Beautiful Mistake

Isabelle wanted to close her eyes and pretend like this was all just a bad dream. When she opened them, neither Brent nor Kris would be here, Audrey and Cayden would be giggling about something, and she would be watching on with a smile. She wouldn’t have this immense feeling of guilt swelling deep within her; she wouldn’t be questioning who Cayden’s father was; she wouldn’t have to explain to her two former best friends that either one of them could be her son’s father.

But when Isabelle did open her eyes, everyone was exactly where they had been seconds before and Isabelle was left feeling mortified.

“Aren’t you proud of me, Mommy?” Cayden mumbled, breaking the silence, holding on to her leg tighter. “Aren’t you?”

She gently grabbed his hands, prying them from her leg so she could kneel down to speak to him. Isabelle brushed back his hair, looking up at him with a smile. “Of course, Honey. I’m very proud of you. Tell you what, Audrey will get you one of those chocolate chip cookies from the cookie jar since you ate all your veggies. Does that sound good Cayden?”

He eagerly nodded his head. “Yah!” he exclaimed, jumping up and down in his mother’s arms.

Isabelle looked over at Audrey, who nodded her head in understanding, before turning her attention back to her three-year-old. “Give Mommy a hug, Baby,” she cooed. Cayden quickly complied.

“I love you, Mommy,” he whispered, giving her a sloppy kiss on the cheek.

“I love you too, Cayden,” she replied back, standing up, watching as he ran over to Audrey, and the two of them disappeared off into the kitchen.

Isabelle’s back remained to Brent and Kris as she took several deep breaths. She had some explaining to do, but she had no idea how to do it.

“Izzie?” Kris called out from several feet away, his voice filled with so many emotions.

“I don’t know!” she suddenly said, much louder than she intended.

Brent took a few steps towards her. “Izzie?” he spoke, gently. “What don’t you know?” He reached her, his hand soothingly rubbing her back.

A part of her felt relaxed by his gesture, but the rest of her knew the reality of the situation—the good and the bad. With both Kris and Brent knowing about Cayden, they could find out who his father really is.

“I don’t know which of you is his father,” she whimpered, turning to face them, but not quite meeting their eyes.

“But one of us is his father?” Kris wanted to verify, trying to wrap his head around the entire situation.

Isabelle’s eyes went straight to his. “How much of a whore do you think I am?” she spoke, clearly offended by his comment. Did they really think she slept around that much? Especially during such a short period of time?

“You’re not a whore, Izzie,” Kris reassured her after Brent had shot him a dirty look. “We just want to know. I mean, you kept this from us for so long. How could you not tell us about him?” His voice was a little harsh, but after finding out such life-changing news, he couldn’t help it.

Brent rubbed his eyes, remaining temporarily silent. Isabelle couldn’t help but look over at him, trying to figure out what was going through his head, but his expression was so unreadable. Throughout knowing the both of them, Isabelle was always much more capable of being able to read Kris than Brent. While Kris was nearly an open book, Brent remained a puzzle Isabelle could never figure out.

Brent inhaled deeply, followed by an exhale. “Why did you never tell us, Izzie?” his voice deep with sadness.

Isabelle wandered over to the couch, plopping a seat. She could feel the energy drain out of her and she desperately needed some sort of break. “I couldn’t tell you,” she muttered so quietly they could barely here her.

“Why not?” Brent wondered aloud, walking over to sit next to her on the couch. “We were your best friends, Izzie, you could always tell you anything,” he reminded her.

Her eyes met Kris’. She knew what he was thinking. She knew he was trying to grasp the fact that he might have a son. She knew he hated he had missed so much of the boy’s life. And she knew Kris was not going to forgive her easily for this.

“I couldn’t tell you because of your dreams, your careers, because you would have hated me,” she tried to explain, her eyes darting forth between the two young men. “I couldn’t believe what I had done; that I slept with both you guys days a part? You would think I was some kind of slut!”

“It wasn’t your call to make, Izzie, about our careers. You should have told us four years ago when we left. It would have been our decision to make if we had known one of us had a kid,” Kris spoke, frustration dripping off of every word he spoke.

Isabelle stood up, forcefully. “And what would you have said? What would you have said four years ago if I told you I had slept with you four days after I slept with Brent?” she questioned, pointing a finger at his broad chest. “You would have been so mad you would have walked away without even a glance back! You would have ignored me when I tried to tell you that I was pregnant and that I didn’t know who the father was!” she insisted.

Kris rubbed his temples, unable to momentarily respond to her outburst. He didn’t know what he would have done a few years back. Yeah, he would not have been happy that she slept with him after she slept with Brent and after Brent had left. Yeah, he probably would have ignored her after he found out, but if he had known she was pregnant and he might possibly have been the father than he would have been there for her and their child, no matter what.

Cayden came running into the room, but stopping for a few seconds to locate his mother, before running over to her. “Hi Mommy!” he greeted, unknowingly forcing the old conversation to temporarily be abandoned. Audrey arrived in the room only a few moments later.

Both Brent and Kris found their attention focused solely on the little boy, taking in his features, wondering who’s son he was.

“Hey Cayden,” Isabelle spoke lovingly, swooping down to pick up him up, the desire to be closer to him running through her.

“Who they?” Cayden questioned as he pointed to both Brent and Kris, then looked back at his mother, a curious expression gracing his little baby face.

Isabelle hesitated, unsure how she should explain the situation to her son. “They are some of Mommy’s friends,” she decided on.

Both Brent and Kris shot her pointed looks, neither satisfied with the answer she gave Cayden, but neither spoke up.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she pulled it out, still holding on tightly to Cayden. Glancing down she saw the name Lacey in bold, flashing letters and could not help but smile.

“Excuse me,” she spoke to the room, before walking into the kitchen for some privacy, Cayden still resting on her hip.

“Hey Lacey!” she greeted her younger sister when she opened up her phone.

“Bonjour ma soeur!” the twenty-one year old spoke to Isabelle, her slight accent present.

“Please tell me you have good news?” Isabelle begged, not being able to take anymore drama or stress in her life.

“Oui! Bon news!” Lacey exclaimed. “I’m coming to Chicago.”

Isabelle froze. That was not what she was expecting, not that it was a bad thing, just a little out of the blue. “Really?” she questioned.

“Oui, oui! I miss my petit neveu!”

Isabelle smilled. “Oh thank god. I need my sister right now. I need you to come with me to my doctor’s appointment—which I still have to schedule.”

“Doctor’s appointment? Is something wrong, ma soeur?” the concern clear on her little Canadian voice.

She had a lot of explaining to do to her little sister. “It’s to find out who Cayden’s father is.”

Isabelle was never sure if this day was going to come, but now that is was approaching, she couldn’t help but wonder how much this was going to changed everything about her life. She wouldn’t be playing “Guess Who the Baby’s Daddy is” much longer.