Glory by Yash

Chapter 8

Sonny brushed the invisible lint off his crisply ironed khakis as he waited for the door at the Martin estate to be answered.  He could feel the nervous tension course through his body.  But what did he have to be nervous about?  At the first opportunity, Brenda admitted that Robbie was his.  This was Brenda Barrett he was dealing with.  He had known her since she was eighteen years old.  So he had no reason to worry.  But something, something had him on edge.  Hhe couldn’t put his finger on it and that bothered him. 

"Sonny, come in," Brenda greeted, welcoming him inside.

He returned her greeting and walked inside the mansion that was tasteful and elegant, and yet had a homey, lived in feel to it. 

"I want to assure you that you can see her whenever you want to, just give me a call.  And you need to come over when everyone is home so everyone can meet you," she informed him as they walked into the study.

As they walked in, Sonny observed the brown haired man with an accident talking on the phone.  The man ended his call and walked over to Brenda. 

"Sorry, Bren, I was just finishing up some business before I head into the office," the unidentified man volunteered.

"No, problem.  Aidan Devane meet Sonny Corinthos.  Sonny, Aidan." 

Wrapping his arm around Brenda's waist, Aidan held out his hand for Sonny to shake.

Stopping himself from laughing, Sonny firmly gasped the younger man's hand.  It- was the gleam in Aidan's eyes and the possessive arm touching Brenda.  Aidan was staking his claim.  Did this little boy think he was a challenge to him?  Whatever the relationship between the two, it could never ever compete with what he and Brenda shared and share.  "Nice to meet you." 

"Same here."

The two sized each other up.

"Okay luv, I've got to go," Aidan said softly. "I'll see you later."

"Have a good day," Brenda replied. 

Aidan nodded and kissed Brenda.  "Sonny."

"Aidan."

And Aidan departed. 

"Ugh!  You males are so- - such little boys.  Could you two have been more obvious?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Sonny replied taking a seat next to Brenda. 

"The male machismo was on high when you and Aidan were sizing each other up."

"Brenda, that little boy is not worth my time or consideration." 

She frowned.  "Okay, whatever."  She paused. "I'm glad you came."

"When the mother of my daughter calls I come."

"So I have you at my beck and call?"  Whoa!  That sounded flirtatious where did that come from?  She was over Sonny.  OVER. 

Wisely deciding to ignore her tone, he answered, "You can call me 24/7 concerning my Robbie."

Robbie, right, the reason he was here.  She reached underneath the sofa and handed him a scrapbook. 

Cautiously he opened the book, almost as if he were afraid of what these pages revealed.  Afraid that his anger would consume him as he saw all he'd missed out on.  And sure enough right before his eyes, Robbie went from being a bump in Brenda's stomach to a full-fledged toddler.  Flipping through the pictures, he tried not to notice the dull, dead look in Brenda's eyes grow brighter as he turned the pages.

So caught up in his own anger, he'd forgotten the Brenda who left this town and all the traumatic events she went through in such a short period of time. 

Slowly he closed the book after what seemed like years, not wanting the journey to end.  He could feel his anger surging again.  All the time he'd missed with his daughter was contained in these pages.  Time he could never get back.  He didn't know if she loved avocadoes, but hated squash like her brother Morgan.  Or if she laughed hysterically at every reading of "10 Little Monkeys Jumpin' on the Bed" like her eldest brother Michael did.  Hell, he didn't even know if that book had ever been read to her.  He had no clue about any of her likes or dislikes because of Brenda.  Did she do this to punish him?  To teach him a lesson?  "Why?" 

Brenda took a deep breath; she had been waiting for this question.  "It was a multitude of reasons.  I never thought it would be this long before you found out.  In the six months I was last here, I was finally free from captivity for the first time in four years.  I was scared to death that Luis would find me and kill me or worse yet, make me go back, terrified that you and Jax would be murdered, and then Luis was the one who was murdered, and my heart leaped with glee.  And my mind was conflicted - no sane human being wanted to dance on the grave of another, but I did and I feared that this was the beginning.  That my disease was becoming resistant to the medication I was taking.  And the drama continued.  I got married to a man I couldn't stand, went on trial for murder, caused Jax to get shot, then I got stood up at the altar for the second time, and to top it off, one man I loved left me in his safe house's bed without so much as a goodbye and the other offered me money to get out of town.  When I left here, I didn't know if I was coming or going.  And everyday I had to work to make sure the guilt I was feeling didn't swallow me whole.  When I finally realized I was pregnant, we'd heard Carly was finally pregnant again.  Sonny, my heart rejoiced for you.  After all these years and the loss of Spencer and Lily's baby, you were finally going to experience the joy of fatherhood from the very beginning.  And I would do nothing, nothing to ruin that.  You deserved to enjoy every moment of Carly's pregnancy without me lurking about with my drama- -"

"But I missed out on watching Robbie grow inside you, to talk to her like I did to Morgan, to feel her when she kicked- -" 

"Sonny, snap out the dream world.  You might not have been there for the first kick or the first ultrasound, but your time would have been split between two hormonal women living hours apart.  Carly would have either left you for cheating or made sure your life was a living hell and knowing her, she would have created more problems and stress with her pregnancy that would have kept you by her side, and I would have been in Pine Valley crying and wondering why you didn't love my baby as much as Carly's.  Are those the pregnancies you would have wanted for your son and daughter?  And you're forgetting one major fact, Robbie could have been Jax's.  I thought she was; I mean, Jax and I were getting married and you and I had only been together just the once.  But once she was born, it was obvious who she belonged to, the DNA test just confirmed it," Brenda concluded.

Damn, he had forgotten about Candyboy in his equation.  And how did she do a DNA without his knowledge? 

"My mom is an ex-WSB agent.  I could get an imprint of your first tooth if I so chose."

Sonny nodded.  "Why didn't you call me afterwards?"

"Life.  I had one that amazingly didn't revolve around you and your needs.  I had two daughters to take care of, day to day life issues, a family that needed me.  And weren't you busy with Luis' brother, your own newly discovered half-brother and delivering Morgan?  Robbie has always known you were her father, your name is on her birth certificate.  And as soon as I felt I  was ready and everything was in order, I told my family I was ready to come home, and they wanted to come with me, and moving five kids and seven adults is no easy feat, but we did it and here we are.  Now that might not be a good enough answer for you, but it's all I got so deal with it."  She allowed herself to exhale.  "Now that story time is over, let's go see our daughter."

Brenda stood up, walked out of the room, expecting him to follow. 

He quickly did.  This was not the same woman that he once knew; she'd changed, she was harder.  He would need to get to know this woman all over again.

"Robbie, Daddy is here," Brenda announced, as they walked into the nursery.

Robbie looked up from her doll and stared at Sonny, then she moved and hid behind Glory. 

How could he forget that Brenda also had to deal with rearing Alcazar's daughter?  Sonny got down on their level.  "Hi, Robbie.  Hi, Glory."

"Hi," Glory replied. 

Robbie was silent, but looked around her sister to see him occasionally.

"Robbie say, hi," Glory directed. 

Cautiously, Robbie waved.

"She shy, right, Mommy?" 

"She pretends to be depending on her mood," Brenda agreed.  "Sonny, grab a doll.  If we ignore her and start playing, she'll join in."

Trying to keep his eyes off his daughter, he picked up a doll and tried to mimic Glory's and Brenda's actions.  And after what seemed like a lifetime, his daughter joined in.  He was playing with his daughter.  A wonderful, wonderful first.