Free As Tears Go By by Lydia Michaels Page B

course, he only wanted that part of
her, not the part including her child. It was foolish of her to have led him to
believe one was separate from the other.  
    That
was exactly what she’d tried explaining to Nikki about men not wanting to date
a woman with a situation as complicated as hers. “That’s not going to work
either, Braydon. On the days I’m by myself I’m usually so whipped I can barely
hold my head up straight. I need that time to recuperate. I think you should
find someone else. I’m sorry.” She needed to go inside. No matter how logical
her words were, her heart grew heavy with sorrow and longing that there wasn’t more
she could offer. She really did like him, but her time was already pledged to
her son.
    Regretfully,
she hung her head and said, “I have to go.”
    Scooping
up the flowers, she shut the door behind her, pressing her back into the glass.
No one had brought her flowers…ever. It was a shame she couldn’t be happier
about them.

 
 
 
    Chapter Four

 
 
    Braydon
sipped his beer and stared at the bottles along the mirrored wall in front of
him. Becca had a son. A son who obviously had special needs. Funny, there was
no way he could have known that, but he kept beating himself up as though he
should have.
    Recalling
every encounter, he made sure he hadn’t been a moron and somehow missed the
moment she mentioned having a child. Nope. She hadn’t mentioned it.
    Of
course, that was probably because she’d never intended to see him again, and
when their paths crossed she’d done nothing but make it perfectly clear how
disinterested she was in pursuing a relationship. Her inexplicable reluctance
to date suddenly made sense.
    Problem
was, Bray had done nothing but fantasize about the perfect woman who’d been in
his bed and left all too soon. Realizing now her life was far from perfect, he
also acknowledged he knew nothing about special needs kids.
    His
sister in law, Sammy, sometimes taught students that needed a little extra
attention and Bray could recall a kid from grade school that had seizures, but
that was the extent of his knowledge on the subject. His ignorance made him
feel like even more of a jerk.
    How
could he be so incredibly naïve in this day and age? Reaching in his pocket, he
pulled out his phone and connected to the bar’s Wi-Fi. Opening up the Internet,
he searched, Special Needs Children, which entered him into an
overwhelming world of blurbs and articles on everything from peanut allergies
to cerebral palsy. How was he supposed to know what each condition looked like?
    He
typed in, What does special needs look like? And came across images of everything from kids in wheelchairs to kids that
looked just like his nieces and nephews.
    “Shit.”
This was getting him nowhere.
    Tossing
a twenty on the counter, he finished his beer and left. When he got back to his
apartment he called his oldest brother. “Hey, Colin.”
    “Hey,
Bray. You coming home this weekend? It’s been a
while.”
    Braydon
collapsed on his couch. “I’ve been busy with a new deal our firm’s handling.
Probably won’t be home for a while still. How’re the kids?”
    “Kids
are good. Sammy’s still not ready to try for another one yet. I’m okay with
that. You’ll never guess who is expecting though.”
    Family
news was always a welcome distraction. “Who? Mallory can’t be pregnant again.”
    “Not
Mallory.”
    “Ash?”
    “Nope,
Ashlynn’s not either.”
    He
thought for a minute. “Do not say Kate.” His eldest sister already had five
kids. She should be done. “Oh my God, Shei-devil?”
    “Wrong
again.” That was a little disappointing since Sheilagh and Alec had been
trying, but their situation was complicated.
    “Who
then?”
    Colin
laughed. “Luke.”
    “Wait,
what?” Luke was his older brother. He was married, sort of, but his spouse’s
name was Tristan. “How is that possible?”
    “They’ve
been talking about it for a while. I hooked them up with a