***
How could Kaiya be so heartless? She had another thing coming if she thought she was going to get rid of them that easily. She was the one who left him to deal with the consequences of their actions. With everything inside him, he wanted to ask her why he hadn’t been good enough for her? Why she left him in the cruelest of ways?
However, he didn’t think this was the time or the place to engage in such an emotional conversation. Struggling to ignore how beautiful she looked with her hair piled at the top of her head – although he always preferred her hair down and the leotard skimming her gorgeous body. He fought to recall why he had stopped her from leaving.
His teeth ground together inside his mouth when he registered that she was looking at him as if he were some pesky fly she was trying to get rid of.
“You’ll be seeing my daughter often because we’re here for the long haul.”
Thrusting out her chin, she answered cuttingly. “Whatever.”
“Then it would be very childish of you to deal with her based on our shared past. I also hope that my working with Finn won’t cause interference from you either.”
Throwing back her head, which gave him a full view of her lovely neck, she icily remarked, “You must really pride yourself on having importance in my life. You mean absolutely nothing to me. You can go to hell for all I care.”
Before Tyler could respond, she thrust open the door and all but slammed it in his face. Tyler clenched and unclenched his fists as he fought for control.
Thoughts of Kaiya consumed his mind as he drove home. He stopped to pick up some takeout for himself and Lili to take home as he had already told his mom not to bother with dinner. She had complained of a headache when he called her. He had told her to go to bed early.
He just stepped into the place when he almost bumped into Erin, an event planner he met a month ago at a luncheon they’d had with all the employees for the company he was working for. Erin was his colleague’s sister, and she’d stopped by his workplace twice to visit her brother but made it a point to talk to Tyler.
On one of such visits, she had asked him out, but Tyler had ignored it since he had a daughter to raise and wasn’t thinking about dating anyone anytime soon.
Tyler introduced Lili to the blonde-haired beauty with startling blue eyes and a great body. Erin fondly talked to the little girl. Seeing as Erin was there, Tyler decided they should eat at the restaurant instead of taking the food home. He asked Erin to join them, and she readily obliged.
As he observed how comfortable Lili was in Erin’s presence and how the woman seemed to soak in everything Lili had to say as they ate, Tyler began having second thoughts. Maybe it would be nice to start thinking of dating again. It would be pleasant for Lili to have a mother figure again someday.
As the dinner progressed, Tyler got to know more about Erin, and he liked what he heard and saw. By the end of the meal, he acknowledged that he genuinely liked the woman.
Chapter 4
“Do you think Mom is going to be here before your due date?” Kaiya strolled into her kitchen the following day, clutching her phone in one hand and two bowls in her other hand. Sir and Lady, her Siamese cats purred around her feet.
“I have no idea. I still can’t believe she took off just like that after promising me that she’d be there for my delivery,” Kalilah said over the phone.
Kaiya chuckled as she poured a bottle of milk into the bowls she had placed on the kitchen island.
“She said she’d be back early,” she commented as she placed one of the bowls on the floor for Lady while Sir eagerly waited for his. She smiled at him as she placed his own bowl of milk in front of him.
A heavy sigh from her sister got her brows arching. “Are you alright, Lah?”
“I’m fine. I’m just so exhausted these days. Between running around with Maximillian and Milania and work, I get very tired. Let’s not even talk about my need to use the bathroom every thirty minutes.”
Kaiya understood what her sister was talking about because she had experienced it all when she carried her son in her womb. A nostalgic feeling hit her. She could still remember the wonderful feeling of having her baby move, particularly at night when she couldn’t sleep even when she was exhausted. And the full bladder that always had her running to the bathroom in order not to wet herself. There were also the weird cravings, the mood swings, and anticipation of the baby’s arrival. But she never got to see the result and what it would have been like to have her baby in her arms.
Casting aside her thoughts, she encouraged her sister by telling her that it would soon be over and she would have her bundle of joy in her arms pretty soon. She quickly changed the topic by narrating to Kalilah her run-in with Tyler and his daughter.
“You know,” she bit the inside of her cheek, “there’s this part inside me that had always hoped that what Jalissa told me about Tyler having a child with Lena was untrue. But it’s obviously true because I saw the proof in flesh and blood. A very cute proof if I must add.”
Jealousy struck her again as she recalled that while Tyler and Lena were able to nurture their child, she had lost hers. For some minutes, she was overwhelmed once more at the loss of her child. Tears stung her eyes, and she hastily blinked them away.
Drawing in and letting out a deep breath, she continued, “And he had the guts to tell me that he hoped I wouldn’t interfere with his business with Finn. I’m still confused about why he said that. Who your husband decides to work with is none of my business. You can tell him the unpleasant history between Tyler and me, but it wouldn’t change anything. My son is still dead.”
Kaiya chewed her bottom lip after her outburst. She hadn’t meant to put Kalilah in an awkward position. Finally talking to someone about it was the reason for her outpouring of emotions.
“You know what I think you should do,” her sister remarked after sighing. “I think you need to find closure.”
“Closure?”
