"I have a feeling you might not ring me."

"Claire, I promise you when I've settled my children into this new chapter of their lives, I will help you tell Rick about RJ. I said I'd help, even though it killed me to say that, and I'm true to my word. So, I'll help. Just sit tight for now, please. The least you can do for me is wait a little longer."

"Okay, Alexis. I'll wait until I hear from you."

I hung up the phone then sunk on the bed. f.u.c.k, my head just cannot take anymore.

"Alexis?" Rick was at my door. "Who's RJ?" Oh, s.h.i.t!

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE.

If there was ever a time I wanted the earth to just open up and swallow me whole, it would have been then. The crazy emotional series of weeks that have led me to that point could have been a top rated episode on Jerry Springer. Jerry, Jerry, Jerry, thank you, thank you, today on the show we are talking to Alexis. She has been told by her husband that he's had an affair. Ooooooo. So, she went and fell in love with a billionaire, only to find out that her husband lied. Oooooooo, I know. But Alexis found out it wasn't a lie, and today she has brought him here to the show to tell him that the woman he had an affair with has a five-year-old son to him. Jerry, Jerry, Jerry.

"Alexis?"

"Yes."

"Who is RJ, and why were you talking to Claire?" He took a few steps closer, looking like he was ready to lose his s.h.i.t at me.

"Sit down, Rick." He ignored me, so I said it again, harshly. "Sit down, Rick." This time he did. "Now, before I even start with who RJ is, you need to understand I only found out myself on Monday. I wanted to wait a few days to tell you, only because so much has happened in the last few days let alone in the past few weeks. I thought it was best to let things settle a bit before this particular s.h.i.t hit the fan again."

"Alexis, who that f.u.c.k is RJ?"

"RJ, is Rick Junior. He's yours and Claire's five-year-old son." I watched the colour completely drain from his face until he was practically transparent. His mouth was agape, and any fight or fury he had in him had completely vanished, what was left was a man who's entire inner core had been torn from him and only an empty sh.e.l.l was left. I touched his hand which was limp on his lap. He slowly met my gaze with his own, and his eyes filled with tears. "Claire found out she was pregnant shortly after you told her you had made a mistake and she wanted to end it. She didn't want to cause any more trouble than she already had, so she decided to raise him on her own."

"How?"

"How what, Rick?"

"How did you find out?"

"Lucy."

"Oh." He didn't question how Lucy found out; he just accepted it and dropped his head back down.

"I've met him, Rick." His eyes darted back up to mine. He looked so confused, it was heartbreaking. "He looks just like you, he has your eyes."

"My eyes?" I could see the colour return to his face with a red flush of anger as the realisation of what he had missed started to sink in. "I have a five-year-old son, who has my eyes?" He stood up and punched the wall, leaving a mighty big hole in the plaster and b.l.o.o.d.y cuts on his knuckles. "f.u.c.k!" He stormed out of the room and grabbed his car keys.

"No, Rick." I ran after him and s.n.a.t.c.hed them back. I pushed him outside to the pergola area. "s.h.i.t, I know this is a terrible shock, trust me I know, but there is no use in driving to Claire's and hurling anger at her in front of your son. You need to calm down. Sit, I'll get you a drink and some ice for that hand." I walked back inside, my heart pumping in my chest. I fixed him a bourbon and c.o.ke and grabbed some ice and a tea towel for his hand. I went to sit down when my phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and there was a text from Bryce.

How did it go with kids?

I miss u like f.u.c.king crazy xo - Bryce "Excuse me, Rick I won't be a second." I walked back inside and typed a response.

Hey, I miss u 2. But now is not a good time.

Rick found out bout RJ, trying to explain it to him xo - Alexis Do u need me 2 come over there, I'll take the chopper. - Bryce Oh f.u.c.k no.

No, thank u. I've got this. It's fine.

I'll ring you later. I love u xo - Alexis Ok, but if u do, just let me know.

I love u more xo - Bryce I walked back outside. Rick didn't ask who the text was from, but he knew, I could see it in his face. He had wrapped his fist in the ice and tea towel, so I walked over to take a look.

"Give me your hand." He offered it to me, so I unfolded the towel to look at his knuckles. They were cut, but nothing that a bit of ice, pain killer medication, and rest wouldn't fix. "Lucky for you, the wall came out second best." I sat back down. "Rick, I understand you are angry, but from what Claire explained to me the other day, she was young, scared, and ashamed of what she did, and she did not want to ruin our family. That's why she chose not to tell you. Listen, I am not making excuses for her, trust me that's the last thing I would do. But you have to put that little boy first. He is innocent in all of this and does not deserve his father, a father he has never known, going over there and yelling at his mother. You need to keep calm around him, Rick."

"I know, Alexis, I'm not stupid."

I raised my eyebrows at him. Yeah, well I beg to differ. If you weren't stupid we would not be sitting here having this conversation.

"If I were you, which I sure as h.e.l.l wouldn't want to be, I would drink that drink slowly, then give Claire a call and speak with her calmly." I'm going to have a bath. "Are you good?"

"Yeah, I'm good."

"Good." The camera pans up close to Jerry Springer's face, atake care of yourselves, aaaannd each other'.

Rick had decided to call Claire the next day, and they arranged to meet for coffee that morning which apparently had gone well as Rick was now set to meet RJ for the first time the next day. I decided that seeing as Rick was about to meet his son for the first time, I would give him the s.p.a.ce, and have the kids stay with me at the apartment that evening.

I'm not sure who was more nervous about the whole sleepover though, because when I had rang Bryce that afternoon, he had been asking all sorts of questions like, awhat's their favourite food?', and awhat Wii games does Nate like?', adoes Charli need any specific agirly' type accessories?'. I had laughed at him and asked if his acreepy research' abilities had diminished, then hoped he hadn't taken it literally because he said he would be calling Lucy after he hung up. He better not have!

Nate seemed quite calm about the idea, although I could tell he was a little nervous as he had been fidgeting in the front seat of the car. Charli had been asking questions the whole drive, wanting to know everything about the apartment, like where was the toilet, where would she be sleeping, and where would I be sleeping. I seemed to be the only one who was relaxed and looking forward to it, I knew the kids would love it there and it was all about to start right now.

"Nate, I have a little surprise for you."

"What?"

"Well, when I turn this corner and pull into Bryce's private garage, you are going to have a fit. Are you ready?" He looked at me anxiously, half expecting something to fall from the sky and land on his head, but also half expecting the fallen object to be something amazing. I turned the corner, and as I expected, Nate went into awed nine-year-old boy mode, pressing up against the window of the car as we drove past Bryce's extensive car collection.

"Sick! This Sick! Totally the Sickest!" he babbled.

"Wow, they are so pretty. Lots of different colours like a rainbow." Charli was also pressed up against the window. I parked the Charger and Nate was out of the car like a rocket.

"Don't touch!" I yelled out after him.

"Of course he can touch." Bryce had been waiting for us in the garage, and if my eyes didn't deceive me, I would definitely say he was as nervous as h.e.l.l. "Hi Charli, how are you?"

"I'm good and bad." At least she's being honest, good girl Charli bear. She looked at me and I gave her a rea.s.suring smile. "I like your cars. They remind me of a rainbow."

"Do you like rainbows?" Bryce quickly asked. Oh G.o.d, what's he going to do, try and buy her a freaking rainbow?

"Yes, they are my favourite. Mum, can I go and have a look at the gold one?"

"Yes, just be careful." She ran off.

"So, Mr. Clark, how are you coping?"

"Coping? I'm coping just fine, Ms. Summers." He lowered his voice. "Although, I desperately want to taste those lips of yours right now." We had discussed no public displays of affection in front of the kids during their first visit. I didn't want to upset them, and I believed baby steps were the key.

"You're just going to have to control yourself, Mr. Clark."

He groaned and grabbed Nate and Charlie's little suitcases from the car.

"Awww, Sick! I love this one!" Nate had stopped at the McLaren alongside Charli.

"We can go for a ride in it, if you like?" Bryce was quick to offer.

"Yeah?"

"Let's go up to the apartment first. Then we'll talk about joyrides, Okay." I said firmly, before the three of them went driving around town.

We all stepped into the elevator and headed directly to the apartment. Bryce stopped us on the 2nd floor of the private residence. I stepped out after him curious as to why we would stop on level two first.

"Now, I didn't know where you would want to sleep. So I organised a few different options for you." He opened a bedroom door. Inside was a room decked out in greys, red and blacks, with a single bed and desk. There were signed pictures of the Essendon Football Team on the wall, together with a large mounted TV. My eyes nearly bulged out of my head.

"Sick! I bags this room." Bags? Is this his new word of the month?

"What the h.e.l.l is abags'?" I asked my son.

He rolled his eyes at my apparent lack of modern-day lingo. "It means I'm having it, you know..." No, I don't know, obviously. Nate walked in and flopped on the bed, then shot back up and scrutinized one of the pictures. "Hey, Mum, this Bombers picture is signed and it has my name on it." I walked into the room to take a closer inspection of the picture, and sure enough it was personally signed for Nate. I turned back round with my mouth wide open. Bryce just shrugged his shoulders.

"You didn't tell me your football team was the aBombers'." I said with a smile on my face.

"I don't." Bryce said as he smirked and crossed his arms.

"Oh, well what team do you support?" I asked inquisitively "Please don't say Collingwood, I think I will have to leave if you say Collingwood."

He laughed. "The Cats, I support the Cats."

I looked at Nate, then to Charli. "What do we think of that?"

"It's better than Collingwood or Carlton, Mum." Nate said in Bryce's defence.

Charli turned to Bryce and gave him the thumbs down, and he laughed. We walked out of the room and made our way down the hallway.

"When did you organise this?" I asked him in a quiet tone.

"Yesterday, and last night."

"You are amazing, Mr. Clark." I quickly pinched him on the a.r.s.e, before he opened the next door.

"Charli, if you'd like, you can sleep in here, or with your Mum. It's up to you." He opened the door for her, and we were hit with what could only be described a princess's paradise, a princess who was obsessed with 4Life. That reminds me, the video Bryce recorded for her, and the napkin!

She screamed. "Mum, there is 4Life stuff everywhere and it has my name on it."

"No way!" chimed in Nate.

"That's not all, Charli. I've got a surprise for you." Bryce switched on the TV which like in Nate's room, was mounted to the wall. Instantly the scene from backstage at the Tel V Awards came up on the screen. Oh, s.h.i.t! Quick! Record it, Alexis.

"Hang on, hang on." I yanked my phone from my pocket and pointed it at Charli and pressed record. "Go." I indicated to Bryce to press play, which he did. Harry's voice filled the room.

"Charlotte, we are sorry you couldn't be here tonight, so we've put together something especially for you."

If I thought she screamed before then I was wrong, because the shrill noise that radiated from that tiny little mouth had my eardrums begging for mercy. She bounced up and down on the bed as 4Life sang her favourite song, aAnything'. I watched the sheer excitement and joy plaster Charli's face as I held my phone up capturing every single second of her reaction. A tear sat teetering on the edge of my lid, undecided on whether or not it would fall. I giggled when the footage on the TV filmed the roof for a second, remembering that was the moment I leaned back and kissed Bryce while he recorded it. I glanced over at him, to see if he remembered that moment too, and he was standing there filming me with his phone. I gave him a awhat are you doing' look then put my hand up to shield my face.

When the recording finished, Charli ran up to Bryce and wrapped her arms around his waist and said thank you. It took us all by surprise, especially Bryce who didn't know what to do at first. He sort of stood there with his hands in the air, like a police officer had sprung into the room and shouted astick em up'. By the time he realised he could relax them and hug her back, she had let go and had run straight for me, practically barrelling me over.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! That was the best thing EVER! Can I watch it again?"

"Sure." Bryce handed her the remote.

"Don't you want to come and see my room, Charli, in case you want to sleep in with me?" I asked, worried she might find sleeping on her own for the first time a bit daunting.

"No, I'm good, this room is awesome!" She pressed play and bounced up and down again as she replayed her personalized footage.

I laughed at her. "Okay, quickly one more time." She watched it again then reluctantly put the remote down and left the room. I wanted to secure Bryce in my arms and show him just how much I loved him and appreciated him. It was almost unbearable that I couldn't. We had made a pact that there would be absolutely no displays of affection in front of the kids, and who ever broke that pact would owe the other, aanything'.

I opened the next door. "This is my room kids"

"Where's Bryce's room?" Charli asked squinting her eyes as she searched the hall way.

He pointed down the hall to the last door. "Down there, Charli."

"Okay." She nodded, then followed her brother downstairs. I walked up behind Bryce as we followed them, and gently whispered in his ear.

"So, what were the other sleeping options you had arranged for them, if these ones had not worked out?"

"Your bed, or the couch," he said with a matter of fact. I laughed.

We showed the kids the entire apartment, and they were quite excited about the prospect of spending a lot of time here. I didn't want to overwhelm them with the thought of it permanently being their new home, because as Bryce had said to me the other day, ait doesn't have to be, we could live anywhere'. Just the notion of being able to live aanywhere' still hadn't quite sunk in. I know Bryce was incredibly wealthy but it was not the dollar signs I saw dripping off him, it was his determination and pa.s.sion, not to mention the drips of sweat and soapy lather-I couldn't forget those either. Alexis, you've gone off subject. Right, I knew we could live anywhere, but I really did like it there, this was the special place that had changed my life for the better.

Bryce and Nate spent most of the morning in the aMan Cave/Recording Studio' playing the rather new and large collection of Wii games Bryce had organised. Charli spent a good hour in her room replaying her footage and staring starry eyed at her signed pictures and memorabilia. I decided to put on my bathing suit and soak up the sun's rays as the cooler weather was sure to hit Melbourne any day now. The weather in Melbourne often resembled a woman's temperament during that lovely time of the month, where fertilisation of our egg was yet again denied. One day it was sunshine, b.u.t.terflies and rainbows, and the next it was grey, miserable and ready to attack and unleash h.e.l.l on all of those around it. So, I had every intention of enjoying this particular sunshine and b.u.t.terflies day, by lying on the sun lounge by the pool and reading my extremely funny book. During the past nine years at home, and after my domestic duties had been sorted, attacked and accomplished, I would increase my caffeine and sugar levels and get lost in the world of literature.

"Mum?"