“Shut up, if I’d known thatyouwere her mother…”
“You’d what?” she countered. “Call me up for old time’s sake? Still nice to know that after twenty odd years you remember me.”
“I think I’m going to be sick.” Mel groaned covering her face with her hands. How the hell could Dwight, a man she admired and liked, have ever been with her mother?
“No, I would have made sure you were as far from her as possible,” he stated. “I was stupid twenty-four years ago but I sure as hell am not now.”
“Twenty-four?” Mel said glancing towards him. “When?”
“What?” he said confused.
“You said twenty-four years, when was the timeframe?”
“I don’t know, we met at a New Year’s party, spent a few months together, why?” Dwight asked.
“Holy hell Mel,” Tate said catching on. “Oh man,” he added laughing. “Sorry I know it’s not funny but Mel; you’ve got to admit it is kind of in a way.”
“What’s kind of funny?” Dwight stated.
“That you’ve spent the last five years with Mel and it’s entirely likely that you’re her father,” he told him.
“Good lord,” Jordan said with a slight smile.
“Is it possible?” Dwight said turning towards Jennifer.
“I suppose so, can’t be sure though,” she said with a shrug.
“I can’t…” Mel stated feeling herself about to hyperventilate. She got up and dashed out of the room. She heard Jordan, Tate and Dwight call out to her, but she couldn’t stop. She felt the keys in her pocket and raced towards her car.
It’s not possible, she told herself as she drove without knowing where she was going. There was no way Dwight could be her father, but yet, her mind started playing all the similarities between them. The hair color, eye color…No, a million people out there have green eyes and auburn hair.
It wasn’t only that though. His chin and nose matched hers as well as their foreheads…
Stop it, she ordered herself as she turned off the car. She glanced up surprised to see where she was as she turned off her phone. She didn’t want Tate tracking her signal right now. She just wanted to think. To figure out why her mother was there and whether it could be true that she’d been around her father for almost six years without knowing it.
Mel opened the door and headed towards the far side of the playground abandoned years ago by the kids of the town after the new equipment had gone up in the park. She climbed the wooden structure and searched for the initials Tate carved into the top railing and sat down, resting her arms on the top board as she let her legs dangle over the side.
It wouldn’t be horrible if it were true, if Dwight really were her father, but she couldn’t let herself hope or dwell on it because in her life the likely answer would be no.
∞∞∞
“All this time?” Dwight stated staring at Jennifer. “All this damn time you knew there was a possibility that she was mine and you said nothing? You knew where I was, one little phone call, onetestand we would have known.”
“By the time I knew she was coming you were engaged, what should I have done, Dwight? Show up at the church declaring you the father?”
“It was before even I met Lori, she would have understood when we first started dating. And don’t try to use her as an excuse. If Mel was born in October, we weren’t married until the next year so that wouldn’t have even been a possibility. When I heard that her mother had up and left the night that she turned fifteen I wanted to find you and kill you myself. Knowing that there’s a possibility that she’s mine…I swear to god Jennifer if she is, I will make you pay for everything you’ve done to her,” he raged glaring at her.
“She’s landed well for herself; she’s lucky I stayed as long as I did.”
“You self-centered bitch,” Tate said stepping forward. “Why did you bother keeping her at all? You could have handed her over to social services when she was born and she’d have been better off.”
“Because she brought in money for me, you’d be surprised at how much a single kid is worth on a tax refund.”
“Get out,” Jordan seethed.
“Sorry, I’m not going anywhere.”
“Yes you are or else I’ll have your release revoked and you’ll be back in jail serving out the rest of your sentence. The wayI feel right now I’ll damned well make sure that they add on another twenty years.”
