by Ann, Natalie
“Why do you want to know?” Cora asked. “It doesn’t matter. And it’s not like Sebastian comes here to see me. I don’t even exist to him anymore, I’m sure.”
She ignored Cora’s dig at a kid not wanting to visit the mother who couldn’t have cared less about him. “It does matter. Can you just let me know if you do know and just didn’t want to say, or you truly don’t know who it is because you were with more than one person at that time?”
Cora crossed her arms, a sure sign the old her was back and was going to be stubborn. “He’s nothing but a loser like the rest of them were back then. They only wanted one thing from me and they pushed me around when they didn’t get it.”
There was no use arguing since she didn’t have the facts now any more than back then. “Cora, I just need to know who might have fathered Sebastian.”
“Why? Don’t you want him anymore? Are you giving up on him like you did me?”
Grasping any shred of patience was like trying to take a fist full of water out of a bucket. You think it’s there and when you open your hand it’s all gone.
“Not only am I not giving up on him, but I want to adopt him as my own. I need you to consent to this, but you need to know that Eric stopped to see Dad and he wants a paternity test. He says you told him Sebastian was his and he wants to know for sure. He might threaten me for custody and I need to know what I can going in. I don’t want Eric to say he has a right to Sebastian because you’re here.”
“You’re not going to let him take Sebastian are you?” Cora asked.
“No. I’m not letting anyone but I might not have a say. I need to know everything that you can tell me.” Unfortunately she wasn’t sure any of it could be believed though.
“I don’t know who fathered Sebastian. I was with a lot of guys back then. I went to a few parties where people were hooking up with more than one person.”
Paige wanted to be sick. She knew Sebastian was witnessing this. He’d called his mother a whore, but even she didn’t know the extent of what her sister had done back then.
“So you’re saying that you slept with more than one guy in the same night? You used no protection at all?”
“Yes, I’m saying that.”
“Then why did you tell Eric he was the father?”
Cora shrugged. “I didn’t know some of the other men at those parties. I knew him and we were sleeping together. I just figured it was his anyway.”
Paige looked up at the ceiling trying to gather her thoughts. She turned her head to see the security guard watching them. She could only imagine what was going through his head but then figured he’d heard all sorts of shit over the years.
“Do you know any of the other men’s names?”
“No. Sorry. If Eric isn’t his father, I don’t know who is. Just get the test and then you’ll know.”
“I guess I don’t have much of a choice. Will you or won’t you let me adopt Sebastian as my son?”
“Sure,” Cora said, shrugging. “He’s written me off anyway. What’s the difference?”
Paige stood up and walked out of the room and then went into the room where Noah and Sebastian were. She took one look at Sebastian’s face and knew right away the answer to her question. “Do you want to go see your mother?”
“Fuck no,” he said and walked out of the room and down the hall to exit the building.
She looked at Noah. “I wish he didn’t witness that.”
“Yeah. She wasn’t mean but more detached. She didn’t even ask about him. She didn’t ask to see him, talk to him, how he was doing in school, nothing about his life in general. Even her response to you wanting to adopt him. There was no thought there at all.”
“I know. He realized that, didn’t he?” she asked.
“He did. He said it before you came in here.”
“He’s so hurt. He’s been the one hurt all along.”
Noah pulled her into his arms. “He wasn’t the only one hurt.”
“I’m an adult. I can handle it. He’s just a kid that is confused. He’s never had a family and he’s always wanted one. You know that. I told you I read those things in his journals.” She leaned back in his arms. “That’s why you had everyone at your parents’ house this weekend, right?”
“Yeah,” he said. “He deserves to see what it’s like to have that kind of support as much as you do.”
“Thank you, Noah. Thank you so much.”
“Don’t thank me,” he said. “Just let me be there for you. Just let me help you.”
40
Smart Man
The ride home was quiet. Noah didn’t know what to say and was trying to think of anything to get Sebastian to talk.
They’d left the room and Paige had told the staff that they were done. When they got to the end of the hall they’d seen Sebastian just sitting in the waiting room. At least he didn’t go outside on his own. Not that he thought the kid would be that foolish knowing the security it took to get in.
“Are you hungry?” Noah asked. “Do we want to stop and get some lunch?”
“I could eat,” Sebastian said.
“Your choice,” he said, looking at Paige and getting her head nod.
“I don’t know. Maybe breakfast food,” Sebastian said.
“I’m sure I can find a diner somewhere that serves breakfast food all day,” he said.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Paige asked Sebastian.
“Not really, but you’re going to make me at some point. Maybe I want Noah to see what kind of a stubborn nag you can be.”
He was ready to jump in and defend Paige for Sebastian’s harsh words until Paige started to laugh. “All mothers are nags.”
His mother had never been much of one that he could remember, but she was stubborn and if any of the kids didn’t do what she thought was right, he supposed the word nag could be used at times.
“You should be so lucky to have someone who cares enough,” he said to Sebastian.
“I am lucky. I wish you were my mom, Paige.”
“It’s just a title, Sebastian,” she said. “I’m that person in every aspect other than giving birth to you.”
“Yeah, I guess so. But I still wish it was true. What do you want to talk about?”
The dynamics between these two were something he’d never seen before and found that not every family had to be traditional. His probably wasn’t in some eyes.
“I guess the first thing is I expect Eric to contact us and want a paternity test. That means if he does, we have to agree to it. You can’t fight this,” she said. “And wouldn’t you want to know anyway?”
“But what if he isn’t?” Sebastian asked. “I’ll never know who my father is by the sounds of it.”
“It’s just a name,” Noah said. “Your grandfather has been a male role model for you for your whole life. Your aunt has been one too. Just because she’s a woman doesn’t mean she can’t be there and do things with you that a father would.”
“You would do those things with me, right?” Sebastian asked him. He looked at Paige and saw her eyes get a little misty, a little bit of apprehension in them too. If she thought for one minute he’d shy away from that answer, she had another thing coming.
“Absolutely.”
“Then I guess we need to find out if this guy fathered me. I’m not calling him Dad. Even if he is my father, I don’t have to live with him right? He walked out on my mom. I don’t know him.”
“Let’s take it one day at a time,” Noah said. “That is what a lawyer is for. They will let Paige know what she needs to do and we’ll go from there. You’re not alone, Sebastian. Just remember that.”
And two days later Paige got the legal documents requesting a DNA sample from Sebastian. The three of them went and did it together at Eric’s lawyer’s office with Sebastian’s lawyer present.
The man that claimed he was Sebastian’s father didn’t resemble him much, but there was a bit in the eyes. Sebastian had brown curly hair and
brown eyes; Eric was a blonde with blue eyes, but their shape, that was the same. Anyone could see it.
“I’m Eric,” he’d said to Sebastian and reached his hand out.
Sebastian shook hands grudgingly. “If you’re my father, why did you leave my mother?”
The kid pulled no punches. Eric probably didn’t expect to be asked that. “I didn’t know about you,” Eric said.
“Bull crap,” Paige said. “You were told. You know you were.”
“It’s your word against mine and your wacko sister,” Eric said.
Noah took a step forward in front of Paige for fear she was going to launch and scratch the guy’s eyes out. “This isn’t getting us anywhere. First off, if you are Sebastian’s father, you aren’t putting much of an example of adulthood in front of him now.”
Eric snorted. “It’s better than being bullied. I’ll show him how to handle that shit.”
“I can handle things just fine,” Sebastian said. “You don’t know anything about me or my life and you are judging me on a woman you had sex with fifteen years ago. You’re probably no better than her since you were with her to begin with.”
“If you’re my son you’re going to live with me,” Eric said.
Sebastian’s lawyer jumped in. “Let’s just wait for the results to come back before we start making any statements. It’s not as simple as you think it is, Mr. Raines, and your lawyer would do well to inform you of that.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“Eric,” his lawyer said. “Stop talking.”
The three of them left and went back to Noah’s house. He didn’t care it was a school night and they all had to get up in the morning. He wasn’t letting them go back home alone.
No one fought him on it either. His mother had brought over a big pot of chili and they were sitting down to eat it when Sebastian said, “Noah, can you teach Paige to cook?”
She started to laugh. “Not now, Sebastian.”
“Why?” Sebastian asked, grinning. “I only eat good when I’m here or with Noah’s family.”
He wanted to add that they could stay permanently but knew he was putting a lame horse in the Kentucky Derby doing that. He’d never win, not this early.
“Then maybe I can give Paige some pointers. She has been using the crockpot. You even said so yourself.”
“Yeah. I guess. Her chili isn’t this good though.”
“No one says you can’t try it,” Paige said.
“I think I will. Maybe we need a contest to see who does the best. Noah can judge.”
“Hell no,” he said. He wasn’t stupid. Chances are the kid could cook better but he’d end up on the couch if he admitted it.
“What’s the matter?” Sebastian asked. “You don’t want to reside in the dog house?”
“Exactly.”
Paige reached her hand over and put it on his. “Smart man.”
Later that night in bed, Paige crawled in and rolled over under his arm. “I’m scared.”
“I know,” he said. “We’ll take it as it comes.”
He wanted to say he’d take care of it, but the truth was he didn’t know how. They had a good lawyer and he had to trust in that.
“I just want it over. I know he’s scared too. Do you really think Eric could take him from me if he’s the father?”
“Not if I can help it. Let’s see the results of the test. We’ve got some connections in our family that might be able to look into Eric’s past if needed.”
“Connections like what?” she asked. “Ella’s husband?”
“Yes. Travis works in security. He was a Navy Seal and has connections, not that I think he’d need them for something like this. He has his own and access or more reach than any of us know or even want to know. We’ll have an answer in a week if Eric is his father. Until then, let’s try to put it from our minds.”
41
Was Made Of
A week later, Paige got a call from the lawyer, but since she was with a patient, she couldn’t take it. The minute she was free, she was running into an empty room and returning the call.
“Marcus, this is Paige Parker.”
“Hi, Paige. We got the results in. Would you like to come in to get them or hear them over the phone?”
“You might as well tell me over the phone,” she said. She knew the answer already. If Eric wasn’t the father Marcus would have told her.
“There is a 99.9% probability that Eric Raines is Sebastian’s father.”
She felt her shoulders drop. “I had a feeling. I was hoping that wasn’t the case. Now what?”
“There are a lot of ways this can play out. If he wants to get to know his son, it might be in the best interest to set up some meetings, supervised if you want, and I would recommend that. If you fight it now, he could take you to court. It could be long and drawn out and he could win. I don’t think that will happen, but do you or Sebastian want to go through this?”
“No. I need to talk to Sebastian tonight and get his thoughts on this.” She’d talk with Noah and her father too. They were a part of this in her eyes and she valued their opinions.
“Give me a call tomorrow if you can. For now I’m going to hold off getting back to them, so they won’t know if I’ve given you the results. It’s late enough in the day now anyway.”
She thanked Marcus and hung up the phone, then went in to finish with her last two patients of the day.
By the time she got home, she was dragging. She’d already called her father, as she wanted that conversation without Sebastian around. He was in agreement with Marcus that it might be best to cooperate and let Sebastian get to know Eric.
Since her father was footing the bill for this, she had to agree too. The words long and drawn out meant money and Sebastian would be fifteen in a few months. He was old enough to make his decisions known.
“Hey,” Sebastian said when she walked in the door.
“What’s that I smell?”
“Dinner,” he said.
“You cooked for me?” she asked. Talk about a great way to come home.
“I did. Not sure how it’s going to taste, but I figured I’d give it a try.”
“What did you make?” she asked moving into the kitchen.
“There is mac and cheese in the crockpot. Carolyn told me how to make it. It seemed easy enough.”
She was going to ask when Carolyn told him but figured it didn’t matter. “Is that all we’re having?” she asked. “Or do I need to make something with it?”
“I found ground beef in the freezer. I put together some hamburger patties after I thawed it. They are in the oven.”
“Oven?” she asked. “I cook them in a pan.”
“And they taste like cardboard. I put them in the pan first to brown the outside then put them in the oven like they do on those cooking shows.”
Paige shook her head. “Sounds good. I’m going to take a shower quick then, if you’ve got it all covered.”
“I do. Is Noah coming tonight?”
He asked a lot more often now if Noah was going to be around. The kid was getting seriously attached and, though she was thrilled, she wasn’t sure it was smart. Even if Noah did encourage it. If his whole family was.
“No. He’s staying for some basketball game or something. I’m not sure. He’ll call me when he gets home.”
She went into her room to grab clothes, then to the bathroom to shower. When she came out, the table was set. “I could get used to this,” she said. “I’m feeling pretty spoiled.”
“I just want to show you how easy it is to cook a meal like this.”
She squinted her eyes at him and filled her plate. There was no way to ease into this. “So Marcus called me today.”
“Eric’s my father, isn’t he?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said.
“I figured. You would have texted me right away if he wasn’t.”
She put her hand on his and held it. “We’ll get through this. Ma
rcus said that it might be best to cooperate and do some supervised visits. Maybe get to know Eric.”
“I don’t want to.”
“I know. I don’t like this any more than you, but we shouldn’t judge him without talking with him.”
“I already don’t like him. He was told about me and didn’t wait to find out. I get he might not have believed it, but wouldn’t you want to wait to see instead of leaving town like a brush fire was lit under your ass?”
She just ignored his language. “That’s you and me, but who knows what was going through his mind back then,” she said.
“Probably getting laid,” he said. “What? It’s the truth and you know it.”
He most likely wasn’t wrong, but she didn’t think it was a conversation to have either.
“I told Marcus I’d call him tomorrow and let him know what was decided. Are we in agreement then? If Eric wants to meet you and get to know you that we’ll try it out with me being present. We’ll do it in a neutral location too.”
“Where would it be?” he asked.
“I don’t know. A restaurant maybe, the lawyer’s office. We wouldn’t go to anyone’s house just yet. Not until everyone was comfortable.”
He snorted. “I don’t see that happening.”
“I don’t want you to be too difficult either. Do you hear me? We have to at least try.”
Even if it was killing her to admit that.
* * *
The following Saturday Paige, Noah, and Sebastian met at a restaurant in downtown Durham. Noah figured Eric would balk over the three of them meeting him, but he was fine with it. Maybe Eric wasn’t as much of a jerk as Noah wanted him to be.
When they walked into the restaurant he wasn’t there yet, so they got a table in the back.
“Relax,” Noah told Sebastian. The kid’s foot was shaking enough that the table was rocking.
“Easy for you to say. You know your family.”
“So do you,” Paige said. “Now you know who your father is. He has a family and maybe they want to get to meet you too.”
