by J. S. Cooper
“David, you need to leave now.” I looked at him coldly.
“What about—”
“Leave!” My voice was harsh, and he paled.
“I’m sorry, Nancy.” He reached out to her, and she pushed him away.
“Leave me alone.” She took a step back, and Meg put her arms around her.
“It’s time to leave now, David.”
“Who’s leaving?” Patsy walked into the room and her eyes widened as she surveyed the scene. “You’re back, Nancy?” Her voice was soft, and I could see her eyes narrowing. Nancy stared back at her with a scared expression, and I knew that Patsy was the one who had something to do with her disappearance.
“You’re leaving, Patsy. You and David.”
“What?” She looked at me with hurt eyes.
“I want you both out of here now.”
“Greyson.” Her voice cracked. “You can’t mean it.”
“I mean it.” My eyes were cold. “You need to leave now.”
“Come on, Nancy. I’m going to take you home with us.” Meg glared at Patsy. “We’re going to go to Brandon and my friend Katie’s house. I’m sure you want to see the back of the club.”
“Wait.” I looked at Meg, but I could tell from her expression that there was no changing her mind.
“Look at you playing happy families,” Patsy cackled and leaned towards me. “Never thought I’d see the day.”
“Really? I thought you fantasized about this for you and me?” I looked at her pointedly, and she gasped. “Let’s go.” I nodded at Meg and Nancy, my heart feeling full, even though I was pissed as hell. “I expect the two of you to be gone by the time I get back. You’re not welcome on property again. Leave a forwarding address with my secretary. I’ll send you your last checks. If I see you here again, you’ll be arrested for trespassing.” I walked towards the door and waited for Meg and Nancy to leave before looking back at them. “You’re lucky that both of you are leaving without bodily harm.”
“Go run back to Brandon,” Patsy hissed. “Go try and make everything right! You think it’s all going to work out?” She laughed. “We’ll see about that.”
“I don’t know what I did to make you hate me this much, Patsy.”
“I think you know, Greyson.” Her eyes narrowed. “I think we both know what you did.” We stared at each other for a few moments, and I felt bereft that she had become this person. She leaned towards me, grabbed ahold of my arm, and paused. I waited for her to apologize, to say something that would make up for all that she had done. Instead, she whispered in my ear, “How does it feel knowing you’re going to ruin your best friend’s life once again?”
Chapter 14
Brandon
“What’s that commotion?” I walked into the living room, looking for Katie.
“Hey.” Greyson nodded at me, and I smiled.
“You’re back.”
“Yes.” He gave me a look and I frowned, not understanding what he was trying to tell me. I looked around the room and that was when I saw Meg and Katie standing over another girl. “Meg and I are back. We brought Nancy with us.”
“Oh.” I froze, not sure what to say. “Welcome.”
“Nancy was held at gunpoint by David.” Meg gave me a look. “He nearly killed her.”
“What?” I didn’t know what else to say as I stared at her.
“I’m okay.” She offered up a weak smile, but she didn’t make eye contact with me. The room was silent for a few minutes as we all stood there, no one knowing what to say. I stood there awkwardly in the corner of the room, not really knowing what to do.
“Patsy was the one who approached me.” Nancy spoke up finally and I looked over at her again. “I didn’t want anyone to get hurt. It was all her idea.”
“What was her idea?” I walked over to her, my heart in my mouth.
“She approached David first,” Nancy continued. “She didn’t tell him everything at first. Just told him that she knew what had happened to Maria and she thought it was wrong. She told him she could get him a job at the club and that they could bring you and Greyson down.”
“I see.” I sat down next to her, and Greyson sat on the other side.
“Are you okay, Nancy?” Meg asked. “You don’t have to do this now if you’re not up for it.”
“No, I want to.” She looked at the ground. “I’ve been waiting to talk about it for a while now.”
“Okay.” Meg nodded and then walked over to Katie and held her hand.
Katie smiled at her weakly and they took a seat. This was it then. We were all going to discuss it.
“She knew about me all along. I guess she and Maria had been good friends,” Nancy continued. “She thought if I came to the club, it would be great. She thought I’d want revenge as well. She wanted it to be the three of us bringing down the club. She wanted to see you and Greyson pay.”
“I see.”
“I didn’t know what to think.” Her face turned red. “She didn’t tell me the truth until the day I disappeared. She saw that I was getting close to Meg. She was scared that I wouldn’t go ahead with anything because of Meg. She knew Meg was hooking up with Greyson. She hated that. She wanted me to put something in Meg’s food.” She looked pale as she spoke. “But I told her no, Meg. I told her no.”
“I know.” Meg nodded. “I know you wouldn’t hurt me.”
“When she told me the truth right as I was walking outside, I threw up. She told me to go and lie down. She told me that I should just be by myself. She said she’d back.”
“I was wondering how you disappeared so quickly,” Meg said, nodding. “It seemed to happen in minutes.”
“I didn’t know what to think or feel.” Nancy nodded. “I cried and cried and cried and agreed with her and David that I wanted some sort of revenge, though really all I wanted to know was why.” Her voice caught and she looked at me quickly. I felt my heart racing and I saw Greyson giving me a closed look. This was a lot harder than I’d thought it was going to be.
“I was worried about you, Meg, so I quickly wrote a note and that diary to leave you clues. I didn’t want Patsy or David to get suspicious if they found them though, so I added in other stories.”
“Thank you for doing that, Nancy.” Meg’s voice cracked, and it was then that I realized that they really had a close connection.
“She hated you so much. She was so jealous that you were with Greyson. She was so confident that he was just with you for fun, but then she realized that he seemed to be falling for you. She hated you with a passion and it made her hate Greyson even more. And that of course made her hate you even more.” She looked at me. “She told me and David that you tricked her into sleeping with you one night and that was why Greyson had ended things with her. She told us that you ruined her relationship with him and she would never forgive you for that.” She looked away then and glanced at Katie. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, and Katie walked over to her.
“Don’t be sorry, my dear.” Katie kneeled down and hugged her. “Don’t you ever be sorry for telling the truth.”
Nancy stared at her in surprise, and I could see fresh tears in her eyes. “You’re sure?”
“I’m sure!” Katie nodded and reached over, grabbing my hand and squeezing. “Please continue.”
“So she told me that I’d been used and discarded as well.” Her breath caught. “She said it wasn’t right what you guys had done to me. She said we had to make you pay. We had to hurt you as you’d hurt us. I didn’t know what to think. My life had been turned upside down. I told her I’d work with her. I wanted to hurt you both as well. At least, that’s what I thought in the beginning. Then I realized I just wanted to meet you. I just wanted to talk with you. I just wanted to say hello to my father.” She paused then and Greyson and I looked at each other.
The room went silent, and we all sat there waiting for someone to say something. It was as if no one knew what to say. It was then that I noticed that no one seemed shocked. Ther
e had been no gasps. Everyone knew the truth. I looked at Greyson again and he nodded. He’d told Meg. I couldn’t be mad. I’d told Katie. I understood why he had. Why we’d both had to. Our love for our women was greater than our need to keep it a secret.
I reached over and grabbed Nancy’s hand, and she looked up at me with big, wide eyes.
“Well, here I am, Nancy. Go ahead and say hello. I’m sure you know by now that I’m your father.”
Chapter 15
Unknown/Nancy
“I’m your father.”
I stared at Brandon as he said the words I’d been waiting to hear. It felt surreal staring into his eyes. I could almost see myself in his face.
“That’s weird.” I laughed uncomfortably and looked down. “I mean, to hear you say that. It sounds weird. I didn’t even know about you.”
“It’s okay.” Brandon squeezed my hand. His fingers felt warm and soft, and I looked up at him again. “I understand how you feel.”
“I don’t understand.” I looked into his eyes then. “I don’t understand why you gave me up.”
“It’s not something I’m proud of,” he said slowly, and his eyes looked pained.
“Why didn’t you come for me when she died?”
“Your mother thought it would be better if her parents raised you as theirs. She was pretty young when she had you. We thought it would be the best idea. I wasn’t ready to be a father. She wasn’t ready to be a mother.”
“So she just decided to pretend.” My heart broke, not understanding how she could have done that to me.
“It was my idea,” Greyson said, and I looked over at him. “I was the one who told them it would be better if you were adopted or given to your grandparents to raise.”
“Oh.” I looked away from him, trying to ignore the anger I felt in my stomach towards him.
“I was selfish.” He shrugged. “I thought I was doing it to protect Brandon. I don’t know now. Maybe I was a bad influence. But I thought it was for the best. They were both young. They weren’t in love. They were on and off for years. It was just about the sex. I didn’t think they would make the best parents.”
“I agreed with him,” Brandon admitted and sighed. “I thought it was a perfect idea at the time.”
“What I don’t get…” Katie started. “What I don’t get is how this is all possible? I thought Maria was eighteen ten years ago? How could she be Nancy’s mom?”
“She wasn’t eighteen,” I answered. “That’s what she told us to tell anyone who asked. She had an issue with growing old.” I shrugged. “When I was eight, she came home with Brandon and she told us that if anyone asked, we were to say she’d gone to college but ended up working at a cool club instead. We were to tell anyone who asked that she was only eighteen. I didn’t understand at the time, but now I do.” I looked at Brandon, my father, and he nodded.
“It was my idea.” He sighed. “If she said she was eighteen, then there was no way she could be Nancy’s mother. No one would ever suspect. It was a lie that we all agreed upon.”
“So she lied about her age, you all lied about her age, so no one could ever add up the dots?” Meg looked shocked and saddened.
“Yes.” He nodded. “It was a horrible thing to do.”
“You lied about so much to me.” Katie’s voice was sad. “When I first met you, you said she was your college girlfriend.”
“I know,” he sighed.
“But she wasn’t in college and she wasn’t even young.”
“She was young when they first started dating,” I said, feeling bad for him. “They were on and off for years.”
“Yeah.” Brandon sighed and closed his eyes. “It just all feels like a different world.”
“Are you mad at me?” I whispered and looked down at my feet. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry.” Brandon put his arm around me. “I’m the one who’s sorry.”
“I remember that weekend,” I mumbled. “I remember the weekend you came home with Maria. She was so happy, but then she started crying. She was crying so much.”
“She wanted us to get married.” His eyes looked sad. “She thought we were going to be one big happy family. I told her I didn’t love her and that I wasn’t interested in marrying her.”
“I see.” I bit my lip to stop my tears.
“I only went home with her that weekend to see you, Nancy.” His voice caught. “I’d thought about you all those years and I wanted to see you. That’s the only reason I went home with her. That’s the only reason I stayed close with her all those years. I wanted to make sure you were okay. I needed to see you. You were my daughter.” His voice cracked, and the room was silent again as we all just sat there.
“I still am,” I said softly and stood up. “I’m sorry for all the pain I’ve caused, but you broke my mother. Do you know how weird it feels to say that? She was my sister, but she’s really my mother. And my father was my grandfather and you’re my dad. Do you know how fucked up I feel right now?”
“I don’t know what to say.” Brandon made a face. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t you get it? Sorry isn’t good enough.” I started crying then—big, hard, ugly tears. “How could you give me away? How could you not love me?”
“I don’t—” He started talking, but I continued on.
“When she died, you could have come and gotten me. I was your daughter. You should have come for me. You didn’t even think about me. I’m nothing to you. I don’t understand why you never loved me.” I fell to the ground and sobbed, unable to keep it all in any longer. “Why didn’t you love me?” I felt arms on my back then and looked into Meg’s concerned eyes. “I didn’t want to hurt anyone,” I whispered to her. “I just wanted to understand.”
“It’s okay.” She rubbed my back and pulled me into her arms. “It’s okay, Nancy.”
“Why didn’t he love me?” I cried out again, and I watched as Brandon stood up and left the room.
I felt my heart breaking then. He was walking out on me again. I didn’t understand how a father couldn’t love his child. I was a part of him. I couldn’t comprehend why or how he could have done this to me.
“I always knew something was off in my family,” I whispered to Meg. “I always just assumed it was because Maria had killed herself. I thought my parents were just in shock over that, but I could see it in their eyes. There was always something that seemed off. I always felt like they wanted to tell me something, but they didn’t know how.”
“He loves you, Nancy.” Katie walked towards me then with a small smile. She sat down on the ground with Meg and me, and she looked into my eyes. “He loves you more than you know. I’m sure of that.”
“You knew about me?” I frowned
“He told me last night.” She nodded. “He said he couldn’t keep it a secret anymore. He was sorry for having lied about it. He didn’t know how to come clean. I think he didn’t want to believe he’d been that person.”
“He did that for you, not me.” My heart ached. “I know he loves you. You’re the one. That’s what Patsy told me. She said she never believed it would happen. She thought you were a fool. She knew all about your relationship with him. She said that you had a child with him. That I had a brother. That he had raised my brother because he loved you and wanted a part of you in his life. He didn’t love Maria and he didn’t love me and that’s why he never came for me.” I felt wooden as I spoke and the words came out. “He loves you and that’s why he told you.”
“Oh, Nancy.” Katie’s eyes filled with tears, and I knew she couldn’t defend him anymore. She knew what I was saying was true. He loved her with all his heart. I was nothing to him.
“You’re wrong, Nancy.” Brandon’s voice surprised us all as he walked back into the room. “You’re very, very wrong.” He had some files in his hand, and I looked at him in confusion. “I did tell Katie because I love her. I love her with all my heart and I knew that I couldn’t lie anymore. I was never ashamed of
you. I was ashamed of who I was as a human being. I was ashamed of all the horrible things I’ve done. I didn’t think I was worthy of her love.” He stopped in front of me. “And I didn’t think I was worthy of your love, but never for a second think I haven’t loved you. Never for a second think that I’ve not thought of you. You have been in my heart from the moment you were born.”
“Then why didn’t you come for me?”
“I didn’t want to upset your life. You were with your parents. They loved you. They took care of you. I made sure to send money every month. I made sure you were okay. I had someone make sure you were okay. I’m sorry. If I were to do it again, I’d make another choice,”
I looked down at the floor then, not knowing what to say or how to feel.
“See this?” He took something out of the file. “This is a picture you drew for me that weekend.” He handed me a drawing that I vaguely remembered. “You drew it and you gave it to me with the sweetest smile I’ve ever seen. I gave you a hug and I never wanted to let go.” His voice caught. “I’ve had this picture with me since that day. I look at it and I think of you. I think of my daughter. I think of how much I love you. I think about how proud I am of you.”
“Proud?” I frowned.
“I’m proud because you’re a straight A student. I’m proud because you volunteer at an animal shelter. I’m proud because last year you went to prom with a guy who has Down’s syndrome. I’m proud because you think with your heart and you do what you think is right.”
“How did you know all that?” I looked up at him with a beating heart.
“I may not have been in your life, but I’ve made sure to keep track of your life.” His eyes were bright with unshed tears. “You’ve always been in my heart. I’m not proud of the man that I was. I’m not proud of the secrets I’ve kept, the lies I’ve told, the jealousy in my heart. But I want things to change. I want things to be different. I want you in my life. I want us to have a relationship. I want the chance to be the father I should have been from the beginning.”
