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“Okay.” I felt the conviction in his words, but a seed of uncertainty took root.
He cupped my jaw with his hand. “You know my mother left us after I was born. But did you know it was for another man. One she’d been seeing behind my father’s back.”
“I didn’t,” I said quietly. “But I had my suspicions.”
“Andrew thinks it was for years. Dad won’t talk about it. But I’ve seen firsthand what cheating does. Nothing good comes of it, I promise you.”
I might not have known exactly what infidelity was like as he did, but it was easy to see what it had done to his family.
“You all deserved more.”
He diverted his eyes for so long, I wasn’t sure what he was going to do. When his gaze finally landed back on mine, the intensity stole my breath.
“Do you think I look like my family?”
My lips parted and then closed. The hurt he’d carried his entire life pressed on my chest. “Yes.”
I searched his face, fingered a lock of his hair. His was more of a caramel shade of brown compared to his father’s and brother’s. Marlow’s was nearly black. There was a slight wave in Holt’s, where the rest of theirs was straight. But I’d never seen his mother. And those differences alone were hardly cause to believe he was only half their blood.
Mr. Dixon and Andrew weren’t clones, though when the two of them were together, there was no mistaking they were father and son. His sister was a little more difficult to tell. I’d never really considered them that closely.
“Are you saying . . .”
“I’m not one hundred percent certain Dad is my biological father.”
What?Oh no.How did he deal with the weight of that?
“Why would you think that?”
“My mother had an affair. I’m pretty sure she was sleeping with someone else at the time she got pregnant with me.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Just putting two and two together.”
“Sometimes that doesn’t equal four.”
He turned his mouth down in a bitter frown. “The facts don’t lie.”
“Have you ever talked to any of your family about this?”
“They’d deny it.”
I hesitated before speaking. “Your mother would know better than anyone.”
He rolled over, taking me with him. “I need to know,” he started, pushing a lock of hair from my face. “But I’m not sure I want to.”
I tried to think about what I’d do in his situation. What I’d want, how I’d feel. I came up confused and empty.
“I’ve got a family who loves me unconditionally, which is more than some people ever have.” His fingers traced circles absently on my back. “Sheleftus. Left me. I should just let it go. Be thankful for what I have.”
At least he realized how fortunate he was to have the family he did. Not everyone’s family stuck by them, wanted them as an active part of their lives. What would I have given for even one parent to have Sunday dinner with every week?
“Would it change anything? If you found out your dad wasn’t really your dad?”
“No.” He shook his head vehemently. “He’s the only father I have, even if my DNA says differently.”
“Wouldn’t it hurt him to find out otherwise?”
