“We’ll need more coffee for this.” He went to the kitchen and brewed a full pot, enough for all four of them to have several cups.
Several minutes later they sat around the table. Rex cradled Emily while feeding her a bottle, and Monica sat next to him. Beau sat at the head, and Lucas sat at the opposite side.
Where did he begin? “Did you know Serena when we were in high school?”
Beau shook his head. “This is the first time I met her.”
“She’s several years older than you and went to private school. Remember that church on Aucoin Street?”
“The one we said seemed like a cult?”
Lucas nodded. “Serena’s dad was the pastor there, but he wasn’t a nice man.”
“You think? I’ll never forget that year he came to our church’s fall festival, screaming that we were all sinners and going to hell for celebrating the devil’s holiday.” Beau scowled. “It wasn’t even on Halloween.”
Boy, did he remember that night. “That’s when I met Serena. I saw her cowering behind her father, her face beet red.”
“Mine would have been, too, had Dad pulled a stunt like that.” Beau rested a hand on his coffee mug. “Not to press the issue, but how does this all relate?”
“I asked a few of my friends about Serena until one put me in contact with her. We secretly dated most of our senior year.”
Beau’s brows furrowed. “You dated her for a year, and no one knew?”
“Six months, and she didn’t want her dad to find out.” Leaning back, he sighed with a realization. “Looking back, I would have done it differently, but I was eighteen. What did I know?”
“What did any of us know at that age,” Rex added.
“We sure thought we knew it all.” He crossed his arms over his head and stretched, delaying the inevitable. “And believed ourselves invincible.”
“What happened?” Beau sat up straighter. His face gave away none of his thoughts.
“Serena wound up pregnant.”
“Whoa,” Beau muttered under his breath.
His shock didn’t surprise Lucas. As far as Beau knew, Lucas always followed the rules. He believed in them, abided by them. “To make a long, painful story short, I wanted to marry Serena and raise the baby. She didn’t and had an abortion.”
Beau remained quiet for a second. “I’m so sorry.”
“Me too. Me too.” Lucas bit down into his bottom lip. “My footing was ripped right out from under me. Maybe I could have handled it better, but I ran. I couldn’t cope with the loss.”
“Now that I know why you left, I kind of understand. It was hard enough to stick around with Daniella flaunting her new husband—I can’t imagine going through what you did and having to still see Serena around.”
He hesitated, then reached behind him and pulled out his wallet. Carefully, he took out the picture and unfolded it, laid it on the table. “This is the ultrasound from that first appointment confirming the pregnancy. I’ve carried it with me everywhere I went, even Iraq and Afghanistan.”
“Did you know she was the planner for Lacey’s renewal?” Beau looked at the picture, then slid it to Rex who asked for it.
“Not at all. Last I’d heard, she’d moved away.”
Beau stroked his jaw. “That had to be a shock.”
“It gets worse.” Gaining the strength to say the words took several seconds. “Apparently, she lied to me and did have the baby, a fact she’s kept hidden from me for thirteen years.”
“How do you know?”
Lucas caught Rex’s gaze, granting him permission to tell that part of the story. Rex filled in all the details found overnight. “That’s why we’re here at eight a.m. on a Sunday morning.”
“Wow.” Beau’s pupils had never looked so wide. “What are you going to do?”
