Chapter 2
1 –
Agnes didn’t stop at her place to gather her or Cassius’s things. She just headed to the airport and immediately booked a flight to Los Angeles. She figured she could easily get lost there and that she and Cassius would never be found.
As the lights of New York City faded from view, she looked at her son in his car seat. He was so precious and definitely worth running away for. He had always been her little protector and now she would be his. She reasoned that she knew nothing about this Deacon Sharpe guy. There was no way she was handing her pride and joy over to him.
She arrived in Los Angeles in the early hours. She thought briefly of going to see her brother but cast the thought aside almost immediately. Oliver would be sympathetic to her plight, yes, but he’d also have too many questions that she couldn’t answer.
She found a cheap hotel room and paid with cash. As she lay down with Cassius on the bed, spooning him into her arms, she tried to convince herself that she had done the right thing.
2 –
She had been back in Los Angeles for a week and looking over her shoulder every second. She needed a job and a real place to stay but was afraid if she flashed her ID around town, she would alert the cops – who were surely looking for her – that she was laying down roots here.
It was only when she could no longer pay the motel bill and feed Cassius too, that she knew she had no choice. She had to reach out to someone.
“Oliver, here we come,” she said as she stood on his doorstep at the beach house, raising her hand to knock. Cassius was on her hip, looking around inquisitively at his new surroundings.
The door opened in short order and a mocha-skinned woman stood there in a baggy blue tee-shirt. She looked sheepish and Agnes could relate. “Sorry, I must have the wrong address,” Agnes said.
“Wait, are you – are you Agnes Jones?” The woman asked, tucking a strand of her tangled black hair behind her ear.
Agnes paused on the doorstep – or froze, more accurately. “Uh… How – how did you know?”
“You look a lot like your brother. Plus he has a picture of the two of you on the mantle.”
Agnes sighed. “You and Oliver …?”
“Yeah,” she said. She smiled at Agnes and then Cassius. “Do you two want to come in? Oliver should be back in any moment; he just went out on a coffee run.”
“It’s alright; I’ll come back another time,” Agnes said. She started to turn away but Cassius suddenly burst into tears and she could smell that he needed a diaper change. She turned back around to face the woman. “On second thought…”
“Come on in,” the woman replied with a bright smile. She held back the door and Agnes cautiously proceeded inside as if she thought Deacon would jump out at her from behind the door, but of course, he didn’t.
Agnes learned in short order that the other woman’s name was Maya and that she and Oliver had been an item for going on three months now. She seemed very nice and Agnes relaxed in her presence enough to accept a bowl of Cheerios for Cassius and a cup of coffee for herself.
The two women were talking about the crazy weather L.A. was having when the door opened and Oliver walked inside. His eyes widened when he spotted Agnes sitting on the sofa, holding a baby in her arms. “Aggie?”
“Hey, little brother.”
3 –
Oliver was shocked to find out that Agnes had a son and that he had never known about. He said it made sense though that every time he had called, she would quickly hang up as if she were hiding something. Oliver said he didn’t understand why she would keep everything a secret. Agnes didn’t want to explain but in the end, she told him the truth about the one night stand with Deacon and everything that had gone on since then - including running away in the middle of the night.
“So this Deacon guy – is he a bad guy?” Oliver asked as he watched Agnes bouncing Cassius on his knee.
“I don’t know,” Agnes admitted. “I don’t know him.” And for the first time since this all began, she felt badly for Deacon. But she wasn’t about to turn around now.
4 -
Agnes and Cassius moved into the spare room at the beach house, at Oliver’s insistence. In a couple of days, Agnes asked her brother if he could help her find a job and he said he could. As much as she wanted to spend every waking moment with her son, it wasn’t possible. Oliver couldn’t afford to support two people and even if he could, Agnes wouldn’t ask.
In short order, Oliver got her a job as an assistant to Brooke Logan at Forrester Creations. It would be weird walking back into that place but she would do it. For Cassius. Everything she did; she did for her son.
Agnes enrolled Cassius in the company daycare. She would spend every lunch break in the nursery playing with him or just holding him.
People were happy to see her again, or so they said. Hope Logan had given her a big hug the first day on the job and they struck up a friendship. When Hope lost her fiancé Liam to his ex once again, Hope cried on Agnes’s shoulder. She gently pointed out that there were other fish in the sea. Hope sniffled. “Maybe…” she said. Agnes was aware that a guy named Wyatt was hot for her and she thought the two had couple-potential. In a few weeks time, when Hope and Wyatt were an official item, Agnes felt the smallest prickling of envy. She wanted to be adored, she wanted to be loved that way, but knew it could never happen for a woman like her.
5-
It had been three months since Agnes had fled New York City. Though she still looked over her shoulder sometimes, she wasn’t as scared as before. She started to believe that she and Cassius were safe. That no one could or would take them away from each other.
One day Agnes was at the office, having just dropped Cassius off at the daycare downstairs. Brooke spotted her walking off the elevator and moved over to her. She was in a huff. “Brooke, what’s wrong?” Agnes immediately asked, for she knew it was her job to do so. Brooke was an okay person but she and Agnes were not particularly close or even comfortable with each other. Brooke didn’t seem like the type of woman one befriended and vice versa.
“It’s Hope’s father – scratch that, he’s not her father. Just because they share DNA –“ Brooke broke off. “He’s here – with Hope. And I wanted her to not be so accepting of him after all he’s done but she welcomed him with a big hug. A hug! He’s going to break her heart all over again. I just know it.” Brooke shrugged and a tear rolled down her cheek. “No matter how much we want to protect our kids, we can’t, can we?” Agnes nodded as she looked away.
Brooke sent her on a few errands outside the office and when Agnes returned, she noticed that the door to Eric’s office was still closed. Hope and her Daddy must have a lot to talk about, she mused. She delivered a carafe of coffee to Brooke and then it was lunch time. She started to head down to the nursery when the door to Eric’s office opened. She was curious for some reason about Hope’s father. All she had ever heard about the unnamed man was that he was bad, bad news. A user, a rake.
Still, she was intrigued. He couldn’t be that bad. Hope had turned out to be a lovely woman. She certainly couldn’t have inherited all of that charm from Brooke.
Agnes pressed on the elevator’s DOWN button and was about to climb on when she heard voices. She looked up instinctively and couldn’t believe who she was seeing. The man with Hope was none other than Deacon Sharpe. The irony was not lost on her. She tried to run but Deacon spotted her then and rushed for her, grabbing her arm. She tried to shake free but he held fast.
“Let go of me you bastard!” she hissed.
Hope looked understandably perplexed. “What the – what is going on here, Deacon?”
“Hope, call the cops,” Deacon said. “I want this crazy woman arrested for stealing my son.”
“Your –“ Hope’s face showed a mixture of sadness and shock. “How? I mean, I think I would know if Cassius was kidnapped. Agnes wouldn’t do that.”
“Oh she would and she did,” Deacon said. He hissed at Agnes who was about to kick him in the groin and run. “Call the cops, Hope, please. She can’t get away with stealing your little brother from me - again.”
6 –
Deacon had wrestled Agnes into a chair and pinned her in it so she couldn’t get away. The commotion brought everyone in the office running. Oliver arrived and demanded Deacon get his damn hands off his sister. Deacon relented when Oliver punched him. Agnes tried to bolt but by then the cops were coming in the door. Oliver watched helplessly as Agnes was led away in handcuffs, tears streaming down her face, screaming to her brother, “Take care of Cassius. Don’t let Deacon near him.”
Agnes spent the night in jail, unable to see any visitors. In the morning, she was to be arraigned. But in the wee hours she learned that she had been “sprung”. She thought Oliver had done it but when she was released, none other than Deacon was waiting at the gate for her. She couldn’t believe it and barked at him, demanding to know what he wanted.
“My son,” Deacon said. “I want to be a part of my son’s life. Why is that so hard for you to understand?”
“You can’t be near Cassius. You’re a bad influence.”
“Says everyone, but before you decide that, why don’t you get to know me? I swear I’ll be a good father to Cassius. All I want is the chance.”
“No.”
“I will get custody, Agnes, one way or another. And if you try to run again, I will have the book thrown at you for real this time and get custody of our son anyway.”
“He’s not your son! He’s mine.”
“You didn’t make him alone, Agnes, dammit. That makes him mine too. I’ve made a hell of a lot of mistakes but all I ever truly wanted was to know my kids. I haven’t had that opportunity because I never got to raise even one of them.”
“How many are there? How many women did you run around knocking up?”
“Stop it. There’s Hope, Little Deacon who’s not so little anymore, and now Cassius. I am asking you, Agnes, to give me a chance to prove myself to him.”
“You’re not going to try to redeem yourself using my son.”
“Our son,” Deacon corrected her. “Face it. He’s mine. I will have a DNA test done so I can get it in writing. I will go for sole custody and I will win because a father has rights and a crazy woman who kidnaps the kid can’t be trusted. But I’m giving you a chance here. Don’t run; stay. Let me be a part of our son’s life.”
Agnes felt her chest clench painfully. Her eyes burned. “Why did you post bail? To get on my good side?”
“Maybe a little of that,” he allowed, “but mostly it was Hope’s idea.”
“She took my side after everything?”
“Yeah. She told me about some guy named Graham-something. How you saved her from him when he was going to do his worst. I appreciate that so much.”
Agnes looked away as a teardrop and then another rolled down her face. Thinking of Graham… That’s really how it had all began; how she became the reclusive, cold person she was today. He took her innocence and it had been a downward spiral ever since. She had been running from him, from her past, from everyone, including herself, and she was tired. Maybe she had to stop running. Maybe she had no choice.
7-
In the end, Agnes didn’t run even though she wanted to. Every day she second-guessed her decision not to abscond with Cassius again but she knew if she was found, this time, she would lose her son for sure. Deacon had the paternity test done and it revealed what they all knew already. He was Cassius’s undisputed father. When he secured visiting rights with Cassius, Agnes again was tempted to run away but knew she had to stay put.
Still, putting Cassius into a virtual stranger's arms was the hardest thing she had ever done. Cassius at least looked content with Deacon though. He didn’t fuss when Deacon picked him up and set him on his hip and talked to him, calling him “Little Man” and “Little Cass.”
“It’s Cassius,” Agnes corrected him immediately. She watched Deacon shrug and move towards the door. Her heart ached. “Wait!” She called after them. “His bear – his favorite bear. He will want it when he takes his nap.”
She hurried from the room and returned with Cassius’s well-loved, stuffed toy. Cassius beamed as he reached for Mr. Bear and held him tightly. Agnes leaned over and kissed Cassius’s cheek as a tear rolled down her face. “Have fun, baby,” she whispered. She pulled back and waited for Deacon to walk out the door and take away all of her sunshine. But he paused.
“Aggie?”
“Don’t call me that,” she said frostily.
“Alright, Agnes then. Do you want to come with us to the park?”
Agnes felt her heart soar but then wondered if Deacon was pulling her leg. But she looked into his eyes and from what she could tell, he was serious. “Yeah, yeah I’d like that but it’s not something that you have to do.”
“I know but hey, it’s something I want to do.” Deacon shrugged at her and then Agnes grabbed her bag and they all walked out together.
8 –
They sat in the park with Cassius who was playing on the blanket between them, nibbling on - what else? - but his favorite snack, Cheerios. Soon enough Cassius fell asleep and Agnes started to reach for him but saw the longing look in Deacon’s deep blue eyes. “Your turn,” she said. Deacon smiled as he scooped the baby into his strong arms and tucked him protectively against his chest. Agnes listened to him talking in dulcet tones to Cassius as he rocked their son.
Their son.
That was the very first time Agnes had ever thought of Cassius that way. He had always been just hers and no one else’s …
She bit her lip and Deacon noticed. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Come on. Seriously. Just tell me.”
“I don’t want to share Cassius with you or anyone. I know I have to but I am –“
“You’re scared.”
She nodded. “Maybe, yeah.”
“Well that makes two of us,” Deacon said. She looked into his eyes then and saw the truth. He was sincere, something she hadn’t previously thought him capable of. “I messed up so many times but thank you… Thank you for letting me know my son.”
Agnes nodded and said nothing. They faded into a not totally unpleasant silence. Agnes cell phone rang and she dug it out of her purse, seeing her brother’s name flashing across the screen. As soon as she had put it to her ear, Oliver was asking her if she and Cassius were alright. Really alright. Agnes looked at Deacon rocking their boy and she almost smiled.
“We will be,” she said.
THE END
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