Mistakes We Made (Wattys2016)

Chapter Thirteen

Emma's POV

"Ma, up." I felt a tiny finger poke my cheek. I peeked out of one eye to find John standing beside my bed. That's when I sat straight up. I turned to my left and saw Kade still soundly sleeping.

"How did you get up?" I asked John as I climbed out of bed and picked him up.

"Ma, Kay!" My son pointed to man, who was lightly snoring in my bed.

"Let Kade sleep." I told him as I carried him into the kitchen. He must not have been awake for very long, nothing was out of place so he hadn't gotten into anything. Not that there was much lying around for him to mess with, my house was baby proofed to the max.

I walked back into John's room and placed him into his crib, then walked back into the hallway, leaving the door cracked open so I could watch. I let out a frustrated groan as I watched what happened next. John looked around his room, then skillfully threw his leg onto the railing and climbed down his crib. He toddled across the room and came out the door where I was waiting for him. He gave me a toothy grin.

"You climbed out of your baby bed?"
He nodded bashfully.

"You don't need to do that, you could get hurt." I swung him back into my arms and kissed his chubby little cheeks.

"Me sowwy."

"It's okay." I whispered as I squeezed him to me, giving him a bear hug.

We went back into my room, where Kade was still asleep. I glanced down at the alarm clock on my side table, it was 8:15, so I figured he had slept in enough. I sat down on the bed, and let John crawl to the other side. He started poking at Kade's cheeks.

"Kay, up." He demanded. My boyfriend didny open his eyes, John let out a huff and poked him again. "Up, pwease."

I smiled at the sight before me. How could I not? John loved Kade, he lit up when Kade came over, and Kade loved John too. He treated my son, like he was his own. But even though they looked so precious together, my heart couldn't help but break. I was keeping such a big secret from Kade. A secret that could potentially ruin not only the relationship I had with him, but also the relationship he had with John.

"Hey Buddy." His voice broke through my thoughts. He was smiling at John, not even slightly bothered that he was being woken up early on a Sunday morning. "And good morning to you too." He shot me a wink as I felt my face grow hot.

"Morning.." I smiled shyly, "Are you hungry? I can fix us some breakfast."

"Waffles!" John hopped up and bounced around on the bed. Waffles were his favorite breakfast food.

"My boy has spoken." Kade grinned as he climbed out of bed, dressed only in his boxers and help out his arms to John, who jumped into them. He came around to the side I was sitting on and leaned down, pecking my lips lightly.

"Ewww." John scrunched up his nose. This was something he had picked up at daycare from one of the other kids. Kade and I laughed as John frowned at us, obviously not finding the humor in the situation.

"I need to go buy John a toddler bed this afternoon, he has figured out how to climb out of his crib." I informed Kade as we ate breakfast.

"Alright.. well how about you and Rae go do that and I'll watch John." He offered as he picked up his glass of orange juice. I raised my eyebrows in surprise.

"You wouldn't mind doing that?"

"No. Y'all would be able to do more without having to worry about him. Besides, I need someone to hang out with."

"I don't mind taking him if you have something you need to do."

"John, do you wanna go with your mama or with me?" Kade turned to my little boy who was sitting in his high chair dipping a piece of waffle into syrup.

"Kay." He stated without even looking up from his food.

"See, listen to the kid. I promise I will take good care of him. I can take him to see mom and dad and I'll make sure he gets lunch, then we'll meet y'all back here and help put the new bed together."

I smiled, "It seems like you have it all figured out."

"I can do this, Em."

"Okay. As long as you're sure, I don't see why y'all can't hang out all afternoon." I consented as Kade's face broke out into a smile.

******

"I can't believe you actually left John with him." Rae exclaimed seemingly impressed. We were sitting on a bench outside of the mall sipping on coffee from Starbucks. We had already picked up the new baby bed. I had called to check in on the boys and let them know we were going to head home, when Kade told me that I didn't need to rush, they were doing just fine.

"Trust me, I'm worried, but I threatened him with bodily harm if anything happens to my child." 

"He loves that little boy, he's not gonna let anything happen to him." My best friend assured me. I gave her a sad smile.

"Rae, I feel so terrible for keeping this from him. I mean, I lied to his face when he asked about John's dad."

"That was before y'all were together and you were scared. This has been our secret for years. I mean how do you a tell a family that just lost someone, that their brother and son had a kid, when he didn't even know he had one."

"I'm falling in love with him and I'm lying to him. My relationship is basically a lie."

Rae got quiet. She stared off into the parking lot, watching the cars go by, then after a few minutes she turned back to me, "So tell him the truth."

"Rae.."

"Em, I'm serious tell him the truth, the whole truth. He deserves to know. We don't have to keep it a secret anymore, Jace is gone. Kade is a big boy, he can handle it."

"Do you think he'll hate me?" I bit my lip, scared of what needed to be done.

"Honestly, I don't know. I imagine he'll be hurt, probably mad that we didn't tell him, but if he loves you like I think he does, then y'all will be fine. I wouldn't agree to telling him unless I thought y'all could make it work."

"How do I even begin?" I sighed. How was I supposed to tell my boyfriend that my son, my sweet little baby, was his brother's child? How was I supposed to explain why I had kept it a secret for so long?

A/N thanks for reading! I know the updates aren't on a regular schedule but I appreciate those who have stuck by it. There will probably only be about 5 more chapters before this book will be complete. So please don't give up on it yet!