One Wild Night

So many thoughts ran through Tom’s head as he looked at Candace who was standing in front of him, but the most prominent was that not only was she the mom of his favorite kid at the moment, but she was also Harry’s twin sister and Lucy’s cousin.

Now that he looked at her closely, he could admit that there was a resemblance between them. One he would never have looked at her long enough to take note of until now.

Based on his experience as a businessman and how good he was at reading people, he could tell that she was feeling very anxious judging by the way she looked back at him with both hands tightly gripping her handbag.

“It’s good to see you again, Candace,” Tom said with a wide welcoming smile as he stepped forward and opened his arms to embrace her the way he only welcomed family since she was family to him now.

Candace stood stiffly as he embraced her. It was weird being welcomed and embraced this way by Tom especially considering the cold reception she had received from him when they first met.

Now she had to wonder if he was being this welcoming only because of Harry or if he had come to be comfortable with her since she remembered that he had promised to take care of her and Jamal even before all these revelations came up.

Tom pulled away, and looked into her face, “Jamal is inside. He will be very happy to see you,” Tom said, and the worry lines between Candace’s brows relaxed as did her grip on her handbag.

“I’m sorry for imposing him on you the way I did. And thanks for looking after him and for every…”

“I will stop you there. There’s no need for an apology or gratitude. Especially now that we are family. I believe everything happened as it was meant to. You have raised such a fine kid,” Tom said, and Candace’s eyes lit up.

“He’s something, isn’t he?” She asked, and Tom smiled.

“He definitely is. Although he has been a thorn in my flesh. He seems to have a thing for older women. Your boy wants Lucy to be his girlfriend,” Tom said, wanting to relax her since he had noticed she seemed to lighten up whenever she talked about Jamal.

“Lucy?” Candace asked in amusement. Was that why Jamal had said he most preferred Lucy?

“I have no idea why he is so smitten by her,” Tom said, and Candace grinned.

Thinking about it now, Lucy was the first adult Jamal had met in the house apart from the household staff. He had run into her that morning while he looked around Tom’s house. Perhaps it was love at first sight for her son. Who would have thought his first crush case would be for a lady old enough to be his mother?

“I will do my best to advise him to leave your girlfriend alone,” Candace said, and Tom gave her a nod.

“That will be very much appreciated,” he said with mock relief before looking at her with serious eyes once again.

“Harry is not here right now, so I won’t be doing any introductions. Aaron only knows that his daughter is alive, he doesn’t know we have found you already so you don’t have to be pressured. This way you can see how wonderful he is for yourself, and won’t have to think he’s only pretending to be good to you when he finds out you are his daughter,” Tom said, and Candace took in a shuddering breath and gave him a forced smile as she glanced at the door behind him.

“Please be at ease, Candace. Although emotions are high right now, everyone is happy to have you here. Aaron and Harry will be most delighted to meet you,” Tom assured her since he had noticed the worry in her eyes.

“Thanks,” Candace said with a nod.

“Are you ready to go in?” He asked, and she gave him a nod again.

Tom opened the door and stood back for her to go in, while the eyes of Aaron, Jamal, and Lucy moved to the door.

“MOMMY!” Jamal who was seated on the bed with Aaron screeched loudly as he tried to get down from the bed, and Lucy smiled as she stood up and helped him get down.

They all watched in amusement as Candace crouched down at once and held out her arms to catch Jamal who flung himself at her, her eyes gleaming with so much love for him.

She buried her face in his hair and inhaled deeply as she embraced him while his tiny arms went around her neck.

“I missed you so much, Jam. You missed me too, didn’t you?” Candace asked with a happy smile as she pulled away from the hug to look into his face and ran her hands over his hair, face and body.

Jamal bobbed his head, “I missed you very much, but Lucy and Tom were very good to me so it wasn’t so bad without you,” Jamal assured her as he touched her face, and Candace smiled as her gaze moved to Lucy and she gave her an acknowledging nod without looking in Aaron’s direction. She couldn’t bring herself to look the man in the face yet even though she could feel his gaze on her.

“Are you back now? Did you and the lawyer lady catch the bad people?” Jamal asked curiously, and Candace smiled as she gave him a nod even though a lump had formed in her throat because his father was one of the bad people and was dead now.

She knew that a day would come in the future when she would have to tell Jamal the whole truth about Jero. Although, Jamal was very smart and already knew that Jero wasn’t really a good person since they both didn’t exactly have a good father-and-son relationship, but he would need to know how his father died.

“Yes. We caught the bad people so I’m back,” she said, and a different worry entered Jamal’s eyes as he looked at her.

“Does that mean we have to go back home soon? Can we just stay here with Tom and Lucy instead? I’m sure they won’t mind since they have enough room for everyone, right Tom?” Jamal asked, and Tom gave him a nod.

“See? And Tom already promised to give you a job in his company. He has a really big company, I checked it out myself. And he said he will give us a car too if I leave Lucy alone. Can we stay here please?” Jamal asked, and Candace’s brows pulled together in a puzzled frown as she looked at Tom who was looking at Jamal with a mixture of interest and amusement.

She didn’t know what to make of Jamal’s words about promises of a job. She could ask him about it later. This wasn’t the place or time for that conversation, so she cleared her throat.

“Why don’t we talk about it later, sweety? We can discuss the pros and cons then, agreed?” She asked, and Jamal gave her a nod making Tom raise a brow since the kid seemed to know what his mother meant by pros and cons.

It was easy to see why he seemed so intelligent and mature for his age. His mother spoke with him like a grownup.

Candace straightened but continued to hold Jamal’s hand as her gaze finally moved to the bed and settled on Aaron.

Both Aaron’s and Candace’s hearts skipped a beat as they looked at each other but neither of them said a word as they held each other’s gaze.

For some reason, Aaron couldn’t explain he felt his heart ache as he watched her. The kid had reminded him of Harry, and looking at the kid’s mom was reminding him of Sara. Why? Was he seeing things now simply because he had been told his daughter was alive?

Looking at her, he could tell she was in her twenties. Probably her late twenties somewhere around Harry’s age. If his daughter was alive then she would be around this same age.

“Mommy, come to say hello to grandpa Aaron. His heart is sick. Someone hurt him and he cried in his sleep. I had to hold his hands to help him feel better,” Jamal said as he pulled Candace towards the bed.

Jamal was already calling him grandpa Aaron? Candace mused as she let herself be drawn toward the man she had been told was her biological father.

The man, who she observed was watching her with thoughtful eyes. She was familiar enough with hurt and pain to recognize them in his eyes even as they assessed her.

As they approached the bed, Lucy exchanged a look with Tom before rising from her seat, “You are welcome back,” she said with a warm smile as she embraced Candace whose gaze had now shifted from Aaron to her.

“Jamal has been a delight,” Lucy said as she broke the hug, and Candace smiled.

“It’s good to know he wasn’t too much of a bother. Thanks for watching over him,” Candace said before glancing at Aaron.

“Aaron meet our friend Candace. Candace, this is Aaron,” Lucy said, wanting to keep the introductions light and easy.

“Hello, sir!” Candace greeted while Aaron continued to watch her without saying a word.

“It’s good to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you from Jamal. You raised a precious kid,” Aaron said after some time, and Candace smiled.

“Thank you.”

“Your boy has been keeping me company since I woke up,” Aaron said as he glanced at Jamal who was standing beside his mother.

“You should embrace him,” Jamal said as he pulled Candace closer to the bed.

“I always feel better whenever I’m hurt and she embraces me. Aunt Andy always says mummy’s hug works like magic,” Jamal said, while Lucy moved away from the bed to go stand beside Tom as they watched the scene in front of them.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, sweety,” Candace said with a shake of her head.

“Please, mommy. He was crying in his sleep and he said his heart still hurts. Right?” Jamal asked Aaron, and Aaron smiled at him.

“Don’t wear your mother out, boy. She must be exhausted from her trip. Why don’t you both go home and get some rest?” Aaron suggested, and although Candace wanted to do that, she couldn’t move.

“I’m not done telling you my story yet. And I promised not to leave your side,” Jamal reminded him.

“You won’t be leaving me alone. I have Tom and Lucy here with me. And you can tell me the rest of the story some other time,” Aaron pointed out.

“You look exhausted, Candace. Why don’t you sit down for while let’s get you something to drink?” Tom suggested, and Candace gave him a nod as she lowered herself to the seat that Lucy had vacated.

​ “Aaron, we will be back. Do you want me to get you something to drink?” Lucy asked, but Aaron shook his head.

“I’m fine,” he said and his gaze shifted to Jamal.

“You can get the boy ice cream and cookies if his mom doesn’t mind,” Aaron suggested, and Jamal’s eyes lit up as he turned beseeching eyes to his mother.

“Everyone is full of praises for you today, so I guess you earned it,” Candace said, and he smiled at her happily.

“Alright then. We will be back soon,” Tom said before walking away with Lucy.

Once they left Aaron sighed. Why did he feel like they had deliberately left him alone with the mother and kid to give them privacy?

If he didn’t already know that Jamal had been living with Tom and Lucy for almost a week now he would have thought Candace was his missing daughter, but it didn’t make sense since Lucy had only just found out about his missing daughter the previous day.

What were the chances that his missing daughter was so closely associated with Harry’s best friend? It didn’t make sense, Aaron mused with a sigh.