Vegas Aces: The Wide Receiver Complete Series

CHAPTER 3 TRISTAN

“She’s pregnant ?” my mom asks over spaghetti and meatballs.

I nod.

“Dang, that Janet can sure keep a secret,” she murmurs.

“When is she due?” my dad asks.

“She’s six months along.” I take a bite of garlic bread. “She was, uh, dating a doctor she worked with, and he turned out to be married. Told her he didn’t want anything to do with the baby, and I guess he’s pretty high-profile and can’t afford the scandal.”

“She’s protecting him?” my dad presses.

“Not exactly. He won some award that came with grant money, and he’s sharing some of that money with her old boss. She’s protecting him and her old place of employment, not the father,” I say. “She really loved her job. Said her boss was like a second father to her.”

“So she came here to hide out?” my mom correctly guesses.

“It would seem so. And then fate brought me back here at the same time.” I glance over at my dad. Did he get sick so fate could push Tessa and me together?

I feel a little nauseated at the thought even though my logical side tells me it’s nonsense.

“Fate?” my mom asks. “Wait a minute…you aren’t suggesting—”

I cut her off. “Be careful, Mom.”

Her brows dip. “You’re going to be by her side as her friend , right?”

I’m quiet a minute as I process her words and their underlying meaning. What she really means is that I shouldn’t get involved with someone who’s having somebody else’s child. But I’m not getting involved with her. I never stopped being involved with her.

I don’t care that it’s someone else’s baby. One-half of that baby’s genes come from Tessa, and that’s all that matters to me.

We can have one of our own next, God willing, and I will love and raise both children in the same way.

I want to be with Tessa. I’ve always wanted to be with Tessa.

I want children, and I want them with her.

Maybe this isn’t the way I pictured it when I was a seventeen-year-old in love. My parents will tell me I’m young, that I don’t know what I’m doing, that this is the wrong decision.

But being there for her, holding her hand at the doctor’s visits, and being that child’s father…they’re big decisions, sure. I should spend some time thinking about it all.

But my gut tells me this is what’s right. This is where I need to be.

Why else would she show up out of the blue at home the same time as me when we’ve both stayed away so long?

Why else would she show up pregnant and able to give me all the very things I’ve been craving in my life?

It feels like more than just fate stepping in.

It feels like I was dropped in this place at this time for a reason, and maybe that reason is to give her child the father she deserves.

I don’t know if I’ve ever felt so strongly about anything in my life.

There’s just one problem that keeps nagging at the back of my mind.

I just caught my wife cheating on me. I told her I never cheated, and I pressed forward with the divorce. Now I just need to sit back quietly and wait for it to go through.

But that wife of mine?

She’ll dig.

If she hasn’t already, she will find out I’ve been spending time with a pregnant woman, and if Tessa and I land in a place where I become a father to her baby publicly, well, Savannah will question whether or not I cheated on her…or worse, she’ll dig until she discovers who the father is.

If she doesn’t already know.

And that thought is terrifying.

Speaking of my lovely wife, I realize I never really took a good look at the photos I took of the shit she had in that jewelry box.

“I love her,” I finally say to answer my mother’s question. “I will be there for her in whatever way we agree is the right way for us.”

My dad lets out a harrumph of disapproval. “Babies are a lot of work, kiddo. Middle of the night feedings, dirty diapers…it’s not a glamorous lifestyle, and it’s certainly not the bachelor life you’ve become accustomed to.”

“You may recall that I’m married,” I say dryly. “I’m not living the bachelor life.”

“Exactly,” my mom adds. “And what will it do to your divorce proceedings if you’re playing off like this baby is yours?”

I should’ve guessed my parents would ask the hard questions over dinner when I simply decided to tell them Tessa is pregnant. I should’ve guessed this is where the conversation would go.

I know they’re only pressing because they love me. They want what’s best for me. But what if what they think is best for me and what I think is best for me are two completely different paths?

It’s my life.

I can listen to their words of wisdom and their advice, and I can take it or leave it.

And if they’re sitting here telling me not to stand by the side of the only woman I’ve ever loved in her time of need…well, it’s likely I will choose not to take their advice.

They’re the ones who were there at the end of what Tessa and I shared the first time. They were the ones pushing me to focus on something other than the girl who held my heart…the girl who broke my heart. We knew she disappeared, and we knew she wasn’t coming back. Her parents made sure we knew that.

Her father had something to do with it. I’m sure of it, and I still intend to get to the bottom of things. But she just told me she’s pregnant. She’s going through enough emotional upheaval at the moment. We can dig into the past later.

Besides, whatever happened back then…it won’t change how I feel about her now. Whatever reason her father had for sending her away couldn’t make me love her any differently.

My parents were also the ones pushing me to focus on football when she left so I wouldn’t fall into a desperate pit of depression with no way out.

I get that they’re worried. I know they’re scared history will repeat itself.

But Tessa and I…we’re in different places now. We’re not dumb kids waiting for our parents to leave so we can find time to fuck.

We’re adults with adult problems. I’m married. She’s pregnant.

And somehow…I feel like none of that matters. We can figure this out. We can make this work.

I will not listen to people trying to talk me out of it.

I already lost her once. I won’t lose her again.