Reunited...with Child / One Month with the Magnate: Reunited...with Child

“That we need something to reflect whatever community we are a part of up there. I was hoping to do something in Spanish Harlem.”

“Really? Tell me more.”

They’d played a key role in revitalizing the stylized Little Havana area here in Miami, and he was pretty sure they could do the same thing in New York. They just had to have the right idea.

“I know. I was thinking a retro-styled club that captures the glory of the old days. It might fit the city better than a Luna II-type deal.”

Nate rubbed the back of his neck. “I like the idea, but it’s really different from what we’ve done before. That will mean a new design team and everything. I think we should stick to doing what we do best and that’s a Little Havana-style club.”

“I have the perfect designer in mind for this new project. In fact, she’s going to do the interiors on all the redesigns of the shops in the Mercado.”

“Of course you know the perfect person. Cam, when are you going to realize that life isn’t perfect? You always have every angle covered,” Nate said.

Cam tried to always appear to his younger brothers as if he had it all together. It was easy enough when things were going well as they had been for the last few years. But when the company had initially struggled or when their parents had died and Cam had had to find the strength inside himself to step up and keep his brothers focused and happy, it had been hard.

“I try, but Nate, I know that life isn’t perfect. We grew up in the same house, didn’t we?”

“Yes. And I came out of it with my own baggage and lately I’m beginning to see that for you it’s a desire to make everything picture-perfect. No faults allowed.”

Was that true? “I don’t think I’m that difficult.”

“Listen, man, I love you. You’re my big brother and you always have my back, but you are one demanding son of a bitch and I think that you should accept that nothing is going to ever be as perfect in the real world as you want it to be.”

Cam tucked that nugget away for later contemplation. He wasn’t going to change overnight or probably at all. He was too set in his ways.

“So who’s the designer?” Nate asked.

“Becca Tuntenstall. She used to work for Russell Holloway.”

“Are you sure she’s the right choice? We don’t want our club to look like Russell’s.” Nate scratched the back of his head. “It’s hardly my area of expertise. I just want to make sure I’m asking the right questions now that Justin is out of state.”

Justin was their corporate attorney and handled most of the legal problems that cropped up. Recently, he’d negotiated a deal with the local community leaders to launch the Luna Azul Mercado, an upscale shopping center to complement the nightclub. It was fair to all parties involved, and Justin had wrangled himself a fiancée out the deal.

Cam didn’t know what was going on with his brothers up and getting engaged.

He smiled at his little brother. Nate had always been the charmer—the one who skated through life with a smile. Now he was stepping up, and Cam was proud of him.

“She’s done some work for other chains, as well. She’s the best designer for the job,” Cam said. He’d already decided to give the assignment to Becca if she proved worthy. He couldn’t uproot her life and not provide some work for her. Besides, he wanted her completely under his control. He was going to make her regret not coming to him when she’d first found out she was pregnant.

Nate’s expression changed. “Is she more than a designer to you?”

Cam hesitated. He wasn’t the type of person to talk about the women he was involved with, even to his brothers. Plus, she was the mother of his child … something that he had absolutely no idea how to tell his brothers. He wanted everything with Becca and Ty figured out and wrapped up before he said anything to either of them.

“Yes, she is.”

“Wow. You haven’t been seriously involved with a woman since Myra.”

Myra had been a mistake, and he’d been too young and too eager to have it all with her. Myra was the woman who’d brought the paternity suit against him. Did he just have bad taste in women or what? Myra had wanted him to pay for another man’s mistake, and Becca didn’t think he was worthy of his own son.

“She’s not really like Myra.”

“I didn’t mean to imply that she was. How about if you bring Becca to our rehearsal dinner Friday night? A nice casual affair, and I think it would be nice to meet this gal.”

But Cam wasn’t sure that he was ready for that. “I’ll let you know.”

“Why not?” Nate asked. “If you are serious about her, I want to meet her and get to know her.”

Cam rubbed his hand over the back of his neck and tried to find the right words to say to his brother. “We had an affair a few years ago and it ended abruptly, so this time I’m trying to get to know her more slowly. Listen, there is more going on than a normal relationship.”

“Hanging out with the family doesn’t seem slow enough to you?” Nate asked.

“I don’t know, Nate,” Cam said. He stopped and took a deep breath. “Um … I have a son and Becca’s the mom. I just found out about it and moved her down here, but I have no idea what we are going to do next.”

Now it was Nate’s turn to pause. His eyes widened.

“I have a nephew?”

“Yes.”

“How dare she keep him from us?” Nate said.

Cam smiled. Nate was always there for him and Justin. They had always been close, and family was more important to them than anything else. “I said the same thing. I have her in my house with my son and I have to figure out what to do next.”

“Um, I vote for suing the hell out of her and then cutting her off from the boy.”

“She’s not like that,” Cam said. “Ty needs her. She quit a high-powered job so she could work from home and raise him.”

“Damn. I liked it better when I could envision her as the evil bitch queen.”

Cam laughed for the first time since Becca had told him he had a son. “Thanks, Nate. I need that.”

“I do what I can,” Nate said and then pulled him close in a bear hug. “I’m here for you whatever you decide.”

None of the Stern men was really built for long-term happiness in relationships. He was very glad to see his brothers settled with new fiancées, but at the same time a part of him feared that it wouldn’t last. And he wanted more happiness for them than their father had found in his marriage to their mother.

Cam had been watching after his brothers for so long that it was hard to realize he finally didn’t have to really worry over them any longer. He was at a point in his life where he had everything set in motion. Now he could relax.

“How about brunch on Sunday at my place?” Cam said. “I think that will give me the time I need to get used to Becca being there and figure out where we are going next.” Then he could control everything if he had them to his house. He was the kind of person who didn’t like to be surprised by any eventuality.

He and Nate walked into the club, and, as always when he crossed the threshold into Luna Azul, he paused to appreciate everything he’d worked and sacrificed for to create. Jen was waiting for Nate and came over to them. Cam left them and made his way to the bar on the main floor. He needed to check on the situation with the Mercado and then meet with the head chef and make sure that everything was going well in the back of the house.

He told himself he walked away so quickly because there was work to be done, but he knew that it was really because he wanted what Nate and Jen had. Sure, he already had a son; now he needed to see what kind of arrangement he’d have with Becca. It couldn’t be anything as pure as what Nate and Jen had, right? He didn’t like himself for thinking that way, but he still felt so empty over the time Becca had stolen from him and his son.

Becca got out of bed in the middle of the night and walked out onto the porch. It was April, and the smell of jasmine was heavy in the air. She walked away from the house carrying with her the small listening unit to the baby monitor. She found a bench nestled next to the pool and sat down.

She knew that, for her, fear came calling in the middle of the night. It was the time when she felt most alone and most afraid of the decisions she’d made in her life. At this moment she felt she shouldn’t be here in this house. Coming to Miami had been part cowardice—because she hadn’t wanted to stand up to Cam—and part fantasy—because she’d hoped and prayed for some white knight to come and rescue her.

She didn’t know if that made her a masochist because Cam was the man who’d left her high and dry. And while he wanted to play up the fact that he didn’t know about Ty, in her mind it came down to the fact that he hadn’t loved her.