Ana
"Father. I think it's time for us to have a chat."
Silence.
We all stand in complete silence while Jack is staring at Christian like he wants to murder him. Christian is staring at Carrick impassively. Carrick is opening and closing his mouth several times, but no words leave his lips. He doesn't know what to say. Nobody does. We all just stand there and stare at both of them in incredulity.
What are they going to do?
Grace finally takes her hand away from her mouth and swallows hard before she looks around the crowd. Some are looking at her uncomfortably while some do not take their eyes away from the two men who are still glaring at each other.
Grace suddenly straightens up and marches to the front of the tent. Her high-heels are the only thing that you can hear, other than the crickets and the gentle waves of the lake. Addison and Priscilla's eyes follow her all the way to the stage where Grace walks up the stairs and firmly taps the microphone trying to get everyone's attention.
Grayson sees Grace on stage and walks over in that direction. Grace's voice suddenly comes over the loud speakers. "Everyone, can I have your attention, please!" Everyone looks over at the stage except for Jack, Christian, and Carrick. I take his hand in mine and give it a squeeze to let him know I am here. He doesn't take his eyes off Carrick but gently squeezes my hand back.
"The benefit will be postponed until further notice. As you can see, we have a family emergency. Would everyone please exit the tent. We will have the date of the benefit rescheduled and mailed out to you all. Thank you," Grace says firmly as she walks off the stage and over to the exit.
The crowd slowly walks over in her direction. Most of them giving Grace a goodbye and a handshake. She doesn't smile but shakes their hand and nods at them. Some stare at her with sympathy as they pass her.
Carrick finally takes his eyes off of Christian and me and gestures to the exit. "Yes, we need to talk," Carrick clears his throat.
"There is nothing to talk about, father. This fucker is not your son! I am!" Jake yells again and points to his chest.
Carrick sighs and runs his hand through his hair. "Jack, you need to calm down. You ruined tonight when it was supposed to help raise money for people who need it. You made your point, now I think it's time to go home and let me talk with them," he points to us.
"I am not going anywhere. What on earth do you need to speak to him about? You don't actually believe that prick do you?" Jack glares at Christian who glares right back at him.
"Of course he believes me, you dick," Christian sneers. Jack storms over to him, and Christian moves me in the back of him while Carrick throws himself in front of Christian.
"That is enough! You need to go home, son. This is between Christian and me. You have done enough, now leave," Carrick demands while pointing to the exit.
Jack glares at Carrick and then glares at Christian who is still behind Carrick. Christian smirks causing Jack to growl at him and then he says, "This is not over." He storms out of the tent and walks past Grace as she shakes her head with disapproval at his retreating back.
"Bring it on, Jackie boy," Christian gets the last work in. I shake my head at Christian. Jack stops walking and stands there with his back to us for a minute, then continues to storm out of the tent.
"Christian, was that really necessary?" I pull on his arm to try to get him to look at me.
Christian finally looks over at me and narrows his eyes. "Yes, it was necessary, Anastasia. I am tired of that prick having the last word. This time, I had the last word," he growls.
"Christian," I shake my head at him in disapproval. "When did you find out?" I ask him curiously. I thought he had his suspicions, but I never thought that he knew for sure.
He stares at me while Carrick and Grace talk quietly by the exit. I never noticed him leave.
Grayson and Priscilla are standing next to them also talking quietly to each other. Elliot is standing by the stage. He has his arms around Addison, and she is laying her head on his shoulder. She is staring up at the chandelier. I can't make out her expression, but you can tell that she is curious about what is going on. This is a pretty big bomb that was dropped on her.
"When did you?" he counters back. I squirm uncomfortably under his penetrating gaze. I don't say anything because I don't know how he is feeling. Is he mad at me? Of, course he is. You didn't tell him that you knew!
"I…I had my suspicions," I whisper and look away.
He doesn't say anything for a while, so I take a chance and peek up at him, and he is still staring at me. His face doesn't show how he is feeling. He's staring at me impassively. Oh no. I knew that he was going to hate me for not telling him. Nice going, Ana.
Finally, he nods his head and walks towards me. He cups my face, and my eyes find his. "Did you think I would be angry with you?" he rubs my cheek with this thumb. Is he not mad?
I look into his gray eyes and bite my lip in trepidation. "Yes. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. It's just that every time I wanted to say something, you changed the subject and-," I start to explain but I am interrupted by Carrick. We both turn our heads to the exit of the tent where they all are staring at us expectantly.
"Are you ready to have that talk?" he says hesitantly.
Christian looks back to me and kisses my head. "Yes. I think it is overdue," he nods and takes my hand and leads me forward. We pass everyone who is staring at us with dread. This is bad.
Christian ignores their identical stares and walks up the red carpet that leads to the back of the house.
He walks through the back door, and I look over my shoulder, and they are all following us. All the cars of the guests are gone, and the clean-up crews are heading to the tent to pack up the chairs and tables. This was a waste. How the hell did Jack find out about Christian?
I keep asking myself this question as Christian leads me to the living room sofa. We walk down the few steps to the round couch in the middle of the living room. Christian pulls me to his side, and we wait for the others to join us.
After a few seconds, they make their way to the couch, and we all sit-down and sit there once again in silence. You could literally cut the tension with a knife.
Christian sighs in annoyance and runs his hand through his hair. I can tell he has had enough of the silence. "Let's get this started, shall we?" he pointedly asks Carrick who nods at him. He leans forward and rubs his hands together and puts his head down. His bow-tie is undone and is hanging from his neck. Grace rubs his back and gives me a small smile.
"How did he know? Christian asks.
"I don't know. Jack must have had a background check done on you, and figured it out. He owns his own business, and he has background checks done on everyone he meets," Carrick sighs.
"When did you find out about me?" Christian asks next after he clenches his jaw on the last question.
Before Carrick can say anything, Addison speaks up. "Wait up. I want to know something first. Is it true daddy? Is Christian really your biological son?" She stands up and places her hands on her hips.
"Addison," Grace stands up and tries to get her to sit down, but Addison shakes her head.
"No mom, I want to know. I want to know if you have been lying to us about him," Addison nearly screams at Carrick.
Carrick stands up and runs his hands down his suit pants, "I didn't lie about him, honey. I found out about Christian, and I didn't know how to tell him or you kids," he murmurs and runs his hand through his hair and looks around the room.
"How long have you known?" Addison stares at him in astonishment.
Christian sits up straight and stares at Carrick intently. I can tell this is the question he really wants to know.
Carrick stares at Addison for a minute before he nearly whispers, "A little over two months ago."
Addison closes her eyes, and I see a tear roll down her cheek. I shake my head and clutch the side of my head. I can't believe he knew this long and didn't say anything.
"Why? Why didn't you say something sooner? Why didn't you tell us?" she points to herself. "Your kids have the right to know that they have another brother!" she nearly yells at him, and he flinches.
"Addison," he tries to explain, but she is not having it. She shakes her head back and forth frantically while more tears run down her face.
"I can't believe you. I can't believe you didn't say anything. I can't believe this shit," she says in disbelief as she picks up the tail of her dress and walks away from him. Elliot stands up and takes her into his arms. "Take me away from here. I need to get out of here," she lets Elliot go and wipes her eyes.
"Sweetheart, wait," Carrick walks forward but stops when Addison raises her hand and shakes her head.
"No, dad. I don't want to hear your excuses. I can't even look at you right now," she turns her back to him and then she turns to Christian and me. "I'm sorry, Christian," her voice cracks as she stares at Christian.
He looks at her and gives her a small smile. "It's not your fault. You didn't know."
She nods her head in disbelief and wipes her eyes once more. Grayson and Priscilla are sitting on the couch hand in hand. They are staring at Addison in sympathy.
Addison gives us a watery smile before she again picks up her dress and turns around. She looks at Grayson suspiciously. He stares at her with round eyes. Her shoulders slump, and she looks down at the ground before looking back up to her brother. "Did you know?" she demands.
Grayson closes his eyes, looks down and stays quiet. Priscilla frowns at him and lets his hand go. Addison takes his silence as a confirmation that he did know. Christian stands up, and his mouth drops open. I put my head in my hands and sigh. They all knew. What the hell?
"Oh, my God. I can't believe this. Elliot get me out of here," she hisses and walks up the small stairs and stomps out of the room. Elliot follows her while Grace tries to call out for her to stop, but she ignores her, and a minute later we hear the front door slam shut causing us to jump.
Priscilla throws her hands up and stands up from the couch. "I think that I need to leave as well. This is a family matter. Grayson, I will call you, later," she says and Grayson whips his head to her and then frowns at her cold tone.
Priscilla walks over to me and gives me a hug while she whispers in my ear that she will call me later. She squeezes Christian's shoulder as she walks away and Grayson stands up in surprise. She shakes her head at him while he tries to pull her back.
Grayson sighs and lets her walk around him. She leaves soon after, shutting the door more quietly.
Christian chuckles in incredulity at the turn of events. "Two months. So, that means you knew I was your son when I had my accident? Didn't you?" he snaps.
"Yes," Carrick says in shame while he sits down and puts his head in his hands.
"I can't believe this shit! Now, I know why you were acting that way towards me," he points to Grace. "How could you both keep your mouth shut? For two fucking months!" Christian snaps loudly and I jump.
Grayson puts his hands on his hips and stares at the ground. Nobody says anything, and I rub my bump and take a deep breath.
Carrick stands up and takes off his jacket and throws it on the couch and swallow hard as he looks at a still fuming Christian. Carrick finally starts explaining.
"I found out the night you were hurt. When I saw you the first time at the party," he stops and swallows hard. He starts talking again after a few seconds of silence.
"I didn't know about you. I didn't know I had fathered a child all those years ago. I met your mother on leave when I was still in the Marines. After I had met your mother, I went on deployment and then served my time. I never heard from your mom after our night together. We didn't give each other our last names or phone numbers, so I never knew she had gotten pregnant."
"If I had known about you…," he stops and closes his eyes. Christian stares at him with a blank expression. I look between them afraid at what he is going to say next. Grayson is still looking at the ground, and Grace is sitting on the couch with tears in her eyes.
Carrick opens his eyes and continues. "When I first saw you at the party, I knew you were somehow related to me. My brother Craig has two children, but he would have told me that he had another child. My sister is unable to have children of her own, and at that moment, I knew that you were my son. After your accident, I had a private detective dig up some information, and a day later, I received a picture of you and your mother. I also have your foster information, your birth certificate, the police report of when your mom overdosed, and your stay at the hospital when you were four as well as Ana's."
My mouth is hanging open by the time he finishes. I cannot believe he knew all this time and didn't say anything. He had all of Christian's information and never said anything to him. Where the hell do we go from here? What do we do with this information?
Carrick continues when Christian doesn't say anything. "I know that I should have said something when I found out, but I was scared. I didn't know how you were going to react. You are all grown up, and I know that I can't take back it back, but I am trying. I was trying to make up the time I lost. I missed seeing you grow up. I hated to see you living in that shelter. I hated seeing you with nothing. I wanted to provide for you. I wanted to do the things that I should have done when you were born." Carrick wipes his eyes and places his hand over his eyes.
Christian suddenly snorts. "So what you treated us like a charity case? You make your other son give me a job. For what? Because you felt sorry for me?" he shakes his head in disbelief.
I rub my bump and bite my lip when it starts to tremble. I hate what those men said about us too. Did Carrick tell everybody at the party? Is that why those people were talking about us behind our backs?
Carrick takes his hand away from his face and shakes his head, "I never treated you like a charity case. That is not what I was trying to do. I wanted to give you those things because you are my son. The woman you love is carrying your child. My grandson. You didn't deserve to be living that way. I didn't want that for you; I didn't want that for your baby."
Tears run down my face, and I put my head in my hands. Grace comes over and sits next to me and takes me into her arms. I know I shouldn't let her comfort me, because truthfully, I am hurt that they lied to us. I am hurt that they knew all this time and didn't say anything. Right now, though, I let her comfort me.
I let Grace go, and she rubs my back, and I look up at Christian through blurry eyes.
Christian glares at him. "That is all good and dandy, but that doesn't give you the right to lie to me. I can get past the fact that you honestly didn't know you had a son. I can get over the fact that you had your suspicions about me, but I will NOT get over the fact that you lied to me about it for two months!" he hisses. "You sat there and knew that I was your son, and you continued with the lies. You were scared my ass! How do you think we felt? We were the ones who didn't have anything! We were the ones who were living on the streets, hungry, cold and never knew how we were going to survive! Don't give me 'I was scared' bullshit! You are a coward!" he yells.
I start to shake, and Grace rubs my arm as tears run down her face.
"I'm sorry, Christian. I should have told you the minute I found out. I know I messed up, but please, all we wanted what was best for you," Carrick begs.
Christian laughs and then shakes his head. "No, you didn't. You didn't want the best for me. If you wanted the best for me, then you should have told me the truth that night. Not two months later," he hisses and then looks up at Grayson then over his shoulder at Grace.
"I want to know when you two found out," he gestures to Grace and Grayson. "I want to know why you two went along with this," He chuckles in disbelief. He turns his back on a broken Carrick and turns towards Grace. "That scene you made in the hospital. What the hell were you trying to pull? Feeling sorry for me that your husband has a bastard child?" his voice turns colder the more he talks. I gasp, and my eyes widen at his choice of words. Grace's reaction is the same way.
"What?" Grace says in surprise. "Christian, no-," she gets up off the couch and walks towards him, but he backs away and then cuts her off by shouting.
"Stop pretending! Stop pretending that you care about me. It was all just pity. Pity that your husband's bastard got himself shot!"
Grace weeps into her hands and shakes her head back and forth frantically. "I don't pity you, Christian. Please, don't say things like that," she whimpers.
I look at him in surprise. I never heard him talk like this before. I know that he doesn't mean the things he is saying. He is just hurt.
Carrick is staring at Christian wide-eyed when Grayson storms over to Christian and gets into his face. "That is enough. I think you made your point. Your pissed off, I get that, but you need to stop yelling and calm the hell down," he demands.
Christian glares at him and then goes off again. "Was getting me a job part of your plan? Huh? You feel pity for me too. Did daddy dearest make you give me that job?" he growls.
Grayson glares back at him. "Nobody pity's you, goddammit! No one forced me do anything. I found out that you are my brother and just like him, I didn't want you to live that way," he says frustrated.
Christian rolls his eyes and stares at him for a minute before he turns around and faces me. "Let's go," he demands.
My eyes go wide, and I look at Carrick. "Christian-," he cuts me off.
"I said let's go. We're done here," he nearly shouts, and I jump again. He turns towards Carrick who still looks defeated. "I don't care what your excuses are. I am done, and I don't want to see any of you again. I hope I still have a job because I have to take care of my family, other than that, I don't want to have anything to do with any of you. Anastasia, let's go!" he shouts and stomps towards the front door.
I look around the room, and Grayson is shaking his head in disbelief. Carrick is trying not to cry, and Grace has her head in her hands.
I put my head down and then slowly get off the couch and carefully walk forward. Before I pass a confounded Carrick, I turn to him. I have something I want to ask him. I have always been curious, and I want to know if he knows. He looks up at me with tears in his eyes and if I'm not mistaken, a little bit of hope.
"Did you know my father?" I whisper. I know that Carrick knows who my biological father because Carla told me that she and Ella met our father's that night. I need to know if he knows where he is.
Carrick breath hitches and he suddenly looks more distressed. Oh no. His eyes glisten, and he shakes his head. His next words shock me. "Yes. I did know your father. He was in the same unit as I was. He…he didn't make it. He died overseas."
My lip quivers and I nod my head. A tear escapes from my eye, and I wipe it away. I have no one. No family.
"What was his name?" I murmur and stare at him.
"Frank Lambert," he whispers.
"Frank," I whisper in awe and then give him a small smile. I take a deep breath and nod at him.
"Thank you. I'm sorry," my eyes glisten again when Carrick nods and his shoulder slump forward.
I look over at Christian, and he is waiting for me by the door. I pick up the tail of my dress, and walk forward and take Christian's outstretched hand. We walk through the door and before I close it, I look back at them for the last time.
They are staring at us in utter devastation. I give them another sad smile and then close the door softly behind me.
Christian pulls me forward as I try to keep up with his long strides. I shiver at the cold air. "Christian, where are we going? It's cold out here. We don't even have any jackets," my teeth chatter as we walk forward.
Christian stops and looks over at me in concern. "Fuck. We need to get out of here. We need to get to the bus stop, so we can get back to the apartment," he runs his hand through his hair and looks around the front yard. He takes off his tux jacket and puts it over my shoulders. I put my hands through the sleeves and wrap it around me.
"I know that, but it's freezing, Christian. We need to go back and get our stuff," I try to pull him back but he halts.
"I'm not going back in there. I am done with them, Anastasia," he growls, and I groan at the situation. I don't want to walk in the cold.
Then, suddenly remember I have my cell phone in my clutch. I take it out with shaking hands since my hands are cold, I unsuccessfully hit the buttons so I can bring up my contacts.
After a few tries, I finally get to Priscilla's number and press it. She lives a few miles from here, so I hope she can take us home, so we don't have to walk in the cold to the bus stop that is a few miles from here. She answers on the third ring.
"Ana? Are you okay?" her voice is full of worry.
"I'm fine. We need a ride home, can you come pick us up?" I shiver, and my teeth chatter once more. Christian pulls me to him and rubs both of my arms to try to warm me up. I have his jacket, and he must be the one freezing his behind off.
"Of course, give me ten minutes, and I will be right over," she says and then hangs up. I put my phone back into my clutch and nuzzle into Christian's chest. He kisses my head and sighs heavily.
"I'm sorry. I just need to get out of here," he says sullenly.
"I know," I whisper. I know he doesn't want to talk about it, so I decide not to say anything about what happened. Emotions ran high, and he said things he didn't mean. He needs time, and distance away from them to get his head around everything.
All I can do is be there for him.
Exactly ten minutes later, we see Priscilla's red Mercedes convertible pull up next to us by the edge of the lawn. Christian leads me to the car and opens the back door. I get inside the warm car and sigh in relief. It's toasty in here.
"Are you guys okay?" Priscilla turns towards us in concern.
She is wearing gray sweatpants, black converse, and a big black jacket with a white furry hood, and her hair is pulled up into a messy bun. She's even beautiful without makeup.
Christian closes the door and rubs his hands together and blows on them. I take his hands into mine and rub them together. He smiles a little at the gesture. "We're okay. Thanks for coming. We appreciate it," I smile gratefully.
"Of course, I would come. Let's get you guys home," she smiles and puts the car in drive.
Christian puts on my seat belt and then puts his on. I cuddle into his side, and he kisses my head. I stare out of the window while Priscilla drives towards our apartment building. Christian places his hand on my bump, and I put my hand on his as we drive into the night.
AN: Thank you for all the reviews/followers/PM's. I appreciate the support.
Be sure to check out my new story: Doubled Devotion. The next chapter for that will be up either tomorrow or Monday.
Till next time.