We walked into the living room to find Mom sitting quietly on the couch with Joe, and Diana was pacing across the room. Dad wasn't showing up for another half hour, and it appeared Diana was already a nervous wreck. I was pretty nervous myself, but I was just hiding it better. My sister's eyes flooded with relief when she looked at me. I crossed the room to her and threw my arms around her. She let out a deep sigh, and I felt some of her tension ease as she relaxed against me.
"I'm kind of freaking out here," she said softly against my chest.
"Yeah, me too," I agreed. "But we're going to be fine."
"If I wasn't nursing, I'd be drinking right now," she said irritably.
"Then I guess it would be cruel of me to ask for a beer right now, huh?" I asked her with a smirk. She smacked my chest with an open palm as she glared at me.
"Jerk," she grumbled then finally managed to give me a wan smile.
"There's the sister I know and love," I said affectionately and hugged her again. It was such a relief to have our relationship back to what it should be.
"I love you, little brother," she said softly.
I growled in mock annoyance. "I love you too."
Diana stepped away and went to sit on the love seat with Tony, who put a comforting arm around his wife. I stopped to greet Joe and give Mom a kiss on her cheek then took a seat in the recliner next to the couch where Joe, Mom, and Natalie were sitting. I didn't want Natalie that far away, so I reached over for her hand and pulled her off the couch and onto my lap. I held her close, breathing in the scent of Natalie and pears. It was so comforting and intoxicating all at the same time. I wanted to spend the rest of my life wrapped up in her scent.
Tony turned on the TV and tuned in to the football game. It was a welcome distraction while we waited. Joe, Tony, and I absently talked about the game here and there, but no one talked about what we were waiting for.
When the door bell rang, Mom, Diana, and I shared a meaningful look. Our lives were about to change. Everything I thought of myself and where I came from would forever be altered after today. I hoped it was for the better.
"I'll get it." Tony stood with a nod, squeezing Diana's hand for a second before heading toward the front door. Mom got up and stood in the middle of the room with a nervous expression. Diana, and I stood too, and went to stand on each side of her for support, while Natalie and Joe moved off to one side with concern on their faces.
Moments later, Tony came in flanked by a middle-aged man in a white button-down shirt and jeans. This was Jeffrey Bishop, the father I had never met. I stared at him in shock. There was no denying this man was my father. It was like looking in a mirror at myself twenty years from now. He was maybe an inch shorter than me, and had a graying version of my short curly dark hair. His blue eyes, nose, and jawline were virtually identical to mine. If he hadn't been clean shaven, it would have been even more obvious.
"Hi, Aleta," he said as he looked at Mom with nervous eyes and a smile. My God, his voice even sounded like mine. He glanced at me, and his eyes widened as he saw our similarities too. He seemed just as thrown off by it as I was right now.
"Jeff," Mom said as she stepped toward him. "This is your son, David." She motioned toward me. "And your daughter, Diana." Mom then motioned to my sister.
Diana stood frozen in place as she looked at our Dad, so I stepped forward and stretched out my hand to him. "Hi..." I trailed off when I realized that I didn't know what to call him. The word "dad" felt weird, but Jeff didn't seem right either. He took my hand, gripped it firmly, and shook it with confidence.
"It's nice to meet you finally, David." He gave me a warm smile then released my hand. Now that I was closer I could see the deep lines etched in his face around his eyes and mouth. He looked like he had led a hard life, yet was still able to smile and there was genuine warmth in his eyes as he looked at me. He turned his attention to my sister, who was standing there staring at him in shock.
"Hi, Diana," he said in a softer tone then he gave me. He reached his hand out to her, and it finally broke her out of her shock.
"Hi." She took his hand and smiled at him nervously. I never thought anything could render my sister and me speechless, but this situation was so surreal. I could see how Diana and Jeff shared the same mouth. Yeah, we were definitely his kids. I started to wonder what else I inherited from him.
"I already met Tony." He nodded at my brother-in-law then turned toward Natalie and Joe.
"I'm Joe, Aleta's husband." Joe shook hands with Jeff. This had to be really weird for Joe, and I felt for him, but he seemed unperturbed.
"I'm Natalie." Natalie stepped forward and confidently shook my father's hand. "I'm David's girlfriend." I loved hearing her call me that, and there was pride in her voice when she said it. My love for her welled up inside me as I watched my father smile at her kindly.
After that, Tony, Joe, and Natalie left the room, giving us privacy for our little reunion. An uncomfortable silence fell across the room, all four of us fidgeting for a moment before Mom finally suggested that we have a seat, so we could talk. Mom, Diana, and I sat on the sofa with Mom in the middle. Jeff took a seat on the nearby recliner and gave me a bemused expression.
"I can't get over how much you look like me," he said incredulously with a small shake of his head.
"Neither can I." I was finally able to find my voice past the shock of this situation. "It's uncanny."
"You sound alike too," Diana chimed in with an awed expression.
"You look a lot like your mother," he said to Diana with a wistful smile.
There was another long uncomfortable silence. I don't know about my mother or sister, but I was at a loss. Anything I planned on saying or asking him had flown out of my head. I just sat there and stared at him as he looked back at us with a pensive expression. Jeff finally broke the tension and spoke.
"Tell me about your lives," he said thoughtfully, "your jobs, and your families. Are you happy?" He looked at Diana first, and it broke her out of her silence. She tentatively began telling him about her husband and her kids, and then about her job as the office manager for Tony's trucking company. He seemed very interested in knowing more about his grandkids. Most of his questions were about them, and his face lit up with excitement when Diana suggested he could meet them soon.
The conversation made its way to me after that. I told him about my job, and my trip to the Ukraine. He seemed impressed by my work with Doctors Without Borders. I was happy that he seemed proud of me. When he asked me about Natalie, I told him that she was the love of my life, and that she was carrying my baby. He beamed at that and congratulated me. It was strange how much the approval of this virtual stranger made me feel good inside.
Mom told him about Joe and how happy she was. Then she shared a few funny and embarrassing stories about Diana and me as kids. She seemed reticent to share too many person details about herself with Jeff. Given their past, I couldn't blame her.
"I imagine you're curious about my life," he finally said in a serious tone when Mom finished speaking. "I wish I could say most of it was happy, but it wasn't. When your mother asked me to leave, it was the best thing she could have done for both of you.
"At the time, all I really cared about was my next high. Meth, heroine, cocaine, alcohol, pot; I did all of them." He looked away in embarrassment and pressed his lips together tightly for a moment. "It got me mixed up with some people I would have been better off never knowing, but I was too worried about getting my next fix to care until it was too late. I ended up dealing to get more drugs for myself, and my stupidity eventually caught up with me. About six months after you were born, I ended up in prison on my first drug charge.
"I spent the next twenty years in and out of prison, not always for drugs. I stole and got into a lot of fights too. When I wasn't in prison, I was chasing my next high in between brief periods when I actually managed to stay sober here and there. There was no way in hell that I could have been a father to anybody through mo
st of it. I could barely take care of myself. I overdosed and almost died twice, and that wasn't even enough to stop me from following my self-destructive path. Eventually, my family gave up on me and then, so did I." A deep sorrow fell over his face, the lines around his eyes and mouth deepening, making him look older, tired.
"But then," he continued as a smile began to spread slowly across his lips, "I met Valerie about ten years ago." He clasped his hands together, and I noticed a wedding band on his left hand. "She pulled me back from the brink, saved my sorry ass when I didn't even care what happened to myself anymore. She showed me that I could love again. She got me into rehab. I've been sober almost nine years now, and I'd be dead without her." He lapsed into silence, his eyes unseeing as he focused on whatever was going on in his head right now.
"Why...why didn't you ever try to find us after you got sober?" Diana asked tentatively.
He let out a deep sigh and focused on her, his eyes almost sad. He reached up and started rubbing at his jaw, just like I rubbed at my beard. "I decided that I would let you come to me if you ever wanted to meet me. I didn't want to push myself on you. I didn't want to darken your lives with my messed up life."
"Do you...do you have any other kids?" I asked, not sure how I would respond if I suddenly found out I had siblings I never knew about.
"I have a stepson with Valerie, but I never had any others. Well, at least not that I know of," he admitted sheepishly with a shrug. "I've got a lot of years that I don't remember very well." He looked down in shame.
"Never look back unless you are planning to go that way," I blurted out, wanting to help him, to make him feel better. My job made me well aware of how hard-won his sobriety had been. He fought free of his addiction, and he didn't need to feel any shame.
His head snapped up, and he looked at me with a curious expression. "Henry David Thoreau. Right?"
"Yeah," I said with a bemused grin. I was taken aback, yet pleased that he knew that quote.
He shrugged again as a wry smile twisted his lips. "I spent a lot of time in the library while I was in prison, and fell in love with books. Reading helped me get through a lot of shitty times in my life."
"Reading helped me get through some pretty shitty times in high school." I was floored again by how much I had in common with this virtual stranger, inside and out. It was both disturbing and wonderful all at the same time. It made me wish I had met him sooner.
Our conversation became easier after that as Diana and I started talking about our childhood. He talked a lot about Valerie, and his eyes lit up whenever he did. I was looking forward to meeting her and told him as much. The next thing I knew we were making plans to get together again, this time with Diana's kids and his wife. When he finally rose to leave, I was actually sad to see him go and looking forward to seeing him again. Who would have thought?
When Diana and I walked him to the door, he reached out to shake Diana's hand, but my sister ignored it and threw her arms around him instead. He looked shocked for a beat, then hugged her back. They both were a little glassy eyed when she stepped away. I stretched my hand out to him, not quite sure if I was ready for such an obvious display of affection. However, he had other ideas. My dad wrapped me up in a warm hug for just a second before stepping back.
"You have no idea how happy I am that you both have had a good life." He smiled softly. "I'm glad that I made the right decision, and I'm glad you decided to find me now. I can't wait to get to know both of you better." He looked back and forth between us. "Good-bye." He nodded and smiled once more before walking out the door. After he was gone, Diana and I stood staring at each other in shock for several long moments.
"Well, that just happened," Diana mumbled with a shake of her head and a wistful smile.
"Yeah." I put my arm around my sister's shoulders and walked her to the kitchen.
As we walked into the room, Natalie stood up from the table and hurried over to me with concern on her face. I pulled her into a hug, and she nuzzled her face into my neck just the way I loved.
"Are you okay?" she asked quietly as I held her tight against me.
"Yeah," I whispered into her hair. "I'm good, but I'm ready to go home." I just wanted to go home and hold Natalie for a while. I needed some time and space to wrap my head around today. Everything felt different now. The deep-seated anger and resentment I had carried around toward my father for so long, but had denied, was gone now. It was replaced by a feeling of hope, and the promise of a new and different future that I never expected. I could trace all the recent changes in my life for the better to one source. It all began when I set eyes on this beautiful creature in my arms. Natalie appeared out of nowhere into my life, shook it down to its very foundation and built me back up into someone I was truly proud to be. I planned on spending the rest of my life showing her my gratitude for her love and belief in me.
"Ty moe povitrya, my love," she whispered into my neck, this time her inflections perfect. A shudder ran through my entire body, and I realized that I was already home. Home in her arms and in her heart, and I would never let her go.
***********
"Are you ready to be a father, brother?" Jensen asked as he nudged me roughly with an elbow. He pulled my attention from the mesmerizing sight of Natalie shaking her ass in a short skirt on the dance floor with Syd and Lydia.
"Oh yeah," I said enthusiastically. I glanced over at Jensen sitting on the bar stool next to me. We were sitting at a tall table in the noisy dance club that we had been talked grudgingly into taking the girls. Natalie decided that after this stressful and emotional week, that I needed to go out and have some fun with my friends. She was right of course. It felt good to have some fun and relax for a while.
"You're ready to give all this up, Dave?" Andy asked wryly from the stool across from me. He swept an arm around the room filled with obnoxious thumping dance music and seizure inducing lights.
"In a heartbeat, Andrew," I told him with absolute certainty. "I've never been more sure of anything in my life."
Andy grinned and raised his beer bottle. "Then here's to you, baby-daddy!"
Jensen nodded and raised his soda. "Congratulations, brother."
"Thanks." I lifted my beer, and we clinked all our drinks together. "Which one of you is next?" I asked gleefully with a wide grin as I looked back and forth between them.
"Oh fuck no," Jensen immediately blurted out with a horrified expression. "We are no where near ready for that yet."
Jensen and I looked at Andy expectantly when he didn't chime in right away. He made an enigmatic expression and took a long pull of his beer.
"Are you guys trying to get fucking pregnant already?" Jensen asked incredulously. "You've only been married for two months."
"We've been talking about it," he said with a shrug.
"Really?" I asked curiously.
"Well, we're both almost thirty," Andy said matter-of-factly. "It's not like we're getting any younger."
Jensen gave his best friend a dubious expression.
"He has a point," I admitted.
"Well, unlike both of you," Jensen said in exasperation. "My biological clock hasn't started fucking ticking yet. You two are fucking nuts." He glanced over at his dancing wife. "I need her to myself for a lot longer before I'm willing to share her with a kid."
"That's also a good point," I grudgingly admitted. I realized that my time to have Natalie all to myself was going to be exceedingly short. I'd better make the most of it.
I looked over to see that the girls were finally coming back. They came up to our table and started sipping on their drinks. Natalie was flushed and breathing hard with a slight sheen of perspiration on her forehead as she drank from her glass of water. It reminded me of how she looked during rough sex. My eyes roamed down her tall slender frame. She was wearing a black v-neck sweater and a really short black leather skirt. Her suede boots were knee high and incredibly hot. She smiled at me and a jolt of desire shot through me. I hoped to God that s
he was ready to go home soon. I needed to be inside her.
I'd been unbelievably aroused since we left the house tonight, and it was entirely my own fault. I took her panties away from her just before we left, and her skirt was so damn short that anyone could get a free show if she bent over too far. All I could think about was bending her over, shoving her skirt up to her waist, and then sliding balls deep into her tight wet heat. I shuddered, and she noticed my reaction to her with a wicked grin. She sidled up close to me and put her lusciously soft lips against my ear.
"I'm so wet for you," she murmured seductively. "I hope I don't drip down my thighs since you took my panties away."
"Fuck," I blurted out as my erection strained even more uncomfortably in my jeans. I leaned in close to her ear. "I hope you're done dancing, sweetheart, because we're leaving. Now."
"Well, I am pretty tired," she said nonchalantly with a shrug, and an evil gleam in her eyes.
I growled at her. "You will be when I'm done with you."
Her answering laugh was low and sexy, and it made my cock twitch. I was so happy that we drove here separately from the others. I made a lame excuse about Natalie being tired due to her pregnancy. I was fairly certain no one believed that for one second, but I didn't care. I gave Syd and Lydia hugs, then joined in some ribbing and back slapping with Jensen and Andy. I practically dragged Natalie out to my Audi A6 in my haste to get her home, and have her naked and under me.
Less than five minutes after I drove out of the clubs' parking lot, Natalie fell asleep and was dead to the world in the passenger seat. I would have thought it was funny if it wasn't for my raging hard on. As it was, I was finding it difficult not to be annoyed even though I knew she really was tired because of the pregnancy. We had been teasing each other mercilessly all night long. I was so worked up now that it looked like I was literally going to have to take matters into my own hand after I tucked her into bed. It was either that or not be able to sleep.
You Are My Life: Breathless Book 3 Page 21
