Love Over Everything — Chapter 31

As soon as Christopher was done settling down in his hotel room, he received the email he has been waiting for. It contained a few information about Naomi.

Chris was unbothered about all the unnecessary details Ruben added to what he asked him to find out. He only wanted her address and perhaps a picture of his son. As he predicted, she had moved into a new home so he noted the new address, she was still single and her son was going to be four years old in a few days.

Christopher did the calculations and concluded that the boy was his as he was conceived the first night they made love.

Below the information was a picture of a little boy, his son. Chris was shocked; the resemblance was just too much, the little guy looked nothing like Naomi. Tears welled up in his eyes as he stared at the screen for a few minutes.

“Why did you keep him away from me Naomi?” The tears finally rolled down his cheeks, he buried his face in his hands and cried. He couldn’t believe he lived his last four years without knowing about Tyler. He missed his birth, his first bath, first word and so many other firsts that he couldn’t think of.

Something clicked in Christopher’s mind, he scrolled through the information and stopped at where his son’s details were. His heart sank as soon as he read out his full name “Tyler Christian Browne.” Another reason to be mad at Naomi, she did not give his son his name.

Christopher had never been someone with a hot temper but the fact that she refused to give Tyler his name made his blood boil. He was thinking about going to face Naomi the next morning but he changed his mind.

He reached for his shoes, wallet, keycard, coat, then exited his hotel room.

Fortunately, it was a twelve-minute taxi ride from his hotel to where Naomi stayed.

He took a glance at his wristwatch before pressing the doorbell, it was 10:58 pm.

………………..

Naomi was ready to not only hurl harsh words at but beat-up the person that was at her door, pressing the doorbell like a lunatic this late hour. She had a hard time putting Tyler to bed, he had a tummy ache and was crying all through. She succeeded in making him fall asleep twenty minutes ago and the person at her door wanted to wake her precious son up.

“It seems someone will end up in jail tonight.” She whispered in anger as she unlocked the door.

Naomi went still, the stick she was holding fell from her, she slowly closed her mouth that was already opened to hurl insults, never did it cross her mind that Chris could be the person at the door at this hour.

She had never seen him like this the few times they spent together. He was angry, his eyes were piercing into her soul.

With an increased heartbeat, she slowly disconnected her eyes from him. She looked down at her feet and fiddled with her hands but she could still feel his eyes burning holes into her body. She knew she was in trouble.

She paved the way for him to pass and slowly shut the door after he had entered.

Christopher took off his coat, placed it on one of the couches in the living room and turned his attention to Naomi.

“How could you?” He attacked. “For three years, eleven months and twenty-two days, you hid my son from me. I was living life without knowing someone who looks up to me existed. What type of father do you want me to look like in front of my son?” A tear fell from his eyes.

Naomi was looking everywhere else except Chris, She had tears in her eyes. Suddenly, words became her enemy as she could not come up with a reasonable sentence to reply to him. She wanted to choose her words carefully, Christopher was already angry and she didn’t want to annoy him the more by giving a flimsy excuse for her actions.

“Did you ever plan on telling me about him at all? If my mom hadn’t seen y.........”

She cut him off as her tears finally rolled down her cheeks. “I plan on telling you, I promise.”

“When? When Tyler turns 5? 11? 23? or when he’s getting married?”

“For heaven’s sake Naomi I missed practically everything about him. I missed all his firsts. He probably would not even regard me as his fath.....”

“I wanted to tell you, I just didn’t know how to approach you. I even booked a ticket for Tyler and me to come to Florida by the end of the week.”

“Spare me that detail. You only booked the tickets because my parents knew about Tyler.”

“That’s not true.“. She cried.

“To top it all, you named him after you and not me. Doesn’t he deserve to carry Smith's name?”

“He’s your son and he will always be a Smith. I had complications during labour, they were to operate on me and it was a matter of life and death. It was either they save Tyler or they save me. They needed someone’s permission before they could carry on with the operation and it was usually the husband’s permission or the father of the child.”

“Nobody knew you were Tyler’s father except Luis and Linda. My parents convinced the Doctor that the father was not in the picture so they gave the permission needed for the surgery.”

“Fortunately, Tyler and I got saved but Tyler was very weak at birth, I thought I was going to lose him but Thank God I didn’t. After the explanation put forward by my parents, I just had to give Tyler my name to avoid questions and suspicions.”

“You went through all of that alone when I should have been there with you”

“You just had your daughter then and she needed you.”

“The same way I have an obligation to protect and care for Zoe is the same way I owe Tyler an obligation to love, care and protect him. Now I feel like Shit, I feel like the worst father in the world.”

“I’m sorry.” She cried.

“If only you believed me when I told you I didn’t bed Vivian willingly, if only you had answered my calls or returned my voicemails. I’m such an idiot too, if only I had reached out to you as soon as my divorce was finalized.”

“I never saw it coming; I remember being on the pill. Tyler’s pregnancy was a shock to me, I didn’t know what to do. I had modelling contracts and all other obligations to fulfil. Thank God I always seek my lawyer’s advice before I sign any of those contracts. I only realized then that she had input certain clauses in the contract that was able to reduce the damage and that was how I escaped from being in breach.”

“Before you left, you said you were not going to marry her because you don’t feel anything for her and next, I heard you two got married.”

“I never wanted to marry Vivian, I only did it because I thought since you didn’t want anything to do with me, I might as well get married to her for the sake of the baby and give my child a family.”

“What I felt for you was something I never felt before: the feelings, everything was new to me. I didn’t know what to do in that situation but I regret giving up on you easily; I should have fought harder for you.”

“I saw Luis on the day of the so-called wedding. I knew he was hiding something but I never knew what he was hiding was an important part of me. No matter what I may have done, you should have informed me about Tyler.”

“I wanted to but I was ashamed after I learned all what you said Vivian did to you was true. I thought I wasn’t worthy of you since I did not believe you. Then I refused to come into the picture to stay out of trouble. I kept thinking of different things, what if I come back to you and Vivian hurts me or Tyler. I’ve heard stories where step-siblings grow up and they end up being enemies because one claims his step brother’s mother was the reason for his parents’ divorce. I do not want Ty to go through all of that.”

“In as much as I tried to convince myself that I was overthinking, I still couldn’t bring myself to open up to you. I’m sorry.”

“That’s the problem. You overthink things. You can think whatever you want about Vivian but I assure you that Zoe is one of the sweetest little humans you will ever come across. I understand your insecurities but still, you should have reached out to me.”

“There was no way things would work out. My life is over here and yours is hours away. Tyler gets attached to people easily and I don’t want to break his heart knowing you may not be there for him as much as he wants.”

“You should have left that to me and let me figure it out. I don’t mind flying here four times a week to spend time with him.” Christopher asked, “Where is he?”

Naomi sniffed, “Asleep, in his room. He’s not feeling well; He cried all evening because of his stomach ache. He only fell asleep a couple of minutes before you arrived.”

“What did his paediatrician say?” He asked concerned, figuring out she would have called him or her.

“She gave me instructions on what to do and the medicines to give him. If he doesn’t feel better by tomorrow morning I’ll take him to the hospital.”

“Does he know about me?” He referred to Tyler.

Naomi nodded, “I told him. He thought he was bad when he was a baby that’s why you left. I made him understand it was not your fault. You had no idea about his existence.”

Christopher felt bad about how Tyler felt. He swallowed painfully and then said. “I want to see him.”

She nodded, then ushered him to Tyler’s room. The little boy was sleeping peacefully, cuddling with one of his stuffed animals.

Christopher approached Tyler’s bed with slow steps, trying to take in everything in the room. It was a beautiful room.

He knelt by Tyler’s bed and admired the beautiful creature he and Naomi made. Soft snores were coming from him. No doubt the little boy was his, he could tell from his sleeping face, Tyler was a mini-Chris. He removed some strand of hair from his face to get a perfect view and that was when he noticed the dried tears on his cheeks. His heart went out to his son who had a stomach ache all evening. He caressed his hands. “I’ll protect you from anyone and everything including your stomach ache. I just heard about you in less than twenty-four hours but I love you so much already. I promise to work things out, we will spend as much time as we can together to make up for the lost times. I love you, Ty.”

Naomi wiped another tear that rolled down her cheeks. Even when she knew Chris was still mad at her, she was happy the heavy burden was off her shoulders, Chris now knew about his son, that was all that matters. But she hoped they would settle their differences because she needed him too.

She walked into Tyler’s closet and came out with a small wooden box with Tyler’s name and date of birth engraved on it. She handed it to Chris alongside a MacBook.

“I know it’s not the same as being there physically but I captured some of his firsts and other moments.”

As soon as Christopher collected the items, Naomi exited Tyler’s room to give both father and son the privacy they need.

Christopher got comfortable on the rug, He caressed the words that were engraved on the box. “Tyler Christian Browne:09/20/2015: 6 pounds, 7 ounces.” He smiled, Zowi was 6 pounds, 8 ounces when she was born.

Chris opened the box and went through the photos one by one, admiring each of them. He laughed at the funny ones, he smiled at the cute ones and he shed tears wishing he was there with Ty to experience the beautiful moments.

Christopher switched on the MacBook, inserted the flash drive he found in the box. There were different videos of Tyler. The first video he clicked on was the moment Tyler took his first step. He had a proud smile on his face and he shed a few tears.

Meanwhile, Naomi was in the living room, on the floor, by the sofa, crying her eyes out while hugging Christopher’s coat.