Chapter Thirty Seven

Truth, Bitter Truth

When Lucas and Brooke arrived at their destination, they were surprised to see a lot of cars parked in front of the house. They knew something was up. There had never been so many guests at once except for a party. What could possibly be going on? Lucas had a feeling she would need him and he followed her to the front door. He squeezed Brooke's hand as they walked into the foyer.

Brooke frowned as she walked into the living room. Both Karen and Keith were there with her mother. So was Deb. Then she turned to her father. To her complete shock, she saw there was two of them. She had to do a double take. Sure enough, there was Richard and a man who looked exactly like him. She couldn't tell who was who. "What the hell is going on? Who is this?" Brooke demanded.

The man looked disapprovingly at his brother and sister in law before he turned to Brooke. "I'm Robert or Ted, Richard's identical twin brother," Ted told her. "You look so beautiful. You look just like your mother." Brooke was still suspicious. "I'm here to clear up a little matter in paternity."

Brooke's stomach flipped flopped. "Paternity? Whose paternity?"

Before Victoria could answer, Richard spoke up. "Well, it seems your mother cheated on me with my own brother and there's a strong possibility you are not my daughter."

Brooke gasped in surprise. She managed to find her voice. "What? What are you talking about?" She knew her father has had affairs with other women, but she never thought her mother would cheat on her father. She turned to her mother horrified. "Is this true?"

Victoria was about to defend herself when her daughter gave her a look. "Yes, I slept with Ted." Brooke gave her mother an exasperated look. "It was for one night and we both agreed it couldn't happen again. When I found out I was pregnant, I told Ted and he was willing to take a paternity test."

Richard scoffed at her. "Why don't you tell your daughter the truth? You were scared to find out that she was his daughter and you would have to admit that you cheated on me. And you didn't want to destroy either of our reputations. So you never got the paternity test done."

"That's not true," Ted protested. "I was the one who was a coward. If the results came out with me being Brooke's father, I didn't want to ruin your marriage. So I told Victoria I would back off and let you raise Brooke. Why do you think I kept my distance all these years? I was afraid I would stir up old feelings for her." Victoria looked at him with surprise. "And I didn't want to be close to Brooke and get attached to her. Of course, I guess it wouldn't have been so bad considering you haven't been exactly the best father to her or the baby."

Richard gave him a look. "I don't see how any of that is your business."

Brooke tried to wrap her head around the confessions, but she began to get overwhelmed. She stopped the conversation before it could go any further. "Let me get this straight: I have a long lost uncle who could be my father? And my sweet baby sister could be my baby cousin?"

Victoria tried to calm her daughter down. "Brooke, I know this comes as a shock, but we thought it was time for you to know the truth. But this doesn't change anything." Brooke was about to protest, but her mother knew what her worry was. "Richard still isn't going to get Mackenzie back."

Richard tried not to laugh. "What are you talking about? Of course I get Mackenzie back. Brooke may not be my daughter, but I do know Mackenzie is mine. I gave Brooke some space so she could realize she isn't capable of raising a child."

Brooke glared at him. "Capable of raising a child? I've been taking care of her for the last five months!" she exclaimed. "I'm not going to return her to you just so you can sell her off to the highest bidder!" Richard was about to protest when Brooke didn't let him respond. "You're not getting Mackenzie."

"Well, you have no choice," Richard said. "You either return her to me or I'm going to have to file for full custody. With your history of drinking underage, wild parties and a psycho stalker, I doubt the judge would be so lenient to give you custody."

"I'm sure the judge would be just as surprised with your history," Deb said, finally speaking up. She, Keith and Karen had been listening and watching quietly until the perfect opportune moment to unveil their surprise revelation.

Richard turned to her with a confused look on his face. "Remind who you are again and why you are here."

"Like Keith and Karen, I'm here to support Brooke," Deb replied. "My name is Deb Lee and I'm here to tell you that you are not getting that baby."

Richard looked at her. "What makes you so sure? Because you have a paternity test telling me I'm not Mackenzie's father? I hate to disappoint you, but I know Renée has never cheated on me. She was too fateful to me."

"I'm not talking about her paternity," Deb replied as she brought out a file folder. "I'm talking about your gambling addiction."

Brooke raised her eyebrows in surprise as Richard turned pale. "Gambling addiction?" she asked curiously. She had to hear this story.

Before Richard could defend himself, Deb explained what she had found. "After your father or uncle or whoever he is came and tried to pressure you to giving Mackenzie up for adoption, Keith and Keith wanted to know why he was so determined to give her up. So I hired a private investigator to follow him and it turns out he owns thousands of dollars to several different casinos. And he's doing everything possible to pay it off including paying a couple to take Mackenzie off his hands."

"Are you sure it wasn't my twin?" Richard asked. "Because I'm too busy to go into casinos and gamble my money away."

Ted glared at his brother. "Really? You are going to blame me for this? I'm not the one who's throwing away his marriage."

"Even if it is all true, I still have the right to give Mackenzie to another family," Richard said.

Karen shook her head. "No you don't because you signed away your parental rights when you gave her over to Brooke, remember? We were your witnesses." she asked as she showed him the document. "Isn't that your signature?" Richard didn't respond. "So you have no rights to Mackenzie anymore. You are going to have to find some other way to pay off your gambling debts."

Richard glared at the group. "This isn't over," he warned them before he stormed out of the house.

There was silence as they heard the front door slam. Brooke let out a relieved sigh as she let Lucas embrace her in a tight hug. She never expected a heated confrontation like that. Victoria turned to her daughter with a sympathetic look. She was about to speak when Brooke spoke first. "Give me a minute please."

Victoria nodded understandingly. It was a lot to take in. She had to take a breather herself. "I'm going to get some air," she said and excused herself. She left the living room and Ted was right behind her.

Brooke waited until he was gone before speaking again. "I can't believe no one has ever told me about my dad's twin brother," she said as she collapsed on the couch. "I'm not even sure I want to know who my real dad is." She wasn't fond of either candidate.

"Obviously, your dad and his brother doesn't have a close relationship like Nathan and I do," Lucas replied as he sat down next to her.

"Why now? Why did they decide to tell me now?" Brooke asked. "I have too much crap to deal with to deal with their drama."

"Because Ted returned to town and Victoria wanted to come clean before Richard aired out her dirty laundry," Karen replied. Brooke looked at her. "Victoria stopped by the café and she told me the whole story. She wanted my advice since she knew I had dealt with a similar situation." Brooke knew she was referring to the trouble with Cooper.

"It doesn't matter what I think because Ted will stick around anyway," Brooke replied. "I heard what he said. He still has feelings for my mother. And it looks like she might still have feelings for him." She groaned in frustration. "Why do my parents keep doing this to me?"

"Look on the bright side. You don't have to worry about Richard trying to take Mackenzie again," Lucas pointed out. He turned to his parents. "You couldn't have mentioned that earlier when he was insisting Mackenzie was his daughter?"

"We wanted to wait for the right moment," Keith told him. "Besides, we didn't realize it was going to escalate so quickly. I'm glad Deb stepped in to save the day."

"I'm just glad I was able to find some dirt about him," Deb said. "I just didn't expect it to be gambling."

Brooke shook her head in disbelief. "I can't believe he wanted to put my baby sister up for adoption just so he could pay off his gambling debt."

"I know this is frustrating, but this is a chance for you to get to know Ted," Karen said. "You don't have to find out the truth. Your mother and Ted is going to respect your choice, but Ted still wants to get to know you. I think you should give him a chance. He does seem nicer than his brother."

Brooke let out a heavy sigh as Victoria and Ted returned to the living room. She gave her daughter a sympathetic look again. "Brooke, I'm so sorry. I should have told you a long time ago, but I didn't want to admit I was just as bad as your so called father when it came to cheating."

Ted spoke up. "I think I'm the one who should be apologizing. I thought I was doing the right thing by not getting a paternity test done. I didn't want to ruin his marriage, but it looks like he has done that all by himself." From the tone of his voice, Brooke knew he was serious. He was truly sorry for his actions. "I wish I can turn back time and change it, but I know I can't. I'll understand if you don't want to know the truth. I don't blame you. Whether you are my daughter or my niece, I still would like to get to know you. And I would love to meet little Mackenzie."

"Where is Mackenzie?" Brooke asked as she realized she hadn't heard her crying yet.

"Mackenzie's safe and sound with Haley at the café," Karen replied. Brooke let out a relieved sigh. "We knew it was better off to leave her there than bring her to the meeting."

"You really care about her, don't you?" Ted asked. Brooke nodded. He gave her a smile. "I'm glad somebody does." Brooke returned the smile. "I should get going. It was nice meeting you all. Especially you Brooke." He turned to Victoria. "It was lovely to see you again. I do hope we see each other again soon. Please let me know if you need anything. That goes for Brooke too." Victoria saw him to the door before she returned to the living room.

There was an awkward silence before they heard the front door open. They jumped as they heard a familiar voice coming as she walked into the house. Rachel, who was carrying a lot of bags, was talking, completely oblivious to what was going on. "Brooke, you missed out on a big shoe sale again. You really should get out more instead of taking care of the baby all the time." Rachel stopped what she was saying as she realized how many people were in the living room. "Is everything okay? Oh my god! Did something happen to Julian?"

"No, Julian is fine," Deb assured her. "Guys, let's go and help her with her bags." Deb left the room. Keith and Lucas were right behind her. Rachel gave Brooke a curious look, but Brooke shook her head. She wasn't in the mood to explain it to her friend right then. She was still trying to process the information and she needed time to think about things especially whether she wanted to find out about who was her father.