Page 86 of My One
“Well, let me start at the beginning.” Mom looked to Avery and then smiled back at Nic and me. “Avery told me that you know that your biological father is from Thousand Oaks, so I’m assuming you know Doug wasn’t your father?”
“I mean, yeah,” I responded. “You just introduced Avery as my real father,” I reminded her.
“Maybe you should tell me what you know then, and I’ll answer any questions.”
I took a pull of the Corona. Nic was still quiet and probably in shock like I was. “Jimmy and Jane told us the story about college, and Doug going off to Harvard. They said you got pregnant by”—I waved my hand toward Avery—“Avery, and you decided to still get married to Doug and pretended I was his.”
“Yes,” Mother agreed. “But do you know why?”
I stared at her for a beat. “Honestly, I don’t know why.”
“Because I was married,” Avery stated.
My eyes widened, my wife sucked in a breath, and I felt as though I was in the twilight zone again.
“He was married, I was engaged, and we thought it would be best to call things off before Doug or Avery’s wife found out. I didn’t know I was pregnant at the time,” Mom clarified.
“When did you find out that Doug wasn’t Avery’s father?” Nicole finally asked.
“The older Avery got, the more I saw Avery in him and not Doug. Can’t you tell the resemblance?” Mother asked.
I stared at Avery. We had the same blond hair, blue eyes, and nose. “How did Da—Doug find out?” I asked.
Mom sighed and looked off as if thinking about it hurt. “Doug found the letters from Avery. I’m assuming you found them too?” I nodded. “Right. He found them, it caused a huge fight, and I threatened to leave.”
“Why didn’t you?” Nic asked.
“I tried. Words were said—I don’t recall what—and then I was so angry that I told him Avery wasn’t his son. We yelled, he hit, and I told him who Avery’s father really was, thinking it would hurt him. Then he stormed out of the house, and the next thing I knew, he came home and told me the problem was dealt with.”
“The car accident?” I asked.
Mom nodded and looked at mydad. “At first I didn’t know how he found Avery, but I came to learn that he had a cop friend in Beverly Hills. They were able to track Avery down. This was before the internet was as big as it is now.”
“But you died,” Nic stated to Avery with a wave of her hand.
“Yeah, he tried to kill me,” Avery admitted.
“You’re buried in a cemetery,” I added, still confused. Who the fuck was buried in that grave?
“That was clearly a hoax,” he replied.
“Why?” I asked. “How?”
“Doug found me. When he did, I was divorced and living in turmoil. The one I truly loved was married, had a kid, and was living a life I couldn’t provide for her because I was a bar owner, a lousy one at that—my business was going under. Doug threatened me, we fought, and he left. I didn’t know he would follow me that night when I went to get beer before heading home. He forced me off the road, and I hit a tree. He thought I was dead and called his cop friend for help. When the cop showed up, he told Doug to leave and he’d take care of it. As soon as he did, the cop felt for a pulse and realized I was alive.”Dadtook a deep breath. “So, I made a split-second decision and asked him to pretend I was dead. I thought it would be easier that way.”
“Why would the cop go along with that?” I asked.
“Because he was the reason Doug found me in the first place. He was covering his ass too.”
“But we saw your grave,” Nic informed him.
“Favors run deep in the City of Angels, and people will do anything for money, so the cop paid off the medical examiner to falsify a death certificate. Everyone thought I was dead.”
“No one had to identify your body?” I questioned.
“That’s the beauty of fabricating a death certificate. I justdiedquietly.”
“But your bar. Your ex-wife. Someone had to have cared,” I said, trying to make everything add up.
