Chapter 25

Four days later on Sunday, Brian was on his way to Melanie's house in Toronto to pick up Gus. It had been almost a month since he had last seen his sonny boy and he couldn't wait to hold him in his arms again.

Ted was by his side, having offered to join him on what he could only imagine would be a tense meeting with Melanie. Luke had stayed at Britin with Jennifer who had offered to watch him in Brian's absence. At first Brian had been reluctant to leave Luke at Britin without him being there, but he had quickly agreed with everyone that taking Luke to Toronto was not an option. Everyone could easily imagine how tense things would get and that was no place for a small toddler. Having him stay behind at home was better than dragging him on a plane to Toronto and bringing him into the mess they were clearly about to enter.

They pulled up in front of Melanie's house with their rental, ready to pick up Gus and his things.

After the second ring the door was finally opened by Melanie who only glared at them in open hostility.

“I don't want any trouble, Melanie,” Brian began quietly, not wanting to make this any harder than it needed to be on Gus.

“You have been nothing but trouble ever since you showed up in my life,” she angrily spat at him, the hostility never leaving her voice. “Are you happy now?”

“Melanie,” Ted tried to calm her, but it was to no avail.

“You've finally done it. You've finally destroyed my family. Are you happy now?”

“I didn't destroy anything,” Brian replied calmly, not wanting to take her accusations like that without at least defending himself.

“Of course you did! You couldn't leave her alone, had to string her along and now look where she is. Paying for her infatuation for you.”

“She kidnapped my son, Melanie. She fucking took away my baby. How would you feel?”

“You drove her to this. And Michael as well. Now my daughter will grow up without a father. My son will grow up without a mother. You have destroyed my life, you fucking bastard. I hope you feel proud.”

“Melanie, you are being unfair here,” Ted said calmly, not feeling like Brian deserved all the blame she was putting on him. “Lindsay and Michael made their own decisions.”

“Yeah, he must pay you very good, Ted, for you to be on his side instead of mine.”

“There are no sides here, Melanie and I am not on anyone's side.”

“Of course you are not. It's just pure coincidence that Brian throws his money at you and suddenly you are his best friend. I hope it's worth it, Ted. He'll only destroy your life as well.”

“I didn't ask for any of this,” Brian hissed at her. “I never asked for any of this to happen. I lost my two best friends as well, you know?”

“Yeah, spare me the bullshit. You never cared for anyone but yourself. So forgive me for not believing that you care about anything but yourself.”

“Look, I don't have to listen to this bullshit,” Brian started, but was interrupted by Ted, who laid a calming hand on his arm.

“We're only here to pick up Gus. That's all,” the accountant said quietly.

“Yeah, taking away my wife and the father of my daughter wasn't already enough. You had to take away my son as well,” Melanie hissed at Brian with pure venom in her voice.

“You started this. This would have never happened if you had just allowed him to come down for his visits,” Brian said seriously, before he stopped himself from saying more as he saw Gus appear in the doorway behind Melanie.

“Daddy?”

“Hey sonny boy, how are you?”

“Daddy?” The boy asked in obvious disbelief, his eyes about to pop out. “You're really here, Daddy? Really?”

“Yes, sonny boy. I am really here,” Brian confirmed as he was met by a bundle of six year old Gus that had run straight towards him and was hugging Brian's waist tight.

“I missed you, Daddy. So much. I wanted to come and visit you, but mama said you were too busy with Luke to take care of me,” the small boy announced sadly and Brian could only glare at Melanie who still stood close by. His eyes clearly spoke of his disbelief that she would say something like that to his son.

“No, sonny boy. I would never be too busy for you. Ever! You and Luke are the most important people in my life and I'll always make time for you.”

“Is Luke here, too?”

“No, he's waiting at home with Grandma Jen. They're waiting for us to come back.”

“Come back? I will go to Britin with you?” Gus asked with big, happy eyes.

Ted threw Melanie a disbelieving glare, not able to believe that she hadn't told Gus what was happening.

Brian swallowed down his anger and any possible comments he had for Melanie, not wanting to create a scene in front of his son.

“Yes, we'll go home, sonny boy. You, me and Uncle Teddy.”

“YAY!” Gus exclaimed happily and Brian felt a small smile creep up on his face at Gus' obvious excitement about spending time with him.

“How about you and Uncle Ted go up to your room and pack some of your things, huh? Make sure you bring all your favourite toys and clothes, alright? I'll speak with your mama in the meantime.”

Gus nodded eagerly, then grabbed Ted's hand and pulled him inside the house towards his room, not noticing the tension between the adults. As Ted was pulled away by Gus he managed to throw Brian a warning glance, urging him to not lose it with Gus in the house.

Brian nodded in acknowledgment and then turned to Melanie with a glare that would have made stronger people crumble.

“How could you not tell him? What the fuck is your problem?”

“You are my problem. You are! You tell him yourself that you made sure I can't see him again. You are so big on taking responsibility for one's actions now, how about you take responsibility for this, asshole?”

“Of course you can see him,” Brian said seriously. “We'll just have to work out a visitation schedule and then you can come and see him.”

Melanie only snorted at that. “You think I want to be at your beck and call until he turns 18? Forget about it, Kinney. The sooner you're out of my life, the better.”

“Melanie?”

“You take him and leave here, you will have to explain to him why I am not in his life anymore.”

“What are you talking about? You are his mother. I might not like that, but you are.”

“You have destroyed my life. You have taken everything I have ever held dear. I will not be at your mercy where Gus is concerned. You take him and we're done. At least JR and I will have a chance to move on from all this mess you've made my life.”

“You are his mother, how can you do this?” Brian asked in obvious disbelief, angrily shaking his head over and over.

“I will pick up JR from her play date now. I'll be gone for about an hour. By the time I get back, I want you gone and then I want to never hear from you ever again.”

“You're not even going to say goodbye to him?” Brian couldn't believe how Melanie could be so cold and uncaring. She didn't even look as if she cared at all that she was giving up her son completely.

“One hour,” was all Melanie said, then she grabbed her car keys from the small table next to the door and left the house, leaving Brian to stare after her dumbfounded.

45 minutes later Brian and Ted had packed most of Gus' clothes and toys and his personal belongings and were heading back to Pittsburgh. Gus had asked about Melanie twice, wanting to say goodbye to his mother, but Brian had told him that she had needed to go and pick up JR from her play date and couldn't wait. He would see her again soon. Brian just couldn't bring himself to tell Gus the truth yet, even though he knew that at one point he would have to. He just had no idea how to.