Falling Into Drew

by Harriet Schultz

  “I told her there’s a chance I won’t be coming back to New York alone. I just found out that I have a son, and he might be with me since his school is on a two-week spring break.”

  “Holy Mary, Mother of God,” Liz exclaimed. She shooed away the production assistant who signaled that she had five minutes before she had to be on set, and stared at the phone. “You have a son?”

  “Yes,” Drew sighed. “I’ve only been a father for twenty-four hours, so I’m freaking out too.”

  “Are you sure he’s yours? You’re a wealthy man, Drew, so she could be lying. Don’t you want a DNA test?”

  Kate looked at Liz and nodded her agreement.

  “He’s mine,” Drew stated emphatically. “Once you see his face, you won’t doubt it. It’s like looking in a mirror. I’ll never forgive her for lying about this, but the reality is that Erin and I are going to have to share custody if that’s what he wants. There are legal issues we need to settle before I leave. Do you think Kate will talk to me now?”

  Liz raised her brows in question and a calmer Kate reached for the phone. “I’m sorry that I reacted that way. It’s hard for me to suddenly think of you as a father to a grown boy.” she said, shaking her head. “If I’m having a problem with it, I can’t imagine what it’s like for you. How did you find out?”

  Drew described the scene at the lawyer’s and his shock at discovering that Erin had kept his son from him for ten years.

  “Unbelievable. How did Patrick react when he found out you’re his father?”

  “That’s just it. We haven’t told him yet. He was excited to meet the famous man who shares his last name and even told me he has a poster of me in his bedroom, but he has no idea that he’s mine.”

  “You say ‘mine’ as if you’ve already claimed him. What will you do if his mother fights you on being part of his life? You live on different continents, so how would that work? Would you move to Ireland?”

  “Those questions kept me awake most of the night. My life — and that includes you — is in New York. Patrick is old enough to fly over and I can go there. It’s just five hours away.”

  “I hate to say this, but he may want nothing to do with you and he’s going to be mad as hell at his mother. There’s no way to predict what will happen.”

  “That’s an understatement. I dread telling him, yet I can’t wait to get it over with. We’re going to meet again in,” he glanced at his watch, “an hour at my lawyer’s office. He thought it was best for us to talk to Patrick on neutral ground.”

  “Do you know what Erin plans to say? She might tell him that you left her pregnant and wanted nothing to do with her.”

  “She won’t do that. She’s done a good job with him from what I’ve seen, and I don’t think she wants to hurt him more than she’ll have to.”

  “I’m amazed that you trust her after what she’s done. I pray your instincts are right.”

  “Me too. Kate…” he hesitated. “This doesn’t change things between us, at least for me it doesn’t. I love you and I don’t want to lose you, but if Patrick is a deal breaker, I’ll try to understand.”

  “Drew O’Connor! What kind of person do you think I am? Patrick is part of you, so I’m going to think of him as a bonus extra.”

  “Katie,” he sighed her name. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you, but you’re more than I ever dreamed of. I wish I could hold you, show you…you know.”

  “I do. Be strong, don’t let Erin walk all over you, and any time Patrick wants to come to New York, that would be great.”

  Kate didn’t have the energy to pull herself to a standing position. She stayed on the floor and kept staring at the phone. Drew needed her support. He was dealing with huge emotions and this wasn’t the time for her to be needy, but she wasn’t sure how she felt about the man she loved being tied to his first love by their child. She rested her head on her bent knees until she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up into the sympathetic eyes of her best friend.

  “Drew as a dad. This will definitely take some getting used to,” Liz said. “I’m sorry, but I can’t hold up production any more than I have. Come on the set with me. You can watch me work, grab something to eat, and hang with the crew. We should wrap in a couple of hours and then we’ll talk.”

  “Well, I’ll be damned,” Charles said when the two women met him for drinks later that day. He repeated the same phrase three times as his brain tried to come to terms with his best friend’s sudden fatherhood. “Drew has a ten-year-old son who looks just like him. Wow.” He drained his drink and signaled for another. “How does a person deal with a shock like that?”

  “His biggest worry now seems to be how Patrick will deal with this when they tell him. See, he’s already thinking like a father and is more worried about his son than himself,” Kate said. Despite Drew’s reassurance, she wondered how she fit into his new reality. Her mind kept going to her biggest fear. She fought the tears that threatened and directed a question to Charles. “Do you think he’ll get back with Erin for the sake of the boy? You know how rotten Drew’s childhood was and he would do anything, sacrifice his own happiness, to provide stability for Patrick. I’m so afraid that I’m going to lose him.”

  Charles covered her hand with his. “That’s not going to happen. Drew will not choose Erin over you. I’m one hundred percent certain of that. He may want to spend more time in Ireland, but it will be with you, Kate, not her.”

  “I trust him. I do. I’m sure that he loves me, but a child…my mother once told me that there is no love stronger than that of a parent for their child.” Kate twirled the stem of her martini glass. “It can happen. I’ll just have to wait and see.”

  CHAPTER 30

  Drew’s lawyer led him, Erin and Patrick to a meeting room that was smaller and more intimate than the conference room where Erin had dropped her bombshell the day before. It was a rare sunny day and light poured through two large windows overlooking the street. Four cushioned chairs surrounded a low, round table that had a plate of cookies on it along with a pitcher of water and glasses. “You’ll have privacy here, but if you need me,” Morgan directed the comment to Drew, “you know where my office is.”

  “Thank you, Brian,” Drew said. He felt like his heart was going to pop out of his chest and guessed Erin dreaded the next hour or two as much as, or more than, him. But they were adults and would deal with it. He was most worried about how Patrick would react.

  Drew sat in one chair and Erin took the one opposite, so that Patrick had no choice but to sit between them. He glanced from one adult to the other and Drew’s heart hurt to see the confusion on his son’s face. It reflected his own uncertainty. He liked to control situations, or at least have some idea of how they might play out. But here, Patrick’s mother held all the cards. She could paint him as a bastard or as a man who would have been a good father if only he’d known that he was one. The possibility that his son might reject him had kept him up most of the night.

  Drew cleared his throat and turned to face the boy. “You’re probably wondering why we’re here this morning and why your mother and I met with our lawyers yesterday.”

  “Were you a patient in mum’s hospital? Did she mess something up as a nurse and you’re suing us? I’ve heard of that happening.” The boy’s thumb went to his mouth. When he noticed Drew doing the same thing, his eyes widened and he lowered his hand.

  “No, that’s not it. Your mother’s a fine nurse,” Drew said.

  “Well, then, is it me who’s done something bad?” Patrick squirmed in his seat and shifted his confused blue eyes from one adult to the other.

  “No, Patrick, you’ve done nothing wrong, but we have,” Drew began. He and Erin had decided that he would be the one to reveal the truth to Patrick.

  “You have?” The boy’s voice cracked. “But mum and I just met you.”

  “That’s partially right. I’ll explain what I mean.” Drew leaned forward, needing to close the distance between him an
d his son. “You know how yesterday you told me how cool it was that you and I have the same last name?”

  Patrick looked bewildered, but he nodded.

  “Well, there’s a reason for that.” Now that it was about to happen, Drew had trouble finding the words that would change everything. None of the ones he’d considered during his long, sleepless night seemed right. He gaze met Erin’s and she nodded. He filled his lungs with air and pushed ahead. “Your mom and I have known each other for a long time. Almost eleven years ago, when I was eighteen and she was seventeen, we got married.” He rested his elbows on his knees and watched Patrick take that in. Their eyes met. “I found out yesterday that I’m your father.”

  Patrick’s face flushed and his eyes flitted from Erin to Drew and back again. His mouth opened and closed as if he wanted to say something, but had no idea what that would be. Fighting back tears, he turned to his mother. “Mum, is this true? Is he really my dad?”

  Erin tried to pull her son into her arms, but he pushed her away. “Is it true?” he demanded in a tone that sounded a lot like his father’s.

  “Yes, my love. Drew is your father. It was very, very wrong of me to keep this from you. Sorry doesn’t begin to tell you how much I regret it.”

  Patrick jumped to his feet and pointed accusingly at his mother. “You knew I had a father and you didn’t tell me? You let me think that my father died in an accident when all the time it was him?” He pointed at Drew, then turned his back on them both. He hugged his body as sobs tore through it. Erin and Drew approached him and each put a hand on his trembling back until Patrick suddenly threw himself into Drew’s arms and cried harder when his father, the father he’d dreamt about, held him firmly against his muscular body, stroked the dark hair that was so like his own, and sobbed along with him.

  “I knew it would be like this. I knew I would lose him to you,” Erin whispered and collapsed into a chair, but Drew heard and understood her fear.

  Except for this one huge mistake, Erin was a good mother who’d raised a fine boy under what had to be difficult circumstances. Later, he’d assure her that he wasn’t a threat to her, but right now he only cared about the boy whose sobs had subsided enough that he lifted his tear-streaked face to gaze at Drew. “You’re really my father? You’re sure? It’s not a lie?” Drew kissed the boy’s head. “No lie. If you look at the two of us in a mirror, you’ll see the truth of it. You’re my son.”

  Patrick loosened his hold on Drew and faced his mother. “Why didn’t you tell me about him? I don’t understand.”

  “Let’s sit down again,” Drew said. He waited until both Patrick and Erin looked at him before he began. “This is a lot for all of us to deal with, but we will figure it out. We’re a family whether your mother and I are married or not, so it’s important to trust each other. The only way we can do that after such a big lie is to swear to be totally honest about everything from now on.” He filled a glass with water and drained it. “I’ll start if that’s okay with you,” he directed the comment to Erin.

  “Go ahead, by all means,” she said, her tone clipped.

  The tension in the room made Drewfeel like the walls were closing in and Erin’s sarcasm didn’t help. He made a quick decision. “I don’t know about you, but I think better outside. Anyone have a problem walking and talking at the same time? Good. Me neither.” He didn’t wait for an answer and strode toward the door, expecting his soon to be ex-wife and son to follow, which they did. When the three of them passed the reception desk, the redhead stared at them and made a quick grab for her phone, but she wasn’t fast enough this time.

  Patrick walked between his parents as they strolled through Galway’s narrow streets toward the waterfront. “This feels weird,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m walking along the street with my mum and dad. I still can’t believe it.”

  “It feels very strange, but also like the most natural thing in the world,” Drew replied. After another few steps, he spotted a sweet shop. “Want an ice cream? I’d like one.”

  Father and son grinned at each other when both ordered chocolate. Erin chose strawberry. The walk and the ice cream helped to soothe everyone’s nerves. They sat next to each other along the sea wall finishing the cold treat. “I guess we need to tell you the rest of our story,” Drew said.

  “You said you would,” Patrick stated matter-of-factly.

  “We did and then if you have questions, we’ll answer them,” Drew began. “Your mom and I spent summers in a small town on a lake not too far from here. Your mom’s parents had a vacation house there and I would stay with my grandmother.”

  “Wait,” Patrick interrupted. “You’re American, right? Then why was your granny here?”

  “Good question. I was born in Ireland and lived here until I was eight when my parents decided to move to the United States. My father was a mean drunk and so my mother sent me here to stay with Gran every summer.”

  “Oh, I‘m sorry your dad wasn’t nice to you,” the boy said.

  “Yeah, I am too. He died a long time ago, so no worries about him. Anyway, your mom and I were good friends and as we got older we fell in love. I was eighteen and your mom was seventeen that last summer before I was to start college. We knew that I wouldn’t be coming back since I’d have to work to pay for school.”

  Drew leaned back and stretched his long legs in front of him. When he glanced at Erin, she’d closed her eyes and raised her face to the sun, leaving the telling to him. “Before I left, we thought your mom was pregnant, so we got married. A few weeks later, she told me that she’d made a mistake, that she wasn’t pregnant after all. I was a kid, just eight years older than you are now, and I wasn’t ready to be a husband, although I would have stayed if we were going to have a baby.”

  Patrick’s dark brows drew together as he tried to follow the story. “So you got married because of me, right?”

  “Sort of. I expect we would have waited until we were older otherwise,” Drew said.

  “Mum, you never even told me you even knew him.”

  “I was wrong, Patrick. My only excuse is that I was so very young and scared and then you were born and I fell madly in love with you. I thought it was best…” she shook her head, confused. “…I don’t know what I thought.”

  “Why didn’t you tell him about me once I was here? He said he would have stayed for me.”

  “Yes, your father is a good man and I’m sure he would have, but he didn’t love me the way I loved him. When I told him there was no baby, he left and went back to America. I couldn’t live with a man who didn’t want to be with me. Your granddad and uncles tried to make me tell Drew about you. They kept insisting and I was afraid that they would do it themselves. I told them I would leave Ireland and they’d never see either of us again if they did that. Finally, they stopped.”

  “But why, why didn’t you let them tell him if they wanted to?”

  “I loved your father enough to give him the freedom to pursue his dreams, which he certainly has done.”

  “Oh,” was the boy’s only response. He chewed on his thumb as he digested her answer and as other questions ran through his head. “My friend Sam’s mom changed her name back after their divorce, but you still call yourself Mrs. O’Connor. Shouldn’t you be Erin Donnelly again?”

  The two adults gazed at each other as they tried to figure out how to explain their situation their son. “For a long time I believed that when Catholics marry,” Erin began, “it’s for life. So when Drew would ask for a divorce, I always refused even though we’d lived separately for ten years. I’m older now and, I hope, smarter. I realized that I was hurting both of us by being so stubborn, so we met yesterday to file the papers for a Catholic annulment and a divorce.”

  “No! You can’t get a divorce! Not now, not when I finally have two parents!” Patrick leapt off the sea wall, stalked in one direction and then the other before his anger turned to hurt. “What happens to me? And you,” he said pointing at Drew. “You don’t
even live in Ireland. When will I see you?” The boy’s eyes welled up with tears and he used the back of his hand to swipe at his runny nose. “Will I live here with mum or in America with you?”

  “Those are good questions, and you deserve answers,” Drew began, his focus on the boy who’d handled the shocking news so well. He seemed so mature at times, yet Patrick was really a confused child whose heart hurt. He wished he could tell him that everything would be okay — hell, he’d like to tell himself that. “The three of us need to figure out a lot of things. All your mom and I can promise is that we’ll listen to you and do what you want as much as possible, but that will not include all of us living together.”

  CHAPTER 31

  The same questions that worried Patrick an ocean away dominated Kate’s thoughts. She couldn’t seem to stop her brain from repeating them over and over. Would Drew stay in Ireland to be near his son? Would he reconcile with Erin to create a family for the boy? Would Patrick split his time between New York and Dublin, or would Drew fly there every month? And if she and Drew had a future together, was she ready to be stepmother to a boy nearing adolescence?

  “Damn it,” Kate growled in frustration. So many questions and no answers. Those could only come from Drew. She had no control over all of those what-ifs, so she’d direct her mind to focus on work, something she was good at. She flipped through the pile of manuscripts on her desk, hoping one would capture her interest enough that she’d stop obsessing about what was happening in Ireland, only that wasn’t as easy as it sounded.

  She told herself it was natural to wonder how this would change Drew. Their romance was still new and lacked the stability of a longer relationship. If it were to come to a choice between her and Patrick, she had no doubt that Drew would choose his son. She laid her head on her desk and was half asleep when the phone startled her.