Quick & Reckless, page 16
Warren was a bundle of nerves for the entire cab ride. Not even talking sports with the cab driver managed to take his mind off what waited for him. Funny, since normally it was the bride and/or groom who was supposed to be nauseous or jittery on the wedding day. Not the son of the bride. But Warren’s nerves had nothing to do with the wedding. Johnathan seemed like a stand-up guy who loved Warren’s mother dearly. Warren knew she would be in good hands. Silver’s father had actually confided in Warren the night before that he had bought Gail a brand-new Mustang convertible as a wedding present and it was being delivered that morning. Yeah, his mother would be just fine.
But what about Warren? What about Silver? What about Ava? He knew he loved her, loved them both. That was plain as day. Despite all the crap she pulled, he wanted her, wanted to be a family with her and Ava in the worst way. He just needed that baby to be his. He wasn’t sure he could look at Ava every day and not think “what if?” and not hate that he had to share her with a creep like Trent. She just had to be his.
About an hour later, after he stopped at the florist, the bank and the grocery store for a card, the cab pulled up to the big, lavish West Vancouver home. The morning was already hot and the sun high. Thank goodness the gazebo on the water held some shade, since today would be a scorcher. With the help of the cab driver, followed by a healthy tip, Warren managed to get everything to the front door in one trip. Even though it was his mother’s home, and back in Sydney he never would have dreamed of knocking— he would have just waltzed right in and opened the fridge—here, he knocked.
A few moments passed before any noise or figures behind the glass appeared. He figured it would probably be Johnathan greeting him, as his mother and Silver were most likely off getting their hair and makeup done. Only it wasn’t Johnathan. It was his mother, and she held a big manila envelope in her hand marked CONFIDENTIAL.
Shit.
“Hello, Mum.” Warren kissed her on the cheek as he pushed his way inside, his eyes never leaving the envelope. He had to make another trip to grab the bouquets in their cumbersome boxes, then shut the door behind himself.
His mother still hadn’t said anything.
He stood up straight, his back cracking and his palms sweaty. “How’d you sleep? What temperature are your feet? Not cold, I hope.” His chuckle was so forced that the look his mother gave him made the pit in his stomach double in size. Slowly, they somehow moved down the hallway into the kitchen and living room area.
“What is this?” she finally asked, waving the envelope in the air. He couldn’t tell if she’d opened it or not. If he were to guess, he’d say she hadn’t. She hadn’t opened any of his other mail back home, just hid it. Letters from his father, his father’s attorneys and brother searching for him. She’d hid it all—unopened.
His eyes followed the envelope as she continued to wave it around. “Have you opened it?”
She shook her head. “Of course not. But I’d like to know why you’re having confidential documents sent to my house and not your hotel? What is this?”
Warren swallowed and reached for the envelope. But like a petulant toddler, his mother pulled it away at the last moment. Warren growled under his breath, but obviously not quietly enough to be lost on his mother, and she gave him her best mama stare-down.
Just then, Silver rounded the corner, clad in yoga pants and a tank top. Ava sat perched on her hip. “Is that it?” she asked, her eyes zeroing in on the envelope still in Gail’s hand.
Gail furrowed her brows and glanced at Silver. “How do you know what this is?”
Silver’s mouth formed the perfect O before she snapped it shut and gave Warren’s mother a quizzical look. “How do you know what it is?”
Warren took his mother’s momentary distraction to snatch the envelope from her hands. As if it were a golden chalice or Fabergé Egg, he clutched it to his chest for safekeeping. “That’s the last envelope you’ll keep from me,” he said, not without venom in his tone. Wedding day or not, he was pissed off at his mother, and apparently it was all to come to a head today.
His mother’s eyes went wide. “What are you talking about?”
“You’ve been keeping my mail from me for years. From my dad’s attorneys, from my brother.”
Gail’s gasp filled the room, and the pain in her eyes made Warren blanche for a moment. Had he gone too far? Finally, she spoke. “Warren, I don’t understand. What on earth is going on?” Her eyes flew back and forth between Warren and Silver. “Brother?”
Apparently they were creating quite the commotion, because Johnathan opened the door to his study and came to stand next to Silver, curiosity painted all over his face.
Warren let out a weighted sigh and looked back up at his mother, his temper slowly dissipating. “I’ve been trying to figure out how to talk to you about this for quite some time now.” He glanced at Johnathan, then his mother and then finally Silver. “I’ve been trying to figure out how to ask you why.”
Gail’s nose scrunched up. “Why what, honey?”
“Why you kept all those letters from my father’s lawyers, from my brother, Tate, hidden from me for so many years. I could have had a family all this time. Why, Mum?”
Gail shook her head. “What do you mean, your brother, Tate?”
“Dad had other kids. Three of them. I have two brothers and sister.”
She shook her head again. This time, disbelief clouded her eyes. “Impossible. Randall would have said.”
Now it was Warren’s turn to shake his head. Sometimes his mother could be so gullible. She was such a gentle soul, it was often her downfall. “Yeah, and he also promised to stick around and be a family, the three of us. The man was a fucking liar. A philanderer and an all-around shitty person. However, as shitty as he was a dad, man and husband, he was just that shrewd of a businessman. He made a substantial amount of money over his lifetime and left it to his four children.”
Gail’s eyes nearly popped out of her sockets. “He what?”
“Yeah, ten mil to each of us. That’s what was in those letters you hid while I was away at uni.”
“B-but, your father never said a word about being that wealthy,” she stammered. She gripped the arm of the kitchen barstool and struggled to sit down. Johnathan was at her side immediately, helping her onto the stool. Then he handed her a glass of water and rubbed her back.
“Of course not, Mum,” Warren replied. “Had he said anything and then left, you could have gone after his holdings.”
“What was his business?” Johnathan asked, concern but also a dash of interest on his face.
“Real estate, mostly. But he also invested well in the dot-com boom and some lucrative stocks. He did well for himself. Tate thinks it may have all stemmed from some settlement money in his late teens or early twenties, though. Can’t be sure.”
“And you have siblings, you said?” It looked like Warren’s mother had lost her voice, so Johnathan, being her rock, took over the questioning.
“Yeah, two brothers, Tate and Gavin, and then a sister. But we haven’t been able to track her down.”
“What do you mean?” Silver asked, switching Ava to her other hip and moving forward deeper into the living room to sit in the love seat Warren was currently standing in front of. “What do you mean you haven’t been able to track her down?” Gail and Johnathan moved into the living room as well and over to the couch.
“Well, Tate’s the oldest. He’s in his forties. He found Gavin about ten or so years ago. Gavin had just turned eighteen and got his money and he went a little wild. Tate found him and started mentoring him in business and finance. Told him if he kept spending the way he was he’d be broke in no time. I should have gotten my money at eighteen as well, but my mother kept all the letters from the estate lawyer and hid them in a drawer. Apparently, Tate had been trying to get in touch with me, too. Took him coming to my apartment and knocking on my door while I was in uni to actually find me. Mum had managed to hide me pretty good. Not sure how you accomplished that, Mum. But we’ll discuss that later. Anyway, Tate introduced himself, told me about the money, and then he helped me find the letters.”
“W-where was I?” Gail asked.
“Away on a cruise with Rita and Pru.”
Gail’s face fell, and she looked down into her lap. “Oh.”
“Anyway, Tate took me under his wing, started advising me on money, investments, real estate and all that. He and Gavin work together. Tate runs an elite resort for billionaires on one of the islands just off Tahiti, as well as several other resorts, and he’s a billionaire. Gavin has shares in some of Tate’s resorts and runs a bunch of nonprofits and charity organizations all over the world. We all co-own an airline and some hotels, too. The Windward where I’m staying downtown is one of ours. Gavin’s a billionaire, too. They figure if I keep investing the way I am, and Gavin’s and my new projects on Huahine and Bora Bora go well, I should be a billionaire in five years, if not sooner.”
“Holy shit,” Johnathan muttered.
“And your sister?” Silver prodded.
Warren exhaled. “Yeah. We can’t find her. Looks like dear old Dad was fooling around on either you or my sister’s mother, Mum, because she and I are less than a year apart. From the looks of things, she might be in trouble and is on the run. We’re not sure if she’s been on the run since getting her inheritance or before. But we really want to find her and help her. We’re not sure how long Dad was in her life. She’s the last known McAllister kid, so maybe he raised her for a bit. Maybe she can fill in some gaps about Randall, seeing as none of us knew him.”
“Are you sure you want to find her if she’s trouble?” Johnathan asked.
Warren’s face grew fierce. “She’s family. Of course we’ll find her. I doubt she is trouble. She’s in trouble. We’ll find our sister.”
Gail held her head with both hands. Her eyes were saucer-size and her face pale. “This is … this is a lot to take in, dear.”
But the cat was out of the bag, the can of worms was open, and there was no turning back. He’d gone through all the emotions on his own when he’d found the letters. Anger, lots and lots of anger, betrayal, confusion, sadness. Why had she hidden those letters from him? What was her motive?
It finally took Tate sending him to a counselor at his resort for Warren to begin working through his anger. She convinced him to let it go. That everything happens the way it’s supposed to for a reason and his mother’s intentions were probably good and honorable, albeit misguided.
Like Warren, Tate was also incredibly close with his mother, so he understood the bond Warren had with Gail. He also understood the feeling of betrayal. But he, along with the counselor, helped Warren to let it all go. Tate was a zen guy. Not much seemed to get the man down. Sometimes his positivity and enthusiasm were annoying. Was it really possible to be that damn happy? Is that what marriage and a family did to you? Was it really that fulfilling?
Warren steeled himself. He’d never gotten truly mad at his mother before. For as long as he could remember, it was just the two of them. She’d tried so hard to give him a good life. Worked long shifts as a nurse, was both Mum and Dad. It was them against the world. So he hadn’t really been sure how to broach the subject with her. He was afraid of upsetting her, afraid of getting upset with her and seeing her reaction. But it needed to be done. He needed answers.
“Why, Mum?” he finally asked. “I need to know why you hid those letters. Why you made it nearly impossible for my dad, for Tate, for anyone to find me. Hell, is my name even Warren?”
Gail and Johnathan had been busy murmuring with their heads together, but Gail’s head popped up, and she stared at Warren.
“Why?” he asked again.
His mother’s lip trembled, and her hand shook until Johnathan took it in his. “You don’t remember your dad,” she finally started.
“Of course not. He left when I was six months old.”
She shook her head, her eyes welling up with tears. “No, he left when you were three.”
All the air left Warren’s lungs, and he suddenly found himself falling. His butt hit the cushion of the loveseat. “What?”
Gail simply nodded. “Went out for diapers and never came back. You were devastated. You’d been so in love with your daddy that when he didn’t come home, you shut down. You stopped eating, stopped sleeping. You would just sit by the window all day long and cry for him. It broke my heart. Which is why when you eventually forgot about him, I changed the story. And when letters started popping up with the name ‘McAllister’ in the return address or a lawyer representing Randall McAllister, I hid them. I was terrified of what it might do to you. To us. To our family. I didn’t know he was dead. I thought he was coming back because he wanted something. Wanted money, wanted back in your life. I was afraid of losing you. I was afraid of watching you go through that level of pain again. But I also couldn’t bring myself to read them or shred them, so I just … hid them.” At this point, tears were streaming down his mother’s cheeks, and she was struggling to get the final words out. “I’m so sorry, honey,” she wailed, collapsing against Johnathan’s chest. Muffled sobs drifted out from against his shirt.
Johnathan simply shushed and held her. It warmed Warren’s heart, how deeply Johnathan cared for his mother. He knew that no matter what, Johnathan would always be able to see the good in Gail. He loved her. And Warren’s mother needed love.
A hand landed on Warren’s arm. He glanced over to Silver. She smiled at him. Ava was asleep in her arms. “May as well get it all out of the way,” she said. “Might make things easier.”
Warren took a deep breath through his nose and nodded. “I forgive you, Mum. I kind of figured it was something like that, after the initial shock and anger wore off and I was able to think rationally about it. I appreciate you trying to protect me, protect us. But nothing could ever break what we have.”
Gail blinked up at him from where she’d been clinging to Johnathan like a limpet. “I’m so sorry I kept you from your brothers, honey. I had no idea.”
He nodded. “I know you didn’t. It’s okay. We’re getting to know one another now, and that’s what matters.”
Silver made a noise in her throat.
“Speaking of siblings … ” Warren said.
“Gross,” Silver muttered next to him.
He shot her a side-eye and smiled. “Last year when I came out to visit you, I met someone at a hotel bar. She was, is beautiful. A jilted bride with a broken heart. Sounds like the perfect trope for one of your romance novels, no?”
Johnathan sat up straight, his bushy brows dipping into a V as his mouth drew down into a frown. He knew exactly who Warren spoke of.
“Anyway. One thing led to another, and this lovely young bride and I spent a few days together. She needed to forget her ex, and I had some time to kill before my flight.” Silver snorted next to him. Warren smiled. “You were off with your friends on one of your knitting and wine retreats.”
Gail’s gaze zeroed in on Silver, her blue eyes going wide.
“It’s come to my attention that our little tryst may have possibly resulted in a child.”
Gail’s mouth dropped open, followed quickly by Johnathan’s.
At this point, Warren could practically hear Silver’s heart pounding next to him. She’d professed last night during their quickie upstairs how nervous she’d been to tell her father about the baby. Worried about disappointing him. Warren glanced at her. She seemed calm on the outside. Was she as calm on the inside, too? He reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. Both Gail and Johnathan’s eyes fell to their knotted hands.
Warren held out the envelope. “These here are the DNA results.”
“Are you trying to tell me that Ava might be my actual grandchild?” Gail squeaked, new tears and this time, tears of joy, springing up as a bright and beautiful smile erupted onto her face.
Warren nodded. “Maybe. We have to open it to find out.”
Johnathan cleared his throat.
“Daddy,” Silver said quietly.
“Hmm?” He grunted.
“Are you mad at me?”
In less than a second, Johnathan was up off his feet and next to his daughter. She stood to meet him. “Sweetheart,” he cooed, his eyes falling to Ava. “Never. Anything that resulted in this precious gift was meant to be. And if the only other option is that piece of shit Trent, then we will rejoice as a family of five that Warren here is the father of this beautiful child.”
Now Silver was crying. “It’s either Trent or Warren. God, I hope it’s Warren.”
Johnathan wrapped an arm around his daughter. “Well then, let’s open up that bad boy and find out if this is a celebration or not.”
Swallowing, Warren slid his finger along the seam of the envelope, ripping the paper along the top. Gail stood up from her seat, and then the four of them, plus a snoozing Ava, stood in a tight circle, heads down, and watched as Warren finished tearing open the envelope.
Johnathan pulled Silver tight against him. “No matter what, we’re all here for you, baby girl. You and Ava, you’re our world.”
Silver sniffed. “Thanks, Dad.”
Warren’s guts were tight. He couldn’t remember a time he’d been so nervous, or a time he’d wanted something so badly. He had to be Ava’s father. He just had to be. She had his eyes, his nose. His heart.
With trembling fingers and fear clawing up his throat and down his spine, fear that she wasn’t his, he unfolded the paper.
“What’s it say?” Gail asked, the quaver to her voice matching the rattle in his chest.
Warren scanned the paper until he saw the words that would change his life forever.
Warren McAllister —Probability of Paternity 99.999999999%
His mother choked on a sob next to him, her hand flying to her mouth. Silver gasped and muttered “thank God,” and Johnathan, Johnathan reached forward, took the paper from his hands and brought him in for a side hug. “Welcome to the family, son. I couldn’t imagine a better father for our little Ava.”
