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Dad was quiet for a moment. “Go on.”
“If you come and help Jackson, I will tell you who’s to blame for ruining your life.”
I hadn’t called the journalist back, but I knew that there was always an offer on the table. I knew that he was hungry for the type of info I could leak on the politician trying to ruin me. It could come back and bite me in the ass for my case, but if it helped to fix my family, I was willing to do anything.
“Alright. Let me know when and where and I’ll be there.”
I wanted to thank him out of habit, but I withheld any gratitude since I knew Dad wasn’t doing this out of the kindness of his own heart. Still, if he was willing to be there, if he could talk to Jackson and if Jackson thought Dad truly cared about him, enough so he would fly in from Tahiti to see him, maybe it would encourage him to get the help he needed.
That is, if all went well.
With our father, things rarely went well.
But it was a risk I was willing to take. Better than sitting back and watching my brother in perpetual freefall.
35
Nathan
“You managed to get Dad to agree to come?” I whispered to Aiden as he, Mom, Kat and I gathered in the formal living room of our home.
“He said he was on his way, so I guess we’ll see.”
“And you’re sure this is a good idea?”
“I guess we’ll find out,” Aiden muttered.
Kat and Mom shared the loveseat while Aiden and I took two of the armchairs. There were two others left for Jackson and Dad.
I checked the time. We had told Jackson to be there at seven-thirty. It was seven-fifteen. Aiden had told us all to be there early to talk about how we were going to handle the discussion, but without Dad there, we were all in limbo, mostly. We had no idea what to expect.
Mom looked a little nervous, which was understandable. She hadn’t seen Dad in ages either, but she had decided that it might be what Jackson needed to move on. Kat wasn’t pleased when we told her, but reluctantly agreed.
There were footsteps and voices in the hallway, and Aiden hopped off the chair and ran to the doorway. I followed behind him and came face-to-face with our father for the first time in four years.
He looked older, more tired than before. He didn’t seem as large as I remembered him to be, less intimidating too. Maybe it was his age, maybe it was mine. His face was still the chiseled perfection I remembered it to be, the same face that my brothers and I inherited. He had always been a handsome man, which got him far in life. Perhaps farther than he deserved, all things considered.
But Dad wasn’t alone.
A pretty, young blonde woman was on his arm. I recognized her after a moment. It was the woman in the photos, his assistant at the time and his trophy girlfriend who was closer in age to us than she was to him.
And it wasn’t just Meredith that was with him. Two little boys with blonde hair and big eyes trailed behind them. The oldest looked to be kindergarten age, and the other was likely barely a baby when Dad left us. A terrifying thought entered my mind as I did the math. Could they be… no, they couldn’t be our half-brothers, could they?
I was unable to speak for the longest time, looking for Dad’s familiar features in the boys. They had light hair like their mother, but so did my brothers and I when we were very young. It darkened as we got older.
Did Dad have another family this entire time?
I looked over at Aiden who seemed as surprised as I did. Clearly, he hadn’t been informed of Dad’s plans.
“Dad, I um, I didn’t know you were bringing them,” Aiden stammered.
“Of course, why wouldn’t I bring Meredith and the boys?” Dad replied, waving him off as he entered the living room like he owned the place.
Mom’s eyes widened as she was confronted with Dad’s former mistress in person, but being the lady she was, she pushed that back and smiled. “Oh Meredith, I wasn’t expecting to see you tonight. Welcome to my home.” She had put emphasis onmy, as if to draw some boundaries in the sand. Not that Meredith had any issues taking things that weren’t hers…
Meredith smiled, but it was a nervous smile. The smile of someone who knew they were walking into the viper’s den. She was expecting drama, as she should have. As soon as Jackson got there all hell would probably break loose.
Before the thought even finished in my head, we heard the front door open and Jackson stepped into the foyer.
