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No, no, no…
“What’s going on?” Laurie asked.
“Now, listen, son…” Samuel started to step toward Aiden, but he was instantly stopped.
“Fuck you!” Aiden hissed at his father as he shoved him hard against the chest.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, what’s going on?” Dad asked, stepping between the two men to make sure it didn’t escalate. “Aiden, what are you doing?”
“What am I doing? How about you ask what he’s been doing,” Aiden muttered. He flung his hands in irritation as he looked at Samuel. “How about you tell the crowd the truth, huh? How you aren’t the stand-up man you’ve always made yourself out to be.”
“Samuel, what is he talking about?” Laurie asked, walking over to her son.
“I, he…” Samuel shut his eyes, and when he opened them, he didn’t say anything.
He couldn’t bring himself to tell the truth. It sat tangled behind his tongue, a web of lies and deception. He was a coward because he still wouldn’t say it. He wouldn’t tell the truth even though it had already been revealed.
“He got Catherine pregnant all those years ago, not Jake,” Aiden said, airing all of Samuel’s dirty laundry. “He made Jake pretend that he was the father after Catherine gave up her rights. He made it all up, so he wouldn’t have to face you, Mom, with the truth. And ever since then, he’d been pretending to be something he’s not. Is that why, Dad? Is that why you kept helping Jake? Because you feared he would tell your little secret if he didn’t get money from you?”
“Oh, my goodness,” Mama mumbled as she stood beside me.
Samuel’s eyes released tears as his voice cracked. He turned to his wife. “You don’t understand, Laurie. You and me… we never saw each other. There was no romance between us. I was struggling being in Los Angeles alone…”
“Ha!” Mama laughed sarcastically at Samuel’s pathetic attempt to explain.
“I didn’t mean for it to happen, Laurie, I swear, I didn’t. I was just flying out to Los Angeles for an audition and ended up, well, it was a mistake, okay? I fucked up. But, look at the miracle it brought us.” He reached for her hand and squeezed it. “We have our son because of my mistake. He’s our miracle baby.”
What was wrong with that man?
Laurie ripped her hand away from her husband’s and held a hand up to him. “No,” she ordered. “Get out.”
Samuel shook his head. “No.”
“Get. Out,” Laurie hissed as she shoved him hard against the chest. “Get out, get out, get out!” she screamed as tears fell down her cheeks. Her heartbreak began to unleash from her vocals as she cried and slapped Samuel against his chest.
Dad had to remove Samuel from the house. He physically lifted the sobbing man and took him outside. When he came back, we were all still frozen in place. Laurie looked around and choked on her sobs.
“I’m fine,” she swore.
Mama went to step forward to comfort her best friend, but Aiden was already wrapping his arms around his mother.
“We should give these two some space for a little while,” Dad said, nodding to Mama and me.
I didn’t want to leave them, but I knew it was the right thing to do. That mother and son needed one another right then and there. Still, I wished I could’ve been there for Aiden the way he was for his mother.
I knew he needed the comfort, too.
Later that night,I saw Aiden’s bedroom light turn on. I instantly crawled out of my bedroom window and knocked on his.
He saw me and sighed before turning his back on me.
I knocked again.
And again.
And again.
I pounded on that window repeatedly until a grumpy Aiden appeared and pushed it open. “What, Hailee?” he snapped. “I need space right now.”
