Altar Vows

Liam’s POV

If you think you have had a bad day, then I’ve had worse.

First, I was left at the altar by the woman I was supposed to marry because of the ring bearer.

Second, I got a child.

My ring bearer.

Let’s roll the tape back.

“What? You’re surprised?” Lola stepped closer and whispered so that only I could hear her. She looked at me like I had fallen directly into her trap.

And yes, I did. I fell directly into her trap.

The ring bearer was the child of the woman I had a one-night stand with a few years back when I was reckless and made a drunken mistake while Lola and I were still dating.

Ever since my drunken mistake, I’ve been paying for child support behind Lola’s back but I guess it wasn’t really behind her back.

I looked into the congregation to find the mother of the child who was still walking down the aisle, as if on a mission. She was nowhere to be seen.

The guests were too mesmerized by my ring bearer to even notice what was going on on the altar.

“Lola, what’s going on? I don’t understand.”

“Of course, you don’t. When have you ever understood anything other than sticking your penis into holes?”

And right there, by the altar, she took both rings from Kaleb and dumped them on my hand. The ring box had a paper under but that wasn’t my priority now.

“Have a wonderful day with your family instead.” She said and took off.

It was then that the guests noticed what was going on.

“Lola, wait. Let’s talk this out.” I ran after her.

“You had three years to talk.” She raised three fingers. “Three good years to talk. Instead, you felt paying money would shut everybody up.”

“Lola please.”

“Maybe karma is actually real. This was the same way I begged the universe to let the information I had gotten be false but here we are.” She said and entered the closest taxi and like that, she was gone.

After searching everywhere I could, I finally decided to open the letter that was under the ring box that I slipped into my pocket.

“Liam, Kaleb is your son as much as he is mine. But without court cases, I am handing over my rights to this child to you. Take care of him like you’ll take care of yourself.

Linda.”

I slammed my hand into the nearest wall. I searched for my phone and dialed Linda’s number. Voicemail.

“Fuck!.” I roared.

I drove back to the church where Kaleb was. He sat down by the steps of the church just staring at his shoes. I couldn’t bring myself to let my anger for his mother affect him. He is my son too after all.

“Kaleb,” I announced my presence as I approached him.

“Daddy!” He said as he bounced on his feet to hug my leg.

I ruffled his hair before crouching down to his level.

“Where is mummy?” He beat me to my question. “She said she was going to come pick me up when you finished. Who was that woman? She looked mean.” He said everything on his mind.

“I have no idea where mummy is,” I said as calmly as possible despite my anger towards the woman in question. “So, that means you’ll be staying with me until mummy comes back. Is that good?” I asked.

“I guess. Will she come back soon?”

“I have no idea, son. I really have no idea.”

“Who was that woman? The mean one with you.”

I don’t know how much Linda has taught him already. I didn’t want to say things that would make him hate me provided that we are going to be seeing each other more often now.

“I’ll explain to you later. Let’s go home.” I said and carried him on my waist as best as I could.

“I can walk, Dad.” He laughed.

“I know. Enjoy the little things.”