Hanging up the phone Hunter looked at his sister oddly, "well that was just a weird phone call. Vince was pumping me for information about my intentions for Stephanie and how I would treat Mikey and how I would deal with it if Mikey's Father wasn't in the picture. I do think initially he thought you were my girlfriend though."

Lynn couldn't help but laugh at that thought, "well I guess that is kind of understandable considering that I am a woman and I did answer your phone for you. I'm glad you set him straight though because if you hadn't then that could have really messed things up for you. Do you think he was asking those questions because he was trying to get a handle on what your intentions were with Stephanie to push her in your direction or away from you depending on how he felt you answered the questions?"

Shrugging his shoulders Hunter really wasn't sure, "I don't know, it was so hard to gauge what he thought or why he was really doing it."

Smiling sympathetically at her brother she nodded his head, "I understand but you just have to be patient and see how things play out with Stephanie and in the meantime see if you can get any concrete evidence about who Mikey's Father actually is."

Nodding his head he agreed, "I know you're right but it doesn't help me understand what's going on in Vince's head."

Laughing Lynn couldn't help herself, "well you yourself have said multiple times that more often or not nobody can work out what is going on in his head and sometimes you doubt if even he knows what is going on in his head so maybe you shouldn't over analyse it."

Rolling his eyes Hunter put his phone back down on the side and went back to washing the dishes.

As soon as Vince put the phone down Linda looked at him hopefully, "so? What did he say and what do you think?"

Turning to look at his wife Vince couldn't believe he was about to say the next words, "I actually think his reasons for doing what he is doing are good and I don't think he has any intentions of hurting her."

"But?"

Sighing softly he raked his fingers through his hair, "but you never know how he will react when he finds out that Mikey is actually his child."

Pressing her lips together gently she could definitely understand his fears on that, "I believe that is the x factor in this entire situation, Hunter doesn't know Mikey is his and when he finds out that he is will he get angry and cause some emotional damage or will he be okay about it?"

Vince looked at his wife pleased she understood his concern, "exactly. I want so badly for him to know that Mikey is his to see if he would step up and be a Father but on the other hand I don't want him to know incase he reacts badly and breaks Mikey's heart because Mikey clearly adores him from what he had to say to me about him earlier when us boys were alone. We're damned if we do and damned if we don't aren't we?"

Laughing softly at his summary she nodded her head, "we most certainly are. All we can do is just wait and see how things play out because if Hunter is serious about getting back he won't wait forever for her to go to him, he will start chasing her more aggressively."

"And that is kind of what I am afraid of. All we can do is be supportive of Stephanie and just try and push her to give him a chance or at least tell him the truth about Mikey."

Placing her hand gently over his she nodded her head, "that is most certainly the truth but hopefully she won't need any pushing, hopefully given time she will see for herself that it is the right thing to do for both of them."

Groaning Vince didn't like the idea of giving her time, "if we just give her time I'll probably be dead before she comes to that realisation, we have to do something to push her in the right direction."

Rolling her eyes Linda shook her head, "Vince she is a chip off the old block, she is exactly like you are and is as stubborn as a mule so we mostly have to be patient with a few subtle pushes in the right direction."

It was as if a light bulb had gone off in his head, "is that how you get me to do what you want me to do? You subtly push me in the right direction?"

Laughing she shook her head, "oh no, with you I just make you think it's your idea and then all of a sudden you like it and will go along with it."

Groaning Vince shook his head but despite having this new found knowledge he doubted it would change anything, he would probably still go along with whatever she wanted when she approached him like that with it anyway.

Stephanie smiled at Mikey as she eventually got him settled in bed and tucked in after he had spent the past hour since they had left her parents talking non stop about her continuing to take him to the arenas after Vince was better and how cool it would be to see his Grandfather at work.

Sitting down on the edge of his bed she picked up the book to read to him but as she opened it to the right page he said, "so when you take me to the 'renas when Poppy is better will I still get to go in da ring?"

Shaking her head she sighed softly at him, "I never said I would definitely continue to take you to the arenas even after Poppy is better so let's not get ahead of ourselves okay? Even if I do continue to take you to the arenas from time to time Mommy will still have work to do so it wouldn't be as much fun and games as you think it would be."

"That's 'kay, Hunner and Tishy will take me to da ring."

Rolling her eyes at the sound of Hunter's name again she turned her attention back to the book in her hands, "come on you. Let's read you a bedtime story so Mommy can get a little work done before bed."

Pouting a little Mikey cuddled Bubbles and his new toy from Hunter a little tighter as he snuggled down to listen to his Mom read to him.

Once Mikey was sound asleep Stephanie shut the book and put it back away before she turned and kissed him softly on the top of his head before she went downstairs to her study and took a seat at her desk and pulled out a piece of paper and a pen and started to write.

Dear Hunter,

I know all of my other letters have been about Mikey throughout my pregnancy and the milestones that you have missed but this letter is a little different, this letter is about me.

I don't think you know or realise this but I never did stop loving you, even on my darkest days I still loved you and a part of me still does love you to this day.

You will always be the love of my life and I don't know if I will ever find a man that will fill the void that splitting up with you left in my heart but saying that I'm not sure if I could ever take you back and try to be a family with you and Mikey. For one I don't know if you would ever truly accept Mikey as your son because you didn't and still don't believe that I was actually pregnant at that time. The second thing is that I don't know if I could ever truly trust you again not to break my heart but more importantly not to break Mikey's.

Right now my/our son absolutely adores you and doesn't stop talking about you, he carries the monkey you gave him around with him everywhere he goes and I hate to say it but I believe that he may actually worship you to some extent.

My son is the most important person in my life, he is the one person that makes some mornings worth getting up for and I don't think I could go back to the time where we broke up and my heart was shattered into a gazillion tiny little pieces.

I love you now and probably always will but I think this coexistence at work is about as far as I can take things.

Stephanie

Wiping at her cheeks Stephanie sighed softly as she folded the letter up before she got up from her seat and walked over to her bookcase and pulled out a few to get to the key that was stuck to the wall before she opened her desk drawer and placed the newest letter in the pile along with the rest of them. Once all of the letters were together she shut and locked the drawer before she returned the key to its hiding place and walked out of the room turning the light off and shutting the door as she went.

With everything that had been going on Stephanie had completely forgotten about the letter she had written to Hunter on the first day she had gone back to the arenas and was still in her laptop bag where anybody could find it but tonight she didn't care and only wanted to go to sleep.