Two Completely Different Stories
Grant lasted less than an hour before going to the apartment. He had promised himself he would leave Tessa alone until morning. He could not.
When he entered, two boys were asleep beneath blankets on the large sectional sofa. The other two sat on the rug building a tower from wooden blocks the concierge had found in a storage closet.
Tessa stood in the kitchen holding a mug with both hands. She looked exhausted.
“You said no questions tonight.”
“I know.” Grant remained near the doorway. “But I need one answer. Are they mine?”
Tessa looked toward the children. Then back at him.
“Biologically?”
Grant’s pulse quickened.
“Yes.”
She nodded once.
“Yes, Grant. They’re yours.”
The room seemed to lose all sound.
Grant sat slowly in a chair. Four sons. Six years. Birthdays he had missed. First words. First days of school. Christmas mornings.
He pressed a hand over his mouth.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Tessa stared at him in disbelief.
“I tried.”
Grant looked up.
“No. You disappeared.”
Her expression hardened.
“I disappeared because your family made it very clear that you wanted me gone.”
She opened one of the travel bags and removed an old envelope protected inside a plastic folder.
“The day after my doctor confirmed the pregnancy, a lawyer named Everett Cole came to see me.”
Grant knew the name immediately. Cole had served as outside counsel for the Hollowell family for decades before abruptly retiring.
Tessa continued.
“He gave me a letter supposedly signed by you. It said you had chosen your family, that you wanted no involvement with the pregnancy, and that contacting you would only create problems for everyone.”
Grant stood.
“I never wrote that.”
Tessa laughed without humor.
“He also showed me documents saying you were preparing to marry Camille Redford.”
“Camille and I weren’t even dating then.”
Tessa’s eyes began to shine.
“He said your mother would make sure I lost everything if I tried to force myself into your life.”
Grant shook his head.
“Tessa, my mother showed me a completely different story.”
She went still.
“What story?”
“She told me you accepted a large payment and moved to California with someone else.”
Tessa stared at him.
“I have never lived in California.”
“She showed me a lease cancellation with your signature.”
“I never signed one.”
Grant’s voice weakened.
“She told me the pregnancy had ended and you didn’t want me contacting you.”
Tessa slowly lowered herself into a chair.
For several moments, neither of them spoke. They had spent six years blaming each other. Now they were beginning to understand that both of them had been handed carefully constructed lies.
