Page 171 of Vows We Never Made
“It means you’ll always be my son.” He finally looks at me, sadness in his eyes. “But biologically… you’re not.”
Boom. Headshot.
“What the fuck?” I rock back like I’ve been punched, almost spilling my drink on the carpet. “What do you mean?”
Dad sets his empty glass on the desk, the lamp’s orange light spearing through the glass. “Your mother should be the one explaining this, if it weren’t so hard on her.”
My brain short-circuits.
I don’t understand.
He’s my father.
He’s always been there, ever since I was a kid.
They were married at least a year, maybe a couple, before I came along.
Sure, neither of my parents were particularly doting or deeply invested in me or Margot, but—
Shit, Margot.
Does that mean she’s not my full sister?
Only half.
I can feel my ego shutting down, refusing to accept it, stunned into silence.
“So Gramps’ letter to Mom is—what?” I demand. “Some fucking fight over an affair she had? Why? He helped her hide it? Dad, whathappened?”
The library door swings open then.
Mom stalks into the room, just as teary as Margot, but her eyes are redder, her face thin and papery like it’s about to tear.
For the first time in years, she looks her age through endless spa treatments.
She holds both hands out, but I back away.
“Honey,” she says pleadingly.
“Don’t.” My voice is harsh, but fuck this. “Thirty damn years and this is the first time you tell me the truth? All because of some musty old letterIfound?”
“It’s not what you think,” she hisses.
“You have no clue what I’m thinking.” I look between them, my gaze harder than steel. Then my eyes flick to Dad. “You always knew?”
He nods soberly, his expression pained.
Then he reaches for the scotch bottle, sighing as he pours another glass.
All these cracks in their perfect, gilded exterior.
All these terrible lies they weaved into my life.
Mom reaches for me, but I knock her hands aside.
“Explain it. Right the fuck now,” I bite off. “Did you cheat on Dad? Do I even call him that now?”
“Son,” Dad says, a different kind of pain entering his voice that makes me feel like an asshole. But fucking hell, what do they expect after blowing my head off? “You’ll always be mine, no matter what your DNA says.”
