The next night Betty said she'd watch Aurora until I came back. She is such a nice woman. She is in her early 30's and has a husband and twin 3 year old boys. She takes care of Veronica's little boy and a neighbor girl who is 8 months. She is a great lady.

Rae, B, and I all go to the arena. We get there about 2 hours before the show starts. I show the body guards my pass and they let me back stage and lead me to a room. I wait patiently.

After about 10 minutes I hear some chatter. Then I see 5 guys file in. A tall, extremely handsome guy, with gorgeous greenish blue eyes, and dark hair. Which I find out is Kevin. Then another tall guy. Only, he has blond hair and gorgeous baby blues. His name is Nick. Then there is a shorter guy with brown hair and gorgeous blue eyes, named Brian. Then a short guy with black hair and brown eyes his name is Howie. And the last one to enter the room; He has on a white tank top that exposes his tattoos. He is tan and sexy as hell. With the facial hair and earrings. The dark black hair. And sunglasses. Something about the sunglasses, they strike a memory for me. I can't quite place my finger on it. So I go on with the interview. Every time I look at him, which I find out his name is AJ, he is staring at me. I can feel my cheeks burning. I ask about the tour and all kinds of things. They are really sweet guys. After about 30 min the interview is over. At the end I see a woman come in. You can see the resemblance in her and AJ. So I gather that it's his mom.

" Alex?" I hear her say. My ears perk up when I hear that name. Then it hits me. It's him! Why hadn't I seen it before? The eyes...The face...The skin tone, Alex. It's my Alex! Aurora's father! I had to make sure. But before I could come up to him. He came up to me.

" Hi" he says. He hadn't said anything the whole interview, and the little thing he said was mumbled. But now his voice is clear. And I know that voice. It's him. " Were down in Florida in 1997?" he blurts out.

" Yes."

" Oh my God, it's you Mal isn't it? I know it is!"

" It's you Alex!"

" Yeah" HE gives me a big hug. " I'm so glad I have found you again!"

" Yeah me too" I couldn't tell him.

" Can you meet me after the concert?"

" Nah, I have to pick up my...." I stop. " I have somewhere to be"

" OH" his face falls. " Well this is our last concert of the tour so, how about we get together some time?"

" OK" I give him my number. We kiss each other on the cheek and I go to find B and Rae.

" So how'd the interview go?" B asks.

" Good" I say.

" What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost!" Rae laughs.

" Nah, just Aurora's father"

" What?!" they both shriek.

" AJ, one of the Backstreet Boys, is Alex" I say low so none of the girls around us heard. I explain everything.

" Oh my God" they both say slowly.

" I know"

" Did you tell him?"

" Hell no!" I say. " I will, but when is the question!"

The concert is wonderful, their music is great, their voices are smooth, and their dancing is great! But through the whole concert all that's going on in my head is that my daughters father is right before me. The man I haven't seen since the night she was conceived, he is standing right before me, and he doesn't even know there is a beautiful baby girl the he helped make.

After the concert on the way home I am silent. We stop by Betty's to pick Aurora up. I thank her again for watching her. " OK baby doll, let's go get a bath and some jammies on!" I say as I give her a hug before putting her in her car seat. We go home and get ready for bed.

The next morning, Friday, I wake up to the phone on my night stand ringing off the hook. I reach over and sleepily answer it.

" Hello?"

" Hey, Mallori?"

" Yeah"

" Oh, hey what's up it's AJ"

" Oh, hi"

" Did I wake you?"

" Yeah. But I am supposed to get up anyway"

" Why?"

" I have to work"

" Oh, when do you get off?"

" 5:30"

" OK, would you like to come over for dinner?"

" I can't"

" Why not?" I can't tell him the real reason, which is because both Rae and B have to work and no one can watch Aurora.

So instead I say " I have plans"

" Ok, how about Saturday?"

" We'll see"

" Oh, alright" He has a hint of hurt in his voice.

" Well, I need to go get A..." I almost say Aurora. " I need to go get ready"

" Oh, ok"

" Bye" I hang up. And go get ready for work.

Saturday night B agrees to watch Aurora. Rae is going out somewhere.

" Whoa!" B says. " Look at you!" I come down the stairs in a black skirt with slits up the sides and a white blouse.

" You're really hoping you guys make something again, don't you?" B asks.

" Yes, just not another baby!" I laugh. " No but seriously, I really like him. And I know how much he will love Aurora. I just don't know how or when to tell him" I sigh. " I hate having to keep her a secret" I look at her playing peacefully on the floor with her toys.

" Mommy has to go" I say giving her a hug and kiss. " See you later sugar plum!" She gives me a little peck. " Love you baby"

When I get to AJ's I am in awe at how gorgeous his house is. He moved since we first met. And this house is fantastic! I walk up and ring the bell. He answers the door with a big smile.

" Hey come on in" He leads me into his living room where I see a dark haired girl sitting on the couch. She looks my age, if not a bit younger.

" Mallori this is my girlfriend Amanda" AJ says as if I am not who I was to him 2 years ago.

" Oh, you didn't mention you had a girlfriend" I say. My heart kind of tightens with a bit of pain.

" Oh" Is all he says and gives me an apologetic look like he knows how I feel. That he knows it hurts me and he feels really bad.

" How do you two know each other?" Amanda asks.

I shoot him a glance. " We met a couple years ago. When I was in Florida for Spring Break, we met and um, became, uh, friends" Although what I wanted to say was ' He is the father of my baby'.

While Amanda is in the bathroom, I walk into the kitchen where AJ is.

" I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Amanda" He says.

" Hey," I say. " Life goes on" He opens his mouth to say something but Amanda comes back. We sit down and eat the dinner. I make up an excuse to leave so early. I go home and as I walk in the door B just put Aurora down.

" Hey how'd it go?" She asks. We walk into the living room where Rae is now. I plop down on the couch.

" How'd it go?!" I ask. " How'd it go?! He has a girlfriend! He makes it sound like we're going to re-start and....and..." I begin to cry. " And he has a girlfriend!"

" Oh, Mal it'll be OK" Rae says.

" What am I going to do?" I ask myself. " How do I tell him I had our child?" The don't know what to say. I wipe my eyes and go upstairs.

Home
Hosted Stories
Chapter 4
Chapter 6