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“And you’ve got a guy in the house with my daughters. Who is it now?”
“Who wants to know?” she asked, clearly worse for alcohol.
“I’m going to call the sheriff, Lola.”
“Hang on, Alphé. Step aside, please, so he can leave.”
An unfamiliar young man with a worried expression came out onto the steps, nodded at Alphé, and fled.
“He’s a little young.”
“Yes, well, he wasn’t staying the night.”
“Who’s the father if I’m not?”
“Mae didn’t call you?”
“No. I’m sure she figures I have enough on my plate,” Alphé said, trying not to weep. “Who is it?”
“Rodney. Calista got a letter, too.”
“My brother, Rodney?”
“Yes. He was the little baby’s father, too. The one I lost.”
“How do you know this, Lola?”
“I just know. I can read a calendar. I used contraception with you after Noel was born. I didn’t with Rod. I wanted his babies.”
Rodney and Lola had been planning on leaving their respective spouses and finally getting together. The relationship was more than an affair. It had lasted for years, and their unsuspecting partners were wrapped up in their own lives and didn’t seem to notice the deficit. And then Rodney had been killed, destroying the dream.
“With Rod, I just let it come.”
Alphé’s hand, with a mind of its own, struck out and slapped her across the face. It wasn’t hard, it was just an insult. A slap for a slut. Mortified, he’d never hit her or any woman before.
“I had it coming,” she said, choking back a sob, rubbing her cheek.
“What do you want from me?”
“Just what the letter asked. Your spit for DNA. I can collect Social Security from Rodney’s benefits if they’re his kids. Then our divorce can be finalized. I’ll move out of the house, too. Just like you want.”
“If you move out, you’re not taking the kids,” he said.
“I know that.”
“So how is it that you’re going to collect benefits if I’ve got custody?”
She hadn’t thought of that aspect.
“Where are you moving to, anyway?”
“In with Al. Into his apartment in town.”
“Yeah, I don’t see my four kids living in that dump above a hardware store. It looks like you’re going to have to get a job, Lola.”
***
Standing close behind Beverly Casson while she unlocked the door to her house, Randy Benedict was pretty sure he was falling in love with her after four hours.
