(a/n: Warning! Long, long post. Very word heavy.)

It had been two days since that fateful day in the kitchen. Two days since little Colin was born, two days since Tonya found out our secret. I was feeling restless. Hannah didn’t want anyone else to know about our relationship. She hadn’t even wanted to tell Tonya. I didn’t understand though, hadn’t she been dropping hints about my identity at the office? Should I have not taken that as a sign that she wanted the truth to come out as much as I did? It seemed like so long ago when I thought about that scared, hurt woman who sat across from me at the bistro. Had that been an act? The more I thought about our relationship, the less I realized I understood it. How could a woman I perceived as being the perfect match to me be such a mystery?

Still, today was Monday. The first day back at the office since that illuminating day. Had I finally seen Hannah’s true colors? Had her maternal instinct been a ruse? Calling little Bradley an unfortunate side effect was not something a loving mother would ever call their child.

Hannah and I continued the charade as usual. We drove in separate cars down to the office. Once inside she greeted me in front of every body as she always had. Calling me ‘Thomas, dear’ and planting a kiss in the air near my ear. I had never really paid attention to it before. It annoyed me, it seemed insipid and trite. As we did every morning, our office met around the conference table for a meeting. Before Tonya arrived to conduct the meeting the rest of our co-workers were hounding Hannah with baby details as always.

“The father, Hannah, who is the father?”

Hannah laughed, “If I told you, it wouldn’t be a secret!”

“Tell us something, Hannah!”

She laughed and swatted at the air near the gossiping coworkers. I had had enough. I turned towards them and leaned across the table, clearing my throat to gather their attention.

“I know who the father is.”

Everyone in the room turned to look at me. Hannah had gone white as the driven snow. They were suddenly on me, throwing hundreds of questions my way. I raised my hands to quiet them.

“It’s simple. The father of the baby is-”

“Good Morning everyone,” Tonya’s deep voice suddenly rang out.

I groaned inwardly. It figured, it was like a bad cliche. She would walk in right when I was about to reveal myself. Hannah breathed an audible sigh of relief and fixed me with a deathly glare from across the table. All eyes turned to Tonya.

“First thing, promotions. As you know, we only had one open spot for CEO. After careful consideration, I’ve decided to give the job to Thomas Mason.”

Warm, fuzzy feelings filled my body. A smile immediately spread across my face as I rose to shake Tonya’s hand. I had finally achieved it. My lifelong wish of being CEO was mine. But, the joy was short lived as Hannah jumped to her feet crying:

“What? You gave him the job over me? Why?”

I turned to look at her, feeling hurt. Then suddenly, I remembered my own thoughts some time back: ‘I wanted good things for Hannah…but I still wanted better things for myself.‘ Everything had come full circle. I realized in that moment that Hannah felt the same way about me as I had felt about her back then. Now, she was the mother of my son and I wanted better things for her and him than for myself. She hadn’t made that leap yet. She didn’t love me, and she never would. She was simply incapable.

I know the hurt shone in my eyes as I looked at her, shaking my head to convey my disappointment. Tonya cleared her throat, visibly uncomfortable. She asked us to both take our seats. We continued the meeting and the rest of the work day without much event…until we got home again.

Hannah never told me that she had been feeling sick for some time now. She was pregnant again.

* * *

She was none to happy about being pregnant again. I avoided her as best as I could, spending time with Bradley out in my parent’s apartment while she sulked on the couch in the living room.

My Dad and Hannah had gotten along pretty well previously. He tried to talk to her, tried to get her to come around and be happy that she was bringing another child into the world. It didn’t do any good. She snarled at him and told him to leave her alone. Their relationship went south very quickly.

I had managed to avoid her for most of her pregnancy, but she finally cornered me one morning as I tried to catch up on some work.

“We are going to talk about this, Thomas.”

I sighed and crossed my arms in front of my chest and braced myself for the inevitable.

“After this baby is born, you are going to step down from your position. I will take over as CEO and you will just have to work at a lower position or become a stay at home Dad.”

I sighed, “really, Hannah? Is that what you’ve decided?”

“Yes, it is. Its what will happen, because I have something you want.”

“What is that?”

“Bradley, and this little mistake,” she said gesturing to her belly, “and unless you want me to take them away from you forever, you will do as I say.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“I would.”

I sighed and rubbed my temples. She had a point, we weren’t married. Most judges side with the mother in custody cases, and there was no proof that Hannah was an unfit parent. She smiled and patted me on the cheek. I felt a heavy burden rest itself on my shoulders. A burden I would force myself to bear for the sake of my children.

“Fine, Hannah. I’ll resign at work tomorrow. With any luck, you should be CEO by the end of the business day.”

I pushed past her and left her inside to be with her thoughts. I couldn’t be around her, not right now.

* * *

The next day, I went off to work and left Hannah alone with Bradley. As I entered the office, I noticed people were all ready gathered in the conference room. Sighing, I headed to the break room to pour myself a cup of coffee. I needed it today. I put my briefcase down inside my office as I made my way towards the conference room. Taking a big gulp of coffee I took my usual spot, waiting for Tonya to show. The rest of my coworkers stared at me. My confession of knowing the identity of Hannah’s mystery lover was still fresh in their minds, and now Hannah was pregnant again.

I took another sip of my coffee as Tonya stuck her head in and asked to speak to me in private before the meeting. There was an audible sigh from the gossipers as I rose and left the room.

Tonya gestured for me to step into her office. I sat down in a leather chair facing her desk. She sat in front of me, perched on the edge of her desk.

“Hannah e-mailed me this morning, saying that you have something important you wish to tell me?”

“Yes, Tonya. I’m resigning from my position as CEO, I wish to remain employed at a lower level.”

Tonya sighed and pursed her lips. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and stared outside her window for a moment before turning back to me, “Thomas, I told Hannah that if your relationship came into the office I would be forced to fire her. Truth is, Thomas…we don’t want you as CEO any more. The board is impressed with you and they want you to try your hand at Chairman. Do you want the job?”

I chuckled to myself. How would Hannah take this? She could be CEO by any means, but I would still be higher on the corporate ladder than her. I thought of her pregnant with my second child, at home with Bradley and it all became clear to me. I would take the job, because I needed to provide for my children.

“Yes, Tonya…I’ll do it.”

* * *

I spent the afternoon after work visiting my brothers. Cory, Patrick and Phillip each had new children at home and I desperately wanted to meet my nieces and nephew. I knew Mom and Dad were thrilled, they had seven grandchildren with the eighth on the way. When I got home, the sun was beginning to set. I was so tired I changed into my pajamas and decided to get a little work done on the computer before going to bed. Hannah stopped me. It was reminiscent of our last altercation.

“Did you tell them, Thomas?”

“Oh yes, Hannah, I told Tonya that I wanted to step down as CEO. The job is as good as yours.”

She grinned at me, “wonderful. What will be your job now?”

I turned around and turned on the computer’s monitor before glancing back at her, “Oh, the board elected me chairman.”

I didn’t bother to study her expression, I knew what it would be. She clenched her fists down at her sides, and hunched her back over. I think she even growled at me.

“You did this on purpose! You’re always trying to keep me down! Fine, you know what? I’m taking your children and I’m leaving!”

“Really, Hannah? You’re going to leave me and my house and my parents and move into some one bedroom shack and raise two little babies by yourself? We both know that will never happen. Do not threaten me with the thought of not seeing my children again.”

* * *

Autumn and Dorian couldn’t take the stress and tension anymore. I understood. The constant fighting between me and Hannah was doing no one any favors. So, just like all of my other siblings Autumn moved out.

Dad gave her and Dorian his old truck. I was so sad to see her go, I remembered holding her in my arms as a baby. She had grown up so fast. I would miss her even more than I had missed any of my other siblings.

* * *

The next morning found me and Hannah fighting again.

This time, I fought back. Our relationship was broken, and I didn’t think there was any way to repair it. But, the fact remained the she was still the mother to my children so I treated her as well as I would treat any guest in my home. Today, however, as we were fighting she suddenly went pale and clutched at her belly.

“Is the baby coming?” I asked, gripping her shoulders.

She shrugged me off, “Yes. Go get my bag.”

I ran to our bedroom to grab her bag, but as I stepped back in the living room she was  gone.

She had driven herself to the hospital and left me behind. I sighed and ran outside. The company had given me a personal limo to use, I rarely ever did but this seemed as good a time as any. I flagged the limo down and rushed to the hospital. I arrived just in time to see the birth of my daughter. Hannah sighed and waved the nurse away as she came to her to fill out the birth certificate information.

So I was tasked with naming her, it didn’t take me long to decide on Natalie. The hospital gave her the last name of Peterson, much to my chagrin. Hannah didn’t smile once as she carried Natalie home and put her in her crib.

* * *

The next day was Bradley’s birthday. I was determined to enjoy it and be happy for my son. I let Dad carry Bradley to his cake. I was worried that Bradley would grow up without knowing his grandfather, at 95 Dad had outlived his life expectancy.

* * *

Later, that same night I heard Bradley call out to his mother.

“Mama, where are you going?”

I had just given Natalie her bottle, I didn’t bother to put her back in her crib. Still carrying my infant daughter in my arms, I walked into the living room to see Hannah standing at the door. I could see through the front door that she had two suitcases packed, awaiting her on the curb.

I sighed, “what’s going on?”

“It’s over Thomas. I’m done. I never loved you, and I’m sorry that you loved me.”

“What about the kids?”

She shook her head as her gaze passed over to little Bradley, whose light green eyes – the very eyes that were looking on him in pity – were filled with tears. Anger flooded through my body, it was one thing to leave me and quite another to never see her children again. But part of me couldn’t deny that it was for the best. Hannah had shown her true colors, and they were ugly. She had given me two beautiful children, but I wanted her gone from their lives before she could hurt them more.

She turned to Bradley.

“Be a good boy for Mama?” she patronized.

He glared at her, “No! I hate you!”

She recoiled as if she had been slapped.

“If you loved me, you wouldn’t be leaving me!” he cried as he ran to the patio door. No doubt he was headed over to my parent’s apartment.

Hannah turned to me, her eyes were glassy as if she wanted to cry. She didn’t say a word, just turned around and ran through the door.

Just like that, Hannah Peterson was gone.

a/n: Sorry about the hugeness. I just realized it was chapter 10 and not much of the plot had occurred. I wanted to keep the generation lengths about the same and at the rate the plot was developing Thomas would have about 20 chapters in his. So, its huge and its wordy, hope you don’t mind. Next chapter we’ll be seeing some more changes.

Its funny because when I first pulled Hannah into the story my intentions with her were completely different. She and Thomas were going to have a loving, sweet relationship. But, I’m the sort of writer who lets the characters tell their own story. I’ve been that way with every novel, novella and short story I’ve ever written. Hannah just never set well with me, and in my head she just turned into this big crazy monster. Which is funny because at the beginning, I loved her to death. She surprised me just as much as she surprised Thomas. But don’t worry, my game is now massively farther ahead than my story and I can tell you, things start to look up for Thomas. So please, Keep reading and enjoying.

Toast