The Hero and the Fat Girl (New Hampshire Bears #3) (24 page)

“Why not?” Kyson questions. “I figured by now you know where babies come from.”

I roll my eyes. “I know where babies come from, ass. I meant, Maxima thought she couldn’t have kids.”

“Huh?” They say together.

“Why would she think that?” Kyson’s questions continues.

“Just cause.” I shrug.

“That’s not a fucking answer.” Keaton calls me out.

“It’s private,” I finally say.

“We understand, and if you’re happy, then we are,” Kyson says and shakes my hand before Keaton does too.

“I’m guessing our girls don’t know yet.” Keaton chuckles.

“Not sure.” Maxima hadn’t said if she told Harlow and Meadow. “She’s still early on and might be waiting.”

“You hoping for a little boy?” Kyson is full of questions today.

“A healthy baby would be my wish.” It’s true. I’m praying Maxima has an easy pregnancy and our baby comes out perfect.

On the drive home, I can’t wait to see Maxima and Arabella. I love how relaxed she is now, especially with me. Our relationship…no…our marriage is perfect. In fact, everything is falling into place. This makes me worry. It’s going
too
well.

Arabella is in the TV Room with Maxima and they’re watching
Toy Story
. I’d never admit I like this movie, but I do.

“Hi Dad.” Arabella looks up for a brief second.

“Hi, honey,” I kiss the top of her head before going to Maxima and giving her a quick kiss. “How are you feeling? Did you eat?”

“We just ate. I’m fine.” She sighs.

I don’t care if she gets annoyed with me asking her; I will make sure she’s okay. I take a place in between them, and Arabella stretches out with her head on my thigh while Maxima rests her head on my shoulder. This is perfect, calming, and exactly where I can to be.

Until my cell phone rings…

My heart drops as fast as a puck on a face off when I see it’s my attorney. I excuse myself and go to the kitchen.

“Mr. Nance, how are you?”

“Remington, you and Maxima need to come in.” His tone is serious, and I know it’s bad.

It has to be.

“Could you tell me why?” I hear and feel the shakiness in my voice.

“Just get here as soon as you can.” His voice remains stern.

“We’ll be there soon.”

I end the call and go back to the TV room. I tap Maxima on the shoulder. She looks up and instantly sees my worried expression. She gets up and follows me back to the kitchen.

“Mr. Nance needs to see us. Right now.”

“Oh no.” She covers her gasp with a hand over her mouth. “What’s wrong?”

I shake my head. I don’t trust my own voice at this time. This could be really bad.

“But we’ve not gone in front of the judge yet. We’re supposed to do that first, right?” Maxima’s trying to keep her voice down, but a small sob slips through.

Maxima needs to remain calm. She can’t upset herself or the baby. I hug her to me. I know she’s trying not to cry, and I’m the same way.

“Let’s take Arabella with us,” Maxima suggests. “She can set in the lobby, but I want her with us.”

I nod and she takes a deep breath and goes into the TV room to get Arabella. A million thoughts are running through my head. Am I going to lose her? It’s the one at the forefront. I can’t lose my baby. After everything I now know about what’s been happening with Rickie’s life, my daughter will not be going back to that world. I won’t allow it. I will fight tooth and nail until my last breath.

“Remington.”

I look up to see Maxima and Arabella standing in the kitchen.

“We’re ready,” Maxima says.

I try to put a smile on my face, but it’s fake. There’s only worry pulsing through me.

We make it to the attorney’s office; I can feel Maxima shaking as I hold her hand. Maxima gives Arabella the iPad and ear buds while I check in with the secretary. We explain to Arabella that we have an appointment and she needs to focus on the iPad until we finish. While she doesn’t spend a lot of time with hand-held electronics, Arabella does play games from time-to-time, but this situation certainly calls for exceptions.

Mr. Nance is one of the best attorney in New Hampshire and Maine. I needed a tough ass attorney, and I’m hoping he’s worth it. The secretary leads us to a large conference room. Maxima sets Arabella up in one of the conference chairs on the back wall with the iPad and ear buds. I then lead Maxima to one end of the conference table where we take a seat and wait.

A few moments later, Mr. Nance comes in. The man is older than Dad and has a large beer gut. His black suit is tight but well-tailored. He shakes our hands before taking a seat.

I feel on the verge of a panic attack when he opens the large file and shuffles some papers around.

“Okay.” Mr. Nance glances over at Arabella. “May we talk in front of your daughter?”

“She can’t hear us,” I say. “Now, tell us what’s going on before I lose my fucking mind.”

Maxima grabs my hand and squeezes it tightly. I’m a wreck and ready to scream my head off.

“I’m sorry for being so cryptic on the phone, but this needed to be said in person.” Mr. Nance looks at us both.

“It’s bad.” Maxima is now having a hard time holding back her tears.

“Nope.” He smiles.

“What?” Did I hear him right? “It’s good?”

He nods. “I got off the phone with your ex-wife’s lawyer. The paperwork you sent over shed a lot of light to the subject. The former Mrs. Rosin is in more legal trouble than on this paper.” He points to the file. “She has agreed to relinquish her claims to Arabella as long as you continue her alimony payments.”

My mouth drops. Her alimony payments are nothing compared to the child support checks I sent. “Why? Not that I’m not over the moon right now, but what made her change her mind?”

“Her lawyer has been very blunt with her. No judge in his, or her, right mind will ever give Arabella to your ex-wife. She’s decided to take what she can and give you what you want.”

Even through his explanation is simple, I feel as if there’s more. I’m waiting for the bad news.

“Mr. Nance, it can’t be this easy.”

“Well, no, she can still change her mind, but she knows the information we have isn’t going to change. Now, all I have to do is submit this paperwork here—” he pulls out a couple of documents and explains what they are. They say I retain full and complete custody of Arabella and Rickie forfeits visitations and child support. “Just sign here.”

I quickly do so.

“I’ll send these overnight to her lawyer and once she signs it, it’ll be filed. Her lawyer should have it signed with a few days. This will eliminate any need for a court date.” He gathers everything up. “By the end of next week, you should have the final order.”

I’m not sure if I should jump with joy or wait until we have the final order. My head is spinning. My emotions are everywhere. Joyful, relieved, but worried that Rickie will just pull a trick on us and still fight for Arabella to be returned to her.

“Remington,” Maxima’s soft, sweet tone pulls me away from my crazy thoughts. “Are you okay?”

I nod. We all stand, shake hands, and I walk over to Arabella, who smiles up at me. She’s forever my baby girl. I remember the second the nurse placed her in my arms. Arabella had my heart from that moment on.

“We’re going home?” she asks, and I take her hand to lead her out of the conference room, Maxima next to me.

On the drive home, none of us speak. I want to get home and keep the three of us locked away until we have the official word. I want this to go through. For all of us.

When we walk through the front door, Arabella wants to finish watching her movie, and I let her while Maxima and I go to the bedroom to talk.

“Should we tell her?” I ask Maxima.

“I figured you would right away. Why do you want to wait?” She sits on the bed.

“She could change her mind.” I lean against the bathroom door frame.

“She could, but I don’t think she will.” Maxima tries to sound upbeat.

“The alimony is well less than half of what the child support was.” I know Rickie will figure out the difference and then she’ll come back.

“She’s cutting her losses. She knows she can’t win.”

“I’m still scared,” I whisper.

“Then we’ll not say anything until you’re ready.” She stands and kisses me before heading back downstairs.

It’s going to be a long week.

Chapter Fifteen

Maxima

August

It’s been a long week. I’ve been taking appointments with more Bears’ players and even some of their extended family members. Remington has already made plans to turn the guest room into the baby’s room, but I want to finish the office first and ordered a few things. He seems to be fine with me taking over more and more.

“So, what are we going to store or sell?” Remington asks as we walk through my house.

“I told the realtor if she finds a buyer who wants anything, they could consider it part of the price.” I don’t have a lot because I never needed very much. Considering I have everything I need at Remington’s house, I won’t be taking much.

“Maxima, you hardly have anything in the house.” He walks into the kitchen.

“I didn’t need a lot of stuff.” I shrug.

“It’s fine. Whatever you want to do.” He stands in front of me.

“Let’s see if whoever buys it wants anything, then we can go from there.” I kiss him softly.

“Perfect idea.”

Remington has been tense since we left Mr. Nance’s office last week. He plays it off when Arabella is around, but it’s still there. I can see it.

“I need to get back home. Vance is coming today.”

“Right.” He nods and guides me out of the house.

My home is with Remington and Arabella. I feel comfortable there. Obviously, I wasn’t at first, but now we’re a real family. I can’t imagine my life without them. And now our family will be growing even more.

It’s hard for me to wrap my head around this, but it’s true. I’m scared, but overall excited for this new chapter in my life.

Remington pulls into the driveway, and Arabella is sitting on the porch with Vance and Dacey. I’m thankful for Dacey helping us so much. Their wedding is less than four weeks away and she doesn’t seem the least bit stressed. Then again, Harlow had told me their parents are handling everything, including all the details.

Arabella comes running over to us and hugs me gently. She’s coming around to the fact there’s going to be a baby. Rickie had really brainwashed the poor girl. Remington and I have plans…well, tentatively…to take her traveling a bit before school starts to places she wants to go. And of course, a few book stores.

“Dacey and Vance took me to get chicken nuggets,” Arabella announces happily.

“Did you say thank you?” Remington asks, and she nods.

“She had fun,” Vance says with a smile.

They’re going to have pretty babies
.

“Let’s go in,” I suggest, unlocking the door and shutting off the alarm.

I take Dacey and Vance up to the office and get right to work. Vance signed an entry- level contract when he first came to New Hampshire. However, this summer he signed a much larger three-year contract, and he needs some guidance. I find it strange he came to me though. His father is some huge millionaire or billionaire, I think Harlow said, and I figured he would go to him for advice. But I don’t question their actions.

Vance and Dacey want everything in order before the marriage. Vance has been given a dowry for marrying Dacey and I want to ask a thousand question about this. Instead, I give them their options. Dacey is coming in with much fewer assets and money than Vance, but he waits for her to weigh in on each option we discuss. After about an hour or so, we have laid out a plan for them. To be in their early twenties, they both seem very mature, and I can see they’ll have a great future together.

Once they leave, I join Arabella and Remington in the TV room.
Finding Nemo
is on the screen as I curl up next to Remington. I’m almost asleep on his shoulder when the doorbell rings.

Instantly, my heart stops, but I don’t know why. I had a feeling deep down and I can’t explain what it is. When Remington looks at me, he’s feeling the same way. We tell Arabella to stay put and we go answer the door. There’s no reason to be apprehensive when answering the door, but I can feel Remington’s as he reaches for the handle.

Our gut reactions were right.

“Mr. Nance.” Remington’s voice shakes. “I didn’t know you made house calls.”

“Normally, I don’t. It’s too damn hot for me to be outside.” He growls slightly, talking about the extremely humid day.

“Please, come in.” I invite him into the house. “Would you like some water?”

He shakes his head. “Thank you for the offer, but I’m only here for a moment or two.” He takes a seat on our couch.

It’s then I notice he has a large white envelope in his hands. This is going to be bad. I hope Arabella stays in the TV room. I don’t want her learning her fate from Mr. Nance. It’s not fair.

“I received these about an hour ago, and since I had another appointment later, I knew I couldn’t get these to you unless I did it now.” He hands the packet to Remington.

“What is it?” I ask, since Remington is staring at them, instead of opening them.

“It’s your final paperwork. Arabella is one hundred percent yours.” He grins.

“What?” Remington and I say in unison.

“Yep. She’s yours.” He stands and we follow him toward the door, shaking his hand.

When Remington closes the door, I’m not sure what to think or do. He’s the same way. Suddenly, he rips open the envelope. I look over his shoulder as he flips through the pages. It’s all there in black and white.

Arabella is here to stay.

Remington wraps his arms around me, and I can feel his body shake as he cries on my shoulder, sending me into tears. I rub my hands up and down his back, trying to soothe him.

“What’s wrong?” Arabella asks.

We release each other, and I see her face pale.

“Am I going back to Maine?” Her voice cracks.

I take the papers over to her, kneeling down. “This was just delivered. It’s from a judge in Maine and it says you’re staying here with us.” Remington kneels next to me.

“Really?” Arabella looks at Remington.

“Yes.” He’s able to answer her

“Then why are you crying?” She wipes a tears from his cheek.

“Because I’m so happy.” He kisses her forehead. “Are you happy?” He pulls back.

“I have had chicken nuggets, and I get to live with you and Mom, I’m very happy.” She wraps her arms around our necks.

Remington and I laugh since she’s comparing us with chicken nuggets, but we’re family. A true family.

I carefully slide into bed because I think Remington is asleep.

“I’m awake.” His dark brown eyes pop open and connect with mine.

“You okay?” I lay on my side, mirroring his pose.

“I’m beyond okay. For the first time in a very long time, I’m extremely happy. Actually, I’m over the moon happy.” He smiles. “Six months ago, my life was completely different, but this is exactly where I want to be.”

“You’re my hero.” I smile.

“You’re the love of my life.” He leans over and kisses me.

Here.

Right here.

This is where I want to be.

Remington took away all the pain and self-doubt I’ve been so used to and replaced it with love.

The hero saved his beautiful woman.