by Emma Nichols
Kate felt the pain deep in her chest, just as sharp and fresh as the night her parents had left her in the E.R. She refused to give these two the satisfaction of a response.
“Did your husbands decide to leave you before or after they found out about the gonorrhea you caught from the football team? Or was it you who gave it to the football team? I never did figure that out.”
She stepped back and looked at Kayla while Tiffani sputtered to come up with a response. “You should really talk to your surgeon, Kayla. He missed a bump.” She tapped the bridge of her nose and stepped around them.
“Bitch!”
She kept walking, controlling her emotions as she tried to leave her past behind her. Looking for a quiet place to compose herself, she saw a sign for the ladies’ room and headed that way. Pushing through the door, she sighed in relief at having it to herself.
Her respite was short-lived when the queen bitch herself entered. Kate’s shoulders dropped and she braced her hands on the counter.
“I heard what Tiffani and Kayla said,” Vixen said.
Kate turned her head. “And you had something to add? I get it, okay? I got pregnant at seventeen. I had a kid when I was barely eighteen.” She straightened up. “And despite all that, I am happy. I’m not homeless. I’m not on welfare. My kid isn’t screwed up. So if you’re looking for something to rub in my face, there’s nothing. I have a beautiful son, a wonderful husband, and a job I love. So screw you and whatever judgmental bitchiness you think you’re going to throw at me, because I’m done.”
“I’m sorry.”
Kate blinked. “What?”
“I came in to tell you I was sorry. For what Tiffani and Kayla said, and for how I treated you in high school. I wasn’t…happy in high school and I lashed out at people that made easy targets.” She shrugged. “You were an easy one.”
“Oh.” That was the last thing she expected to hear, especially from Vixen Delauer.
“I’m glad you’re happy and that you flourished, despite everything that was thrown at you. You more than deserve to have a wonderful life.” She turned to leave.
“Vixen—”
She stopped at the door and looked over her shoulder.
“Thank you.”
She nodded and left.
Kate looked around at the empty restroom, searching for someone to miraculously appear and tell her she hadn’t dreamed what had just happened. Maybe this reunion wouldn’t be so bad after all.
5
Ian slid onto the bar stool and ordered a draught from the bartender. He checked his phone again while he waited for his beer. No messages from Kate, but he hadn’t really been expecting any since she thought he was still fishing.
She hadn’t been in their room when he’d gone up and he hadn’t been able to find her in the lobby. It was still another twenty minutes until the formal dinner. He shook his head and sipped the drink the bartender slid in front of him.
Formal fucking dinner. There was probably going to be more than one fork. Hopefully, he wouldn’t embarrass Kate too much.
Two women stepped up a few feet away from him, all but slamming their small purses on the bar. They might have been attractive if their faces hadn’t been caked with makeup.
“The nerve of that tramp,” the blonde said. “Who the hell does she think she is?”
“Does my nose really have a bump?” the brunette asked.
“Your nose looks fine. How did she even know about my divorces?”
“You haven’t exactly been quiet about them on Facebook. Maybe she saw it on there.”
Ian tuned them out and checked his phone again. Ten minutes. He’d go a little early to make sure he caught Kate before she went into the dining room.
“What did you say?”
He glanced at the women, who had been joined by a man, staring angrily at them.
“Who the hell are you?” the blonde asked.
“Paul Jones. What did you say about Kate Becker getting pregnant after winter formal?”
“Oh, wow. You got hot.” The brunette twirled a lock of hair around her finger. “You probably don’t remember me—”
The man glanced at her. “I know who you are, Kayla.” He looked back at the blonde. “Repeat what you said about Kate.”
A nasty gleam lit up her face. “Oh, this is fabulous. You have no idea.” Her laugh was filled with malice. “You have to be the only one at St. Martin’s who doesn’t know you knocked up Kate Becker and then moved the hell to Alaska.”
Paul stepped closer to the blonde. “Kate would have told me.”
She laughed again. “How could she? You left before winter break was over. Here one day and gone the next. No one at school even knew where you’d gone until someone overheard the administrative secretary talking about transferring your records.”
“Damn it.” The man pushed away from the bar and stormed out of the room.
“Oh my God,” Kayla said. “Did you just tell Paul Jones he has a kid he never knew about?”
The blonde turned her toward the exit. “Quick. Follow him. If we hurry, maybe we’ll be able to get it on video.”
“I don’t know. I think we should let them sort it out.”
“God. Why do I put up with you? Stay here and be a little bitch then.” She stormed away from the bar.
“Tiff. Wait!” The brunette followed her.
Ian turned his pint glass on the cardboard coaster and let the realization sink in that Tommy’s biological father just learned he had a son. Not even that he had a son, only that he had a kid.
He’d never asked for the specifics of why Kate wasn’t with the guy who’d knocked her up. She’d said he didn’t know and she didn’t have a way to tell him. Ian hadn’t cared. He’d been so in love with Kate he wouldn’t have cared if the guy had been in the picture.
He looked into his beer like it would hold the answers he needed. He’d always known he loved Kate more than she loved him. It had always been enough for him, but if he were honest, the last few years he’d been waiting for the other shoe to drop. For Kate to realize there was someone out there who was better for her, who could give her more. More than back-to-back deployments and his moods, more like this fancy-ass reunion of the fancy-ass school she’d graduated from.
Maybe this was the opportunity she needed, and he should stop being so god damned selfish. If she wanted to give Tommy’s dad a chance and see if they could be a family together, he’d make that happen if it meant she would be happy.
Draining the last of his beer, he stood and threw some bills on the bar. He wouldn’t give up Tommy though. Not completely. Pete and Dan were right—bio dad or not, he was Tommy’s father.
6
Kate’s phone buzzed in her clutch. She stopped and pulled it out, seeing Chrissy’s name on the screen.
“Hey, I’m on my way.”
“Okay. I got us seats since I didn’t see you in here,” Chrissy said.
“Sorry. I ran into the Bitches.”
“Ugh. I was hoping they wouldn’t come.”
“No such luck.”
A man approaching from the direction of the bar caught her attention. He looked vaguely familiar—something about the swirl of hair at his right temple. Her breath caught in her throat.
“Chrissy, I need to go. Paul is walking right toward me and he does not look happy.”
“Oh, shit. Do you think he heard something?”
“I don’t know.”
“I’m heading your way.”
The call disconnected at the same moment Paul reached her.
“Is it true?” he demanded.
She licked her lips. “Is what true?”
“That you got pregnant after winter formal. Is it true?”
Kate glanced around, realizing they were in the hallway leading to the different ballrooms and people were looking their way. She didn’t need any more drama that night and she sure as hell didn’t want their discussion to end up on social media.
“Can
you please lower your voice?”
Paul looked around, grabbed her arm and dragged her into a small alcove in front of two double doors. “Did you have my baby?”
“Yes.”
“And it never occurred to you to let me know?”
“How, Paul? I came back from Christmas vacation and you were gone. No phone call. No letter. Nothing. I didn’t know until February that I was pregnant and didn’t find out until March that your dad had gotten a job in Alaska. How hard do you think it was to find a number for a Jones family when I didn’t know you dad’s name or even what city you were living in?”
“What about MySpace or Facebook?” He threw his hands up, then rested them on his hips.
“You think I didn’t try to find you?” She looked at the people passing by, casting curious glances their way. This was probably the confrontation most of them had been waiting for since their senior year. “You think I wasn’t scared and needed someone in my corner? I did the best I could with the hand I was given.”
“Did you keep it?” He ran his hands roughly through his hair, making it stand on end. “Jesus. I don’t even know if I have a son or daughter.”
“Yes, I kept him.”
“I want to meet him. Do you still live here in town?”
Kate shook her head. Her heart thundered in her chest. How the hell had everything gone so sideways? “No.”
“No you don’t live here or no I can’t meet him?” He stepped closer. “I have a right to meet my son,” he said through clenched teeth.
“No, I don’t live here. He has no idea who you are.”
“He has no idea he has a father? What? Does he think the stork brought him?”
“He has a father. The only father he’s ever known.”
Paul’s chest heaved as if he’d crossed the finish line of a marathon only seconds ago. “I have a right to my son. I’ll get a lawyer if I have to, but I will see my son.”
Turning sharply, he stormed off toward the elevators.
Shit. Shit, shit, shit. Kate pressed one hand over her mouth and the other over her stomach, hunching forward with the weight of his threat.
Chrissy rushed to her. “Kate. Kate! Are you all right?”
Tears breached her lower lids and ran hot down her face. “Someone told him. He threatened to get a lawyer if I don’t let him see Tommy. Can he do that?”
Her eyes pinched at the corners. “Oh, honey. I don’t know. Did you explain everything that happened?”
“He didn’t give me a chance. He asked if it was true that I got pregnant and then demanded to see Tommy. What am I supposed to do?”
Wrapping her in a tight hug, Chrissy said, “You need to talk to him. This was a shock for him. It was probably the last thing he expected.”
Her laugh tasted bitter. “Yeah, well. Now he knows what it feels like.”
“Sweetie… He needs to adjust to the knowledge that he fathered a child. That’s not going to happen quickly.”
She dropped her head on Chrissy’s shoulder. “How am I supposed to talk to him? I still don’t know how to get a hold of him.”
This time her laugh was tinged with irony. Even now she still didn’t have his phone number. Her seventeen-year-old self cringed, remembering every phone call to the wrong Jones family, asking if they had a son named Paul. Wrong number by wrong number, her hope that she wouldn’t have to raise a child alone had died. Twice she’d thought she’d found the right family, only to find out it was the wrong Paul Jones. After fifty-one “no’s” she’d realized it was a Sisyphean task and given up on finding a yes.
“Let me go see if I can track down his number or find out what room he’s in,” Chrissy said. “Do you want to go to dinner or do you want to go up to your room?”
Kate glanced toward the ballroom where the formal dinner was to take place. There was no way in hell she could sit a table with any of these people. Not now. Not like this.
“I’ll go upstairs.”
“Okay. I’ll text you if I get any info. We’ll figure this out, sweetie.”
A short laugh escaped. “You said the same thing to me when I found out I was pregnant.”
Chrissy’s half smile was full of chagrin. “Well, it worked out even if we didn’t exactly figure it out. It will this time too.”
If only she had half of Chrissy’s optimism. She wiped her eyes as best she could, sure that her makeup was smeared all over her face, and walked down the hall to the elevators. Head up, shoulders back, she avoided everyone’s curious stares just as she had in high school.
Jabbing the up button, she rushed into the elevator car as soon as the doors slid open and pressed the button for her floor. The hall was blessedly clear when it arrived on the sixth floor without stopping. Halfway down the hall, her phone pinged.
Chrissy: Room 431
Kate: How did you find out so quickly?
Chrissy: The assistant manager’s hot
Kate: What did you promise him?
Chrissy: I told him I’d let him do tequila shots out of my cleavage
Kate: Christina!
Chrissy: No worries. I want his face in my boobs. Go take care of your family
She signed off with a heart and thumbs up emoji.
In her room, Kate flipped on the light for the bathroom and checked her makeup since there was no way in hell she was going to have the second confrontation looking like a Sunday morning walk of shame.
Her face wasn’t as bad as she expected. Red and blotchy, but there was no helping that as much as she’d been crying. Wiping away the few smears of mascara under her eyes, she tossed the washcloth into the sink and shimmied out of her dress. She was not going to be standing in four-inch heels for their next confrontation.
Comfortable in jeans and t-shirt, she grabbed her phone and room key and made the trek down two floors, taking the stairs to avoid running into anyone in the elevator. It gave her a little extra time to rehearse what she wanted to say to Paul.
He was right—he deserved to meet Tommy. But that had to happen on her and Ian’s terms. They needed to ease Tommy into the idea of meeting his biological father. He knew Ian wasn’t—they’d agreed to always be honest with him about that—but all he knew about Paul was that he hadn’t been around when she’d found out she was pregnant.
439…437…435… Her stomach flipped and blood rushed through her veins as her heart pounded in her chest. She could do this. She had to. There was no other choice.
7
Her hand poised inches from the door, Kate took another breath and blew it out slowly, then knocked sharply three times.
She took a step back from the door and waited. Please let him be here and not on the phone with a lawyer.
The door opened only enough for Paul to wedge his wide shoulders through, but not enough to make it seem like he was inviting her in. She took the moment to really look at him.
Neither of them had been one of the popular kids at St. Martin’s. Her because she’d never felt comfortable competing for everyone’s attention; him because he hadn’t seemed to care. He could have been though, with his boy-band-cute looks. Now he was a cross between Paul Walker and Henry Cavill.
“Now is not a good time, Kate,” he said.
“When is it a good time to find out you have a child you never knew about?”
“Kate.” His low voice held a warning.
“I’m sorry you found out this way. I probably could have handled it better, but I was caught off guard. I didn’t expect to see you again and after I met my husband and we settled down, I stopped having the conversations in my head where I told you I was pregnant. I’m willing to work this out, but I have to be able to break it to my husband and son before you go charging off to a lawyer.”
He stood there silent and stoic, not giving her any indication of his thoughts.
“Please. This is my family.”
His head tilted back ever so slightly, and he pursed his lips, taking on a cocky air. “I’ll make a deal with you, Ka
te. I’ll walk away free and clear on one condition.”
Dread pooled low in her stomach. Did he want money? They didn’t have much. Some savings she’d put away for their summer vacation. She might be able to cash out her 401K, but that was only a few thousand dollars and would be even less after the penalty.
“You sleep with me tonight, and I’ll walk away.”
Before she consciously thought about doing it, her hand connected with his face so hard her palm stung, and his head turned with the force of the blow.
“I am not a whore,” she said through clenched teeth. “I love my husband. He is a good man and a loving father, and I will not betray him or our marriage. You are not going to come into our lives after ten years and destroy everything we have because your feelings are hurt. You are not entitled to anything, but especially not me or my son. So get your lawyers because I will fight you with everything I have to protect my family.”
She stormed toward the stairs, unwilling to give him anything else. Let him get his stupid lawyers. She would get her own. Ian’s parents would help them. Tommy was the joy of their lives and they’d do anything for him.
Her toe caught on the riser of the stairs and she stumbled onto the steps, banging her elbow into the hard concrete. The physical pain released the torrent of tears her emotional pain had created. The strength she’d found to tell Paul to go to hell left her. Vision blurry, she sat on the steps, dropped her head onto her knees, and cried.
The door closed with the loud click Ian always associated with hotels, and Paul appeared from the short hall, a hand working his jaw back and forth.
“Kate has a mean right,” he said.
“I made sure she knows how to protect herself,” Ian said. “Why did you say that to her?” A cold sense of inventible dread had settled in his heart when Paul had told Kate he’d leave them alone if she slept with him. The relief from her passionate response had created an almost euphoric high.
Paul picked up the bottle of beer from the table, pressed it against his jaw and sat in the chair across from him. “Because you followed me here to sacrifice your family on the altar of your honor. The Kate I knew never would have accepted that kind of shit—I figured she couldn’t have changed that much in ten years.”