“Taylor, no. It’s not like that.” I swallowed. “It was me.Iwas the man Blair met at the resort. We…didn’t know.” I looked him in the eyes. “I’m Nicholas’s father.”
His face transformed in disbelief. “What?”
“I’m Nicholas’s biological father,” I said again.
“Oh my God.” After a moment, he repeated it. “Oh my God.”
Taylor stepped back, and I took an equal number of steps forward in an attempt not to lose him.
I forced myself to continue. “Neither one of us knew that the other had a connection to you at the time. And then, as you know, she and I lost touch. We only figured everything out at your wedding—the moment you introduced me to her in the receiving line. I hadn’t seen her since the resort and had no idea Nicholas even existed.”
He blinked in confusion. “She said the guy’s name was Tate.”
I took a deep breath and nodded. “Tate is a nickname I got in the military. It’s the name I use when I meet anyone new.”
“You gave her a fake name?”
“It’s not a fake name,” I insisted. “I’ve been going by Tate for several years now. Even Leah knew me as Tate. It’s a—”
“I’m gonna be sick.” He held his stomach, looking disgusted.
I wondered if he might actually vomit in the middle of this parking lot. “I don’t blame you, son. You have every ri—”
“Don’t ‘son’ me.” He shook his head. “This is not the time.”
“Okay…” I swallowed, feeling my heart slowly breaking.
A long, tense silence passed.
“How the fuck could you take advantage of her like that?” he finally spat.
“I swear to you, I didn’t. She and I formed a true connection. It was unlike anything I’ve ever felt with anyone, despite the age difference. I know she talked to you about it. Surely she must have told you how things were with the man she met?”
“Oh yeah. She told me all about the guy she met—who manipulated her.”
My brows furrowed. “She didn’t say that.”
“No, she didn’t say that, but that was alwaysmytake—or any smart person’s take. Blair was too disillusioned to realize she was being taken advantage of. I never wanted to make things worse by throwing my opinion at her. Especially once she found out she was pregnant. It wouldn’t have helped to tell her I thought she’d been manipulated by an older guy. But now that I know it’syou?” He exhaled. “My original opinion makes even more sense.”
Every word hurt more than the last, but I had to keep trying. “I never deceived her, Taylor,” I raised my voice, desperate for him to see this in a different light. “Blair and I met, and I tried to resist her initially. But then we had an amazing several days together. I thought I was being safe...” I hesitated. “I didn’t want to ruin her life, so I encouraged us to go our separate ways when she left.”
“You didn’t want to ruin her life, and yet you did. You’re pretty good at that.”
I closed my eyes. Man, that fucking hurt.But it’s okay. He needs to let out his anger. I can take it.
As horrible as this was, it was also a huge relief. Because the alternative—keeping him in the dark—had been horrible, too, and now I no longer had to keep this enormous secret. No longer had to love Nicholas in secret.
I sighed. “I don’t blame you for thinking the worst of me. But over time, you’ll see this situation is not what you think. I love her, Taylor. And she loves me. I know it’s a shock to hear that, but it’s the truth. Blair and I never got over each other. And now that I know about Nicholas, all I want to do is be the kind of dad I know I wasn’t for you. I will never forgive myself for not fighting harder to be a better dad when you were little. But I still have a chance to do right by him.”
He shook his head. “Were youevergoing to tell me?”
“Of course.” I looked straight into his eyes. “You need to know that. We just didn’t want to drop that bomb on your wedding or honeymoon. Blair and I have been debating the best time to talk to you. We planned on telling you in a couple of weeks, after your birthday. You can ask Blair. We had just decided that before this happened. I never wanted you to find out like this.”
Taylor stared off across the parking lot for a long while before he finally turned to me and muttered, “How is Nicholas? He seemed okay...”
I nodded. “He’s gonna be fine. They’re keeping him overnight for monitoring. How did you find out about the accident?”
“One of the EMTs is a buddy of mine. He recognized Blair, even though he’d only met her a couple of times. She probably didn’t remember him. But he called me.” Taylor laughed angrily. “You wanna know the insane thing? I told the hospital I was his father, so they would let me see him. I worried uncle wouldn’t fly. What kind of sick irony is that?”
