Page 46 of Hot Shot
I give her hand a brief squeeze. “Let me get the whole story out, then you can ask questions, make comments.”
“Okay.”
“I don’t remember talking to her at all, barely remember her being at the party that night, but the next morning I woke up with her in bed with me. Both of us were naked. I had no memory of getting there, no memory of taking off my clothes, so when she told me we spent the night together, I believed her. Although the disgust and disappointment in myself made me want to vomit as much as the idea of touching her, Icouldn’targue. I didn’t remember anything.”
Taking a deep breath to steady the emotions from that morning, all the days since, bombarding me, I continue through the trees at a slow pace. Blake’s hand in mine is a lifeline I need to get through the rest of the story.
“Three weeks later she showed up at my apartment with a positive pregnancy test and a request for money. I wanted to slam the door in her face the second I saw her. Wanted to give her whatever she asked for to make her go away so I could keep forgetting that morning like I’d forgotten the night before it, but then she said she just needed money to get rid of the baby and all I could think about was this defenseless baby—my baby—being ripped away and I couldn’t let that happen.”
Blake’s hand tightens on mine. A silent expression of support and encouragement.
“The next few months were a living hell, some of which I’ve told you, and I think I knew before they handed me the baby that she wasn’t mine to keep. That I’d only have her a short time. But I loved that little girl with everything in me.”
“I would expect nothing less of you, Bran. No matter the circumstances.”
“I loved her every minute of every day until the machines took her last breath. That day gutted me. Her loss devastating in a way I’d never experienced, wasn’t sure I’d survive. But all of that pain was insignificant compared to what followed.”
“Celeste’s suicide.”
“No. Her death brought me relief—peace—freedom. The note she left addressed to me shattered it. Shattered everything I’d believed and tore at what was left of my heart.”
“What could she possibly have said that would be worse than losing Laura?”
“She was never mine to begin with. I never slept with Celeste. Never fathered her child. Laura isn’t my biological child. Celeste just thought I’d be the easiest man to get money out of so she could get rid of her problem. As I read her words, my thoughts instantly went to Carl. They’d hooked up before and she’d tried again after she had Laura, but Carl isn’t Laura’s father either.”
“Do you know who is?”
“Yes. No. It’s complicated.” We reach the water’s edge and I lead her to the boulder and help her up before I say, “She told me in her note who but we’ll never really know.”
“Why would she tell you Laura wasn’t yours then? After everything that had happened. She’d gotten everything she wanted out of you, leaving you that information to find after she was dead served no purpose.”
“Didn’t it? She spent our entire relationship threatening me, hurting me, blaming me for the situation she was in.” I hold up a hand to stop the protest I see lurking in Blake’s eyes. “It doesn’t matter that none of it was my fault. She needed someone to blame and in spite of her actions it was never herself. I was the closest target, the easy target.”
“I don’t understand. Why you?”
“She pegged me for a sucker. She wasn’t wrong. But she also chose me because I was close to the baby’s real father.”
“Who?”
“I need you to know that if I’d known before Celeste went off the rails and did what she did, hurt Laura, I would have said something,donesomething, made it right for Laura, for everyone.”
“Of course. Why would I not think that?”
“I don’t know who exactly fathered Laura?—”
“But—”
“Did you know identical twins can have the same DNA?”
“No, but I guess it should be obvious if they’re identical.”
“Even science can’t determine the father if identical twins sleep with the same woman and she gets pregnant.”
“I’m enjoying this science lesson but what does?—”
“The twins slept with Celeste.”
“The twins?”
