Accidentally Perfect Read online

  “Wait, stop. Nathan stop.” I push up on this chest to get a better look at him. “We have not used a condom, like at all? Are you kidding me?”

  “You said you were clean, and you didn’t want protection between you and me, being husband and wife. You said you were on birth control. I told you I was clean, which is the truth, so we decided. Am I wrong?”

  Technically yes, I am on the pill, but also there is this technicality that I am not sure of the last time I physically took the pill because my life has been in a little bit of an upheaval since I found my ex-boyfriend tongue deep into some other chick’s twat. That on top of everything else my life requires of me. I may or may not be a day or two or three behind.

  “No, I’m clean. I have a prescription for birth control, but, with everything that’s transpired in my life I’m not exactly-” Crap my mother’s ringtone again. “Get up. I need to get that. She has been calling non-stop.”

  “You want me to get up, now, not finish. Like right now?”

  “Yes.” I push him off of me and get my phone. “Hello, mother.”

  “Laney, where on God’s green earth have you been?”

  Why is it that no matter how old I get, my mother can always make me feel like a child by just saying one sentence. It doesn’t matter what it is. It can be what she just said, or something as simple as asking me if I am going out in public in a certain outfit.

  “I’m not in town, mom.” I am looking at Nathan, who is currently putting his fine ass back into the jeans I am assuming he was in last night.

  “I know you are not in town, my question is not referring to your location my question is referring to the fact that I have been calling you non-stop for the past several hours.”

  “What do you need mother?” Nathan is now standing at the foot of the bed, hands in his pockets and purposely, and I know it’s purposely flexing his bare chest trying to distract me from my mother.

  “Brad and the girls have been in an accident, Laney.” This is the moment when my heart gives out; it’s no longer in my chest. It’s no longer beating, or maybe it was beating too fast. I can’t really tell right now. Instant tears spring to my eyes and Nathan is instantly next to me pulling me into his lap cradling me like I should be cradling my girls. My God. My girls. “For Christ sake Laney, did you hear me? Brad and the girls have been in an accident. You need to come home. Now!”

  “Wh, what happened?”

  “They were hit by a drunk driver. Amanda is fine, a few bumps and bruises, but Addie is in surgery right now. Her right leg is smashed, and they are trying to pin it back together. I don’t know the details. I just know that your girls need you, and you are nowhere around. Oh God Laney, where are you?”

  “Why didn’t Brad call me mother, why didn’t he call me?” I am no longer holding it together. I crawl from Nathan’s lap totally unaware that I am currently naked running around trying to gather my clothes so I can get to the airport to catch the next flight out. I don’t even realized that I’m not even in my own hotel room. I have no idea where I am. How could I be so stupid and so selfish? I am a mother goddamn it, and here I am acting like the child my mother thinks I am while my girls are suffering.

  “He didn’t call you because he is a concerned parent and the only things he’s thinking about are those girls. I suggest you hurry your ass home.” Click.

  Her world seems to be falling apart as I watch her hysterically running around the suite crying and trying to find her clothes. My heart aches for her, and I’m not even sure what is going on. My first thought is Brad; who the fuck is Brad? Is he a brother? A cousin? I pray to God he isn’t a boyfriend because she is my wife, and my wife cannot have a boyfriend. “Laney Bear, what’s going on?” I walk to her so I can touch her. I need to let her know that I’m here, that she is not alone. “What did your mother want?” She stops and faces me. Her dress is now pulled over her body covering her braless breasts and pantyless ass, I know this not because I just watched her dress, but because I ripped those puppies right off her body the night before.

  Her eyes are watery pools of chocolate. “My girls have been in a car accident with their father.”

  “You have children?” Why did she not mention this last night? Wait did she mention it last night, I would have remembered that. That is a huge fact. I knew about that asswipe Michael, but nothing else. She didn’t tell me anything; why didn’t she tell me anything else? She has kids, and they have a father. That’s when it hits me, I told her I didn’t want to talk about anything else but the two of us for the rest of the night. That’s why I didn’t know.

  “Yeah, twin girls. Surprise, Daddy.” The last part was a whisper.

  Holy crap, I have step-daughters. Not only do I have a wife, I have girls. I have a fucking family. In less than twenty-four hours, my life became complete, and I was going to make sure it stays that way.

  “Okay, let’s get you back home to the girls. Let me make some calls.”

  “What?”

  “What do you mean what? We need to get back to New York we need to get to our girls. I need to make some calls.”

  “Nathan, wait. I need to get back to New York. I need to get back to my girls. You don’t need to do anything.”

  “You are my wife.”

  “Nathan.”

  “No, you are my wife and your children are my children. I could give a rat’s ass that I have never met them…That up until about thirty seconds ago I didn’t even know they existed, but they are part of you. You are my wife; they are my girls. Now let’s get home.” That was all the convincing that it took. If I wasn’t sure of us before, I am now. She didn’t have much of an argument because she knew I was right.

  “Okay, I have to call Stell and tell her what’s going on.”

  While she calls Stella, I make the phone calls to get the jet ready, and the flight plan logged in so we can get off the ground as soon as we step foot on the plane. Hopefully with the weather and the air traffic we will be able to get up in the air and land in about three in a half hours. “What hospital are they at, baby?” I need to make sure my driver back home is aware of where we need to go because I don’t want to waste the time with incidentals when Laney needs to get to her girls, our girls.

  “Oh my god, I never asked my mother. I have no idea where they are.” Panic starts to make its presence on her face.

  “Give me your phone and I’ll call your mother.”

  “Are you freaking crazy? There is no way that you are calling her. She will have my head when she finds out what I’ve done.”

  “Why? You are a grown woman, aren’t you? Are you married to the girls’ father?”

  “No.”

  “Then we have done nothing wrong, and there is no way in hell that I am going to allow anyone, your mother or not, tell you different. You are my wife. Now give me your phone. I don’t need her getting you any more upset.”

  “No, I’ll call, please.” If that’s what Laney wants, that’s what I’ll give her. I conceded and let her make the phone call. I have a feeling her mother and I are going to have a few battles ahead of us, too bad for the monster in law; I never lose.

  While Laney is on the phone with her mother, I call downstairs to have a sweat suit, along with other items brought up from one of the stores in the lobby. I hope she doesn’t mind Prada because that is what she’s getting. There is no way I am going to allow her to fly home in that dress and those fuck me heels. The concierge is up in record time, handing me over a few bags when she comes up behind me. “They are at New York-Presbyterian.”

  “Okay, here, get dressed. There should be a sweat suit, shirt, shoes, hair brush, and toothbrush. They were supposed to include a bra and panties as well. I hope everything fits.”

  “Thank you, Nathan.”

  “Anything for you, Laney. Now get, so we can get out of here.”

  “Well, aren’t you going to clean up or anything?”

  “Troy is packing up my room at the other hotel. He will tak
e everything of mine back to New York with him and Stella when they leave on the next flight out. I have a change clothes and everything else that I may need on the plane.”

  “Wait, the plane?”

  “Yes, the plane, my plane, our plane, it’s fueled and waiting for us at the airport, so get a move on it, baby.”

  This cannot be happening. I cannot believe that my girls have been hurt and most of all; I’m not there. The only silver lining in this entire nightmare is Nathan. Hell, how am I going to explain all this to my mother? Wait, maybe I don’t have to. We can always get it taken care of without her ever knowing. Or we can just stay married, and I never have to tell her. Is it really any of her business? I’m not a child; I'm a grown ass woman who just happened to get overly drunk my first night ever in Vegas and got married. I know that I’m not the first, and I know that I won’t be the last. Hell, didn’t Britney get married and then like 2.5 hours later get it annulled. Do I want to get it annulled? Do I want to make it as though it never happened? What the hell am I going to tell my mother? “Hey, sweet girl what are you thinking?”

  “What am I thinking?” Nate squeezes me while I’m lying on this chest. We are stretched out on the couch that runs the length of one side of his plane, jet, or whatever he calls it. “I'm just trying to decide what I’m going to tell my mother.”

  “Baby, what does it matter what you tell her or what she has to say about anything that you do with your life?”

  “You don’t understand.”

  “Please don’t assume I don’t understand how difficult parents can be. Especially since you don’t even know anything about my father. Why don’t you just fill me in on your mother.”

  “It’s not just your father that I don’t know anything about, is it Nate?”

  “We’ll get there sweet girl, just give it time. I have faith in us.” I look up at him. He is such a good looking man. His honey green eyes search my face, and I know what he’s thinking. So, without any regret I lean into him and brush my lips against his. He swipes my lips with his tongue, and I don’t even hesitate to allow him entrance. His kisses warm my entire body. It wouldn't even matter if I were standing in the depths of hell, I would still want to feel the warmth of his kisses. “Stop distracting me, baby and tell me your story.”

  “Okay.” I sit back, and I begin to tell him my story. “My father came from a long line of cattlemen down in Oklahoma. His name was Lane Jacobs. I’m named after him. Even before I was thought of, my mother had stars in her eyes. She wanted a bigger life; she wanted something fast-paced, and Oklahoma just wasn’t it for her. My grandmother named her Vivian for Christ sake, how can a farm girl or a rancher’s wife be named Vivian anyway. My father was in love with my mother. She was full of life, a life that was meant to be lived elsewhere. She talked my father into leaving Oklahoma and move to New York. My father did. He left the cattle business and his entire family to move to the Big Apple.

  They had my father’s family money to live on. My mother didn’t come from anything; her family was just normal middle class living from paycheck to paycheck. My father didn’t care for the big city life, but my mother fell in love. She loved the lights and the people walking about at all hours. My father traveled back and forth between New York and Oklahoma making sure everything was taken care of on the ranch. My grandfather passed when I was just a little girl and left everything to my father. He got his uncles and cousins to help out when he came home to me and my mother. This went on for years. It seemed that my mother enjoyed the time that my father was gone more than when he was home. He spent most of the time when he was home with me, doing father-daughter things. My mother never wanted to get involved. She was too busy getting our name out there. Letting them know that the Jacobs name meant something; that we had money and thick roots in Oklahoma. New Yorkers didn’t care about that.

  When I turned eighteen, my father bought me the house that I live in now. Two years later he passed away from cancer. He never told anyone. He just lived through it. But he wanted to make sure that I had somewhere to call home. I think he knew that as soon as he was gone, the relationship I had with my mother would be a difficult one. It didn’t get any better when I found that my father only left ten percent of his estate to my mother and the rest to me. I was left control of the cattle business, the land in Oklahoma and everything else that was involved. She has always felt that she was shafted by my father. I signed over an additional twenty percent of my father’s estate to her just to try to shut her up, but it didn’t make her happy.

  I never wanted any of it. About seven years ago they found that there was oil on the land that my father’s family owned. I didn’t know what to do with it; I was tired of the attorneys calling me and hassling me about what to do. I was young, and I was still having a hard time with my father’s death and school. Finally, I signed over control to a cousin of my fathers. He and his son are taking care of everything. Whatever I make, I have assigned to a trust for my girls. I don’t need all that money, but I am glad that it’s there for them.

  In the nine years my father has been gone, my mother has been through one man after another. Finally, about two years ago she settled down and is now remarried. I think she is starting it all over again; trying to get her name out there. Trying to make something of herself, maybe something more than what she actually is. I try to stay out of it. I try to keep the girls out of it.

  Right, after my father died I met Stella. We were taking some of the same classes, and it was like she was a gift from heaven. I no longer felt totally alone. Stella did the best she could. She should win a medal for being the best, best friend in the world. Knowing that the only man that ever loved me was gone was still hard. My mother tried to find replacements, but there is no comparison to any of them that she brought to me. I didn’t even want to try to find solace within my mother when it came to my father. There was no reason for me to. I knew it wouldn’t be there. So it became me and Stella.

  Two years after my father passed I found Brad. I threw myself into him. We were both in college; he was going to get his teaching credentials; I was going to get my nursing degree. I was set on living my life for me. I was living in the beautiful home my father bought me, and I was finally living my life. I wasn’t under my mother’s thumb.

  Only about two years into my relationship with Brad, I found out I was pregnant. I was nowhere near where I wanted to be educational wise to start a family and my relationship with Brad was not where I wanted it to be. When we found out, we were having twins we got married. My mother made it seem like I was out to destroy her. She didn’t come to the ceremony. It was just small at a little church in town. Being pregnant with twins, trying to go to school and everything else was too much. I dropped out while Brad continued his education. I had the girls when I was only thirty weeks along. They were so small, but I fell in love with them instantly. I named them Amanda Lane and Adele Love. They were both born with my red hair, something that I proudly inherited from my father.

  I stayed with the girls for the first year taking classes online when I could. Then I went back to school full time. I worked non-stop on getting back on track for my nursing degree. I know that I slacked in the wife department, but my focus was on the girls and school. I wanted to be something. I wanted to make something of myself. I just didn’t want to be just a mother or a wife. I didn’t want to be like my mother who lived off of a man’s name. So I did. When the girls were three and a half, and I was almost finished with school when I found a note on my windshield one day telling me that my husband had been having an affair. I confronted Brad, and he didn’t deny it, so I kicked him out. I never gave him a second chance. I was pretty sure then, and I am still pretty sure that I was never in love with him. Maybe I love him because he gave me my girls, but I was never in love with him. So after the fiasco of the divorce and everything that entailed, I accomplished my goal; I became a nurse, and I am happily working in the oncology department at Mt. Siani.” That was it. That was
my story and the entire time I spoke Nathan never once interrupted me, questioned me and he never once stopped running his fingers through my hair.

  “You amaze me, baby. I knew the moment I laid eyes on you that you were something else. Something that I never wanted to live without. I felt your energy, I felt who you are, but never in my wildest dream would I have thought you were going to be the strongest woman in my life. I am proud to be your husband.” He kisses me on the head and gives me a squeeze.

  “I don’t think it’s strength, Nate. I think it’s me proving that I am something. My dad was the only one in my life that made me feel like I meant something. Not having him, not having my rock around anymore totally sucks. I know it’s been nine years, but I was a lot worse off than what I used to be, believe it or not.”

  She is amazing. She has no idea how amazing she is. There is so much more to her than I thought. There is so much more depth to this woman who stole my heart at the toss of her crimson hair. It seems every time she opens her mouth I fall deeper and deeper for her.

  “I know what it’s like to lose someone who hung the moon. My mom was that for me.”

  “Okay lover boy, let me hear what made you, you.”

  “Well, let’s start off by, I cannot stand my father. Being in the same room as him makes my skin crawl and my blood boil. My father, I guess, is like your mother; an opportunist.”

  “It sounds like they were made for each other.”

  “You aren’t kidding. My mother, Juliana Rose Whitmore, was a natural beauty. My God, I thought no one would ever resemble her beauty, both inside and out. The moment I saw you, you took my breath away. It was then that I finally found the same true beauty, just as I saw in my mother. And hearing your story only adds to what I already believed.” I lean down and place a kiss on her forehead. “My mother came from old money when I mean old, I mean like Vanderbilt old. She and her family were always the who’s who of New York social elite. The money didn’t matter to her. She was just good and honest, wholesome. I think that was the one thing I admired most about her; the money didn't phase her like it doesn’t seem to phase you, and I’ve never really cared about it. It was always more my father's thing. It always seemed to matter to him. It still does.