*
“I cannot believe the bitch. This is all your fault man! If you had not told me that she was sitting on some juicy bit of money, I never would have accepted responsibility for those brats and wasted the last five months!” John shouted as he paced the living room, a beer swinging from one hand, a cigarette tucked between the fingers of the other.
“You have no one to blame for your waste of time but yourself,” Brad said calmly.
“How dare you say that? Have you so easily forgotten the role you played in all this?” John snapped, brown eyes blazing.
“On the contrary, I haven’t. I remember all too well the information I gave to you and from what Emma said, I told nolies in the first place. Now John, the responsibility was on you to find out the situation of things. You were the bastard in the relationship not me. What you are telling me is that in the past five months you’ve been with her, you didn’t spend enough time with Emma to know the truth. If you had even bothered to find out about her feelings, certainly the truth would have popped out and you wouldn’t have had to, like you say, waste your time. This is on you, man. I did my part. You got inside and you did a lousy job. So don’t blame me for your mess.”
“You are a fool and so is she. Can you believe she dared to call me one? And she asked me to leave that scrappy apartment of hers? Like she got the last word? No way! How dare she?”
“Like you didn’t deserve it. Look man, it gets to a point when one is smart enough to know that love is not enough. She finally realized it.”
“I still won’t let her have the last word.” As he spoke, John was already grabbing his phone and dialing. Brad rolled his eyes, knowing it would not end well. But the words his friend said next was not what he expected. “Hey you bitch. You better delete my existence from your mind. I have no babies with you and you better not tag me along as the father of your kids. I want nothing to do with those brats, now or in the future so you better forget they have me as a father. I have no kids with you, Emma and if you get me involved with your brats' life, I will kill you. Adios.”
“Are you sure you should have left that voicemail, man? Aren’t you going to regret that decision? What if she makes up with her grandfather?”
John scoffed. “There is no way on this green earth that that’s happening. The man did not make it to her graduation.He’s not going to be in her life anymore. He’ll probably give it all to charity. Good for the bitch.”
John sat and threw back the rest of his beer. Brad shook his head and turned to the television. He had the feeling that his friend would regret his latest decision.
Chapter Eight
Three months later
“Thanks for calling Carrie! I’ll get on the next flight over!” Maria squealed with delight as she hung up. She turned around to find a tired looking Maxwell Price.
He quirked a brow as his eyes focused on the phone in her hand. “Care to tell me where you are off to, Maria?”
“It’s Emma, sir. Her water just broke, she’s gone into labor. I need to fly down. I know you don’t like it but I need to be there for her and...”
“I’m coming with you,” Maxwell said softly.
Maria’s eyes went wide. “Are you serious?”
“I've hurt myself by my anger, Maria but most of all, I’ve hurt my granddaughter. I could not make her graduation but I won’t forgive myself if I miss being there for her while she gives birth to my grand-babies. Let’s go. I have a lot to tell my girl.”
“You do know that we can’t drive down, right? It will take too long. We have to fly.”
He took in a deep breath and nodded. “I am the one who cause this situation. I have no choice. I am going to have to suck up my phobia and deal with it.”
Even as he spoke, he dabbed his already glistening brows with his handkerchief. Maria patted his hand and said, “I’m going to try to put together a care package for you, sir.”
The four hours’ flight seemed more like ten hours for Maxwell Price and as soon as he was off the plane, he took in deep breaths, desperate to settle his nerves. Maria chuckled as she led the way through the airport. They had booked with a rental company before they left Texas so a car was already waiting for them.
Throughout the drive, Maria watched amusingly as Maxwell squeezed his hands nervously. Maxwell Price was not a man who was shaken easily but there he was antsy like he was the one having the baby.
“It’s going to be fine sir.”
Maxwell shook his head and sadly he said, “I abandoned her when she needed me the most, Maria, I don’t think I’ll ever forgive myself if I’m not there for her this time.”
“Well, we are here,” Maria said with a nod at the building they were driving towards.
They hurried out and into the hospital. Helen was waiting for them at the elevators. She smiled broadly when she saw Maxwell and led them to the elevators. On the ride up, she informed them that the babies had not arrived.
“The doctor says it’s almost time so she’s already in the delivery room.”
“Is anyone in there with her?” Maxwell asked.
