by Roxy Wilson
“In college. I got tired of eating out and decided to take the plunge. After umpteen calls to Mamá every time I got stuck, I finally got the hang of it. I have a housekeeper who comes in three times a week, but I do manage to make something for myself whenever the urge strikes.”
“Good,” she said. “You’re on breakfast duty tomorrow.”
“Sure. That reminds me, I need to pick up my clothes from the hotel.”
She sat on the stool. “Seeing as you’re spending the nights here anyway, why don’t you just stay here?”
“Are you asking me to move in?” He widened his eyes. “Really?”
“Don’t get so excited. This is a temporary house.” She poked him in the arm. “It’s not as if we’re moving in forever.”
“Ah, Maldita! How romantic! I didn’t know you had it in you,” he stated with heavy sarcasm as he devoured the eggs.
Dayna shook her head. “Come to think of it, it might not be such a good idea—”
“Too late. You made the offer and I accepted.”
“I didn’t hear an acceptance speech.”
Picking up the plate, he walked over to the sink to rinse it. “I’ll email it to you after I move in.”
Dayna hid her smile at his humor and then she let out a sigh. What the hell was she dreading? They were good together and as it was, they were practically spending more than half of every day together. She still hadn’t started working and he did most of his work from home. “All right, but before we go to your hotel to check you out, we need to pick up some groceries. I’m running out of food.”
“Sure thing.” He deposited a sweet kiss on her mouth. “Let’s go.”
Dayna cleaned the counter and put the dishes into the dishwasher.
“I have a feeling that you’re a cleanliness freak.”
She winced. “Slight OCD.”
“Ah! Glad to know it. Don’t worry. I’ll try to keep up.”
Dayna laughed as she picked up her purse. It just felt so easy to fall into a rhythm with Aron. He made it seem as if everything was a piece of cake. How lucky she was to have found him again! The idea that she might lose him sent fear skidding down her spine. It is time to tell him about their past. Tonight, after they settled down, she would tell him everything.
At the supermarket, Dayna strode in with Aron close behind her. She gave him half the list. “It’ll save time.”
After he disappeared, she picked up the stuff she wanted: fresh vegetables, fruits, cleaning products and napkins. Now, that she had her own place, she debated picking up some crockery but then discarded the idea. She would have to leave it all behind when she left, so there would be no point in gathering all this stuff.
“Hey! Look who dropped in. What a lovely surprise,” a voice called out that made Dayna close her eyes for a moment.
Damn her, for forgetting who prowled these aisles. Hadn’t Jamie warned her? Turning, she smiled. “Hi, Erin. How nice to see you again.”
“Yeah, yeah!” Erin’s eyes darted to the shopping cart overstuffed with things. “Having a party?”
“Oh, no. I’m renting an apartment…so just picking up the basic items.”
Erin tugged at the jacket of her red and white suit. “I didn’t know you’d moved here permanently.”
“It’s not forever, but maybe a year.”
“How nice! Well, you could pop in here whenever you wanted groceries or just wanted to chat with me.”
Dayna promised herself that she would never come in here again. The two women had never gotten along, and it was hard to forgive old grudges. “Yeah, thanks. Well, I guess I better go now. Take care.”
Even as she turned, she heard Aron’s voice behind her, “There you are. I got everything except the fabric softener. Can’t find it.”
Erin’s mouth gaped open as Aron joined her. “You—two are going out? Living together?”
“Not living together. No!” Dayna denied, a little too loudly. She didn’t want Erin to know about the extent of their relationship. The woman was like a piranha. If she found a weakness, she would latch on to it until she drew blood.
“Yes, Dayna and I are going out,” Aron answered as he glanced at her quickly, then he looked back at Erin. “How are you doing, Erin?”
Her face scrunched into a scowl and a vicious gleam came into her eyes.
In high school, Dayna would have braced for a nasty tirade, but Erin had become sophisticated over the years. “It’s nice to know that you two can put the past behind you and move on so easily.”
Dayna felt the undercurrents of an alarming feeling swish through her gut. This isn’t going to end well. “We need to leave,” she urged. Even to her own ears, her voice sounded desperate.
Aron held his ground. “We haven’t found the fabric softener.” He glanced at Erin. “And yes, I suppose we did put the past behind us. A high school breakup isn’t such a hard thing to get over.”
Erin reached forward to take the list from his hand and read it. “I’ll get the softener for you.” She smiled sweetly at Dayna. “And I would have thought giving up your child would have been a hard thing to get over, but who am I to judge? Why don’t you guys go up to the billing counter. I’ll get the softener for you.”
Dayna’s blood froze. Her heart stopped beating. What could she to do now? She sure as hell hoped Aron didn’t hear Erin’s remark about the baby, but she knew that would be wishful thinking. She grabbed hold of her cart and hurried to the counter. How the hell did Erin know about her pregnancy? Dayna had made an effort to keep it a secret, but of course, a few close friends knew. Jamie wouldn’t have told anyone, but maybe word got leaked through some other people who knew. Maybe Erin didn’t know what exactly she was doing when she aimed that barb. Maybe she’d only meant to bring up the past to curdle their good mood, but the wound she made went much deeper. She could feel Aron’s eyes on her back as she paid for the groceries.
“I’ll pay for these,” he said in a tight voice as she attempted to pull the cart forward. “Half and half. We share everything, right?” After Erin brought the softener, he added it to his bill.
Perhaps sensing that she’d already done enough damage, Erin left without saying anything.
Outside, they carried the bags over to his car and dumped them in the trunk.
Dayna took her seat.
“What the hell was she talking about?”
Dayna gulped as she swiveled to grab a hold of her seatbelt and clipped it. Shit! She should have told him earlier, but how was she supposed to know the truth would come in such a massively outrageous manner? “Can we talk about it when we reach your hotel?”
When he shot out of the parking lot, she worked out the right words she wanted to use when she told him everything. Of course, nothing could change the fact that he’d found out through the worst possible person. She should’ve been the one to tell him! It shouldn’t have been delivered in such a nasty and callous way, but the damage was done and it would be up to her to minimize it.
Instead of going to his hotel, Aron went to her apartment. They unloaded the groceries and went in. After Dayna unlocked the door, he dumped the bags on the counter. “What the hell was that about?”
“I meant to tell you.” She walked behind the counter in order to put some distance between them. “I swear I was going to tell you the truth, but after we ran into each other, I thought I would tell you—and then we started going out, and I got scared that it would run you off.” The words were not coming out right. She wanted to tell him how guilty she’d been feeling for keeping this fact from him, and how desperate she’d been to explain everything. How scared she felt that he would leave her if he found out.
His face looked like granite, hard and unforgiving.
She’d never seen such a terrible look in his eyes.
“What will run me off?” He raked his fingers through his hair. “Damn it, Dayna! Spill it out!”
“I was pregnant and I put the baby for adoption,” she blurted it out.
He didn’t speak or move. “After high school? Whose baby was it?”
Dayna shook her head. He hadn’t gotten it yet. “After you left, I found out that I was pregnant. I had no way of contacting you. We’d already broken up. It was over and I didn’t know what to do. My parents and everyone told me that given the circumstances, it was best to put up the child for adoption. For his betterment, so he could get the best care, I gave him up for adoption to a well-to-do couple who were desperate for a child.” It all came out in a massive jumble of words. She couldn’t tell if he understood.
Aron blinked his eyes as he tried to assimilate her words. “After I left, you found out? But whose baby was it?”
She took a deep breath. “It was your child, Aron…Our child.”
His face paled.
She saw the color drain out of his skin completely.
His hand shot to hold the counter.
When she made a move towards him, he thrust out his other hand. “Don’t come near me.”
“But…?”
Leaning against the counter, he put his head in his hands and took deep breaths. After a couple of minutes, he straightened. “You had a baby? My baby! And without telling me, without contacting me, you put up that child for adoption?”
With those words, he crushed any hope she’d been harboring that he might forgive her.
CHAPTER TEN
Aron stared at the woman he loved—or thought he loved. How could he love a woman who was capable of such a grotesque act and then not even mention it? How could she be so callous and cold? All his thoughts, his ideas about their budding romance, burned in the wake of what he just learned. He supposed he did have some reason to be thankful to Erin; if she hadn’t told him, he never would have found out he’d become a father ten years ago, when he was eighteen. “Did you ever see our child again?”
“It was an open adoption, and they offered to send me pictures.” She wrung her hands no doubt, in turmoil because he’d accidently discovered a secret that she had no intention of disclosing. “But it was too painful for me, so I chose not to know.”
“You chose not to know…” He echoed her words, still in disbelief about this sudden truth that punched him in the gut. “And you chose not to tell me.”
“You weren't there.”
“I’ve been around for the past several weeks, Dayna. You could have told me the first day we met, or when we made love, or when we spent countless hours talking about inane stuff.”
“I was scared of your reaction.”
The irony of that statement was not lost on him. Would he have reacted in such a manner if she’d been the one to disclose this fact to him? Would he have been better able to take the news if she’d been the one who told him? Aron didn’t know if he was more shocked by the brutality of the truth, or the fact that Dayna had hidden this piece of information from him all along. He shook his head. “I need to go.”
“Go? But—we need to talk about this.”
“Not now. No siempre! Not ever.” He slapped his hand on the counter. “This is over.”
Her face froze, her eyes filled with pain. She took a tentative step forward, her hand reached out to touch him.
Aron stepped back. “We’re over. You and me, we’re done.” And with that declaration, he turned and left.
“Wait, Aron, there’s something I need to tell you—I love you.”
He heard her say it, but Aron felt too enraged and too appalled by the information he’d been handed to give a shit about anything she had to say now.
After sitting in his car feeling stunned for several minutes, he switched on the ignition and sped away toward his hotel. “I would like to check out,” he told the clerk and made his way to his room to pack his stuff.
The pain of Dayna’s betrayal cut deep into his heart. He’d never imagined she would deliver such a death blow to their love. He thought he could trust her. What she did, the act of putting up their child for adoption, was horrifying and devastating. He’d been a father for the past ten years, but he never even knew it. He didn’t know what his son looked like, or what he liked to do in his free time. Aron had missed out on the biggest and most exciting experience that a human being could ever have, simply because his girlfriend thought he wasn’t important enough to be informed of the fact that he helped conceive a child.
When his cell phone rang, he glanced at it, feeling sure it was Dayna. Did she really think she could wipe out an outrageous mistake with an apology?
But it was Graham calling him. “Hi, dude! I just got the good news. My ex has finally agreed to a divorce settlement. So, I’m looking to celebrate with my mates. You want to join us tonight? Drinks are on me.”
Aron took in a deep breath. “Congratulations or whatever the hell, I’m supposed to say to such news. But I’m leaving San Diego.”
“What? Tonight? But I thought you were staying on for an indefinite period.”
Aron rubbed his forehead in annoyance. He didn’t really want to discuss the details of his failed love life with Graham, no matter how good a friend he was. “It’s a long story, but I have no reason to stay here now. Dayna and I are over.”
“But—I just saw you guys together, and everything was good. What happened?”
“She did something a long time ago and I just found out about it,” he answered evasively, not wishing to give out more details. He was probably in more shock than he realized, otherwise he would have found it easier to brush off his friend. “It—never mind.”
“Where are you? I’m coming right over. We need to talk,” Graham said in a tense voice.
Aron didn’t think he needed a lecture or a shoulder to cry on. But Graham was a good friend and it wouldn’t hurt to bid him a proper goodbye. “I’m at the Hilton.” Aron gave him the address. “I’ll be out in an hour, so come stat.”
After he hung up, Aron called his travel agent and got details of the next flight that would take him out of America. Since he was getting a ticket at the last minute, he didn’t get a direct flight, but he didn’t mind the long detour that would take him through United Kingdom. Staying at the airport for the three hour layover might give him enough time to cool down before he went home. He marched to the closet and pulled it open. Just as he dumped the first set of clothes into his suitcase, the doorbell rang. Aron opened the door.
“Hi.” Graham stepped in, saw the bag and swallowed heavily. “So, you’re serious about going away?”
“Yes. There’s nothing that compels me to stay here anymore. Nada…”
Graham ran a hand over his face. “But shouldn’t you stay and try to work things out with Dayna?”
“There’s nothing to work out. What she did—nothing can erase that mistake. Not time, not guilt and certainly not an apology.”
“You found out about the baby.”
It was another punch to the gut. Aron glowered at his friend. “You knew about it? Maldita sea! Damn it! Did the whole world know about it except the clueless, idiot father?”
“I—well, the news leaked out when we scattered after high school. Dayna didn’t start college till March—and yes, I knew.”
The betrayal cut deep, not as deep as Dayna’s treachery, but still it was another stab in his heart. He’d thought Graham was a loyal friend, but his loyalty towards Dayna must have been stronger. After all, they were friends long before he came into the picture. “Damn it, you didn’t think that maybe this was something you should have told me?”
“God, man! I had no idea if you knew or not. I never discussed it with Dayna. And yes, I thought about bringing it up but you guys were happy together, so much in love. You looked good and I didn’t want to rock the boat.”
“Rock the boat, huh? Well, this boat has well and truly sunk!” Aron snapped as he threw in another stack of clothes into a bag. “We’re over, Dayna and I. And there’s nothing else left to stay. What did you know about the baby?”
“Nothing. I only heard rumors. You know how high school kids
are. But I don’t know anything else except that she gave it up for adoption.”
Aron strode to the bathroom to collect his toiletries. After dumping them into a smaller bag, he opened the safe, took out his passport and money. He put them in his carryon.
The doorbell rang….The man from the concierge.
Aron handed him his suitcase. He glanced at Graham who was staring at him as if he wanted to say something but couldn’t make up his mind as to which words he needed to use. “Goodbye!” He thrust out his hand.
Graham shook his hand. “I’m sorry, man. I wish there was something I could do.”
“It’s okay. There’s nothing anyone can do.”
“Where will you go?” Graham followed him out of the room.
He still felt pissed off at finding out that Graham also knew but chose not tell him this. “I don’t know. Here and there. I’ll be traveling for a while. There are some things I’ve been neglecting. I guess I should look into them.”
“I’m sorry man!” Graham stated as they stepped into the elevator. “I really am.”
Aron didn’t say anything as he strode over to the reception and told the man to settle his bill.
At some point, Graham must have realized there was nothing more to say because he disappeared.
Aron paid his bill, called a cab and left. His heart was too broken for him to really consider cooling down before making such a permanent move. The blow Dayna delivered shook him so much that the only way he could cope with it was to go far, far away where he wouldn’t be reminded of her deceit.
Still reeling with shock, he really expected better from Dayna, thought she would be more honest than to lie like this. How could she have thought she would get away with keeping such news from him? Of course, she nearly did get away with it. If it wasn’t for spiteful Erin, he may never have discovered the truth. But now, that he knew, how could he ever forget he had a son somewhere, a child he’d never seen or even known existed? How could he spend the rest of his life knowing his son would never know his real father? Was he happy? Had he been treated well?