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“What?”
She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, my entire life was a lie. My dad was a fraud and he’s now in prison. We were never rich; it was all a ruse. And now I’m as poor as your family is, struggling just to get by and you’re the rich, successful one. So that excuse of yours doesn’t hold water.”
“Grace, I had no idea—”
“Of course, you didn’t know. Because you weren’t there, Alex. You weren’t there for any of it, and I always thought I could count on you and Duncan to be there for me through anything.”
Tears rolled down her face and her hands were balled into fists on the table. Her cheeks were flushed and red with anger.
I pushed myself up from the chair. I wanted to go over to Grace and wrap my arms around her, but I knew that wouldn’t be decent. Not after all these years and the feelings of betrayal.
So, I walked over to the mini bar with the built-in wine cooler because we needed some wine. No, I needed some wine. I opened the cooler to find that it was empty. I knew Duncan liked wine, so why was it empty?
Of course, he emptied it out because of me.
I checked every cabinet, muttering to myself about needing a drink when it hit me.
Duncan was right. I was drinking to escape my problems, and I needed to be sober for this.
I turned around to face Grace.
“Listen, I fucked up. I know I did. But it’s just proof that you deserve better, Grace. You deserve the family you always wanted, the one I couldn’t give you. Look at me, do you really think I could be a father? I’m a fuck-up and will always be a fuck-up.”
“Well, it’s too late, Alex.”
“Too late for what?”
“Too late for you to not be a father,” she said. Her words didn’t register, they made no sense. “You just never knew it because you couldn’t be bothered to return my calls.”
It took a minute for me to understand what she was saying. My knees felt weak and heavy. I made my way back to the table and sat down, unable to formulate a coherent thought. I just asked, “Why? How?”
“The night of Duncan’s graduation. The night we were together. We made a baby, and he’s three years old now,” she said. She pulled out her phone sliding it over to me, and I stared down at a picture that could have passed for a childhood photo of myself. “His name is Oliver. We call him Ollie for short.”
“I–I don’t know what to say, Grace.” My head was spinning, and the desire for a drink hit me stronger than ever, but Duncan had done a good job of cleaning the place out.
I was a father.
It hit me like a fist to the gut.
I had missed so, so much.
“You said he’s three years old now?” My voice cracked.
“Yes,” she said softly. There were tears in her eyes, and I got the feeling there was more surprises to come.
“I didn’t know, Grace. How could I have known?”
“Well, you could have returned my calls, that would have been a good start.”
“I thought I was doing you a favor. I thought you were better off finding someone else who could give you what you wanted.”
“And why couldn’t you have given me those things? Look at you, Alex, you’ve really made something of yourself.”
“It’s not just about money, Grace. I just– I don’t even know how to be a father. I never had a good role model, I don’t even know where to start,” I muttered.
“There’s more.”
I knew it. I could always read Grace’s face like a book.
