Page 67 of Almost Paradise

She opens her mouth to argue, but promptly closes it. She reads the cease-and-desist letter again.

“He told her if she kept trying to contact me, I’d get custody of the kid, ship him to Europe to be raised by nannies, and send him to boarding school. He basically threatened to make sure my son would never know that I loved him—” The words get stuck in my throat.

“My God,” is all she says. “I just don’t understand why. He loved you. He loved all of us. He wanted grandchildren and—”

“Mom, please. I don’t want to hear about his love right now. All of this says otherwise. If he loved me, he wouldn’t have done this. He took three years of my son’s life from me, and over four years of a life with Nia. That’s not love, and you can’t convince me otherwise.” There’s a hard edge to my voice, and she doesn’t argue with it. She’s lost all color to her face now. She picks up one of the pieces of paper and reads it as tears begin to stream down her pale cheeks. As if it’s too much to bear, she puts the paper on the desk and pushes it all away.

“You love her,” she says, and I nod. “You were happy all those years ago?” She swipes a lone tear. When I tell her that I was, she asks, “And Nia was happy too?”

“We both were until we were ripped apart,” I admit.

“Oh, Drake,” she cries. “My poor baby.” She wipes more tears. “I’m so sorry. I understand now.” She shakes her head sadly. “She’s angry at you. At us for things we knew nothing about.”

“She doesn’t believe I didn’t know. She thinks I only came back out of a sense of guilt,” I admit.

“Son…” she begins but stops when we hear the door and footsteps.

“Daddy!” I hear my son’s loud voice, and in it, his excitement of seeing me. “Daddy!” he yells again.

He bursts through the office door and runs to me. Nia is right behind him, but she stops short when she sees my mother. Mom hangs her head as if she’s too ashamed to look at her.

“Hey,” I say to Carter. I tickle his belly. “Your grandma’s here.” Mom quickly wipes her eyes and reaches for Carter. He goes to her, and she hugs him.

“I’m so happy to see you,” she says. “I have some gifts for you.” He bounces in her arms. “It’s nice to see you too, Nia,” Mom says. She smiles at Nia. Nia smiles back, but it’s fake. I know she’s only doing it for Carter’s sake.

“Mrs. Paradise,” is all Nia says.

“Carter, why don’t you show me your room? We can look at your presents in there.” She puts him down. He takes her hand and practically pulls her out, leaving me alone with Nia.

She has her arms crossed, but she doesn’t say a word. She walks further into the room, and that takes me by surprise. She never voluntarily goes into a room with me. She looks down at the papers and back at me. She purses her lips, and I wait for her to go on a tirade about how awful my father was.

“You told her?” she asks waving at the mountain of evidence against my father.

“I did.”

“And what? She pretended she had no clue just like you did?”

“She didn’t pretend anything and neither did I.” She stares into my eyes, and I don’t look away. I’d give anything to open my arms and hold her to me right now, but we’re light years away from that.

“Are you okay?” That question shocks me. She’s never asked about me, and now she is. It lights some hope inside of me.

“Not really. No.” How can you be okay when you find out your father is not who you thought he was? How do I deal with my father’s deception when I can’t confront him about it? How can I be okay when she’s so close and still so far away?

I wait for her to call me a liar. Call my mother a liar, but she doesn’t. She eyes me up and down and inches slightly closer. I hold my breath while I wait to see what she does next. In the meantime, I will myself not to open my arms to her. I can’t take another rejection right now.

“Well, you’ll be—” She never finishes.

Carter bursts through the door holding a stuffed blue whale and another Spiderman action figure. This one is almost as tall as he is.

“Look!” He drops Spiderman and holds the stuffed animal in the air. My mom comes in behind him, happier than I’ve seen her in almost a year.

“I found Bluey,” she announces. “I don’t know why, but I woke up with him on my mind a few weeks ago. He was in a box in the attic,” she says. Carter hugs it.

“I love him,” he says. “Grandma says he was Daddy’s.” He waves it in front of Nia’s face. “Now it’s mine.” He hugs it again, picks up Spiderman, and runs out of the office.

“I hope it’s okay that I got him a few things,” Mom says to Nia.

“Of course,” Nia says.

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