CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Mickey spent three weeks in the hospital and underwent three skin graft surgeries. Brian, Paige and Olivia were at his side the entire time. Although Paige had rented a hotel room at an extended stay hotel, Brian never left the hospital.

The Atlanta Fire Department determined that candles left burning had started the fire. According to the report, Mickey was found near the front door. The fire started on the second floor, which meant he’d run through the flames to get downstairs. Brian could imagine that his son was calling for his mother the entire time.

Olivia was charged with child neglect and abandonment. Her arrest made headlines and ruined her chances of designing a gown for Monica Kauffman. Brian had his attorney, Gerald Johnson, file papers to reverse the shared custody agreement. The day the papers were filed, Brian and Paige brought Mickey home.

Most of his burns had healed, but he walked with a slight limp because of the skin grafts on his left leg.

“Are you happy to be home?” Paige asked as she fluffed a pillow for him to prop his leg up on.

Mickey nodded. He hadn’t talked much since they returned to Elmore. Brian wondered if he needed to send the little boy to therapy. “Hey, little man, I got some snacks for you,” Brian said as he set the tray on the coffee table. “You want some juice?”

The little boy nodded. Brian hoped to lift Mickey’s spirits with his favorite snacks, Goldfish crackers, apple slices and peanut butter.

Paige stood up. “I’ll get it,” she said, and then disappeared into the kitchen.

Brian sat down beside Mickey. “Champ, why don’t you say something? What’s wrong?”

Mickey looked up at Brian. “I told you I didn’t want to go to Atlanta.”

Brian pulled the little boy into his arms. “I know and I’m sorry this happened to you, but I promise you, it will never happen again. No one will ever hurt you again.”

“What if Mommy tries to make me go back?”

Brian shook his head. “Not going to happen. Your mother, if she wants to see you, will have to come here, all right?” He kissed him on the forehead and Mickey seemed to relax in Brian’s arms. Paige walked into the living room holding three glasses of apple juice.

“All right, guys, here’s some apple juice,” she said. 


“Thank you,” Mickey said meekly. Paige kissed him on the cheek. “You’re so welcome.”


The three of them sat on the sofa munching on the snacks and watching the Cartoon Network’s marathon of Scooby Doo, Mickey’s favorite show. Brian looked at Paige, who had draped her arm around his son’s narrow shoulders. This felt like a real family and he wanted to make it so. Paige loved him and his son. Mickey began to yawn.

“Do you want to go lie down?” Paige asked.

Looking at his father, he nodded. “Yes, ma’am,” he said. Paige stood up and held her hand out for Mickey and then led him down the hall to his bedroom. Brian cleaned up their glasses and leftover snacks. When he was walking back into the living room, so was Paige.

“I’m worried about him,” she said quietly. “He may be suffering from post-traumatic stress.”

Brian sat down on the sofa and patted the cushion beside him. She sat down and leaned her head on his shoulder. “I was thinking earlier that I should take him to see a therapist. Mickey was already having a hard time dealing with his mother leaving before she pulled this crap. I hope Judge White is having nightmares.”

Paige stroked Brian’s cheek. “You know, Mickey isn’t the only one I’m worried about. When’s the last time you slept for more than two hours?”

Brian looked into her golden eyes. “I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in weeks and I won’t until I have sole custody of my son.”

Paige nodded and squeezed his hand. “You’re certain to get it now,” she whispered. “But you won’t be any good to that little boy if you don’t take care of yourself.”

Brian brushed his lips against her forehead. “I don’t know. Sometimes I feel that it doesn’t matter that I’m a good father because the system is set up to make sure mothers win, even when they don’t deserve to. I’d always heard that, but I never believed it.”

Paige stroked his arm. “It’s not often that fathers fight for their children. I mean, my father left my mother and didn’t bother to even set up visitation. But you’re a good father and the judge can’t ignore that,” she said.

“He did before. I knew she shouldn’t take him. I mean, Olivia loves her son, but ever since she’s been on this ‘my career’ kick, her priorities have seemed off. How did she go from wanting to put our family back together to leaving my son to nearly burn to death?”

“Brian, you can’t dwell on what happened the first time around in court. You can’t walk around mad all the time, either. That anger will eat you up inside and make you bitter. That’s not going to do you or Mickey any good,” she said.

Brian gave her a lopsided smile. “I used to wonder how you got your job. But now I see why. You make sense,” he said.

“I should be offended by that, but I’ll let you slide today,” Paige replied.

“You know what I mean,” he said, trying not to start an argument.

“I hear you.” Her voice was peppered with annoyance. 


Brian squeezed her tightly. “Come on, babe, don’t be mad at me. I don’t need any more conflict in my life right now.”


“Brian, why don’t we sit here and not talk,” she retorted as she looked out the window.

Knowing that he’d messed up, Brian stood and headed for the kitchen. He opened the freezer and pulled out a half a gallon of butter pecan ice cream. He filled a bowl and stuck two spoons in it. He returned to the living room and held the bowl out to Paige.

“Peace offering?”

She smiled warmly. “All right, I accept.”


Brian set the bowl on the table and scooped up a spoonful of ice cream and fed it to her. 


“Will you stay with us tonight?” he asked. 


Paige nodded and took the spoon out of his hand. “I’m sorry about before. I’m just a little tired and my fuse is short.”


Brian wanted to ask her when wasn’t her fuse short, but for the sake of a peaceful night, he just scooped some more ice cream and popped it into her mouth.

They sat in a comfortable silence listening out for Mickey in case he had another nightmare. His sleep had been plagued by horrible dreams that caused him to wake up screaming in the middle of the night. Although he couldn’t take Mickey’s pain and nightmares away, Brian was going to make sure that when Mickey woke up crying for someone, he’d be there.

Paige stretched and leaned against Brian. “Do you want me to go check on Mickey before we go to bed?” she asked.

“I’ll do it,” Brian said. He stood and headed down the hall. Paige followed him, wrapping her arms around his waist as he stood in the doorway of Mickey’s room. Brian patted her hands. Being here like this felt so natural.

“Paige,” Brian murmured. “Marry me.”


“What?” she asked, dropping her hands. 


Brian spun her around and looked deeply into her eyes. “Marry me. I love you and my son loves you. You’ve already become a part of our family. Let’s make it official,” he said.

Paige shook her head from side to side. “Brian, I don’t know if— Is this about your custody case?”

He sighed and rolled his eyes. “Forget it, I’m just tired. I wasn’t thinking.”

“Brian, I do love you, but marriage is a big step,” Paige said.

He threw up his hands, “Fine, I’m going to bed.”

Paige climbed into bed beside Brian, who had his back turned to her. She couldn’t help wondering if Brian’s proposal was motivated by his quest to win sole custody of his son. But maybe it wasn’t. What if this was simply about him wanting to spend the rest of his life with her? While she wasn’t sure if she was ready to be a wife and a mother, Paige loved Brian and Mickey with everything inside her. She couldn’t imagine her life without either of them. She reached out and ran her finger down the center of his back.

“Brian,” she said quietly. “Are you sleeping?”


“Trying.”


She dropped her hand and turned over on her side. “You know how I feel about you. But you have to understand why I’m a little apprehensive about accepting your marriage proposal.”

“Paige, why don’t you drop it,” he said. “You said no, let’s just move on.”

She threw the covers back and hopped out of the bed. “You can be selfish sometimes, Brian. I know you’re going though a lot right now and you love your son, but that doesn’t mean you can just piss on my feelings and try to use me as a tool in your on-going battle with your ex- wife.” Paige grabbed her jeans and tee shirt from the floor and angrily pulled on her clothes. “I want to be with you, but I don’t know if I’m ready to get married. It’s better you find that out now than ten years down the road when we end up hating each other.”

“Are you staying or going? I’m going to try and get some sleep.”

His coldness shocked her. Paige threw her hands up and stormed out of the bedroom and the house. Hot tears of anger and disappointment stung her eyes. Why was he being such a hard ass? He had just gotten out of a marriage, so he should understand her wanting to take things slowly. She knew that he was the man for her, but shouldn’t they wait until things in his life calmed down before they started planning their future? Paige slammed into her house and went into the kitchen and grabbed a can of diet cola. She popped the top just as the phone rang.

“What?” she snapped. 


“Paige,” Brian said quietly. “I overreacted.”


“You do that a lot and I’m getting damned tired of it,” she said. “You’re stressed and you have a lot weighing on you, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to be your verbal punching bag.”

“Oh, okay, you can stop with the over-dramatization,” Brian said.

Paige ended the call and tossed her phone across the room. Why does every thing have to be so damned complicated, she thought as she downed the soda.

Brian held the phone in front of his face as the dial tone sounded in his ear. Maybe he was going about this the wrong way, but when did a marriage proposal make a woman turn and run? He loved Paige and she said she loved him. What was the problem? He felt as if he had been sucker-punched. Brian threw himself on the bed. Lying on his stomach and clutching the pillow, he muttered something under his breath about the fickle nature of women.

“Daddy,” Mickey said from the doorway. “Can I sleep with you tonight?”

Brian turned over and smiled at his son. “Sure, champ,” he said as he lifted him into the bed. “How are you feeling?”

Mickey shrugged his shoulders. Brian checked the bandage on his leg to make sure he wasn’t bleeding. He held his son and watched him sleep, wishing Paige were there with him, sharing this moment. All right, he thought, I have to prove to Paige that this has nothing to do with custody, that I just need her in my life.