Sister Pact: One Night Stand (book 1)

Chapter 7: Plan B

“It’s not me that you have to apologize to, it’s my daughter. Now what is your plan for her and the baby?”

Tate did not know where to begin, he’s been thinking about it ever since Viola dropped this bomb shell on him. Tate quickly put down his dessert spoon that he was using to scoop his ice-cream with and looked straight into Viola’s fathers’ eyes.

Don’t look scared Tate, Don’t show him any fear.

Tate kept repeating himself and just when he thought he was failing at it, he felt Viola’s hand land on his leg and rub it from under the table. This was supposedly supposed to be a comforting move turned him on, the opposite of what he was actually going for. Before Tate could answer a think Viola jumped in on the conversation to give her piece.

“Father, Tate and myself have not had time to talk about the future of our unborn child and I think it’s best if we were given time to discuss this matter in private”.

Viola’s father looked from Viola and then back to Tate and just like magic, the old man actually smiled and just like magic again, the smile disappeared and turned into a serious look.

“Good my daughter but I need to remind you that we’re leaving tomorrow afternoon and you need to make up your mind. You can take Tate along so that you two could have a chat”

Viola’s pupils grew wider and she struggled to understand what her father was suggesting from Tate and herself.

“Father Do you mean like now”

She asked her father trying to get clarity of it all.

“Yes. You and Tate here have thirty minuets to talk about the safety of my grandchild”

Tate tried to argue but Viola pinched him at his side and when he turned to look back at her, the look on her face was clear ‘don’t argue with him’ he read.

She took Tate by the hand and they walked up the staircase and in no time they were in Viola’s room.

“I don’t think it respectful for the two of us to be inside the room together, don’t you think?”

Tate watched as Viola rolled her eyes at him and she jumped onto her bed, leaving him standing at the door, watching her.

“What, are you afraid that you’ll get me pregnant? Because if that’s your worry my darling Tate, I’m afraid you’re a little too late for that”

Tate knew that Viola was right, she couldn’t get any more pregnant than she already was at the moment.

He didn’t talk, neither did she? Viola laid on her bed and looked at her ceiling while Tate just stood there looking out of her window. Viola did not like this that was happening between them, the night that they first meet they clicked and it was a never ending conversation in which neither of them wanted to shut up… now all they wanted to do was say nothing to each other.

Tate he knew that he had to break the silence between them, he looked at his watch and realized that five minutes had already gone by and they were getting nowhere to solving their problem.

“Five minutes have already gone by” Nothing at all, Viola just laid there and looked at the ceiling as if she was in her own little world, where she didn’t really care about anything.

“Viola acting childish is not going to solve anything between us. We need to decide what we are going to do, this is not about us—‘

He stopped in his tracks when Viola looked back him, still lying on her bed.

“You have no idea how I felt, sitting on the cold tiles inside my bathroom, just looking at the pregnancy test that clearly said that I was pregnant” Tate knew that it was not his fault, there was no ways that he was to predict that Viola of all people would be expecting his baby. But he did not say anything, so just listened to her talk on.

“And I think it hit me a little harder when the doctor confirmed it and all I could do was stare at her and pray that she was going to tell me that it was all a prank. And you know what was worse? When it all sank in that I wanted to keep this baby and the thoughts haunted me of the moment when I did not want it”

Tate could not take it anymore, he waked up to her bed and sat beside her, and he lifted her up and hugged her. Viola held onto him so tightly. She tried to speak in between her sobs by the stopped her from speaking.

He couldn’t remember how long he sat in that position with Viola but all he knew was that he wanted to make her life better for her and the baby.

“Viola I need you to do me a favor please?” Viola lifted her head from his shoulders, her eyes swollen and blood shot red, looked right back at him.

“What is it?”

Tate did not know where to begin asking her all this, he had a feeling she was not going to like it one bit, but looked at his watch one more time only to realize that he had about eleven minutes left.

“I want you to move in with me on my ranch” Viola looked at him like he was some crazy person speaking a foreign language that’s she couldn’t quite get, so Tate continued with his speech either way.

“Look it’s the best for the baby right now. The ranch is big and we there plenty of things for you to do— well not so much but the point is, the baby will have the both of us in his/her life. What do you think?”

“No!” She flat out realized Tate’s suggestion, about her moving to his ranch. He knew that she wouldn’t just jump at the idea of moving to the ranch with him but he did not expect such a reaction.

He understood the struggle for Viola, this was not the city with lights everywhere, and this was the country side where there was not all the lights that she liked.

“Viola I’m just—“

“You’re just trying to do what Tate? I’m not moving here just so that you could be close to the wilderness”

“Its not the wilderness Viola maybe you should give it a try, its actually peaceful and not like that loud city that you live in where one can’t hear themselves think!”

The minuet those words left his mouth, Tate wished he could have taken it back because the look on Viola’s face stated that she was deeply offended by what he had said.

“I think we’ve said all that we wanted to say to each other”, she got off her bed and was making her way to the exit, when Tate called her.

“Viola don’t go. So we’re just going to end it all here?” she turned to face him and this time she did not look like she had made up her mind.

“But I think we made a decision already”

“And that decision is?”

“I’m moving back to New York City, when the baby’s born you can come visit him/he whenever you want to. From then on we’ll discuss having joint custody of the child”

Before Tate could add his input Viola walked out of the room, leaving to wonder what had happened at the exact moment.

He didn’t want to give up on his baby, but the decision lied with Viola and he could not force her to stay with him if she didn’t want to do such a thing. Tate made himself but everyone was gone except of course Viola’s mother, who was clearing up the table.

“Just give her some time to think things over. Tate you have to understand you’re asking her to move thousands of miles away from the city she was born in and raised, imagine someone asked you to do the same”

He knew that Viola’s mother was saying all this out of love for her daughter and being realistic. But she didn’t not know him at all. He’s been move, he’s lived in places that wasn’t safe for any adult or child and all he wanted to do now was be stable.

They would never know a thing, keep it to yourself and don’t let the world see your scars.

Tate smiled at her and kissed her on the cheek to say his goodbyes. He didn’t remember getting into his truck but all he knows was on the road, driving himself to a place where he called home, it was safe.

He got into his house and locked the door behind him and mechanically mad himself into his room, where he removed all the fancy formal clothes he had worn for the worst possible dinner of his life.

Come on Tate it wasn’t actually the worst dinner of your life, remember when—

He stopped there, he didn’t want to remember the day when he was put down and reminded that he was a mistake all along. And to make matters worse he was an asset to everyone who got close to him.

He go into his bed and was getting to sleep when he received a text message from Viola.

I’ll be leaving tomorrow afternoon

PS. V.A

He was disappointed which want really new. She had made up her mind about moving back to New York without hiking of the safety of their baby, just like his mother. She didn’t think about hoe Tate was going to grow up without a mother to shelter him from the fears of the world.

His father was not perfect and he did have his imperfections such as having a little too much too much to drink at times but he was a good father altogether and he tried.

He dropped the phone and he went to sleep, he didn’t know how he was going to sleep well but if one has lived a life of hardship like Tate did, they would make a way to sleep.

**

“Tate wake up!” someone yelled his name, causing him to jump out of bed and quickly a shot of pain ran up his leg. His leg wasn’t properly healed and he needed to remember that.

Joe ran into the room, with beads of sweat dripping down his face leaving Tate a little concerned that something had happened to his horses or cattle’s.

“What happened?” he asked his friends who kept looking behind himself every once in a while.

“Someone here to see you”

“Who is it?”

“Well bro you have to come see for yourself”

Tate went out of his room and made his way to the living room to see who it was and low and behold, it was Mr Rylee. Someone Tate was not too pleased to see.

For years Mr Rylee has been wanting to Tate to sell a part of his ranch to his agency, who then want to sell it to some rich man who wanted to build a factory on Tate’s ranch.

“Good afternoon Mr—“

“Save it Rylee I know what you want and the answer is still a big fat no!”

The look on Mr Rylee’s face did not seem so pleased, for the past year or so he’s made Tate’s life hell. He’s been sending inspectors to inspect the ranch, made calls to the immigration to make sure that all his ranch workers were all documented an d he has even filled a report which he claimed that Tate has been neglecting his animals. But all this was proven untrue and now he was back.

“Tate I’m here make you one more deal, I’m offering you two million dollars for your ranch and that the final deal”

Tate couldn’t understand how this man had the guts to walk onto his property and make demands on him.

“Get out!”

“But—“

“I said get out of here, I’m not selling my ranch to anyone”

The man looked at Tate one more time and gave him a dirty look and Tate knew that that was not the end of things. Not long Joe walked into the house.

“I told you that’s someone was here to see you Tate”

“I know that Joe, you could have told me that it was none other than the notorious Mr Rylee. Can you believe that he had the nerves to demand that I sell him the ranch?”

“Well I’m sure that must be really irritating but he wasn’t the one I wanted you to see, someone came to see and that person is sitting at the porch waiting for you”

Tate did not feel like talking to anyone but he had to see who this person was and if that person knew what was good they wouldn’t get on his nerves the more.

Tate walked to the porch and he almost dropped. Sitting on the wooden chair was no one other than Viola smiling up at him. But then he remembered that she was leaving for New York City that morning and his mile faded.

She got up from the chair and walked up to him.

“So I guess this is goodbye, Viola?”

“No, in fact this is a ‘hello’”

Tate couldn’t understand what Viola was trying to say to him, so he starred at her quiz idly. She slapped him onto his arm and he quickly rubbed his arm, pretending that it hurt.

“I mean to say that I’ve decided to stay with you for the baby’s sake” Tate couldn’t describe how he was feeling at the moment. He was so excited that he couldn’t formulate any words to show how happy he was to have his baby and its mother here with him and on the ranch.

“I—I’m so happy, I don’t even know what to say”

“You could say that you’ll let me stay with you”

Tate nodded his agreement to her staying with him and he didn’t know how they were going to make it work but he knew that they had to try. He unlocked the door for her as she made her way into his home, which would now become their home.

Tate watched as Viola’s small figure walked around his home, as she studied every part of his living room. Some part of him wanted Viola’s stamp of approval but he wasn’t going to ask for it.

She then turned to him and smiled at him.

“You must have a generous boss”

“What? Tate questioned her and she too looked back at him with a confused look on his face.

“I mean you have a good boss, I mean for him to give you such a big house on his ranch”

Tate couldn’t help it but he burst out in laughter at Viola’s input, because he couldn’t understand why Viola would think that he was a ranch man and that he was working for someone.

“Why are laughing?”

“It’s just that you’re so funny”

“In what way?”

“Viola, I actually own this ranch”

Again Viola’s pupils dilated and her mouth was left wide open until Tate shut it with a kiss to her lips. The kiss was the most passionate that the both of them have had in a long time and Tate hoped that she Viola was not going to regret it any time soon.