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.He glanced over at Ashton and smiled.“Hi.”“Ash.” Christy shivered.“Could you ask Margaret to get us two cups of coffee?”“No need,” Ashton said tersely, strolling up to the boy.“I had one too many on my way here,” he tried lightening his tone.He held out his hand.“I’m Ashton.”“No way.” The boy laughed, shaking his hand.“So am I.”Ashton smiled, for the first time taking note of his blue eyes and dark hair.“Um… you live here with your mom?” he asked.“Yeah.You come to stay? We’ve got some rooms vacant.”“Ash,” Christy growled.She took a nervous gulp and added, “Could you leave us for a while? I need to discuss something with… Ashton.”Ash shrugged his shoulders.“See you later then,” he told Ashton.Christy closed the door behind him.“How old is he?” Ashton asked.“Give me that paper.”“I asked you how old he was,” he repeated more firmly.She palmed her forehead and moved away from him.“Ten.”“Whose kid is he?”“Mine,” she mumbled.“Mine!” she screamed as she spun towards him.“Who’s the father?”Her legs quavered beneath her and she struggled into a chair, her face growing pale and ashen.“I had been advised numerous times to tell you- Marshall, Hilda, Megan, Margaret.They all said I should.But I was so sure you wouldn’t want it- him.You hated me.I was convinced there was no way you would love him.” She trembled.He grew limp, as he realized what she was trying to say.“Be frank, Christy.What is it you want to tell me?”“You’re Ash’s father,” she let out slowly, her tears rolling down her face.He had already guessed that.But he had been praying it wasn’t true and that he had read more deeply into the situation than he should have.And to hear her admit it made it all the more real for him.He fell into a chair, shaking his head.“How can it be? It was just that one night.That one…”“I had been too pre-occupied worrying about Marshall, I forgot to get on the pill.On the night of our marriage, I assumed that doing it the first time wouldn’t get me pregnant since I was still a virgin… and if I did become pregnant, it wouldn’t matter.I would already be married.To add to that, I was too eager to have a family and I remembered how much fun I had taking care of baby Elise.”“Yes, if perhaps we had done it once.But we did it a few times in that one night,” he growled.“What else do you expect people to do on the night of their marriage?”“Certainly not tell their wives that they married them to avenge their sister,” she snapped back.“And if you didn’t want a child, why hadn’t you used protection?”He pursed his lips.Because he was careless.He had been blinded by his passion, overcome with an unexplainable need to have her.Just seeing her there, standing in that hotel room, her hair wildly spread about her, her scent invading his senses, had driven him wild like she had always secretly done.“There’s no excuse for not telling me I had a child.” He glanced up angrily at her.She bit her trembling lips.“You hated me.”“He’s my son!” he screamed.“Don’t you get that?! All these years, I had been looking for you, trying to find you so I could apologize for what I had done to you.And you… you…” He rose from his chair, pacing the room angrily.“How could you do this to me?!”“I was sure you wouldn’t want him.I was afraid.Scared of rejection.For him and me.”“It’s up to me to make that decision.You can’t make it for me.”“I was young.”“Eleven years was a long time to grow up.And you couldn’t find an opportunity in all those years? Even when I looked at those photographs, asked you whose kid he was, you were still adamant on hiding him from me.Is that why you were so eager to throw me out of the study? You would have signed the paper and let me go without telling me.In fact, isn’t that what you did at the coffee shop?!”“Ashton, please, can we talk about this?”“You’ve lost your chance, Christy.I need to go.There are new papers for you to sign.Child custody papers.” He strode angrily towards the door.“And this time I won’t bother delivering them personally to you.You’ll be served.”She raced up to the door before he could open it, standing before it and blocking his way.“You can’t do that,” she pleaded.“Please Ashton, this is all Ash knows.You’ll uproot everything he believes in.You’ll tear him apart.”“It’s because he doesn’t know the entire truth yet!”“I’ll tell him.I swear, I will.”“It’s too late for that!”“I know.And I’m sorry.But please, think of this like his father and not as someone who’s been wronged.I beg of you, Ashton, think of his needs.There is nothing I can do to turn back time.But I will do my best to make up for it.I promise.Please, please don’t take my baby away from me.I beg you.”“Get out of the way, Christy
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