Skater Boy

Chapter 17

Daydreams Not Welcome

Scarlet

As uncomfortable as it was after Mason kissed the crap out of me, he still showed up everyday to see Bentley. It was still really hard for me to let Mason get close to my – our son, but Mason was right, to an extent, he did have the right to see Bentley.

So on the days that the day care couldn't take him, I left him with Mason and the other 'Uncles' by this point all of Fallen Empire had met mine and Mason's son.

Bentley was loving it though, they were all teaching him how to play music, there were even days that Nikki and Cleo would join them in taking care of Bentley – that was, after Cleo and Rock got their shit together.

Bentley would go on and on about how he loved hanging out with his Aunts and his Uncles. How they were always playing with Lego or video games, and how they would sometimes play moosic.

I loved that Bentley was gaining a relationship with the people that I had considered my family at one point or another but at the same time I was so scared that I was going to lose Bentley to Mason and his moosic.

"Mummy okay?" Bentley asked, yawning. My sweet boy has been with his 'Uncle' Mason all day.

"Yeah baby, I'm okay." I kissed his head and pushed his blonde hair off his forehead. "I love you."

"Love you mummy." I smiled at my son and with the Harry Potter picture book I splurged on under my arm I closed his door behind me.

Usually at this time I would do something with my time alone, sometimes I would dance in the lounge room, or I would bake something for snacks for the week, tonight however I was lying in my bed, reading.

Okay I was actually imagining what it would have been like if Mason knew about Bentley before I got sent away.

Where would we live? What would we be doing? I hope that Mason wouldn't give up on his music because of the baby, I was probably dancing and teaching dancing maybe even one day opening up my own dance studio.

Maybe we would be living in the suburbs around here, a white picket fence and maybe a dog, I've always wanted a chocolate lab, I could imagine Bentley jumping around with the little puppy.

The image made me smile, but I shook my head, knowing that this daydream was not welcome to settle in my brain, but they did, and they made me realise that I wanted more with Mason, and that maybe just maybe my dream of that little house in the suburbs, with Mason, Bentley and the puppy, might not be so off.

Bentley woke me up, by crawling into my bed, and a big smile on his face. "Hey baby, what's made you so happy this morning?"

Usually Bentley was a bit of a grump any time before nine am, so having this in the morning was a bit of a surprise. "Uncle Mason said that you were going to spend the day with us at his house."

I wanted to roll over and groan, but I knew that Bentley would ask too many questions, so I just plastered a smile on my face. "That's right. I wonder who else is going to be there?"

"I don't know!" Bentley started to jump up and down on my bed, "Mummy! What's for breakfast?"

I cooked up some French toast for Bentley's breakfast, which he woofed down, my little guy was hungry, I smiled as I sliced my last piece of toast.

Bentley and I got ready, fairly quickly, Bentley insisting on wearing his favourite shirt and making sure that his hair was perfect before we walked out the door. I was still without a car, so we walked the whole way to Mason's.

It took us a whole lot longer to get to Mason's, but when we got there Bentley basically took off towards the apartment lobby. "Bentley! Wait!" I called as I ran after him.

Bentley just laughed and pushed the button to Mason's intercom. "Hey!" his voice came over. "who is it?"

"It's Bentley!" my son shouted with a massive smile on his face. What was going on with him? Oh crap! Has Mason said something to him? About us? About who he is? "Come on up buddy."

The door buzzed and Bentley grabbed my hand leading me into the building, he didn't even knock when we got to the door, just went straight inside and hugged the crap out of Mason, I however was frozen in the door way, because Mason's parents and his little sister were standing in front of him. "Mason." Tracy started but stopped, she turned and saw me, covering her mouth she tried to cover her sob. "Scarlet." She rushed over to me, I was so scared for a moment, I thought she was going to attack me for leaving her son in such a way but instead she wrapped her arms around me. "He's beautiful." She whispered in my ear.

I had to choke back a sob myself, I noticed Frank watching my son talk to Mason, his face was one of complete amazement. I can't believe that he did this, he told his family about Bentley? What did he tell his family about Bentley?

I pulled away from Tracy and walked over to Mason and Bentley. The look I was giving Mason, said it all. "Bentley why don't you hang out here for a second while your mother and I go and talk."

"Okay!" was all he said running over to the recliner and making himself comfortable, I grabbed Mason's hand, and with a smile thrown at his parents I dragged him outside.

"What the hell are you thinking?" was all I asked, when the front door closed. "You brought them here? Why? What have you told them?"

"Whoa, easy there Scar, I didn't know that they were coming, they literally just showed up on my doorstep. I knew that Ben was going to be here today with you, so I told them about him but I also told them that Bentley didn't know who I was, so he wouldn't know who they were. I also told them that they were not to say anything to him about us, or about who they are."

I looked at him, gazing into his eyes, trying to see if he was lying to me. With a nod, I opened up the door to see Bentley still sitting on Mason's recliner and was talking, having the time of his life with Isla, Tracy and Frank. "And then mummy took us to the café where I meet Aunt Cleo and Aunt Nikki." My son smiled at his captive audience.

"Hey Ben." Mason called over from his spot next to me. "Why don't you show my dad the R2-D2 you've been making." Mason suggested with a tilt of his head. Bentley thought it was a fantastic idea, and started telling Frank all about what he, Uncle Rock and Uncle Mason had been building. Frank threw me a look, that made me want to cry before he followed his grandchild into his son's room.

"Scarlet." Tracy said grabbing my attention. "Honey, don't you just look amazing." She said with a smile that made me wonder what I did to put it there.

"Thank you Tracy, although I don't know what I did to deserve your kindness at the moment." I said honestly, knowing that there was no way I could lie to this woman.

"Scarlet," she walked around the recliner and pulled my hands up from my sides, and held them in her own hands. "Honey, Mason told us what happened, we saw the letters and the photos. Scarlet you are so brave, you went through all of that without anyone to help you. Frank and I don't really understand your reservations about telling Bentley about his father but we will respect it. Just promise me that some day he will know about who Frank and I really are."

"I promise you Tracy." I said hugging someone that I felt was my own mother, I pushed her black hair out of my way and buried my face in her comforting scent.

"Thank you sweet girl. Thank you."