Beating Heart: A Small Town, Single Dad Romance (Magnolia Falls Series Book 4)

You never wanted a paternity test after I gave birth.

Those ten words had literally flipped my life on its ass. I hadn’t slept at all, and I was reeling.

This kid was my world.

Well, he and Emerson.

I couldn’t stand the thought of losing either of them. No fucking way. And right now, I needed to fight like hell and make sure there was nothing Tara could do to take him away from me.

She’d woken up and tried to act like she hadn’t dropped a bomb on me. Offering to push Cutler out on the swings, like she had a clue how to be a mother at this point. She was here because she and her boyfriend were going through something. She wanted to play house, and I was done with her games.

She’d come back inside, acting like we were one big happy family. We weren’t. Not even fucking close.

I’d told her to get in her car and go grab her own breakfast. That hadn’t gone over well, and I didn’t give a shit. I had River meeting me at his office, and I’d dropped Cutler at my dad’s house.

This had been my wake-up call.

She’d showed me her cards. She was going to hang this over my head to get her way, and I needed to establish boundaries with this woman. She couldn’t stroll in and out of my son’s life whenever her life fell apart.

River was right. We should have done this a long time ago.

I walked inside his office, and he was already behind his desk. Cassie, his receptionist, was off today because it was the weekend.

I dropped into the chair across from him, just as a loud ruckus had us turning, and Kingston, Romeo, and Hayes came strolling through the door. They were holding coffees and bagels.

“You didn’t all need to come,” I said.

“Ride or die, motherfucker. We always come,” Hayes grumped.

Kingston and Romeo passed out the drinks, and Hayes gave us each an individual bag with a bagel.

“Thank you, guys. I’m losing my fucking mind.”

“Okay, I’ve been looking at our options,” River said, taking a sip from his coffee before setting the cup back down. “She hasn’t paid one dime of child support, nor been involved in his life whatsoever.”

“Correct.” I let out a long breath.

Motherfucking paternity? I still can’t get over the fact that she’d play that card. I was seething.

“So, we bring her in here and we play our own hand.” River leaned back in his chair. “Listen to me, brother. She is just trying to get a rise out of you. She doesn’t have the determination to follow through with any of it. She strolls into town every one to two years and stays for what… two days? Fuck no. She has no leg to stand on.”

“What if she demands a paternity test?” I asked, hating the words as I said them.

“Well, how confident are you about taking it?” he asked.

“I mean, we were together for those months, and I don’t think she was with anyone else. But who the fuck knows with this woman.” I shook my head. “I know that boy is mine. I’ve never needed a test to prove it. From the minute he was placed in my arms, he was mine.” My fucking voice shook, and it pissed me off. “I can’t fucking lose him.”

“Dude,” Kingston said as he moved from where he stood against the wall over to me, yanking me to my feet and pulling me into his arms. “Cutler is your boy. I know it in my gut. He’s our family. Has been since the day he came into this world.”

“Fucking Tara,” Hayes hissed. “She has some fucking nerve coming here and messing with you. With Cutler. How about you let me go talk to her for a little bit?”

“That’s a terrible idea.” River shook his head. “We can’t give her anything to use against us.”

Romeo grabbed some chairs from the closet, and he, Kingston, and Hayes all sat down.

“What are our options?” Romeo asked.

“We bring her in here. We tell her we’re happy to take a paternity test, because your name is on that birth certificate, and you’ve been raising that boy. There is no reason to think you aren’t the father. So, we offer to take the test, and we also present her with six years of back child support owed, as well as an agreement to future payments.”

“She’s not going to want to do that.”

“Correct. So we get her to sign over full custody to you. You’re doing it anyway. It protects you. It protects Cutler. She doesn’t get to roll into town whenever she feels like it and call the shots.”

I nodded and buried my face in my hands. “I’m so fucking tired, you guys. I’m trying to hold onto Cutler. Trying to hold onto Emerson. To this family that finally feels right. And I could lose both of them in the end.”

Kingston and Romeo were on their feet again, squatting down in front of me as a tear rolled down my cheek.

“You aren’t losing anyone,” Kingston said.

“Listen to me, Nash.” Hayes’s voice broke through the noise in my head as he moved to stand in front of me. “You are the best fucking father I’ve ever met. No one is taking that boy from you. And Emerson—that woman loves you and that little boy. So, we fight. It’s what we do.”

He reached for my hand and yanked me to my feet, pulling me against him. His arms came around me as Romeo and Kingston joined right in and wrapped their arms around us.

“Fuck me. You sappy assholes are so damn soft.” River came around and slammed into us.

I lifted my head, taking in my brothers. The four dudes who had been beside me the day my kid was born, and every day since. I looked at each of them, one at a time.

“We fight,” I said.

“We fucking fight!” Kingston shouted, and we all laughed, and I swiped at my face, embarrassed that I’d come to tears.

River moved back to his desk, and Romeo and Kingston clapped me on the shoulder before taking their seats. Hayes grabbed a tissue and handed it to me.

“Here. Clean yourself up, brother. Those seasonal allergies are a real bitch,” he said with a chuckle.

I nodded.

Everything was going to be fine.

River and I spent a few hours drawing up a contract and getting everything figured out.

Tara had called a dozen times because she wanted to see Cutler.

But she was no longer calling the shots.

I told her that Cutler and I would meet her at the Golden Goose for dinner. That was what I had to offer her. And she’d need to be in River’s office on Monday after I dropped Cutler at school, because there was going to be a new set of rules put into place. She’d have two options: sign the papers or start paying child support.

I prayed like hell that she signed the papers.

I didn’t want her money.

I only wanted my boy.

I was on my way to pick up Cutler but went home first. I wanted to talk to Emerson. I’d been short this morning, and I’m sure I’d freaked her out. My ex showing up was not pleasant for anyone. But Emerson deserved a lot more of an explanation than I’d given her.

I knocked on the back door, and she didn’t answer. I used my key and went inside.

No Emerson.

No Winnie.

Fuck.

I checked the garage, and her car was gone.

Hey, where’d you go? I came to talk to you.

I waited a few minutes, and she didn’t respond. The text wasn’t showing as read, so maybe she had her phone off. I sent one more text. It’s what I should have said this morning.

There’s a lot of shit going on, but it has nothing to do with you. I love you.

I love you, beautiful.

I’m saying it twice because it’s what I should have said this morning.

I glanced at the time and groaned. I needed to go grab my boy and get to the Golden Goose.

I’d had to give my father the short version of what we’d decided to do. He was nervous; I could see it in his eyes. He’d asked about Emerson, and I’d told him I’d asked her to give me some time to figure my shit out.

“Listen, I thought your taste in women was shit up until you met that girl. Don’t mess it up. She’s a keeper,” he said, as he walked us out to my truck.

“I’m aware. I’m going to do whatever it takes,” I said, and he pulled me into a hug, which was not the norm for him. My dad wasn’t much of a sentimental guy.

“You deserve to be happy, son. You’re a really good man. It’ll all work out.”

“Thanks,” I said, holding up a hand and getting into my truck as Cutler waved goodbye through the window, and I pulled down the driveway.

“Is Emerson coming to dinner?”

“No, not tonight, buddy. It’s just Tara. She wants to spend a little time with you.”

“I don’t think Tara likes Emerson. She wasn’t nice to her this morning,” he said.

“You saw Emerson this morning?”

“Yep. I wanted to hug her and Winnie. Tara got mad at me after we left.”

I gripped the steering wheel tighter. “What does that mean, she got mad at you?”

“I told Emerson that I loved her, and Tara didn’t like that.”

“What did she say?”

“She said that she’s my mama, and Emerson is nobody. And when I said that she wasn’t nobody and that me and Pops loved her, she said I was a little brat.”

This fucking woman was not going to go anywhere near my kid without me ever again.

“You know that’s not true, right?” I asked, as I pulled up to the Golden Goose and turned around to face him. “And you’re allowed to love whoever you want. Tara doesn’t decide that.”

“I know, Pops. You raised the best boy ever, remember?” He chuckled as he unbuckled and leaned forward to high-five me. “I don’t think she will stay long, even though she told Emerson she was moving here to be with us. I think she just said those things to my Sunny to bother her.”

“She told Emerson she was moving here?”

“Yep. But I don’t think she will. She kept calling her boyfriend when we were outside, so I think she wants to go home soon.”

Like I said, my boy is an old soul. He is good at reading people.

When we stepped inside the diner, I saw Tara in the distance, and she waved us over. Midge was giving me a look of disapproval, and I met her with the same look. I wasn’t happy about Tara being here either.

“Hey, can you keep Cutler with you for five minutes so I can speak to Tara before he joins us for dinner?”

“Of course. I’ve been trying to hire this kid for years,” Midge said with a laugh, and Cutler beamed up at her. “Come on, Beefcake. We’ve got a seating chart to update.”

He fist-pumped his arm, and I made my way over to Tara, who was typing away on her phone.

“What is Cutler doing with grumpy Midge?” she hissed. “I can’t stand that woman.”

“I needed a minute with you before he joins us.”

“I’m not happy that you kept him from me all day, Nash,” she said, completely clueless to the fact that I was done with her and her shit.

I leaned forward. “You’re not happy? That’s fucking rich, Tara. You come to my home, and you drop the paternity card, like it means nothing. And that’s because being a mother means nothing to you. But being a father is fucking everything to me. So I’m happy to take your test, because that boy is mine. But let me tell you how this is going to play out,” I said, my voice ice-cold as she sat there with her mouth gaping open, eyes wide.

“I was kidding about the test. I don’t want it. Of course, you’re his father, and you’re a great dad.”

“You’re fucking right about that. So don’t you ever come here and question that, do you hear me?” I narrowed my gaze. “Monday morning you will meet me at River’s office because things are changing moving forward.”

“How so?”

“You will either pay back child support for the last six years and agree to paying child support moving forward, or you will sign over full custody to me. You haven’t been here for anything. Birthdays, Christmas, the first day of school, or baseball games. None of it. So you don’t get to stroll into town and make demands.” I pointed my finger at her, doing my best to tamp down my anger. “And if you ever call my kid a brat again or mess with his head anymore than you already have, you won’t see him again. You got it?”

She just sat there staring at me, processing what I’d just said. “This is because of your girlfriend, isn’t it?”

“This is because you’re a shitty mom and a shitty human. It’s that simple, Tara. I’ve allowed it because I was scared you’d do something to take him away from me, but you can’t. He’s mine, and you know it.”

“Fine. I’ll think it over, and I’ll meet you on Monday and let you know what I decide. But Mark will be with me. He doesn’t like how you’ve been treating me, so he’s coming to town.”

I barked out a laugh. “Of course, he is. Just in time for you to leave.”

“Well, we’re going on a trip from here, so I won’t be staying after all. This hasn’t gone the way I’d hoped anyway.”

“Hey, Tara,” I said, leaning close and keeping my voice low.

“Yeah?”

“I’d bring a lawyer on Monday if you want to fight me, because I will have you served if you don’t sign those papers then and there. This ends while you’re here. No more games.”

She looked away for a few seconds. “Can I still see him while I’m here?”

“That’s not happening. We’re going on a little trip tomorrow, and we’ll be back Monday. So enjoy your time with Mark while you’re here.”

“Fine. He doesn’t like kids anyway. That’s what we were fighting about. I’m trying to convince him that it’s fun to hang out with a little kid.”

Un-fucking-believable.

“We’re not girlfriends, Tara. Sing your sad song to someone who gives a fuck. And when that boy walks over here, you better act like you’re interested in what he’s saying. Just fake it for an hour, and I’ll let him sit through this meal. But if you so much as look at him wrong, we’re walking out of here.”

“This is why we aren’t together, Nash. You’ve never understood me.”

I chuckled. “Clearly, I still don’t.”

I held my hand up and caught Midge’s attention. A sense of relief came over me, because I knew this was almost over.

She wasn’t going to fight for my boy.

When it came to being the parent, I’d always been the only one to fight for him.

And that would never change.