Give Up On Me (13 page)

“The woman out there. She’s your nanny?”

“Maria? She’s my maid slash nanny, and she’s great with Nerea.”

“I recognize the dialect,” he said. “She’s from Spain. That’s where you were.”

Janae chewed her lip. They probably weren’t going to be forced to leave again, not if Matt followed through with his threat. That was good because if she couldn’t live in America, she would have preferred it to be Spain. With Matt knowing about Maria, that would no longer be an option if she were running.

“Yes, she’s from Spain. We lived in Valencia.”

He swore. “I never imagined you would be right under my nose. Explain to me why you kept her from me. Help me to understand.”

“Shh, Matt, please. You’ll wake Nerea. We can talk in the morning. I don’t have an extra room, and the couch will be way too small for you, but—”

“I’m sleeping with y—”

“Mommie?” Nerea sat up yawning. Her little Elsa nightie was twisted about her little body. She spotted Janae and launched herself over the side of the bed into Janae’s arms. Tears sprouted from her eyes, and she clung to Janae with her fingers curled into Janae’s T-shirt as if she thought Janae would disappear.

“Oh, pumpkin, don’t cry. Mommie’s here. I’m sorry for taking so long to come home.”

Janae clutched her little girl to her chest and rubbed her back. Over Nerea’s head, she looked at Matt to find a stricken expression on his face. She knew in an instant, he was hurting over seeing Nerea so upset. That fast, he had fallen in love with her, and Janae didn’t blame him.

“Shh, easy,” Matt said and tentatively touched Nerea’s wild curls.

Nerea sniffled and raised her head to look at Matt.
“Quién es?
”

“That’s your daddy, pumpkin.” Too late, Janae realized that Nerea had no real concept of a daddy. She had met Janae’s dad and called him Pop-pop, but that’s because Janae had told her to. Janae hadn’t thought to explain the relationship.

“Que es…
Daddy
?
”

Janae realized that Nerea assumed Matt didn’t understand Spanish. She started to answer, keeping her gaze firmly off Matt’s face in case she encountered his anger or his hurt. He cut her off.

“
Soy tu papi
,” Matt said. “I’m your daddy. Mommies and daddies make babies together. Mommie and I made you.”

Nerea’s mouth fell open, and her eyes widened. Janae knew her daughter. She could just see the wheels turning as Nerea imagined her and Matt sitting at a table with papier–mâché, forming a newborn version of her.

“
P-papi
?” Nerea tested on her tongue.

Matt looked like he was ready to take orbit. He grinned and nodded. “
Si, papi
.”

Bold and apparently expecting his daughter to jump into his arms, he held his hands out to her. To Janae’s surprise, Nerea looked just as eager to investigate his hug. She glanced at Janae for approval, and Janae nodded. Nerea dove for her daddy, and he curled her snuggly against his chest.

Nerea launched into one of her stories, speaking half English and half Spanish. Matt continually responded in Spanish, and their little girl followed along without a problem. Janae watched the two of them until Nerea started to yawn and rub her eyes. Matt refused to give her up until her lashes brushed her cheeks and she fell asleep.

J
anae woke
the next morning alone in bed. Usually, Nerea woke before her and climbed into Janae’s bed to snuggle. She felt the opposite pillow and found it cold. Maybe Nerea had slept in since they disturbed her sleep. Janae had refused Matt access to her bed and sent him to the living room with blankets and an extra pillow. He would work out for himself if he would take the small couch or the floor.

She started to climb out of bed when her cell phone buzzed. Checking the display, she saw that it was Kyler. Her door was shut, so she figured she would answer. “Hello?”

“I assume you’re at your apartment now?”

“Look, you don’t rule where I go and what I do.”

“I thought we had that discussion last night.”

“Yes, and now I’m reiterating. It’s over, Ky—” She didn’t want to speak his name just in case Matt heard somehow. “I’m not playing your game anymore. Please pass that to
her
.”

“You’re speaking in code. He’s there.”

“If you must know, yes, he is. He wanted to meet his daughter. Hold on. I’ll let you speak with him.”

“Janae, wait!”

She climbed off the bed and flung her door wide. Just as she suspected, Matt sat cross-legged before the television with Nerea in his lap. They munched on dry cereal while watching cartoons.

“
Papi, mira
.” She pointed to the screen as if he didn’t see Dora and the monkey for himself.

“I see,” Matt said and chuckled.

“Matt.”

He turned to look at her, and her breathing constricted at the picture of the two people she loved most together. Nerea had a lot of her daddy in her features. The same beautiful eyes, except Nerea’s weren’t as blue as Matt’s.

“You have a phone call,” Janae choked out.

He stiffened. “Is something wrong?”

She took one last second to think about what she was doing and decided to hell with Kyler and Margaret. “Yes, it’s the same person that made me cry last night, who has made me cry a lot over the last four years.”

Matt’s expression turned stormy. She wasn’t sure if he was still angry at her for keeping Nerea from him, but he could turn some of that fury onto his brother.

He kissed the top of Nerea’s head and rose. “Hang on a second, Nerea. Papi has to take care of something.”

“Mommie,” Nerea called and patted the spot beside her. Janae sat down, but she wanted to follow Matt as he left the room with her cell phone. She hoped Kyler had balls enough to stay on the phone and face what he and his grandmother had done to them.

Not long after he disappeared, Janae caught a few choice swear words from her bedroom. “Matt,” she shouted down the hall.

Her door shut, but she could still here him.

Nerea turned bright eyes to Janae and giggled behind her hands. “Papi said something bad, Mommie.”

“Yeah, well don’t you repeat it, young lady.”

Janae leaned over so she could see down the hall again. “Matt, Nerea can hear you.”

Abruptly, he started speaking in another language, and it wasn’t Spanish.

Damn, must be nice.

She tried picking out a few words and learned it was French. Nerea didn’t know any French, so they were safe. Both brothers spoke English, Spanish, and French? They were so far beyond her little commonplace knowledge it wasn’t funny. She’d taken German in high school and college and only knew a handful of words.

Maria appeared from her bedroom. “
Señorita, desayuno
?”

“
Si, por favor
. I’m not sure about the other two. Nerea, did you and daddy only eat this cereal?”

“Yessss,” she sang, not taking her eyes off the TV screen.

“I see I’m going to have to set some rules. Maria, please include something for Nerea and Matt.”

“Matt?” Nerea said. She never missed a thing.

“Yes, Papi’s name is Matthew. I call him Matt.”

Nerea decided to keep chirping
Matt
over and over.

“Okay, enough of that. Watch TV. Maria, I’ll be there in a minute to help you.”

“No, stay. I cook.”

Janae started to argue, but the woman was already gone. She watched a few minutes of TV with her daughter, and then Matt swept in like a storm. “We’re going.”

She blinked. “Going where?”

“To see Kyler. I want to talk to him face-to-face, and you’re coming with me.” He disappeared from the room again, and when he returned, he was buttoning his shirt. Janae tried to gauge how mad he was and if he still included her on the list of people on his shit list.

He looked up and caught her studying him. His frown dashed her hopes. “You should have trusted me, Janae. You should have believed in me enough to protect you.”

“It wasn’t just about me.” She stood and left the room to get ready. When she returned, she faced him. “We need to wait until I can feed Nerea.”

He whirled to face their daughter, still lost in her cartoons. “I have to learn about her needs. I’m so used to coming and going. Of course, we’ll wait.”

Janae stood behind Nerea and cupped her cheeks as she leaned over the top of her head. “Hey, you. Turn off that TV and let’s get you dressed.”

“Aww, Mommie. This is the good part.”

“It’s always the good part. Come on.” Janae hesitated and looked over at Matt. “Or we could leave her here until we get back.”

“No.” Matt answered for Nerea.

She knew he would take that attitude. That’s why she had started getting Nerea up to get dressed. Matt wasn’t ready to let Nerea out of his sight. The three of them ate breakfast together. After Janae cleaned Nerea’s face and hands, they were on the road to Kyler’s office.

“Matt,” Janae said when they were all piled into his car, including Maria, “what did Kyler tell you?”

He glanced into the rearview mirror. “We’ll talk about it later.”

She sat back, chewing a thumbnail, and not too long later, they arrived at their destination. Matt held the door open for Janae to precede him. She held Nerea’s hand, and Maria followed behind them.

Margaret and Kyler waited in his office. Like the last time, the old woman sat at his desk, and Kyler occupied a spot near the window. When they walked in, he seemed to be lost in thought as he watched the cars below. She suspected he was nervous about meeting his brother face-to-face. Maybe she’d get to see Matt punch him in the jaw.

No, Matt isn’t the violent type. He would never do that.

If Janae didn’t get to see Matt crack his brother in the face, at least she got something almost as good. When she strode in the door with Nerea, all the color drained from Margaret’s face. She stared at Janae’s daughter as if Nerea was an apparition. Janae loved it.

“W-who?” Margaret stuttered.

So Kyler hadn’t told her. Janae glanced over at him, and he appeared embarrassed. Who knew whether his discomfort had to do with not keeping his grandmother updated or the fact that he’d almost caused her to pass out.

Coward
.

Matt ignored his grandmother and brother as he walked across the office to another door and opened it. He flipped on the lights in there, and Janae saw that it was a small conference room. Speaking in fluent Spanish, he instructed Maria to wait in the conference room with Nerea. Janae handed over the bag she had packed with a puzzle, coloring books, books to read, and snacks for Nerea.

The maid nodded, but Nerea broke away from Maria and clung to Matt’s legs. “I want to stay with you, Papi.”

Matt fairly glowed. He picked Nerea up, kissed her cheek, and hugged her tight. “Papi has to take care of some business. We’ll go somewhere fun after this,
si
?”

Little pink lips poked out, but Matt tickled her side, making her giggle.

“
Si
?” he repeated.

“
Si
.”

He put her down, and she obediently went into the other room with Maria. The door had hardly clicked closed before Margaret started in on him, slapping a hand on the desk. “You have no proof that child is yours!”

Matt approached the desk, a muscle jumping in his jaw. Kyler leaped to cut him off. “Whoa, calm down, Matt. You don’t want to do anything you will regret.”

Matt looked through his brother, and for a minute Janae thought the two of them would get into it. She grabbed a seat as far away from Margaret and Kyler as she could get without leaving the room.

“I’m not here to discuss my daughter,” Matt said through clenched teeth. “No, I am actually. What I want to know before I make both of you pay for what you put Janae through is why?”

“I only did what was best for you, Matthew,” Margaret said.

“You can’t believe that.”

“I do! She—”

“Careful. You don’t want to insult Janae right now, not with the mood I’m in.”

“This isn’t you, Matthew. You’re not the kind of man who would turn his back on his family over a woman.”

“Correct me if I’m wrong. Maybe I’m still having some memory issues after the accident. But, I believe I haven’t spent any time with either of you in the last four years. The last I saw you, Margaret, was at the hospital, and before that not for a year and a half.”

“That wasn’t by my design.”

“No, it was mine. I’m done hearing from you. I knew from the age of eleven that you are a heartless person. I want to hear from Kyler. We had our differences, but you, Kyler, I thought you had at least an inkling of feeling for me. Yet, you blackmailed the woman I love. You tormented and threatened her. Tell me why I shouldn’t let you get a taste of what I felt lying in that hospital.”

Kyler raised his hands. “Hold on, Matt. I admit we were harsh, but—”

“Harsh? You ripped her from the only family she had and forced her to go alone and pregnant to a foreign country. You forced her to record herself blackmailing you.”

“That was her idea.”

Three sets of eyes shifted to Janae, but Matt turned back to his brother. “Why? Because you gave her no choice. Janae, did you realize what you were doing when you let him record you? Kyler and my grandmother could have used that recording to press charges against you.”

Janae gasped.

“You don’t have to worry. I destroyed it the day he played it for me.” He advanced on Kyler. “You knew what she meant to me, what she means to me now. Tell me something. Did you know about my daughter before my accident?”

Kyler paled again. “I—”

Matt punched him in the mouth, and Kyler landed on his ass. Blood ran down from his lip and stained his pristine white shirt. Janae didn’t like this side of Matt after all. She ran over to him to grab his arm before he could attack his brother again.

“Matt, don’t. He’s not worth it.”

“He’s worth every punch in the mouth,” Matt said. “Get up.”

“Matt,” she cried out, but he didn’t seem to hear her. He reached down and dragged his brother to his feet, a challenging task given Kyler was just as big as Matt.

“I don’t want to fight you, Matt,” Kyler said, “but I will. I’m not going to just stand here and let you slug me. Last time took me by surprise. Not again.”

“Last time?” Janae said.

“No, but you thought it was okay to beat Janae.”

“I never hit her!”

“With your actions,” Matt snapped. “You kept piling on the pressure.”

Kyler wiped his lip. Matt looked like he’d go at him again, but Janae darted in front of him to block his path. He brought heavy hands down on her shoulders, about to toss her aside.

“Nerea wouldn’t like her daddy fighting,” Janae said quickly. He froze. She saw him considering the truth of her words and come to the conclusion that he didn’t know Nerea well enough yet to know if she would be disappointed in him. Matt hitched his shoulders in an effort to calm down.

“Why are you defending him, Janae?”

“I am so not defending him. I thought I’d like to see you wipe the floor with his ass, but I love the man you are, the one who is patient, loving, and kind, not the one that’s quick to throw a punch.”

He stared down at her a minute and then looked up at his brother. “I want you to apologize to her. Nothing you say can make up for the past, but you can start with an apology.”

Margaret scoffed. Janae realized she’d forgotten about the woman because Margaret was so quiet. She looked over at the old woman and noticed Margaret seemed far paler than usual.

“We don’t owe you anything,” Margaret said, but her voice came out weak and frail. Both Matt and Kyler stared at her.

Kyler was the first to speak. “Are you okay, Margaret?”

“I’m f-fine.”

She wasn’t. Janae saw it now as if all the strength had been sucked out of the woman in an instant. Her head bobbled, and her eyes were almost closed. She seemed to try to raise her hand, but it flopped down to the desk.

“She’s having a heart attack,” Janae said, shocked.

“I’m fine,” she said again. “Just…tired. Really tired.”

Matt pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed 9-1-1. Kyler knelt beside his grandmother, trying to make her comfortable, but Matt didn’t move from where he stood in the middle of the room. Janae glanced up at him. As a compassionate human being, he called for an ambulance, but his keeping his distance from Margaret told Janae he hadn’t forgiven his grandmother. Maybe he never would.

“I’m going downstairs to direct the paramedics,” Matt said. “Honey, are you going in with Nerea, or coming with me?”

She apparently had two choices, neither of which involved her staying in the same room as Kyler without Matt there. “We’re going to get out of the way. This is a family matter. Nerea, Maria, and I will just go back to the apartment.”

“No!”

She sighed. “Matt, I’m not going to disappear.”

“Stay here until I take you home…
please
.”

“All right. Fine.”

He didn’t go downstairs until she walked into the conference room. Janae sat near a window, trying to see the front entrance of the building, but the rise was too high. She couldn’t hear a siren approaching either and had to just wait.

Janae must have dozed because the next time she opened her eyes, she found ocean blue eyes staring in her face not more than an inch away. She reached up and gently pushed Nerea back a little.

“I’m bored, Mommie,” Nerea sing-songed.