The Happiest Day (22 page)

David looked
embarrassed.  “All right.”

“With you.”

“I…I don’t
understand.  You were already married to Dad?”

“No.  I was still
married to Norris.  I didn’t meet your father until three months later.”

David looked at
Theo then back to Rachel.  “I don’t understand,” he said again.

Theo leaned
forward on his elbows.  “Davey, I am your father in every way that matters.  I
have been there since the day you were born and I will always be your father.”
He sighed a bit.  “But I’m not your biological father.”

Rachel swiped at
the tears that spilled over.  “David, darling…”

David shook his
head at her, a bit frantically.  He wasn’t ready to hear her yet.  He stared
down at his plate for long, silent moments.  It was obvious his mind was moving
in several directions.  Finally, he raised his face to look at her.  Rachel
felt a piercing pain in her heart.  He already looked different.  He was no
longer a child.  She imagined she looked like that the night her parents were
murdered.

“So, who is my
father?”

“Do you remember
the man you met outside the newspaper building today?”

He frowned a
little then realization dawned.  “Oh, he said he was an old friend of yours.”

“He is.  When my
parents died, I came to live in his house.”

“If you liked him
so much, why didn’t you marry him instead of Mr. Thornton?”

She didn’t want to
answer him but knew she could no longer justify keeping secrets from him.  “He
was already married.”

“Oh.”

“David, what I
did, and what he did, was wrong.  We were both married, and we broke our
wedding vows by being together.  We were selfish and didn’t care about who it
might hurt.  We were wrong.  But, I can’t feel sorry for it, because I got you
out of it.  And if it weren’t for you…I would be nothing.”

David stared at
her, his face hard to read.  “Why are you crying?”

“Because I’m
afraid you won’t love me anymore,” she sobbed, dropping her face in her hands.

She didn’t hear
him approach and jumped when she felt his thin arms come around her.  “I still
love you, Mom.”

She turned into
his embrace and pulled him down on her lap, kissing his forehead lovingly. 
“Thank you, David.  I love you so much.”

Theo waited a few
moments and then cleared his throat.  “Your…father…wants to meet you.”

Rachel felt
David’s body tremble a bit.  “Why?”

“He wants to know
you.  How do you feel about that?”

“Kind of scared.”

“We’ll be right
here with you the whole time.  He’s coming tomorrow.”

“I’ve got school.”

“You can take the
morning off.”

David looked at
Rachel.  “That’s O.K.?”

“Just this once,”
she said quietly.  “David, I want you to know that Peter…your father, never
knew about you.  It wasn’t until he saw you today that he realized who you
were.  I was wrong to not tell him.”

“I thought he was
acting kind of strange,” David said with a slight grin.  “Where does he live?”

“New York.”

“What does he do?”

“He’s a judge.”

“Really?” David
said, his eyes lit in admiration.  “Does…does he have any other kids?”

“I’m not sure.  I
haven’t seen him for ten years.  But he didn’t have any children before you.”

David nodded his
head.  “I want to meet him.” He shot a glance at Theo.  “But you’re still my
dad.”

Theo smiled a
little.  “That’s right, son.”

Rachel didn’t
sleep all night.  Theo was obviously awake, as well, but lay as stiff as a
statue next to her in bed.  She could have used his comfort, but he did not
seem inclined to talk to her or touch her.  Finally, the sun began to peek over
the trees and she wearily got out of bed.  She heard Theo stand as well.

“I’m sorry if I
woke you.”

“I haven’t slept,”
his said, his voice gravelly.

“Me either.”

“I know.”

“You didn’t talk
to me all night.”

“I didn’t have
anything to say.”

She switched on
the light to face him.  He didn’t even look like her genial husband.  The
stubble on his face only accentuated the angry set of his jaw.

“I’m sorry, Theo.”

“That doesn’t make
a difference.”

“I know you’re
angry with me, but there’s nothing I can do to change the past.  Our only
choice is to move forward.”

“But by moving
forward, I lose my son.  Have you thought of that, Rachel?” His anger was
escalating.  “You’ll always be the only mother he knows, but he’ll meet his
father…his real father…today.  Did you see his face last night when you told
him that MacGregor lives in New York and is a judge?  How long will it be
before he wants to go stay with him?”

“I won’t let that
happen!” she denied.

“There’s nothing
we can do to stop it!” Theo yelled.  “I’m losing my son and there’s nothing I
can do to stop it!”

“Mommy?  Daddy?”

They turned
guiltily to see Steven standing in their doorway, rubbing his tired eyes.

“What’s wrong, Stevie?”
Theo asked, crossing the bedroom to pick up his son.  “It’s too early for you
to be up.”

“I had a bad
dream,” Steven cried in a soft, little voice.

“It’s all right,”
Theo said, touching his lips to his son’s forehead.  “What do you say we help
Mrs. Stafford start breakfast?”

“All right,” he
said, already appeased.

Theo looked back
at Rachel, his eyes flat and empty.  “I’ll be with my son…unless you have
something else to tell me.”

“Theo,” Rachel
breathed.  “That’s unfair.”

Theo left without
another word to her.

They got the
younger boys off to school and asked the nanny to take Lily to the park for the
morning.  David arose on his own and was freshly bathed and dressed nicely when
he came down the stairs.  He looked nervous but didn’t say much as he kept an
eye on the clock.

At exactly nine
o’clock, the doorbell rang and Rachel jumped in her skin.  Theo shoved his
hands in his pockets and turned to look out the window of the front parlor. 
David came closer to Rachel, his eyes watching the doorway.

“Judge Peter
MacGregor calling,” Smythe announced.

“Show him in,”
Rachel said, forcing her voice to steady.

Peter still filled
a room like no one she had ever known.  He wore a dark suit with a crisp white
shirt accentuating his tanned skin.  He still looked like he spent all of his
free time riding horses.  He was fit and trim despite the fact that he nearly
forty.  He stood in the doorway between the parlor and the front hallway, his
eyes scanning the participants of the room.  He looked at Theo first, then
quickly dismissed him silently.  His eyes fell on Rachel, slightly enquiring. 
She looked at him in despair but shook her head affirmatively.  Finally, he
looked at David.

“Hello, David.”

“Sir,” David
answered, standing nervously.

“No need to call
me sir,” Peter said kindly.

“I’m not sure what
to call you.”

“You can call me
Peter.”

“All right.”

“Go ahead and sit,
David.”  He looked at Rachel.  “May I?”

“Of course,” she
said, flustered.  “I’m sorry, please sit.”

Peter did so with
the fluid grace with which he did everything.  “Did your parents talk with you
last night, David?”

“Yes, sir, they
did.  They told me that you are my father.”

“I am,” Peter
confirmed.  “I just found out yesterday as well, so it’s pretty new to me
also.”

“Mom said that she
wishes she could go back and tell you a long time ago.”

Peter’s eyes
flickered to Rachel then back to David.  “Some things can not be undone but
we’ll just move forward from this point.”  He smiled a bit.  “I can’t tell you
how much this means to me.  I have always wanted a son…I can’t believe that I
have had one all along.”

“So, you don’t
have any other kids?”

“No.  What else do
you want to know about me?”

“Mom said you’re a
judge.”

“That’s right.  In
New York.”

“I like New York. 
We’ve gone there a few times.”

“I like it there,
but I like it here better, honestly.”

David took a deep
breath, then asked, “Are you married?”

“No.  My wife died
last year.”

Rachel’s head
snapped up and she looked at Peter in shock.  “Blanche…Blanche is dead?”

“Yes,” he said
briefly, returning his attention to his son.  “David, would you mind taking me
on a tour of the grounds?  It’s been ten years since I’ve been here and I’d
like to see the place again.”

Theo started,
saying, “I don’t see the need for you-”

Peter stood and
sent a quelling look at Theo.  “I’d like to see the grounds.  With my son.”

Theo and Peter
stared at each other for a long, tense moment.  Finally Theo shrugged his
shoulders angrily.  “Do what you want.”

David looked
uncertain.  “Dad…do you want me to stay?”

Theo was obviously
fighting for control.   “No, son,” he said with a certain deliberateness.  “Go
with Mr…I mean Judge MacGregor.”  He practically spat the words out.

“Mom?”  Anxiety
was starting to grow in David’s eyes.

“It’s fine,
darling.  Be sure you show Peter your horse.” She looked at Peter and
explained, “His grandfather was Comanche.”

The lines of
Peter’s face softened a bit and he lay a hand on David’s shoulder.  “I’ll tell
you about my horse and we can decide if your horse takes after his grandpa.”

“O.K.!” David
cried enthusiastically and the two left the room.

Silence fell in
the room but Rachel tensed, waiting for Theo’s explosion.

“Christ!” he
finally said angrily.  “You must have been laughing at me the whole time,” Theo
said bitterly.  “His horse…son of a bitch, Rachel!”

“Theo, I didn’t do
it on purpose!  Why are you assuming that I have been thinking about this every
day and…keeping this from you…God!” She covered her face with her hands. 
“Theo, I need you!  I need you so much right now.”  She cried into her hands,
waiting for the moment when her husband would touch her and let her know that
everything would be all right.

When she felt
nothing, she looked up and he was staring at her with undisguised anger and
hurt.  “I can’t be there for you, Rachel.  I’m sorry.” He shook his head.  “I
can’t even be here right now.  I’m going to go meet Lily and the nanny at the
park.”

She was alone. 
Theo had left her, David was with Peter.  She slipped off her shoes and curled
up on the sofa, laying her head on a cushion.  Exhausted and emotionally wrung,
she fell asleep.

She didn’t know
how much time had passed when she awoke to a light touch on her cheek.  She
opened her eyes to Peter.  For just a moment, she reveled in the past and what
he had once meant to her.  She closed her eyes against the rush of feelings and
the look in his eyes.  Swallowing hard, she got control of herself and opened
her eyes again.

“Where’s David?”

“He wanted to go
to school.  Smythe took him in.  Where’s Bressler?”

“He left for the
park.  Our little girl is there with the nanny.”  She realized that Peter was
sitting on the sofa, his hip pressing into her abdomen.

“Why do I get the
feeling that he doesn’t like me?”

“Would you if the
situation was reversed?”

“If the situation
was reversed, I would have never let him cross my threshold.” He touched her
cheek again.  “I lost what was mine just once, and I swore that I would never
let that happen again.”

Her mouth went dry
at his words.  He didn’t seem angry anymore.  He seemed…different…

“He’s wonderful,
Rachel,” Peter said, a small grin playing at his mouth.  “He’s everything I
could have imagined.”

“I’ve always had a
special connection to him,” she admitted.  “I mean, I love all my children,
but…”

“I know.  He’s a
reminder of a very special time.” He looked down at her silently, his eyes
darkening.  “God Rachel, how do you do this to me?”

He bent down and
captured her mouth with his, his hands coming up to frame her face.  Rachel
allowed herself two, maybe three minutes of unadulterated joy and she felt as
if she had finally come home again.  Her arms came around his neck, her fingers
sinking into his crisp, dark hair.  Their tongues met and mated in remembered
intimacy and his free hand unbuttoned her bodice and slipped inside; his hot,
restless fingers seeking her breast.

She fought against
the heat growing in her body and the moisture gathering between her legs.  With
difficulty, she tore her mouth from his.  He didn’t pull her back, but did sink
his face into her neck, breathing heavily.

“I can’t, Peter,”
she whispered.  “I can’t be that person again.”

“I know…I
know…just give me a minute, O.K.?”

They lay together
breathing each other’s essence, hands moving gently over each other’s bodies.

“I still love
you,” he said, his voice breaking a little.

“I love you, too.”

“Leave him.  Leave
him and come to New York, you and David.  We can be a family finally.”

“Peter, I could
never do that.  I have more children.  I have a marriage I am committed to.  I
have the newspaper.  Surely, you know that I could never come with you.”

“I know.  But I
had to ask.”  He sighed and lifted himself up on his elbow.  “I have some
thinking to do.”

She reached up and
stroked her fingers across his jaw.  “About what?”

“About changing my
life.” He turned his mouth into her palm and kissed it.  “I have missed the
first ten years of my son’s life.  I intend on being around for the next ten
years, at least.”

“Are you going to
fight me for him?” Her lips trembled.  “Peter, don’t take him from me, please.”

“I need to be with
him,” Peter said with quiet force.  “I need to be his father.  I could move
back here.”