A Secret Past
April 18, 1990.
The phone rang as Matt Wheeler grabbed his lightweight jacket off the coat tree, all prepared to leave his office after a day which had consisted of a power lunch, cocktails at one and an intense afternoon board meeting, of course, his whole week had consisted of things of this nature. He was anxious to get out the door, have a relaxing evening at his city apartment and early in the morning, after a breakfast with a group of investors, he would return to Sleepyside, to the green grass, the spring flowers in bloom and his beautiful wife and 2 lovely children. And he couldn't wait.
Matt considered not answering the phone, because after all, what if it was a disgruntled investor, or someone wanting to arrange a meeting. He chuckled to himself, remembering a time in the not too distant past, when his business was everything to him and he thrived on the competitiveness of the corporate environment. But that had all changed two years ago when he moved to the small town of Sleepyside. "Matt Wheeler speaking" he said, as soon as he had picked up the phone. "Matt, George Rainsford here. How are you doing?" "Well, I'm doing great, George." Matt replied. He assumed that the elderly lawyer had called him to invite he and Madeleine to his retirement party. Matt had not seen him in awhile, but in the social circle Matt traveled in when he was in the city, he had heard talk that Mr. Rainsford was finally going to retire and he and the misses were buying a condo in Florida. "I haven't seen you since young Frayne's adoption was final, did things work out okay taking in the young man? I knew your wife was a little hesitant about it." "Things have worked out very well." Matthew replied, smiling to himself, thinking about the fact that. he and Maddie couldn't love Jim more if he were their own. "Jim is a really good kid." "I thought so myself." Mr. Rainsford replied. "If you remember, I wanted to adopt him, but he was better off with you and Madeleine, me and Doris are getting up in years and I think it was best that Jim was adopted by you." "So George," Matthew said, sitting back down in his expensive leather office chair and leaning back, "were you calling to invite us to the big retirement bash, I hear you'll be having soon?" "Actually, we haven't even planned that yet, Matt. We aren't leaving for Florida till the end of Summer and that's four months away. Right now, I'm in the process of cleaning out my office and my secretary found something that Jim might be interested in. Back when old Mr. Frayne was still in his right mind, he had given me a box, one of those old gray metal boxes, people used to get back in the seventies to store valuables and important papers in. He said it was to be given to Jim when after he died, well, I'm sorry Matt, but I and my secretary both are getting older and I guess we forgot it. We happened to come across it while cleaning out the file room. I should've given it to Jim long ago. " "George, that's quite alright." Matt assured him, glancing at his watch. "Maybe it'll contain some pictures and memorabilia, of the family, Jim would love to have those. I'm getting ready to leave the office, I'll stop by your office and pick it up in a few minutes. After that, the two long time friends exchanged a few more pleasantries, said their good byes and Matt left the office.
After retrieving the box from Mr. Rainsford, Matt entered his apartment, hung his jacket on the coat tree beside the entrance way and prepared for a quiet relaxing evening. He had been good all week, while in the city. Maddie would have been proud. He had dined only on fish, chicken and salads. He had eaten whole grain cereal, skim milk and fruit every morning for breakfast and had worked out in the gym that was on the basement floor of his apartment building every evening. But this particular evening, he was going to celebrate that tomorrow he would go home to his family. Maddie used to travel with him and she still enjoyed traveling, but she had started to carve out a little niche for herself in Sleepyside. She had recently joined the ladies benevolent society and she really enjoyed spending time with Honey and Jim. She had even started to like the big old manor house. So, this time when he had to come to the city to conduct business, since he was the founder and CEO of Wheeler Corporation International, she had opted to stay home. He had mixed emotions about that, but retirement was starting to look good to him too. He loved their home and he enjoyed his children and their friends and he liked the new friends he and Madeleine had made, the Lynch's and the Belden's. He felt good that Madeleine and Honey were finally developing a relationship and for the first time in her life, Honey was happy. That meant more to him than anyone could possibly know. And Matt enjoyed having a son, even though he was adopted. Jim had come to live in his home, but he had found his way into Matt and Madeleine's hearts.
Matt sat the metal box on the table and called and ordered a pizza with every thing on it, except anchovies and along with that, he ordered a large, refreshing pepsi.. Not diet, the sugary kind. He planned to zone out, and watch a good movie tonight and relax and in the morning, he would meet with the investors and then would high tail it home to Sleepyside. He took a quick shower and donned a pair of comfortable pajama bottoms and as he was walking into the living room, the pizza delivery boy rang the doorbell. After giving him the money, Matt placed a slice of pizza on a plate, on the coffee table in the living room and after making himself comfortable on the sofa, he picked up the box and turned the key. The box was full of things such as, a bill for having repair work done on Mr. Frayne's old car, bank statements and things that Jim would probably throw away. There was a big picture of Wynn and Katie on their wedding day, looking radiantly happy. "Jim will certainly appreciate this." Matt thought, "Maybe I'll have it put in a frame for him on the way home tomorrow." Matt had to squelch some memories that threatened to rise to the surface of his consciousness, as he carefully laid the picture to the side. Then, after rummaging some more, he found Jim's original birth certificate. When he adopted Jim, Matt recalled that Mr. Rainsford had had to order one from the health department, since they weren't able to locate the original. "Poor George." Matthew thought. "He had this all along and didn't even know it." Matthew looked on the date of Jim's birth on the certificate. ""Wait a minute, this couldn't be right." He said to himself, puzzled. "Jim's birthday is in August. Why does this say June?" Matt hated disturbing George at home, but he felt like he had to check this out, since he was going home tomorrow and he knew that Jim would have questions. "Hello again George." Matt said, when Mr. Rainsford answered. "I'm sorry to bother you at home, but I have a question about a birth certificate of Jim's I found when I was going through this box." "It's quite alright Matt, I'm not just an attorney that's handled some of your legal affairs, I'm also a friend, you're always welcome to call me at home." "Thank you George. This birth certificate of Jim's, it looks like the original from the hospital where he was born and it has Jim's birthday listed as June 6th, when you and I both know his birthday's in August. I have to find an explanation, because I know Jim will have questions when he sees this. There's obviously been a mistake somewhere." "Well actually Matthew, there's no mistake. There's a story behind this. You would do well to destroy that certificate. If I had known it was in there, I would've destroyed it. I hoped this would never come up. I know what I'm about to tell you will come as a shock, but Jim is not Wynn Frayne's biological son. Katie and Wynn never wanted him to know, neither did old Mr. and Mrs. Frayne. They loved Jim just the same as if he had been. I don't know what the story was with Katie and I never asked. She was pregnant when they got married, but she didn't want Jim to ever know. The only reason I know about it, is Old Mr. Frayne come to see me one day. He and Mrs. Frayne and Katie and Wynn and one other person as well as myself, are all that knew anything about this. I planned to take it to my grave with me, just as the others did. The one thing I wasn't privy to, was who Jim's father was. Katie had a friend who was a nurse at the hospital where Jim was born and she had her hold the birth certificate and a couple of months after Jim was born, she then placed the date on it and then registered it with the state. The one you have in your hands, was never filed. As you know Matthew, this was highly illegal. Mr. Frayne and Wynn came to see me one day, to find out what the legal repercussions might be if it were ever found out. I, of course, didn't report them, because of client confidentiality and I didn't see that anyone was being hurt by this. They did it to protect Jim. If they had came to see me first, I could have arranged for a marriage certificate date change and that would've been perfectly legal, but Katie and Wynn were young and acted rash, they didn't realize there were other options. So Katie got her friend to change it. No one got hurt Matthew and it was to protect Jim, I didn't see the harm in it, nor did I see a reason to tell anyone. I advised them to forget about it and like I said, we all agreed to carry this secret to our grave." "So Jim's birthday really was in June, instead of August?" Matthew asked, a little shocked at what George had told him. "I'm afraid so, Matt. Take my advice and destroy that birth certificate. Forget this, don't dredge this up, it's over and done with. Jim never needs to know. "
Matt didn't even remember what he said to George Rainsford after that. He may not have even told him goodbye. The repercussions of what he had just been told were started to hit home with full force. He remembered an old country saying he had heard many years ago, about the chickens finally coming home to roost. Jim Frayne was Matt's biological son. He had never considered that, never even thought of it, even though he knew that he was Katie Frayne's first love and it only happened once between the two of them. The impact of this revelation was starting to rock his world, emotionally and mentally. He angrily tossed his pizza into the trash, his appetite completely gone.
Matt's emotions ran the gamut, all night, beginning with guilt. He thought of what Jim had gone through at the hands of Jonesy and if Matt had not walked out on Katie, that would never had happened, just thinking about it made him break down and cry. "But I would have been there for my son, if I had been given the option." He thought grieviously. The next phase was anger, first and foremost, toward himself. Then, toward the Frayne's, for keeping something from him that he had every right to know. He knew that he would've made different decisions if he had been given the choice. As far as having a son was concerned, Katie and Wynn played God and decided to never tell him. He spent a large portion of the night raging against two people who were long gone from this world. The last emotion to take hold of him, after the others had finished their course, was fear. Fear of what would happen if this were to get out. Matthew felt that he deserved whatever happened to him, but when Jim found out the truth, he would hate him forever and he would feel hurt and betrayed, by both Matthew and by Katie and Wynn, Jim had been through enough. And what would Madeleine and Honey think, if they knew the truth?
Matthew Wheeler had secrets. Jim belonging to him, was the third secret. One was what had happened between himself and Katie all those years ago. The second was what had led to him getting involved with Katie in the first place. A terrible situation he had ran from a long time ago. It was a secret that could destroy him and cost him everything he had. Matt would get rid of the birth certificate, Jim could never know the truth. But, the other secret, which in many ways was far worse, was something he knew he had to go back and face. Just as Wynn and Katie had played God with his and Jim's life, by not telling either of them, that he was Jim's father, Matt had played God in a different sense, but the gist was the same. A painful event happened before he ever met Katie. Matt's life would likely have gone totally different, had this one thing never happened. And when the truth came out, things would never be the same for him or those he loved. He just hoped when the emotional storm was over, there would be something left of his life, his marriage and his relationships to salvage.