley's number and hope she isn't still mad.

"Hey, Ry- Ry!"

"Hi, baby. How's your day been?" I ask her after she answers.

"Pretty good. What's going on? You sound stressed."

"Can you come meet me at the diner? There's something- someone, we've got to talk about."

"Ryder, what is going on?" Marley asks me again.

"Just come to the diner please? Leave the kids with Mercedes and Sam or someone too, okay? Please?" I beg her.

"Okay… give me twenty minutes." She agrees before hanging up.

MarleyPOV

"Okay, what the heck is going on? Who is this?" I ask Ryder when I sit down next to him. He doesn't say anything, just hands me what looks like a letter. I read it before saying anymore. "Whoa…"

"That's what I said. What should we do?" Ryder asks. I walk over to Austin, who is sitting in the normal booth we sit in, and kneel beside him.

"Hi sweetheart, I'm Marley." I say.

"Hi, I'm Austin!"

"Does your mother know you're here?" I ask him as I sit down next to him.

"No. I looked in her yearbooks after I heard her talking about you one night. And then she said you were still in Lima, so I told her I wanted to surprise Grandma by taking the train and visiting her, but I came here instead."

"But is your grandma expecting you?" Ryder asked him, still confused.

"No, she was the one who told me I had to find you. She doesn't like that mom shut you out of my life."

"Ry… what do you want to do?" I ask Ryder, worried about his choice.

"I think that for tonight, he should stay with us." He answers quietly.

"Okay, come on kid… lets go."

"Okay, so you're telling me that he just called you, and asked to meet and you agreed?" I ask Ryder as we get ready for bed later that night. Austin is staying on the pull out couch while I had to fight tooth and nail to get Mike and Rachel to sleep in their rooms.

"I don't know, Marls… I just had this feeling that it was important."

"What are we going to do about this? Are we going to tell Marissa? Keep Austin here forever?" I ask as I stand in front of the mirror in the bathroom in my nightgown.

I look at him in the mirror and can see Ryder's internal battle which he struggled with. He didn't look up for a long time, he just stared a head.

"I don't know." He said after a while. "I just know we can't abandon him."

"I know, Ry… I just- I also know that if Austin was my child, I would want someone to tell me where he was if they knew." I explained to him quietly as I walk back into the bedroom. He shakes his head out of frustration.

"I just don't know, Marley… This is wrong… I'm not supposed to have a kid… I- God, I messed up big time…"

"Ryder, you didn't do anything wrong… you didn't know. This isn't your fault, it's not anyone's fault. Discussions were made that everyone thought were the best choice at the time, they just didn't turn out the way they were supposed to."

"Why are you so wise?" Ryder asks me, laughing.

"I've been through a lot, remember?"

"Yeah, well… I think this kid has been too. He seems, I don't know… troubled."

"I wouldn't be surprised, he had no father until know, and his mother kept the identity of his father hidden from him, that's gotta cause some issues."

"Hey, I didn't-" Ryder starts, but I cut him off.

"I know you didn't know… that's not your fault though Ryder… Marissa is the one who kept both of you secret from each other. She's the reason all of this is happening." I assure him.

"Marls,, that may be the case, but I knew something was up when we broke up- I knew something wasn't right, I should have tried harder to figure it out. I should have reached out to her."

"There wasn't anything you could do, Ryder. She didn't want you to know about him, so she didn't tell you." I try and comfort him as I lay down next to him. He just stares ahead.

"Marley…"

"Yes?"

"Do you- never mind." Ryder stops short.

"Come on, Ryder, you know you can ask me anything."

"Do you think I'm going to be a good… a good father? Not just to Austin, but to Rachel and Michael… and any kids we might have?" He whispered.

"Ryder, you already are, and tonight proves that even more. You could have told Austin to find somewhere else to stay or to just go home. You took him in though. You know everything about the kids that a father should know. You know what Rachel needs to sleep, what she does that drives Michael crazy. You know how to keep them from killing each other and from driving me insane. I think those are perfect reasons that you will be not only a good father, but an amazing one." I tell him. He just nods and closes his eyes. "Everything is going to be alright, you know that right?"

"Yeah, I do."