Chapter 21 #3
She glanced over at his dad, who was standing speaking to the mayor, and he saw from her expression the information she was about to share had to do with his father as well.
Now he was really intrigued. Following her lead, they moved past the bar and into an outcove away from prying eyes and eavesdropping ears.
She lowered on a tufted leather bench, and he down sat beside her.
For several beats, she stared at the floor in front of her, hands resting on her thighs. She took two breaths, as if she was gathering courage. When she turned towards him, the look in her eyes was one he’d never seen before. “How much do you want to know?”
“What do you mean?” He wasn’t sure he understood the question.
“I mean, people think they want answers to things, but sometimes it’s better if they…don’t know things.”
All Liam had asked was if she’d known about his biological father, why did he feel like continuing this conversation was opening Pandora’s box of his family’s secrets?
“I want to know everything.” Liam didn’t like secrets, especially if they involved him.
Cora placed her hand over Liam’s. “I want you to know your mom loved your dad—”
“Which one?” He honestly wasn’t sure who she was referring to.
She tilted her head to the side and sighed, as if he was being a smartass.
“I’m serious.”
“Oh, sorry. Your dad is your dad.” She motioned to the bar where his dad was now talking to Tristan and one of Yaya’s nephews who was in from Canada. “She loved him, but she also loved Michael. She knew he’d never leave Teresa, so she took what she could get—”
“Wait. Are you saying that she still saw him? Even when she was with my dad?”
Cora looked back down at her lap, took a deep breath, and then looked back up. “I don’t think she was proud of it. But yes, those yearly trips with her sorority sisters…”
“She would meet Michael?”
Cora nodded.
“Did he know about me? Michael?”
Cora shook her head emphatically. “No. No he didn’t. Your mom thought that would be…messy. She didn’t think it would be fair to your dad. Michael always believed that you were Eddie’s.”
That was where she drew the line?
“Did Dad know?” Did Teresa know? Did Kerri know? Were there others?
“She didn’t think so. Your dad I mean, I don’t know about Teresa, or Kerri, or others. She didn’t think your dad knew, I think he did.”
“Why? Why do you think he did?”
“Do you remember when Tristan’s appendix burst?”
He nodded.
“Your mom’s cell was turned off. I told your dad that I would call her hotel and leave a message.
I knew she wasn’t at the Four Seasons in Napa with her sorority sisters because she was at the Calamigos Ranch in Malibu.
Without blinking, he picked up the phone and called the Calamigos. He even knew her room number.”
Liam was so confused. “Did he ever say anything to her? Did he confront her?”
She shook her head. “No. He loved your mom so much…” Her voice trailed off. “I think he felt guilty for being gone so much. She could have pretty much done anything.”
None of this made any sense to Liam. Had his dad really turned a blind eye to his mom having an affair?
Could his mom really have carried on an affair her entire marriage?
Tristan’s appendix burst when Liam was fourteen.
Could his mom have been in contact with his biological father all those years and never said anything to him?
She went on those trips up until the year she passed.
“Is that why…?” Liam didn’t even want to think about the question he was about to ask, much less say it out loud.
“Is that why what?” Cora prompted.
“How did he not know Mom was sick? He’s the leading expert in brain tumors and neuro-oncology.”
“Liam, no one knew. By the time—”
“I would have known. If I were home, I would have known.”
“No, I’m sorry. You wouldn’t have.” Cora spoke to him in a tone she never had before.
It was firm and left no room for argument.
“I was there, every day, with your mom. She showed no signs, none. No behavior changes. No weight loss. She was completely asymptomatic until the Friday before she went to the doctor. She went to yoga that morning and volunteered at the shelter that afternoon. Then in the evening she complained of a headache and nausea. She thought she had the flu. She rested all weekend. On Monday she felt better and decided not to go to the doctor. She went grocery shopping. She went for a run. Tuesday morning, she slept in. I went to wake her up and that’s when we knew something was wrong.
I rushed her to the ER. They sent her in for an MRI.
I was there when they walked back in with the news.
I saw the look on their faces. Even they didn’t believe it.
“There was nothing they could do. The tumor was wrapped around her brain stem. It was inoperable. Your dad was in New York. He was in surgery when she called him, he left, he didn’t finish the surgery.
He got on a plane and came straight to the hospital.
She’d been admitted by then. I was in the room with her when he got there.
” Cora’s eyes filled with tears. Her lips trembled as she exhaled, and two teardrops slipped down her cheeks.
“He didn’t even speak to her. Didn’t say anything, just told the nurse to prep OR eight, and he started wheeling her out of the room.
The nurses tried to stop him, tried to reason with him, but he wouldn’t listen.
He just kept saying he was going to cut it out.
Your mom begged him to stop, he wouldn’t listen to her.
He was rolling her down the hall, and they had to call security.
He was screaming and fighting them. He broke one of the security guard’s noses, and he dislocated the other one’s shoulder. ”
Liam remembered the security guards at his hospital, none of them were small guys. He couldn’t imagine his dad doing that. He’d never seen his dad raise his voice, much less physically fight someone.
“They ended up having to restrain your dad and then sedate him. Because of who he was, the guards didn’t press criminal charges, but they did get quite a nice payout from the hospital in a civil lawsuit that your dad paid back in donations to the hospital.
” Cora shook her head as she wiped more tears that fell down her face, but the second she did more followed.
Liam pulled his handkerchief out from his back pocket and handed it to her, something his dad had instilled in both his sons to always carry with them. He had no clue if Tristan did or not.
“Thank you.” She patted her face, taking care to tap beneath her eye to remove any evidence of their emotional talk.
“Your dad sat at your mom’s bedside, crying, sobbing, wailing, begging her to fight, to do radiation, chemotherapy for four days straight.
It didn’t matter what the doctors the specialists said.
He wouldn’t listen. He didn’t eat, sleep, or drink.
At one point they had to give him fluids through an IV because he passed out.
I saw his colleagues come to the door, one by one, but they wouldn’t come inside the room.
They would just turn around and leave before he saw them.
I think they were so freaked out by how he was behaving, they didn’t know what to say or do.
” Cora took another breath. “And he wanted you and Tristan to know immediately. He begged her, but she forbid him to tell either of you until that weekend. She wanted to get enough medication in her so that she could be strong enough to go home to be in hospice before either of you saw her. She refused to let either of you see her in the hospital. That was so important to her. She didn’t want her sons to see her like that.
Also, she wanted him, and I quote, to get his shit together and be strong for you two.
” Cora smiled as she took in a shaky breath and patted her face as more tears escaped down her cheeks.
“That does sound like her.” With the back of his hand, Liam wiped away a single tear that fell down his face with the back of his hand.
Cora nodded as her lips quivered again. “It broke him, Liam. Not being able to save your mom when he saved so many other people broke him. You haven’t been here, and I know you have your reasons for that, and they are valid, but you haven’t seen what losing her, what not having you in his life has done to him.
Whatever you are punishing him for, believe me, he’s punished himself for it, too. ”
“Cora! Cora! Cora!” Yaya yelled across the restaurant. “Come! Come! Come!”
“I’m being summoned.” Cora lifted her hand in acknowledgement to Yaya before turning back to Liam. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Liam assured her.
She squeezed his hand. “If you want to talk about anything, ever, I’m here.”
Liam nodded as she stood and walked to the bar, where Yaya launched into what sounded like a bet she’d made that Cora needed to settle.
As he sat processing the information he’d just been given, he felt like he was living in a Black Mirror episode. It was as if he was hearing about an alternate version of his life. It would make more sense to him if Cora was describing a parallel universe to the one they were in.
Frankie’s laughter rang out, and he felt it wash over him and instantly soothe him. Her laughter grounded him. It centered him. She did that to him. She was his safe place.
He lifted his head and saw her on the dance floor with Tristan.
He was spinning her around and dipping her.
It wasn’t particularly romantic, in fact, it was the opposite.
It was more goofy than anything else. Still, watching his brother’s hands on her waist caused his blood pressure to rise and his fists to curl.
No matter what universe, alternate version, or sci-fi television show that he was actually in, the only thing that mattered to him was that he ended up with Frankie. He knew that for him, she was his happily ever after, and he hoped to God he was hers.