Brandon’s eyes remained on mine while he slowly shook his head.
“I… I don’t have a dad,” he mumbled, and his throat bobbed as he swallowed.
“You have a father. I trust my years in the medical field to be able to tell you with confidence that you have a father.” His chest began to rise and fall quickly. “Brandon, can we please sit down?” I leaned forward and kissed his forehead. “Please, pup,” I nearly begged.
I thought he might walk beside me if I nudged him, so I put my arm around his shoulders and gently tugged him away from the counter. He didn’t resist and walked with me to the couch. We sat, and he took hold of the sides of his jeans at the knees. I pried one of his hands off his pants and flattened it between mine.
“My mom said I didn’t have a dad,” he mumbled.
I closed my mouth tightly. He certainly didn’t have a dad, but he had a father. I debated if this was the best time to explain that difference to him. Dads taught their kids how to ride a bike, read to them at night, and nurtured their growth, all while making sure they knew how much they were loved. A father could simply be a name on the birth certificate, or the name the family courts sent child support orders to.
“Your mother withheld the name of your father from you,” I said as gently as possible. I didn’t want to make it sound as though I was bashing his mother, but Brandon was old enough to make his decision on that.
“What? Why?”
“Brandon—”
“There isn’t a name for him on my birth certificate.”
Chase would be best to explain that.
“Brandon, please believe me on this.”
“Fine.” He shrugged and took a deep breath. He was steeling himself. “So, uh, how did you find out? Were you digging into my past—”
“No. I was at work this morning when Andrew called. He told me that the photographer we met with, Morgan, came to him this morning. Morgan said he was certain you are his nephew.”
Brandon stared blankly at me.
“Andrew asked if I would come to Oxygen because Morgan wanted to talk to me. I went. I listened. Then Morgan arranged for me to meet your father. I couldn’t let something like this drag out. And I certainly wasn’t going to even mention it to you unless I knew for sure.”
“You… you met my dad today?”
“Yes, Brandon.” I leaned forward and kissed his forehead again. “I did.”
He lowered his gaze and looked at his knees. He was quiet and then after a few moments he nodded. He brought his head up and looked at me, a distant, detached look in his eyes.
“Brandon—”
“It’s cool. I mean, yay me.” I could tell he was being sarcastic by the way he huffed out a laugh. “I mean, this is good news, right? I have a dad after all. Wow. Here I thought it was just a boring Wednesday that I’d spice up with some cupcakes. And now I find out I have a dad.”
“Brandon—”
“It’s cool, James. Really.” He continued to nod. “So, um. Does he look like me?”
“He looks very much like you. I knew he was your father when Morgan showed me a family picture of them this past Christmas.”
“That’s great.” He nodded again. “So, what else?” He swallowed hard.His mask was failing.“What else did you and he talk about?”
“We talked about the circumstances surrounding why he wasn’t in your life.”
“Ha!” Brandon continued to nod as he tried to make me believe he was okay.
“Brandon—”
“You guys talked about why he wasn’t around. This should be good, I bet. He was gone all those years for some real reason that he probably tried to justify. Well, this is great, James. I mean it. At least one of my parents is alive. Hope he’s not some deadbeat piece of shit just trying to scam us for money.”
“Brandon—”
