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“God, it was terrible. I felt like I’d deceived him or something, but I had no idea that he thought I was a virgin. I got the job at the diner a couple of weeks later. It felt so safe. After working at the club, I was grateful for that job, even though the pay wasn’t great.”
“What about when you found out you were pregnant? Did you tell him?” I asked.
Mom rubbed her forehead, as if the worries of that time leapt into the present moment. I nudged her drink toward her, and she gave me a grateful smile and took a healthy swallow.
“I researched him when I found out I was pregnant. Of course, I looked him up when I first saw him at the club, when I had a crush, but I just got surface level stuff, the first couple of hits on google, so I thought he was just some successful businessman. But when I took a closer look at him, I realized he had indictments for terrible crimes that he was never convicted of, that he kept company with criminals, that there were rumors of his involvement with suspicious deaths, including his own wives.” She took another sip of her drink. “No, I never told him. It was too dangerous.”
Hannah and I both nodded in agreement. A drink was placed in front of me, and I’d never been happier to see alcohol in my life. Ivan had also brought another glass of wine for my mom and placed it in front of her as she flashed him a grateful smile.
He leaned down and kissed the top of my head. “Let me know if you need another, malyshka.”
He turned to walk away, but my mom reached out and grabbed his arm, startling him. She didn’t know his issues with physical contact, and I could see his jaw clench as he tolerated her touch.
“Ivan, wait. I want to apologize for the things I said at Emmy’s concert. I’m so sorry, it was unforgivably rude. You clearly care for my daughter very much. I’m lucky that she has you in her life to protect her.”
I stared at her in surprise. Again, she was hardly in a place to judge me given her choice in men, but this was a pretty quick heel turn.
Ivan grabbed her hand and gave it a little pat before releasing it entirely. Slick move. “There’s nothing to apologize for, Jessica. Your response was understandable. Emmy is precious, I can understand wanting to protect her.”
“Thank you, you’re very forgiving.”
“You’re welcome. Just let me know if you guys need anything else.”
“Oh, you’re our waiter for the night?” I said cheekily, unable to resist teasing him.
He gave a small laugh and leaned to kiss my cheek, then whispered, “Careful, neposlushnaya devochka.”
I felt heat burst between my legs and pressed my thighs together to control my reaction. I gave him a pinch on the arm for trying to start something with my mom and sister right here. He simply laughed and walked back to the bar.
“You guys are so cute,” Hannah said.
“You really are,” my mom chimed in.
My face pinkened. “Okay, back to the story. You didn’t tell him about me. Then what?” I prompted, eagerly grabbing my unknown drink. I wasn’t sure what it was, but it was sweet and tart and perfect. I had a feeling I’d be drinking many of these tonight.
“Well, that was it. I didn’t tell him, then hid at the diner for the next eighteen years. I had no idea he had discovered that Emmy existed. I will admit, when she got that scholarship to Briar Ridge, I wondered, but it felt like such a remote possibility and she was a gifted musician, so I didn’t give it much weight. In fact, the reason I quit the restaurant job was because I finally felt safe to try something else.”
“How did he even find out?” I asked.
My mom shook her head. “I have no idea.” She looked deep in thought for a moment, then a strange expression crossed over her face. “Actually, now that I think of it, Rick, the accountant from the club, called me about five months after I was fired because I had an old check I never picked up. When I grabbed the check, he noticed I was pregnant. He actually joked that he hoped it hadn’t been one of the members. I nearly had a panic attack and just ran out of there. It’s possible he said something or that Thomas was even there and saw me.”
“Jesus, it’s crazy to think he was just there lurking in the background the whole time,” Hannah murmured, taking another large sip of her drink.
We fell into a silence, each of us in our own version of disbelief. How could this person have been plotting to disrupt our lives for the past twenty years and we hadn’t a clue?
I’d never had any connection to Kyle Prescott, the man who I’d thought was my dad for most of my life. He’d been a random face in our family photo album, someone my mom spoke of wistfully because he’d once been full of potential and was once a supposedly good guy. His face was what I saw when I visualized my father, and even though he was a deadbeat, a drug addict and a thief, at least he wasn’t Thomas Armstrong.
When I considered my mom’s taste in men, I really started to understand why she hadn’t dated in nearly two decades. Not that her relationship with Armstrong could be considered dating.
“Mom, is this why you’ve never dated?” I asked, spurred on by my inner thoughts.
“I’m not going to lie, my forays in dating haven’t exactly been a smashing success,” she said with more sarcasm than I’d ever heard her use. She had about drained her second wine glass and it had loosened her up considerably.
“Now that Armstrong is gone, I think you should give it a try again. You’re still young, Mom, the idea of you giving up on love forever is sad,” Hannah said, then looked up and waved her empty glass at Nikolai. Ivan shot me from where he was standing at the bar, a questioning look and I looked down at my nearly empty glass, then nodded my head and smiled at him.
She cocked her head and gave Hannah a small smile and nodded her head at us. “Well, at the very least, I’d have someone to bring me drinks whenever I wanted.”
Before we could reply to her snarky comment, Nikolai and Ivan showed up with another round. Hannah, Mom and I just looked at each other and started laughing. The laughter felt good, healing and bonding, as the tension of the last few weeks flowed out of our tired body in joyful waves.
