RhondaWeasley.com

Title: Promises, Promises
Rating: PG
Summary: Getting involved with a married man had been her biggest mistake. But it was done. Now all she wants is for him to admit his son exist. Will he?
Notes:
Warning(s):
Disclaimer: This Story features original characters created by and copyright Dawn Kelley.

She had been stupid, doubly stupid, to get involved with a married man, Dawn thought as she sat in the hospital looking at the incubator. But how could she deny the man who had always held her heart. She must not hold his, because he had broken his promise twice.

She could still remember clearly the day she told her mother she was pregnant. Her mother had been furious. She was working a menial job and living in a rat hole of an apartment. Her mother didn’t approve of her job or the apartment, but Dawn was determined to be independent.

“I knew I didn’t like that boy,” her mother said when she announced her pregnancy.

Dawn was already angry; she really wasn’t in the mood for one of her mother’s speeches. The things he said still hung in her mind. “No matter what happens with me and my wife, I’ll be there for he kid,” he promised. A promise that was so far unfulfilled.

“I can’t believe that boy,” her mom continued. “I mean I expected more from-”

“Oh stop it mom.”

“What’d you say to me?” her mom retorted.

“Nothing,” Dawn said softly. “It’s just that I sort of, well the situation itself was more my fault than his. “

“Your fault? What did you do, beg him to sleep with you or something.”

“Might as well have,” she mumbled. “Mom, I knew he was married. I wanted him anyway, I told him so. I played right into him, or played him right into me, whichever way you want to put it.” Dawn sighed, “It’s done mom, OK. I don’t know what Francisco’s going to do, he’s said things, but right now this is all on me and I’ll deal with it. All I ask for is your support.”

“Fine, but you’re not raising a child in that crummy apartment, and we’re going to have to find you a good job.”

Dawn sighed. Her greatest fear was coming to life. She would be her mother. She would get stuck in a dead in job, making ends meet. And she wouldn’t leave home, this dreaded city that constantly trapped her in an all to boring past and very dim future. She wanted his baby and who knew if she would ever get pregnant again. She had no choice but to go along with her mother’s demands. Depressed, she sunk into one of her mother’s chairs.

Little Francisco entered the world on New Year’s day. And though the day began hours before his birth, the New Year didn’t arrive for her until she looked down into his brown eyes. Looking into the cherubic face of her newborn son, Dawn knew any sacrifice was worth it. He was her world now, the son she had dreamed of and wished for was now hers. Hers to love and cherish forever.

But what of the father? Days later, she sealed the baby’s picture in an envelope and mailed it to his job’s address. There was no reply. She wished for a sign that he cared, a call, a letter, any little thing. Months passed without word, but Dawn didn’t give up.

Little Francisco’s legs kicked as Dawn tried to pamper him. Her teenage sister was in the other room watching TV. Dawn picked up the pampered six month old, who was looking more and more like his father every day. Why hadn’t he contacted her, she thought as she had every day since his birth. Dawn gave the baby to her anxious sister.

“I think you need to check your machine; the lights blinking.”

“Thanks,” Dawn said as she hit the button on the answering machine. The first few calls were miscellaneous messages, nothing of any importance, and she hardly paid attention. Then the nervous voice of Daddy Francisco floated out of the mechanical box.

“Hi Dawn,” he began and she froze. “He’s a beautiful kid. And I wish I could see him, but for reasons I can’t explain, that’s impossible. I hope you understand.” Beep!

“Is that Prince Charming?” her sister snickered as she played with the baby.

“Yea”

“He sounds like a fool, could have made a better choice for a first boyfriend,” her sister said. “Look where this true love crap got you.”

“First of all, he was never my boyfriend. Second of all, it’s worth everything. It got me him,” she said leaning over to kiss the baby.

He had called. She knew he cared? Her mother, at first, had insisted she pursue a child support case, but she had refused. Even though everyone from her sister to her coworkers had called her a fool, she still believed Francisco would come back to her. Was it such a crime to believe in love?

Maybe it was, Dawn thought as she looked down at her son. Could little Francisco wait for his father to straighten his life out? Suddenly, she didn’t know if the unexplained call was enough. If Francisco wanted to miss out on his son’s life, it was his lost. She wouldn’t pursue him or bother him. She left it up to him to follow his heart.

A year passed without another word from Daddy Francisco. Every day the son grew to look more and more like his father. It made Dawn hate the father even more. How could he miss the life of his one and only child? She understood that he loved his adopted daughter, but this was his son.

On a sunny afternoon, Dawn took her toddler to the zoo. Her life had become her little boy. All she did was work and come home to him. The only time she left the house was on outings like this one.

Dawn walked little Francisco to the Monkey cage. She gained a mild happiness from watching her excited little boy point and laugh at the monkey. She too watched the acrobatic monkey swing through the cage. Suddenly her smile dropped. Standing on the other side of the cage she saw a family of three. The mom was a gorgeous blond, the little girl identical in looks, and the father, her own black prince, Francisco. They smiled and laughed at the monkeys, not noticing her and her little boy. Dawn was filled with rage. How could he be walking around smiling with his ready made family and ignoring his son? She grabbed her little boy and walked towards them. Her eyes were blazing.

The family happened to be turning in her direction just as she approached, but they did not immediately see her. The wife was the first, noticing her son. Then Francisco’s guilty eyes locked on Dawn. The wife looked from Francisco to Dawn and then back to the child. When Dawn stopped short in front of them, his wife was the first to speak.

“Dawn, I presume,” She said as she looked at the boy. “And this must be little Francisco.”

“You knew?” Dawn said shocked.

“Of course,” she scoffed. “I forgave him for his momentary indiscretion.” She smiled as if she had won some great battle. It only made Dawn angrier.

“Well if you knew everything,” she stopped turning toward Francisco, “Then why didn’t you come to see him.”

“I-I-” Francisco stuttered.

“He wanted to, but he has a family to take care of,” his wife finished for him.

“His family? Oh I get it. He’s suppose to take care of you and your child, but his own little boy is supposed to be flown to the wind. Well miss, let me tell you something, he may have signed on the dotted line for you and yours, but this kid is bonded to him by blood. You can’t erase that.” Dawn snatched up her son and swiftly left their presence. Despite her feigned confidence, she broke into tears when she got to her car. Little Francisco reached out and placed a protective hand to his mother’s face. She smiled at him and wiped thoughts of his father from her mind, but unfortunately, not for good.

Hours later Dawn walked around cleaning her home while her son watched a video in his room. The doorbell rang; she was only slightly surprised to see Francisco standing there. Not only was she angry with him for his long absence, but she was insulted by the fact he had brought his wife’s three-year-old with him.

She rolled her eyes and walked away from the open door, turning her back to him. He followed her in and shut the door.

“He was a New Years baby, huh?” Francisco said with a smile.

“That’s all you have to say?” Dawn said as she turned back toward him.

“I just want to talk, can we talk about this?”

“Talk? There is nothing to talk about,” she shouted. “You said you would be here for us and you weren’t.”

“Please don’t scream in front of Shanice,” he asked in his usual soft-spoken tone. Francisco kneeled down to Shanice. “Daddy needs to talk to Miss Dawn for awhile. Why don’t you go in there and play with her son?”

Dawn rolled her eyes as he spoke softly to the child. It was part jealousy, because her son had never gotten a real hello from his father. But his gentle sweetness with the child was reminiscent of the day she fell in love with him. Why did he have to be so sweet, so unintentionally seductive, so-so him. Every time she saw him, she fell in love all over again. Why?

Shanice scampered of into little Francisco’s room with an “OK Daddy.”

Left alone, the adults faced each other. Dawn saw sorrow in his eyes, but she wouldn’t surrender to it. They were mystical eyes though and already casting a spell on her heart. She shook the thought free, this was no time for her weak heart to cloud her judgment. Their son was half his responsibility.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“Please, I have been struggling to keep that boy fed and clothed for the last eighteen months. He’s never even met you, talked to you. Let alone got a dime from you,” Dawn shouted. “This isn’t just about financial support, either. I grew up without a father. I went through every day of my life thinking he didn’t care if I lived or died. I wonder if you feel the same way about our son.”

“No, I couldn’t-” he stopped.

“Couldn’t what. Couldn’t wait to dump your birth son for your ready-made family.”

“Don’t say that,” Francisco said. “I, Dawn I-”

“You what?”

“I-” he began with a sigh. He grabbed Dawn and pulled her to him, quickly capturing her in his familiar kiss. It was an easy capture; she was too in love to resist. As their toddlers played in the next room, he swept her off her feet and into her bedroom. With his magical touch he changed the weather in her heart from cold to warm. His embrace broke her rock hard shell. And his eyes hypnotized her and erased all good sense. Unlike the one night stand that produced little Francisco, this encounter would breed an ongoing affair.

He manipulated business appointments and his wife’s constant check ups, to keep Dawn happy. In his frequent visits Francisco finally got to know the boy he called son. Little Francisco loved his daddy and began to look forward to his visits as much as his mother. Between hot nights and warm days as a family of three, Dawn forgot all that had come before. Unfortunately, two months later affair bred the same consequence as that one night stand, a pregnancy.

Dawn told him once and only once that she was pregnant. She said if he didn’t live up to this child, there would be no more chances. No more chances for them and no more chances to have a relationship with his children.

He made the same unfulfilled promises he made when she was pregnant with Francisco. She went on for months and months hoping against hope that he wouldn’t be lying this time. Five months into her pregnancy, she gave up.

In her sixth month, on March 10, Dawn gave birth to a set of identical twin boys, Deven and Ian. She had given Francisco three sons, and he hadn’t acknowledged one of them. Dawn watched the strong Deven kick wildly in his incubator and then turned to the weak Ian laying silently in his, staring up at his mother. She wondered how she would handle all the bills her sick little Ian would bring.

“Miss Kelly,” a nurse said from behind her. She turned toward her. “Your sons have a visitor.”

“Let them in,” Dawn said turning back toward her tiny infant.

“I got gifts,” a male voice said from behind her. She turned and saw Francisco holding flowers and a small teddy bear. The bear held a small gift box.

“You have two more, no one. I think you need another bear.”

“Actually the bear is for you. I bought Francisco a little something too. Your mom told me about the boys when I went looking for you. I’m sorry I wasn’t here for you.”

“And now what Francisco, more promises you’ll never keep, ” Dawn retorted

“No,” he said. “I want to make a promise I’ll always keep.” He gave her the bear. “He has a gift for you.”

Dawn took the bear. Dawn opened the box while Francisco examined the identical small bundles that were his baby boys. She gasped when she saw the small gift box’s contents. A simple gold band with an engraved rose design on it. He knew her so well; she had never had a flare for fancy things. Unlike his present wife, she liked things simple where it was possible. Like when she simply wanted her son, now sons, to know that their father loved them or simply wanted to hold their father in her arms. A simple gift with such a complicated mission, she thought as she stared at the ring.

“Francisco,” she said looking up at him. He was so entranced by the infants; he hadn’t paid much attention to her. “Is this what I think it is?”

“I want you to be my wife,” he smiled.

“For the kids?” Dawn asked.

“For me, I love you Dawn, I want you to be my wife. I want you and me and the boys together.”

Dawn froze. It was what she had always wanted, but it seemed so sudden. They hadn’t seen each other since she’d announced her pregnancy. “What about your wife?”

“I’m divorcing her. She didn’t take it to well. Going to fight me all the way about Shanice.”

“I don’t want to trap you,” Dawn began. “I just wanted my sons to-”

“I know.” Francisco interjected. “That’s why I want to marry you. That’s why I want us to be a real family.”

“I don’t know what to say”

“Say yes,” he replied.

“I don’t know if I-” She stopped. He was so irresponsible. All logic said say no, but she wanted this. Any risk was worth the opportunity to gain him. “Yes,” Dawn said softly with a smile.

Francisco leaned over and kissed her, sealing the deal. They would be together now, for real.