by Rena Janssen
Chapter 6
He tossed the last unread letter to the foot of his bed. The only one he had yet to read was the “one” he supposedly written back. Each letter had been dated along with the postage date and return to sender stamps. Carly was telling the truth. She had tried but he knew it wasn’t amnesia or postal error. He just didn’t understand who had done this to him, them. It was almost nine and he knew he had only a few minutes of privacy to read the offending letter. With a sigh, he opened it.
Carly,
If it wasn’t apparent before, with me sending all your letters back and not responding to your emails, I want nothing to do with you or your brat. We have been apart for a while now and I have found someone I truly love. You are nothing to me but a faded memory compared to her. I am starting a life and family with her, my true love. Leave us alone! Why would you want to ruin something so perfect? I don’t care what you do or what that brat of yours is doing. She probably isn’t even mine. Stop trying to contact me or guilt me into taking you back by shoving your snot nosed little monster in my face. It won’t work! What kind of mother are you? Pathetic that is what you are. It wouldn’t surprise me if you were trying to get child support from several different men to support a drug habit or something. Like I mentioned before, PATHETIC! I won’t let you ruin my perfect future with my true love. Just stay away from us and don’t ever try to contact us again! Let me be happy. I WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU OR YOUR CHILD!
Seriously Aggravated,
Granger Dell Smith
Granger couldn’t believe his eyes. Carly should have never believed this letter for several reasons. One, he would never disregard a child let alone someone saying that the baby was his. Two, he would never disrespect any woman like that, especially Carl. Three, his name was spelled wrong. Carly knew his middle name was Dale not Dell. She should have thought this through and knew that he would have never done this from the start. A guilty feeling came over him. Didn’t he do the same thing to her; judge her without all the facts? Who would do this to him? He just couldn’t think of anyone who would be so cold.
His solitude was broken as there was a knock at the door. Beth came strolling in with flowers and a box of donuts. “I brought your favorite. Cream filled donuts.” She smiled as if the world was all right when his world was falling apart. “These are for you sweety.” Granger took the flowers and donuts. His favorite was chocolate glazed but he would eat these and be thankful.
“Thank you! These are just what I need and these flowers are beautiful. They brighten this room up.” Granger said as Beth turned to grab some napkins. “Did you grab something to drink?”
“Dang. I’ll grab you a drink out of the machine that just outside, hang on.” She ran out the door counting change for a drink. Granger shook his head and sat the donuts on his lap as he turned to place the flowers on the table beside the scrapbook. The small envelope on the flowers had his name on it, kind of.
Granger Dell Smith.
It came to him then, the letters, the emails, and even the phone calls. She would be the only one other than him that had a key to his house. She knew his email password. He knew she was the one who knew he had a little girl but chose to hide it from him. His heart dropped. She knew that he loved children and had always wanted some of his own even if he had to adopt. He felt sick. How was he going to handle this? He knew that he couldn’t or shouldn’t panic until she told him the truth. He would try not to judge her like he did Carly until all the information was out in the open.
She walked back into the room holding a bottle of water. “Here you go sweetheart. Sorry it is just water. The coffee machine was all out.” She paused looking at his shocked face.
“We need to talk.” He said to her. Her face fell when she noticed the letters at the foot of the bed.
“I told that woman to leave you alone! She is nothing! That child is nothing! We can just forget this ever happened and keep going like we were.” Beth knew that she had said the wrong thing by the way Granger’s face hardened. She stammered a bit, “I…I can explain.”
Dr. Colton walked in at that moment and looked back and forth between the two. “Do I need to come back later?”
“No Doctor. Please continue. My wife and I can discuss this at home.” Granger said through gritted teeth. He had never been so infuriated, so downright hurt.
“Let’s get to it then, Mr. Smith. I see that Ms. Carly has come by.”
“Yes.”
“Ah. How are you feeling?”
“I am frustrated and hurt beyond belief but I feel fine other than that.” He said directing his gaze toward Beth, who turned away from his angry glare and walked out of the room.
Dr. Colton just shook his head. “Your test results are great and I believe you can be released from here. However; you will have to follow up with me in two days at my office. I want to be sure your blood pressure and amnesia is just a fluke due to circumstances. Are there any questions for me?”
Granger looked at the doctor and jealousy over the way he said Carly’s name peaked. “Yes, I have a question. Just what exactly is your relationship with Carly?”
Dr. Colton looked at him with raised eyebrows and reached into his back pocket. He pulled out his wallet and handed Granger a picture with two small girls in it. One girl had blonde curly hair pulled up in pigtails and big brown eyes and the other had dark hair and blue eyes. His eyes. It was his Allison.
He couldn’t help but to stare at the picture as Dr. Colton explained, “I am not sure that I understand what drives you to question that but I will explain mine and Carly’s relationship. Your little girl and my little girl are best of friends. We have play dates, sleepovers, and birthday parties together since they were born. I met Carly here actually. She worked here and did Lamaze classes with my wife. She helped when my wife was on bed rest for two months due to pregnancy complications even though she was just as big and miserable as my wife was and she is like a sister to me. My wife and I consider her part of our family in which she and little Allie will continue to be so until the day I die if I have anything to say about it.”
Granger couldn’t help but to feel relief and then guilt. “I am sorry for that doc. A lot has been thrown at me and I am so confused on what to do next.” He sighed and shook his head as he handed the picture back.
“You want to talk about it? Sometimes it helps at least my wife says that. I always tell her men don’t think that way.” They shared a laugh.
“I am trying to process it all. Mostly, I feel cheated and betrayed. I’m not sure what to do next. I don’t know who to trust anymore.”
The doctor just sat and listened. Granger told him everything that was going on from his prospective. Beth had yet to come back into the room when he finished his story. After a few moments, he noticed that the doctor said nothing as if he were processing all the new information.
Dr. Colton shook his head, “That is a lot to take in. There are many different ways that you could handle this. However; if you take the high handed approach you may lose more than you bargain for. You have a new lovely wife who apparently thinks that hiding this was the best thing for your relationship. Then you have Carly and your daughter who want you in their lives but don’t need the stress of a custody battle. Then you have what you are feeling now, the betrayal of your new wife, the loss of the years with your child, and running into someone you thought you would never see again that caused complete confusion. I don’t pity you my man.” He paused looking him in the eye. “But in my opinion, I would cool down a bit before I faced any of this and let it process a day or two. Jumping the gun could cause not only your new life unnecessary problems but it may also disrupt and harm an innocent little girl. Now, if I understand where you stand in all of this, You would rather die yourself than see some innocent child hurt in any way, at least that is what Carly says about you.”
That little shocked Granger. Even though he was furious at her, he couldn’t help to feel a little pride a
t her taking up for him. “You are right doc. I will take a bit and breather for a day. I need to discuss things with Beth and figure out what to do next. I don’t want Allison hurt in any way, but I know right now that I will not be one of those fathers that just pass over her for his own pleasures in life. I love children.”
The doctor stood at that and shook Granger’s hand. “You are released to go and I will see you in my office in a couple days. Good luck Mr. Smith. If you need anything more just call.”
Just as the doctor went out the door, Beth came back in. She hesitated as she walked toward the bed with her head down. She paused beside him shuffling her feet and fidgeting with her hands. “I guess we need to talk.”
Granger just stared at her in complete disbelief. She guessed that we needed to talk. This woman hid the fact that he had a daughter and she guessed that they needed to talk. “You think? We will discuss this when we get back to the hotel.” Granger said.
“But it’s our honeymoon. Can’t we wait until we get back home?”
Granger gave her a look. “I believe this has waited long enough don’t you. I should have known about this from the very beginning, needless to say I am furious!”
Beth seemed to wilt with that. They silently packed their things as the nurse came in for the final signature for paperwork and at home care instructions. Granger had yet to look at the scrapbook but he held it close to his chest as if it were going to disappear. He would look at it later but right now there was too much on his mind and too much anger in his heart.
