With a hitching chest and red eyes, he calls his husband.
“Liam?”
He sounds like a little boy, lost and still crying. I take his hand.
Hopper’s phone lights up and a handsome face fills the screen. Liam is calling in on video.
“Hop, baby? What’s wrong?”
The concern in his husband’s voice lets me know this was the right decision, even if it feels like I’m flinging myself into deeper waters.
“I…” Hopper can barely get the words out. “Nothing’s wrong, but I found out something amazing. Unbelievable. And I need…I need you to…um.”
Hopper sends me an imploring look. Like maybe he needs my help.
I step into frame.
“Hi. My name is Boone.” I take a deep breath. “Hopper is my birth father.”
The video feed goes a little crazy as Liam’s phone drops to the floor.
“Oh my God.” Liam brings the phone back to his face, and his eyes, the color of a pair of worn-in blue jeans, are already rimmed in red. “Oh my God.Hop.”
Hopper nods and resumes his rocking. “Yeah.”
“How?Who?”
Hopper looks to me again, as if letting me decide how much to explain.
I take his phone. “My mother worked very briefly for my…uncle, I guess?”
Understanding passes through Liam’s eyes. “Oh.”
Hopper turns to me, his eyes wide. “I…you need to know that what we did was consensual. Fully…consensual. She didn’t want her first time to be with a stranger, and I was still trying to figure out my sexuality.”
That was perhaps more than I ever needed to know about my mother. But I appreciated the clarification.
“I believe you.”
Hopper lays his head on my shoulder, crying softly. Tears spill down Liam’s cheeks, and we all just kinda…stand there.
I realize, belatedly, that telling them I’m Hopper’s son isn’t just emotional. It’s painful, no matter how long ago they lost the baby.
“How was your—” Liam stops, then starts again. “Did you have a good?—?”
I smile. “I had a great childhood. My mother married her high school sweetheart, and it’s his name on my birth certificate. I’m a detective because of him.”
Liam’s eyes widen, and he glances at Hopper. “Wow. I’m… God. I’m so grateful to hear that.”
Hopper turns, smashing his face into my upper arm, sobs wracking his shoulders.
“Hopper, baby,” Liam says softly. “I’ll borrow the jet and be there in a few hours, okay?”
Hopper sniffs and takes the phone back from me. “Okay, good. I…I need you.”
“I need you too.”
Hopper taps the phone to his forehead.
