Luca
I pull away from the school, and I can swear my shirt collar is getting tighter, except it’s not even buttoned all the way up. My throat is so dry, like I just swallowed a whole bag of cotton balls. My heart is slowly starting to beat faster and faster; so much that it is echoing in my ear drums. Maybe I’m having a heart attack. Fuck, maybe I’m dying. Aiden grabs his iPad, and Eli gets on her phone, her fingers going a million miles a minute.
I pull up to the office building and park in my reserved parking spot and then check the time. “We have an hour before our meeting,” I tell her, getting out of the car and walking to get Aiden out.
“Yeah, or we can just see if he can see us now,” she says, walking side by side with me. “Aiden is going to start anytime complaining he’s h-u-n-g-r-y.” She spells it out, and I look at her. “If I don’t say it, he won’t hear me.”
“Got it,” I say, holding the door again for them and nodding at the security guard while we walk to the elevator.
We get in and press sixty for our office floor. I lean into Eliahn. “Your father doesn’t, like, have guns and shit, right?” I ask her, and she bends her head down and starts to laugh, shaking her head. “Or any weapons that I should know about?” She doesn’t have time to answer because the elevator pings, and we walk out.
“Hello, Sandy,” I say to the receptionist who is talking on her headset, answering the phones. She just nods her head at me. I turn and walk toward the left, going up the stairs leading to the offices. The glass is everywhere. We get upstairs, and the conference room is filled with people who have books and papers scattered all around them. The floor-to-ceiling window shows you everything. I wave at Harvey and then walk down another corridor.
We walk past a half white wall with four cubicles inside, including Lauren. “Good Morning,” I say, and four eyes come to me as I stretch out my hand, showing Eliahn where my office is. She walks in, and I follow her as Aiden goes to the couch in the corner.
“I’m hungry,” he says, and I look at Eliahn who gives me an “I told you so” look.
I walk to my desk, pulling out the chair, and Eliahn goes to the couch and sits next to Aiden. Lauren walks in and smiles at them and then at me. “Close the door, please,” I tell her. She looks at me confused at first, but she closes the door. She stands there waiting with her hands together in front of her.
“Lauren, this is Eliahn,” I start, and Lauren looks over at her.
Her head goes back a bit, and then I see when it clicks into place. “I’m sorry, are you Mr. Coco’s daughter?” she asks her and then looks at me.
“Yes, that would be me,” Eliahn says, smiling and then sitting up, putting her hands on her legs.
“Well, welcome home. I’m sorry I missed the barbecue yesterday. My little one is under the weather,” she says of her six-month-old baby boy.
“So,” I start saying and then look at Eliahn. I’m not sure if I should tell Lauren before Leonard or not, and she just nods at me. “Eliahn and I go back,” I start saying and think about how stupid it sounds.
Lauren turns to me. “How far back?” she asks and then looks at Aiden. She must see our same eyes because her hand goes to her mouth. “Holy.”
“Yeah,” Eliahn says. “That was our exact reaction when we came face-to-face with each other yesterday.”
I can see on her face she wants to ask all the questions; she wants to know everything, but she just turns and says, “Well, better late than never. Right?” She smiles, and Eliahn laughs.
I pick up my phone and dial Leonard’s office, and he picks up after two rings. “Mr. Coco. It’s Luca. I was wondering if I could pop in now.”
“Yeah, that’s fine,” he says. “See you soon.” And then he hangs up.
“It’s showtime.” I look at Eliahn and then at Lauren, whose eyes go as big as saucers.
“He doesn’t know?” Lauren asks the same time I shake my head.
Eliahn lets out a big breath and then holds out her hand to Aiden. “Let’s go see Grandpa,” she says, and he turns to get off the couch.
“Godspeed,” Lauren whispers and then walks to her desk. Eliahn walks to the back of the office where her father is. We pass Noah’s office on the way, but his door is closed.
Leonard’s assistant, Norma, sees Eliahn right away and squeals. “Oh my goodness,” she says, getting up and coming around her desk. “Look at what the cat dragged in.” Eliahn smiles and bends down to kiss the woman on her cheek. “And who is this handsome, handsome young man?” she says, looking at Aiden.
“Norma,” Eliahn says, her face filling with pride. “This is my son, Aiden.”
“Well, it’s nice to finally meet you.” She grabs his face, kissing his cheek. “Your grandpa told me all about you.”
“Is he busy?” Eliahn asks her, and she shakes her head.
“Never for you two,” she says. Eliahn walks to the door, knocking on it and hearing her father yell to come in.
He is seated at his desk, reading something. When he looks up and sees it’s Eliahn, he takes off his glasses and smiles over at her, getting up as Aiden runs in. “Grandpa, Grandpa,” he says, jumping into Leonard’s arms as Leonard leans in and kisses his cheek. “We went to see my new school today,” he says. “They have hockey and soccer and football.”
“Is that right?” Leonard says, smiling while he kisses his cheek. “Did you like it?”
“Yeah,” Aiden says, playing with the knot of his tie. “And I found my daddy,” he says, and I swear you can hear a pin drop. If I didn’t think I was having a heart attack before, I am definitely having one now. The room is semi-spinning, and my throat is closing up so tight I can hardly swallow.
It looks like it happens in slow motion, almost like in the movies when the head turns slowly, ever so fucking slowly, and he finally sees me standing here next to Eliahn.
“What?” he whispers, and I open my mouth to talk, but nothing, and I mean, nothing comes fucking out. Not a sound, not a word, not even a fucking breath.
“Dad,” Eliahn says, stepping forward. “It,” she starts, and her father puts Aiden down, his head turning to look at me.
“Norma!” he yells. She opens the door smiling, but her smile leaves when she takes in the stance that everyone is in. “Can you take Aiden down to the break room and see if you can get him a snack?”
“Sure thing, Mr. Coco.” She turns to Aiden. “How about we go and get you a snack? I think I saw some muffins,” she says, and Aiden hops over to her, grabbing her hand. The door almost closes, but another hand stops it, and Eliahn’s mother enters.
“Sorry I’m late, darling.” She looks around and tries to lighten the situation by going to her daughter and kissing her cheek. “Luca. Nice to see you.” She gets to her husband’s side and grabs his hand. “Honey.”
“Dad,” Eliahn starts, and I walk to her and take her hands in mine; it’s the first time I’ve touched her since all of this happened and she just looks down at our hands. But it shows her that she isn’t going to have to do this alone; she doesn’t have to fight alone because I’m here with her, and we will get through this.
“We met,” I start, and he holds up his hand.
“I’m fully aware how you met on that booze cruise shit,” he says, his voice going louder and louder. “Did you not think to wear protection? Did you not respect her enough?”
Eliahn gasps, and I square my shoulders. “With all due respect, Mr. Coco, what we did was our business and not yours.”
“You made it my business when my daughter gave birth to your child by herself.” His voice is so loud now it’s booming.
“Leonard,” Maryse says, and he turns to look at her. She leans in and whispers something in his ear, but I don’t make the break last. I speak up.
“And if I had known, I would have been by her side the entire time. Helping her in any way that I could,” I tell him, my voice never once wavering.
“Dad, he didn’t know,” Eliahn finally says. “He had no idea. And for the record, we did use condoms. They are only ninety-seven percent effective,” she starts to say, and I want to laugh about how crazy this is.
“I feel like I’m in the Friends episode,” I say quietly to her and see that she is blinking away some tears as she stares at me and smiles. “But regardless of how I found out, or of what happened before, I’m here now. I’m going to be in my son’s life with or without your approval. And if I have to go look elsewhere for a job, so be it,” I say, hoping to fuck he doesn’t tell me to get the fuck out because I don’t have a backup plan right now. “I am sorry I wasn’t there for any of it.” I look at Eliahn, and I want to say so much more, but those words are going to be said to her and not with her father there. “Aiden isn’t the only one who missed out. I missed out on a lot of firsts, and I’m not going to let anything stand in my way.”
“You can’t fire him because he got me pregnant and didn’t know, Dad,” Eliahn says. “Plus he’s the best you’ve got. You said it yourself.”
“I can get better,” he says, and now I scoff at him.
“I don’t want to toot my horn,” I say, “but I have a ninety-nine percent win rate.”
Maryse smiles at me, and Leonard puts his hands on his hips. “So, what, you find out you’re a father and what are you going to do?” he asks, and I don’t have to think about it.
“I’m going to take care of what’s mine, and Aiden is mine,” I say. “We haven’t gotten everything figured out yet, but Eliahn and I are going to put our son first like any parent should.” As a family lawyer, the stories I’ve seen where kids get stuck in the middle are more than I care to talk about. I will never use my son as a pawn in a game.
Leonard runs his hand up and down his face. “I can’t believe this,” he finally says, his tone now back to normal.
“Well, it’s a shock for all of us,” Maryse says, “but it’s their business what they do with their child.”
“If you think that, for one second, I’m going to go easy on you because you’re the best attorney I’ve got, then you have another thing coming. If for one minute, I see that they aren’t treated the way they should be treated, I’ll have your balls on a silver platter, and you’ll never practice law again.”
“Well, then I think we’ll be okay since I plan to do whatever it is that they need from me,” I tell him. “I have one goal now, and that is to make sure that Eli and Aiden are not missing anything.”
Maryse slaps her hands together. “We should go and do lunch.”
“I can’t,” I answer right away. “I have to be in court tomorrow, and I have to go over a couple of things.”
“Then a rain check? Perhaps we can have family lunch on Sunday,” she says, hopeful.
“We’ll see, Mother,” Eliahn says and then turns to me. “I know you have to go, so I’ll have Aiden stop by your office before we leave.”
“Yes, and then you can take my car home,” I tell her and nod to her parents and walk out. The breath I’m holding finally letting itself out.
When I walk back into my office, Lauren follows me. “Are we packing or are we staying?” she asks, and I laugh, going to my chair and finally sitting down. My heart is beating so hard I wonder if it will ever slow down.