It's All Relative(155)

Millie glanced between the two of them. “I appreciate the sentiment, but I’m a grown woman. I don’t need the two of you fretting over me, like I’m some invalid. I slipped. Happens every day. Probably happens to the two of you on occasion.” She watched them both grin and roll their eyes, locking gazes with each other before twisting back to look at her. With a slight twist of her thin lips, she added, “I don’t mind you both coming to visit me, but I can take care of myself.”

Kai smiled, then leaned forward and kissed her head. “All right, Gran.”

Jessica sighed as she watched him, then patted Millie’s arm. “Okay, Grams.” Shrugging her shoulders, she asked, “What can we do for you then?”

Millie watched the two cast secret glances when the other wasn’t looking. Not liking the odd feeling she could sense between them, she decided to use their mutual guilt over her accident to her advantage. Hiding her inner smile, she quite seriously said, “Jessica Marie, my dear, why don’t you and Kai go through my place and get rid of that old furniture for me. I was thinking about having the church come take it, but since Kai probably needs some stuff, maybe he could take it for me?”

Kai immediately started shaking his head. “Oh, Gran, no, you don’t have to—”

She cut him off. “Nonsense. You must need something. Do you even have a bed yet?”

Kai’s tan face lost a little color as his eyes locked onto Jessica’s. Millie noticed that odd tension again, but had no idea why they seemed to have it. She hoped that forcing them to spend a little time together would ease the feeling between them. Right now, all Kai had here in Denver was her and Jessica Marie, and he didn’t know it yet, but if Nate’s plans for Kai came to pass, he was going to need the support of his family. And regardless of what their blood said, Kai was family and she would never treat him differently.

Since the two of them had gone deathly quiet, Millie took the silence as an admission that he did need help. Turning her attention to Jessica, she matter-of-factly stated, “Clean out the spare bedroom. I have no need for anything in there right now.”

Jessica, looking even paler than Kai, nodded. “Okay, Grandma.”

Kai looked down and then over at Jessica on the chair. Giving her an odd smile, he shrugged and said, “I guess I could use your help after all.”





(Cut scene #3. This is at the end of chapter 6, after Mason meets Kai for the very first time.)




Mason Thomas watched his…son leave the lab. He straightened and ran a hand through his hair, then down his face. He hadn’t believed Kai’s mother at first, when she’d broken the news to him earlier this year. He’d absolutely refused to believe it. But staring at the boy, the resemblance was unmistakable. Not in the coloring, that was all his mother—deep brown skin, dark as night hair—but the eyes, he’d only seen that shade in the mirror before. It was startling to see them on another human being.

Kai had seemed equally taken aback by him, but Mason knew he didn’t suspect the truth yet. He’d had several conversations with Kai’s mother on the matter. Mason hadn’t wanted to be the one to tell him. Surely that was something she could do, since she was already so close to the boy. Or maybe Nate, the man who had raised him as a son could tell him. Mason wasn’t sure why this responsibility was falling to him, now, so long after the fact. But Leilani had insisted that it had to be him who told Kai.

Nate had also called him, insisting that he finally stepped up and acted like a man. Those words had deeply stung Mason. He and Nate had been close once, almost family, but Mason had been young and foolish, and he’d let lust and passion overcome his sensibilities. Truly, that whole situation had been so unlike him. He was usually so practical about things. But Leilani had taken his breath away. Mason had had no defense against her exotic beauty, her passionate nature. They’d fallen in love, seduced each other, and carried on a secret affair, right under the nose of her husband.

When she’d gotten pregnant, Mason had been sure the child was his. She’d insisted the child was Nate’s, and had completely and utterly broken things off with him. Crushed, he’d fled Hawaii and come to Denver, to start again. Leilani had let him believe for over twenty-three years that the child she’d born hadn’t been his. Even when her marriage had dissolved, she still hadn’t broken the news to Mason. That fact hurt more than he’d expected it to.

Sitting on the edge of the table, Mason watched his hands start to shake. He had no idea what to do now. He’d never married, never had children. His life had been dedicated to his work, and he didn’t have time for a fully-grown son to land on his doorstep. Running his trembling hand over his mouth several times, Mason thought back to that initial contact with Leilani, months ago, when she’d finally told him the truth about Kai’s paternity.

Mason had been at home, winding down for the day with a glass of wine on his deck when the phone had rung. Walking back to the house, he’d frowned at seeing the strange, long distance number…

“Hello?”

“Mason?” The feminine voice in his ear was unmistakable.

“Leilani? It’s been ages…” His voice trailed off as the old ache began to resurface.

Her voice tittered. “Yes, yes it has, hasn’t it?””

Setting his glass down, he swallowed a heavy lump. “Why are you…? It’s not that I don’t like hearing from you, but, why…?”