by Unknown
“It sounds as if she might have been the perfect woman for you,” Mick said.
“In retrospect, she may have been,” Thomas said wearily. “I do know that I loved her, or at least thought I did. But, like I said, we were too young to be so serious. She knew that, too. In fact, she’s the one who called it off.”
His expression turned nostalgic. “I thought about her for years. I’d be in the middle of some thankless fight with the politicians, half-ready to give up, and I’d hear Anna in my head telling me not to dare do that.”
“So, on some level you’ve always regretted losing her?” Mick concluded.
“I knew breaking up was the right decision at the time, but, sure, I had regrets. I thought it was more about my ego than anything else, though. I mean, really, what did I know about love at twenty?”
“You didn’t know that much when you hit forty,” Mick taunted. “Not till Connie came along. You know,” he added thoughtfully, “everything you said about Anna could describe Connie, too. She’s as passionate about this environmental stuff as you are, and she’s smart as a whip.”
Thomas gave him a startled look. “You know, you’re right. I never once made the comparison before, probably because Anna was so far in my past it never occurred to me. Connie and Anna would have had a lot in common. The other trait they shared was an admirable strength. I think that drew me to each of them.”
Mick sat back, trying to absorb his brother’s news. “You going to confront Aidan about this?”
Thomas nodded slowly. “Confrontation’s the wrong way of looking at it, but I do think I have to at least mention it, ask if I’m right. If he’s been harboring some sort of misplaced ill will toward me, we need to get that out in the open, especially if we’re going to work together.”
“And how will Connie feel about your dredging up your romantic past?”
“It has nothing to do with her,” Thomas said.
Mick gave him a disbelieving look. “Even I know better than that.”
“Come on, Mick. It’s ancient history,” Thomas replied. “Connie knows I was married twice, and she didn’t freak out about that. She’ll handle an old college relationship just fine. It’s no threat to her. Besides, the form says Anna is deceased. She can’t cause any trouble for us.”
Mick regarded him worriedly. “You may be minimizing the impact of this news. Just look at how it’s shaken you up knowing that Aidan’s mom was a woman you used to know.”
“Connie will be fine,” Thomas insisted. “I’ll speak to her before I ever have a word with Aidan. Like I said, though, it’s been years, Mick. It’s over and done with. I’ll make that clear. I’ll tell her I just need to tie up these loose ends, so Aidan and I can clear the air and work together.”
“Up to you to decide how to handle it, of course,” Mick said, for once not the least bit interested in inserting himself into the middle. He had a hunch the minefield was a lot more dangerous than his brother was envisioning. In his experience, women weren’t quite as predictable as Thomas clearly thought Connie to be.
“I need to go,” Thomas said, still looking shaken as he handed over the folder with the stunning information.
“You need me, I’m here,” Mick said.
“Thanks, Mick.”
Mick watched his brother walk away, shoulders slumped in a way he’d never seen before. Whatever Thomas said about this thing with Anna Mitchell being no more than a distant memory was a lie. It had been dragged right smack into the middle of the present. To his way of thinking that was never good.
*
Aidan had eaten cold, leftover pizza for dinner and was trying to settle down with a book when someone knocked on the door of his apartment, sending Archie racing in that direction to help announce the arrival of company.
Aidan laughed. “I heard it,” he told the dog, grabbing his collar to hold him back as he opened the door. He was stunned to see Thomas O’Brien standing there.
“Am I interrupting anything?” Thomas asked, looking uncomfortable.
“No, come on in,” he said, his tone polite, but hardly welcoming.
“Maybe we could go for a walk, instead,” Thomas said, hands jammed into the pockets of his well-worn jeans.
At the mention of a walk, Archie barked excitedly and ran for his leash.
“Well, one of us is clearly enthusiastic about that idea,” Aidan said, laughing. “A walk does sound good, though. I just finished way too much leftover pizza.”
He followed Thomas down the stairs and around the building to Main Street. The older man didn’t say a word as they turned onto Shore Road and walked along the waterfront. The restaurants seemed to be crowded with customers, but they had the walkway by the water mostly to themselves. The breeze off the bay was surprisingly chilly for June. Aidan was glad he’d thought to grab a jacket, but Thomas was shivering without one.
“Maybe we should stop somewhere,” Aidan said. “It’s cooler out here than I thought it would be.”
Thomas laughed. “You haven’t spent a day on the water when it’s freezing and the wind is whipping. Now, that’s cold. This is just a wee nip in the air.”
“Are you sure? You can have my jacket.”
Thomas shook his head. “I’m used to this.” He kept right on walking, his pace deliberate and steady.
When Aidan couldn’t stand it another minute, he glanced over at Thomas’s profile and took note of his troubled expression. “Is there something on your mind? It’s not about the school club, is it, because I have the time now to get some of those books from you. In fact, Shanna sold me one earlier today and I was just starting to read it when you showed up.”
“It’s not about that,” Thomas said.
The weariness behind his words had Aidan’s heart skipping a beat. “Then what?” he asked, filled with trepidation.
“Your mother,” Thomas began.
Aidan stiffened at the totally unexpected reply. “What about her?”
“She went to the University of Maryland, didn’t she?”
So, Aidan thought, Thomas had finally figured out the connection, or at least some of it.
“She did.”
“And we dated,” Thomas said flatly, no hint of doubt in his voice.
“I believe you may have,” Aidan said, choosing his words very carefully.
Thomas regarded him with a surprised expression. “She never mentioned me?”
Aidan shook his head. “Not really, no.”
“But you had some inkling we had a past, am I right about that?”
“Yes.”
Thomas regarded him impatiently. “Aidan, I’m trying to figure out some things. Help me out.”
“I’m being honest,” Aidan said, his defenses in place. “My mom mentioned there had been someone in her past, but she never mentioned you by name.”
His reply only seemed to leave Thomas more confused. “Then why the attitude when you got to town and we first met?” Thomas asked. “If she’d told you about me, it might make sense, but if my name never came up, then I don’t get it.”
“I found your name after she died last year,” Aidan explained.
“Okay,” Thomas said, still looking vaguely bewildered. He was silent, as if waiting for more.
“How well do you remember her?” Aidan asked to fill the silence. He decided to probe for a few answers of his own before giving anything more away.
“Very well,” Thomas said without hesitation. “When I saw her name and realized that’s who your mother was, so many memories came flooding back to me.” He met Aidan’s gaze. “They were good memories, Aidan.”
“Tell me,” Aidan pleaded, suddenly wanting to hear every detail about their time together. He had to wonder if Thomas would share his memories so readily once the truth was out there. “I don’t really know anything about that time in her life.”
Thomas’s expression softened. “She was beautiful, but I’m sure you saw that for yourself. Not just on the outside, but the inside, to
o. She was as idealistic as I was, so we had that in common. I don’t think she’d found a real focus for all that energy yet the way I had, but I knew she would eventually. She had such passion for anything that interested her.”
“She said the same about you,” Aidan admitted, drawing another puzzled look.
“I thought you said she’d never mentioned me.”
“Not by name, no. I put the pieces together after she died.”
“I’m so sorry you lost her,” Thomas said with apparent sincerity. “I wish we’d stayed in touch, that I’d kept up with her life, known about you before now.”
“Me, too.”
“What about your father?”
The charged words seemed to hang in the air. Answering that question was going to change everything. Aidan wondered if Thomas knew that, if he suspected, but his expression when he asked the question so innocently suggested nothing more than curiosity.
“I never knew him.” Aidan swallowed hard, then looked directly into Thomas’s eyes. “Until now.”
*
There it was—the truth that had been weighing on Aidan’s mind ever since he’d arrived in Chesapeake Shores. He waited for a reaction, any reaction, but Thomas just stared at him, clearly stunned.
“I need to think a minute,” Thomas said, making his way to a bench and sinking down on it as if he’d suddenly aged.
Aidan followed, unsure of what to do next. He sat down, too, and waited.
“You have to be wrong,” Thomas said eventually.
Aidan had expected the shock, but not the denial. “You think I’d lie about something like this?”
“I’m not saying you’re lying,” Thomas said quickly. “Not at all. I think perhaps you jammed a few pieces of a puzzle together to make them fit and came to the wrong conclusion.”
“Are you saying you never slept with my mom?” Aidan asked bluntly. “That it’s not possible for you to be my father? Because if you are, I think maybe you’re the liar.”
Thomas’s face flushed. “Let’s go back and start over before we both say things we’re likely to regret. What makes you think I’m your father? You said your mother never once mentioned me, that she only talked about your father in general terms. Is that right?”
Aidan nodded. “She told me how idealistic he was, how committed he was to the cause that mattered to him, all things I think we can agree describe you perfectly.”
“We knew other idealistic people during that time in our lives,” Thomas suggested, sounding more desperate than defensive. “College kids become passionate about a lot of things.”
Aidan knew he held the one piece of information that would end the argument. It was safely locked away back in his apartment. “But their names aren’t on my birth certificate,” he said quietly.
This time the color drained out of Thomas’s face. “You have a copy of that?”
“I have the original. My mom had it hidden away, but I found it last summer when I was cleaning out her apartment after she died. She obviously didn’t put your name on there to trap you into paying child support since she never even mentioned my existence to you.” He frowned. “Or did she? Did she tell you she was pregnant? Did you turn your back on her?”
“Of course not,” Thomas said with what appeared to be genuine indignation. “That’s not the kind of man I am. I take responsibility for my actions. I may have made mistakes in my life, but I never run from things.”
“Now,” Aidan agreed readily enough. He’d seen enough to accept that Thomas O’Brien today was an honorable man. “But back then?”
“I did the same back then,” Thomas said. “If Anna had told me she was pregnant, I’d never have let her walk away.”
This time it was Aidan who was startled. “She broke up with you?”
“She did. She said she didn’t want to hold me back from the things I was meant to do and that a serious relationship at that stage of our lives would do that. I didn’t want her to go back to New York, but I couldn’t argue with her, either. We were too blasted young. And she seemed excited about finishing up her college degree in New York.”
“She never finished her degree,” Aidan revealed. “She didn’t have the time or money for it, not with a baby on the way. My grandparents helped out. We lived with them until I was two, but their apartment was too crowded and I was too noisy and disruptive. Plus, if you knew my mom so well, you know how independent she was. She worked two jobs sometimes, until she finally found one in the city with an organization that gave grants to environmental protection projects.”
Thomas regarded him with what seemed to be real regret. “I’m so sorry it was so difficult for her, and for you. If I’d known about what was going on, I’d have found a way to make things easier.”
His expression filled with sorrow. “I wish I had known, Aidan. I really do. Her decision to leave came out of the blue. I thought we were happy as we were. I suppose I should have asked more questions. I’m sorry now that I didn’t.”
“But at the time you were relieved when she was gone, weren’t you?” Aidan said, his words sounding more like an accusation than a question. And maybe he’d meant them to be just that, one of the many accusations he’d wanted to direct at this man who’d allowed him to grow up without a father.
“I was confused,” Thomas replied slowly, as if giving his response real thought. “I was unhappy. But looking back, maybe I was a little relieved. She was right about the intensity of what we shared. We were in love, or thought we were. That kind of youthful passion can be a distraction and I didn’t want to lose focus.”
He finally looked in Aidan’s direction, studying him as if searching for proof that they shared DNA. “I can’t believe she would have kept a son from me, not the Anna I knew.”
“Not even to keep you from losing focus?” Aidan asked, his tone mocking as he echoed Thomas’s words.
“Look, son—”
“Don’t call me that,” Aidan said sharply. “You haven’t earned the right.”
“But isn’t that the point?” Thomas asked. “If you are my son, we have to figure out where we go from here, how to build on that truth.”
“If?” Aidan said, his anger stirring. “Are we back to calling me a liar? Or my mom?”
“I’m just saying that the situation is complicated,” Thomas replied, his tone surprisingly calm. “Neither of us knows why your mother did what she did. If she never told you my name, maybe that’s because she only wanted me to be your father, but couldn’t be certain.”
Aidan was on his feet. “Are you suggesting that my mother, the woman you claim to have loved, that you claim loved you, was cheating on you?” he asked, outraged by the suggestion. “That she put your name on my birth certificate to what? Trap you into paying support for a child who wasn’t yours? Odd, then, that she never bothered to tell you about me or to go to court to ask for anything.”
Thomas looked shocked by the angry words Aidan was hurling at him. “Of course not. She wasn’t that kind of woman. But maybe, for your peace of mind and mine, we should be sure about this before we go broadcasting the news to everyone else.”
“You want a DNA test?” Aidan said, his voice empty of emotion. “Sure, whatever. I suppose I even get why you’d doubt me, though I can tell you here and now that I don’t want or expect anything from you. I’m not here to make any claims on you or your family.”
“It’s not about doubting you,” Thomas insisted. “But this was what, twenty-eight years ago, right? It’s too important to leave something this huge to chance.”
“And then? When the test proves what I already know, what will you do about it? It’s not as if I need a father at this stage of my life. And you obviously don’t need another son.”
Thomas’s expression softened for just a minute. “But I would very much like to know the one I had with Anna, if that’s how this turns out. For whatever reasons she thought she had, your mother denied me that chance. I’m not condemning her for that, but I’m n
ot the one who created this situation, Aidan. Based on what you said, you’ve known since last summer about me. Give me some time to catch up. Then together we can figure out what happens next.”
The request was too blasted reasonable and Aidan was in no mood to be reasonable. He sighed, knowing Thomas was right. “And until we know, nothing changes. No one knows,” he agreed.
“To be honest, when I saw your mother’s name, I told Connie that I knew your mother a long time ago, but this?” He shook his head. “I won’t mention that you’re my son until we have the test results. Not a word to anyone else, either.” He regarded Aidan intently. “You’ll do the same?”
“Of course. Liz suspects there’s some connection, but she has no idea what it might be. She certainly doesn’t suspect this. I’m sure of that.”
“Would you mind if we went to Johns Hopkins for the tests?” Thomas asked. “We could probably have the samples taken right here, but even as discreet as I know the doctor and his staff to be, word can get around.”
Aidan nodded. He didn’t want to risk any leaks, either, not until they had the proof that his claim was valid and had decided how they—both of them together—wanted to handle it. Maybe it could remain their secret, but he couldn’t envision the likelihood of that in Chesapeake Shores, where private business seemed to be fair game, especially among O’Briens.
A thought suddenly occurred to him. “What does Mick know? I imagine he’s the one who showed you the résumé with my mother’s name on it.”
“I acknowledged to him that I knew your mother, but that’s all. The possibility that you were my son hadn’t even crossed my mind then,” Thomas said, then smiled. “I can see why Mick knowing would worry you. He’ll be determined that we forge a bond whether it’s what we want or not. That’s his way. My mother, Nell, she’ll feel the same way. If there’s any doubt in your mind, she’ll welcome you as another grandson. I’m the one who’ll be answering her questions and listening to her lectures for days on end.”