BOOK 3 Chapter 6 Wish Upon A Star

Cooper arrives at the pancake house that Allison asked him to meet her at. He finds Allison already seated at a table and sits down next to her.

"Where's Sammie? He asks.

"She's home with my fiance, Keith." Allison flips her hair back and tells him. "I ordered you a coffee and some pancakes with eggs."

"Thank you." Cooper continues, "How did you order the eggs?"

"Over easy on a roll with cheese,salt and pepper. Is that still how you like them?" Allison asks.

"It is. I'm surprised you remembered. It's been about a year since I last saw you."

I remember everything like it was yesterday." Allison tells Cooper.

Cooper smiles. It's a little awkward. "You said Sammie was home with your fiance? You said you were with someone now but I didn't know it was so serious. You're engaged?" Cooper's surprised.

"Yes, after you fired me over the phone, I was upset. I went out to a bar and met Keith." She drinks her coffee. "He was nice and I went home with him that night. I needed the company to forget you. I thought it was going to be a one night stand but it turned into much more than that. I live with him now."

"Good for you." Cooper sips his coffee.

"When I found out I was pregnant, I assumed it was his. I was already sleeping with him when I found out." She takes a bite of her bagel. "He's been supportive throughout the pregnancy and asked me to marry him after Sammie was born."

"He thinks Sammie's his?" Cooper asks.

"Yes. I never told him about you. I was too upset about the whole thing."

"Why didn't you think I was the one that got you pregnant?" Cooper's curious.

"You were still recovering. You told me it was the first time you were able to have sex since being paralyzed." She flips her hair. "I didn't think your swimmers were any good. Keith's a big strong healthy guy, so I figured it had to be his."

"I don't know about that. She looks just like me." Cooper sips his coffee. "That's why we need to do the test."

"That's exactly why I don't want to do the test" She puts her coffee down. "Keith's been with me through the whole pregnancy. He loves Sammie." She looks into Cooper's eyes." If he finds out she's not his it'll break his heart. He doesn't deserve that." She flips her hair out of her face. "He's a good guy and he treats Sammie and I really well."

"But if she's mine, I have a right to know, to be a part of her life. I want to contribute financially." Cooper argues.

Allison sighs, "We were doing just fine before we ran into you. Keith has a good job and I'm working. We don't need your help." She takes a bite of her bagel and swallows. "Besides you have Charlotte and your three kids, why can't you just leave us alone?"

This sounds familiar to Cooper as it reminds him of the situation with Todd after Akron was born. "I would feel better knowing if she was mine for sure or not." Cooper answers.

Allison puts down her coffee cup. "I wouldn't. If Sammie turns out to be yours I would have to tell Keith, but if I don't know, I'm not lying to him."

Cooper stares at her. "It doesn't feel right to walk away if she's mine."

"You were adopted right Cooper?" She asks.

"Yes."

"Think of it like that. Your parents raised and love you. Keith loves Sammie." She pulls out a picture of Keith holding Sammie. "Not knowing will make it easier on all of us. You and Charlotte can continue as you are with your family and Keith and I can continue with ours.

Cooper looks at the picture. "She's sweet. She looks a lot like Bryce here."

"That's why I think she may be yours but Keith says she looks like his mom." She takes the picture back. "We're going to Arizona next month to plan the wedding and I'll meet his mom. She's excited to meet her first grandchild. I hope Keith is right and she looks like her."

"You really think so?" Cooper looks at her.

"I'm hoping." She finishes her coffee. "Look Cooper if there's ever a problem we could always do a paternity test in the future, let's just leave things the way they are now. Let's pretend I never ran into you at the hospital."

Cooper thinks about it. He was adopted and his parents loved him. Keith loves Sammie. It would make things easier for him and Charlotte and their family if he did just leave it alone and maybe Sammie is Keith's. Maybe she does look like Keith's mom. He thinks about how he wished Todd would just leave things alone and let him raise Akron if Akron turned out to be Todd's. "Okay." He answers. "I'll leave it alone for now but if you ever need me, if she ever needs anything, I want you to call me and we'll do the test."

Allison sighs in relief then smiles big. "Thank you, Cooper. I promise Keith and I will love her and do everything the best we can for her." She picks up her purse to leave." I really hope she's Keith's." She waves and leaves. Cooper hopes he made the right decision.

At the hospital:

Charlotte's resting in bed trying to remember anything about yesterday. There's a knock at her door. She looks up to see Todd walk in with flowers.

"Pretty!" She holds her hands out for the flowers. "Get well flowers?"

"Actually they're I'm sorry flowers and I guess get well too." He hands her the flowers. "I found out about your accident this morning and felt just awful."

"Why?" She sniffs the flowers. She pulls out the 'I'm sorry' card attached.

"Don't you remember?" He asks watching her.

"I konked my head pretty bad, subdural hematoma, I can't remember anything that happened for the past day. Tell me what you know."

"Okay," he takes the flowers from her and puts them in a makeshift vase using a suction canister. "My grandmother passed away yesterday afternoon." He fills the vase with water.

She watches him. "I'm sorry to hear that. She was a nice lady."

"Thank you." He puts the flowers on the bedside table? "My family left some pictures hanging on the bulletin board in her hospital room. You stopped by last night to give them to me."

"Okay?" She says touching the flower tips. "What happened?"

"I was drinking and we talked about my grandmother, then you were drinking and you told me Cooper had a baby with the babysitter." He touches the flowers too now.

"I told you that?" She pulls out a daisy and sniffs it.

"Yeah and you told me you wanted to help me feel better." He swallows. "You told me you wanted to be a good friend to me like I was to you after Cooper cheated on you."

Charlotte takes a deep breath. "Oh no. Tell me what happened." Her eyes are wide in fear of what he is going to say next.

"I started kissing you. I had too much to drink." He scratches his face and thinks. "I wanted you to return the favor I did for you when Cooper slept with the babysitter but you weren't as into it and . ..."

She interrupts. "Good. I'm glad because I couldn't live with myself if I cheated on Cooper again."

"You made it clear that our pants should stay on but I tried to push it. It was the alcohol and the grief, I wasn't myself last night." He explains as he watches her play with the flower." I didn't exactly want to follow your rules."

"So I got mad at you?" She asks. "Did I leave mad?"

"We started yelling at each other. It was the alcohol talking. You might have been crying when you left."

"So that's why you brought me the 'I'm sorry flowers'?" She looks at him.

"Yeah." He answers. He decides not to tell her they had sex last night. He knows it will upset her and since she's recovering from a brain hematoma, it's not the best time to upset her. It can wait. "I'm sorry." He tells her.

"Don't blame yourself. At least we didn't sleep together."

"Still, I'm very sorry you got hurt." He figures he'll tell her the truth next week when she's feeling better and before he leaves for Sacramento.

I'm a competent adult, if I was that upset I should have pulled the car over and called Cooper for a ride." She pats his hand. "I know you're grieving over your grandma so don't worry bout me. I'll be fine."

"Okay." He tells her. "I have to go help make arrangements for my grandmother's funeral but I'll stop by to see you next week before I go back to Sacramento." He gets up to leave.

"I'd like that." She tells him and waves a hand goodbye.

An hour later:

Cooper comes back into Charlotte's hospital room hobbling with his cane. Charlotte chuckles.

"I see you're in a good mood. What's so funny?" He asks as he sits next to her on her bed.

"We are two peas in a pod. We're a mess, you with your cane and me with my head." She holds his hand.

"Where'd you get the flowers?" He reaches out to grab one from the vase.

"Todd stopped by. He helped clear up where I was right before the accident."

"What did he say?" Cooper's curious.

"He told me I went to see him to drop off some pictures of his grandmother. She passed away in the hospital yesterday."

"Okay?" Cooper sniffs the flower.

"We talked, he said he was drunk. We got into an argument so I left. He felt bad about it, hence the flowers." She sniffs the one she's holding.

"What did you argue about?" Cooper's surprised to hear she argued with Todd. They normally get along so well.

She hesitates and looks at him.

"Charlotte?" His voice gets deep. "Tell me."

"Okay but don't get mad." She takes a deep breath. "He was drunk and wanted to fool around with me. He said I had something to drink too."

"Oh No! Don't tell me...?"

"No I didn't sleep with him. That's what we argued about. He said he had too much to drink and he was pushing me. I got mad and we started yelling and I left."

"And you got into a bad accident. That bastard! You could have been killed." Cooper throws the flower down on the bed. "I should go find him and..…"

Charlotte interrupts "No Cooper, his grandmother just died and nothing happened, I left before it did, so just relax." She puts the flower back in the vase.

"You could have been killed." He looks at her. "Because of him!"

"I'm okay." She puts her hand on his knee to reassure him. "Now tell me what Allison wanted. When is she going to do the test?"

Cooper tells her. "We decided to leave it alone, to forget about it for now."

"What?" Charlotte's surprised. "Why?"

"She's getting married to the guy that thinks he's Sammies' dad." Cooper sighs. "Allison's hoping he's the dad. She wants me to leave it alone the way we hoped Todd would."

"But Sammie looks just like you." Charlotte's surprised at Cooper.

"She brought it up that I was adopted. I thought about how we wanted Todd to leave it alone and let me raise Akron if he turned out to be Todd's, so I let it go." He looks at her.

"I'm proud of you." She kisses him lightly. "That was a tough decision but the right one."

"I guess some things are better left unknown." He pats her knee.

She pats his knee. "Yes some things are better left unknown." She smiles.

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...TBC...