Mason smiled into the phone. “And I love you, Leilani.” He shook his head as another tear fell. “You know, we might have made…many mistakes…but I don’t believe Kai is one of them.” Reminiscent pride swelled as he thought of the young man who shared his blood. “He is…amazing. We created a pretty spectacular child, sweetheart.”
He heard her sigh into the phone again, but this time, contentedly. “Yes, yes we did.” She paused for a moment, and Mason pictured her tilting her head, making her long, dark hair fall over a bare shoulder. The vision brought back a lifetime of aches. “You know, given the situation over again…I don’t think I would change a thing.” Mason smiled and was about to answer, when she interrupted his thoughts. “No, I take that back…there is one thing I would change.”
Mason’s heart picked up as he waited for her explanation. When she didn’t immediately give it, he whispered, “And what would that be?”
A long, pregnant pause filled the silence of his car, amplifying the thumping beat of his heart. Just when he couldn’t stand the silence anymore, he heard her softly say, “I would have picked you, Mason. If I were allowed a redo…I’d choose you.”
(Cut scene #8. This is at the end of chapter 24, after Kai and Jessie discover Millie is okay and take her into the house to tell her about their relationship.)
Millie watched the fire engine pull away from her house, the last lingering curious bystanders finally starting to disperse, and thought about her chaotic morning. First, Kai’s natural father had called her in a panic, anxious to know if she might have any idea where to find Kai. Not having been aware that he’d spoken with Kai, that Kai knew the truth now, Millie had been shocked, and she’d started to panic a little herself. But then she’d remembered Kai and Jessica Marie’s obvious fondness for each other. If he was anywhere in the city, he would be with her, she was sure.
And so Millie had found herself doing something she’d never in a million years imagined herself doing. She’d comforted the man who had split up her son’s marriage. She assured him that Kai was most likely with his cousin. Millie had always told Jessica that Kai was going to need her support. She was sure the girl hadn’t understood why at the time, but she was equally sure that the natural caregiver in Jessica had been taking very good care of him.
Mason seemed to relax with that statement, but it was obvious to Millie he was going to go over there, that he was going to go speak with his son. Millie wanted to speak with Kai too, but she decided to let the man say his peace first. She supposed there were quite a few words the father and son needed to have with each other.
Not having been able to get back to sleep after his phone call, Millie had tinkered around her home before shuffling out to her garden. On the way back indoors, her kindly neighbor had spotted Millie and invited herself over for tea. Millie was used to the curious woman, and she didn’t mind the intrusion or the company. Besides, Betty had been the one to call an ambulance for Millie when she’d had her little tumble, so Millie felt that a little generosity was in order. And it gave her another opportunity to brag about her grandchildren anyway.
She’d been reminiscing about Kai, hoping that his heart wasn’t too broken, when the woman had dropped her teacup mid-sip and fallen out of her chair. Millie had rushed to her side and done all she could think of to help, but once poor Betty’s heart had stopped beating, it had refused to start again.
Twisting around, Millie tore her attention away from the large window framing an empty bird feeder. While she felt sad that her nosey neighbor wouldn’t be commenting on the beauty of the various birds anymore, she did hope that Kai took her up on her offer. She’d love to have him closer.
Jessica Marie and Kai were sitting close together on the couch, holding hands. Millie was warmed to see that the revelation of Kai’s paternity had made the pair even closer, instead of driving a wedge between them. Indeed, they seemed quite cozy as they watched her with awe on their faces; Kai was even stroking the back of Jessica’s hand with his thumb. For just a second, it reminded Millie of how her husband used to touch her.
Millie had repeated the story of what had happened to Betty about three times, but both her grandchildren still seemed to be reeling from the incident. Millie tried to not be offended that they both thought her so old and frail that the idea of her randomly keeling over for no good reason wasn’t an outlandish one. She didn’t feel like she was walking around with one foot in the grave. But she supposed that all youth looked upon the elderly like they were time bombs, waiting to go off at any given moment.