Chapter 30 #2
“At the rehearsal dinner, just one night before we found out I was pregnant, when I hit my head and had to go to the emergency room, Yaya asked him when he was going to settle down and have kids, and he clearly stated he did not want to have children. And I’ve asked him point blank, and he’s said he doesn’t not want kids. ”
“Okay, but that was an abstract. This is different.”
“Is it?” Poppy wasn’t sure. “Things seem pretty black and white with AJ." She took a breath. “I told him I couldn’t get pregnant, because I thought I couldn’t. I was told I couldn’t.” She looked down and touched her belly. “This was a…”
“Miracle,” Zion finished.
She looked back up. “I don’t know if AJ sees it that way.”
“Have you asked him?”
“No.” She shook her head.
“Why not?”
“Because…”
“Because what?” Zion prompted.
She took a deep breath and exhaled. “Because he’s not like other guys.”
Zion sat straighter, his shoulders rolling back. “And that bothers you?”
“I mean, sort of.” Poppy felt her eyes filling with tears.
Zion’s eyes narrowed. “What specifically bothers you?” His tone had an icy edge to it.
She bit the inside of her mouth and wiped a tear away.
“I know if I ask him something, he’s going to tell me the truth.
And I know that should be a good thing, it should, but a very wise woman once told me never ask a question you don’t want to know the answer to.
If I ask him, he will tell me the truth. ”
A visible wave of relief washed over Zion, and his shoulders relaxed.
Poppy was confused at Zion’s reaction. “What did you think I was going to say?”
“I thought you were going to say it had something to do with his nuerodiver—”
“No!” Poppy cut him off before he could even finish.
“No, that’s…I love that about him. He’s the smartest, most incredible…
I love how his brain works. I wish I were half as smart as he is.
He’s amazing, he’s not like every other person, and that’s…
I mean, his brain is perfect. Why would you… how could you think that?”
“As a black, bisexual man, I am someone who is very familiar with discrimination, prejudice, and ignorance. You’d be surprised how many people say, think, and do things you would never think they would say, think, or do.”
Poppy knew that Zion was right. She wasn’t looking at it from that perspective. “You’re right. Sorry, I just, no. I would never…” Poppy’s stomach dropped when a thought hit her. “You don’t think AJ thinks that. Do you? I mean, he knows I would never…”
“Have you talked to him about that?” Zion sighed. “Let me guess…no.”
Okay, yeah, they really did need to talk.
The knock sound reverberated off the door as AJ waited on the other side.
This was the first chance he’d gotten to speak to Deacon alone since Thanksgiving.
Poppy was at a yoga class, so he knew he had at least an hour before she got back.
He’d been giving her space since her announcement.
She’d had a lot of visitors, and both her body language and actions made it clear she didn’t want anyone suspecting he was the father.
The door opened, and Deacon appeared surprised to see him.
“Everything okay?” he asked, looking past AJ.
It didn’t surprise him that he would be looking for Poppy since AJ hadn’t said more than two words to the man.
“I need to speak to you.”
Deacon nodded, opening the door wider. “Sure, what’s up?”
AJ heard cartoons playing in the background. He wasn’t sure what Tabitha knew and didn’t know, and he didn’t want to say anything that would upset the child.
“I think it’s better if we speak out here, in private.”
Deacon’s assessing stare gave nothing away as he casually glanced over his shoulder. “Tabby, I’m gonna be outside for a sec, okay?”
“Okay, Daddy!” her tiny voice replied.
AJ retreated a single step backward, allowing space for Deacon to move onto the porch, which he did.
When the door clicked shut, he squared his shoulders and stared AJ directly in the eyes.
He understood the posturing, although there was no need for it.
All AJ was trying to do was get to the bottom of his reason for hiding his identity.
“I had someone look into you.”
Deacon did not verbally respond. The only indication that he’d heard AJ was the tiniest flare of his nostril.
“Why haven’t you told anyone who you are?”
AJ could see Deacon was assessing whether or not AJ actually knew what he was talking about.
“What are you talking about?”
“You didn’t come here by accident. You were adopted, and your birt—”
“I didn’t know I was adopted until my thirtieth birthday,” Deacon cut AJ off.
“When I received my inheritance, it came with a letter from my parents explaining how I came to be raised as their child. My mother, my birth mother, worked for the family. She got pregnant and hid it from everyone. She went into labor early, and there were complications. She knew who the father was, but he was married with a family, so he wouldn’t be able to be in the picture.
She was hospitalized after losing a lot of blood, and she asked the St. Claires to raise me as their own.
They’d always wanted a baby, but were unable to have one.
She passed away five days after I was born.
They promised her that they would not tell me about my parentage until I was old enough to handle the truth, which they all agreed was thirty years old.
“When my parents died last year, I used public sites to trace familial DNA and found Michael Davies. I learned he’d passed away but that I had siblings. I wanted to meet them, to get to know them, but I didn’t want them to, I wanted to make sure that they wouldn’t just, I had to be certain that—”
“You didn’t want them to try and take advantage of you for your money,” AJ stated bluntly.
Deacon sighed, it appeared to AJ that it was in relief.
“Yes. And I know that I should have said something sooner, especially to Poppy. I truly was shocked when she called about the nanny position. I didn’t see that coming.
I really did just want a referral. Her wanting the position was just a bonus.
But before I told her, I wanted to meet everyone first. I knew Roger peripherally for years but had never met Phoebe.
Once we all hung out on Halloween, my plan was to speak to everyone after Thanksgiving dinner, but between Poppy’s news and Yaya and Mr. Santino’s announcement, I didn’t feel like it was the right time.
Also, I didn’t want to do something that would hurt Teresa.
Michael was married to her when he had an affair with my mom.
” Deacon quickly amended, “I know that he also had affairs with Poppy’s mom, Kerri, and Liam’s mom, Celeste, but this is a new affair that I don’t think she knows anything about.
Especially since my mom’s gone. She can’t speak to her or ask her questions. ”
AJ didn’t understand why Mr. and Mrs. St. Claire had lied to Deacon, but they had.
Selma Montez, Deacon’s birth mother, was alive and well and living in Valentine Bay, a small town on the Oregon coast. AJ didn’t know if it was her choice or theirs to keep the truth hidden, but he could tell that Deacon honestly believed the story he’d been told.
Deacon’s arms crossed. “Have you told anyone?”
“No.” AJ was trying to puzzle out whether or not he should give Deacon the information he knew about his biological mom. Was that the right thing to do? Did he have an ethical obligation to disclose that information?
“I would appreciate it if you would please just keep this to yourself until after the wedding tomorrow. I don’t want to do anything that would steal any of the spotlight from Mrs. Costas and Mr. Santino.”
AJ dipped his chin in a curt nod. He understood why Deacon would feel like that. And it wasn’t as if he’d been doing anything nefarious. If anything, Deacon was the one who needed protection, not the other way around.
Deacon held out his hand, and AJ shook it. “Thanks, man, I appreciate it.”
He turned to leave and headed towards his car.
One conversation down, one more to go. With the wedding tomorrow, he had no choice but to do this today.
He got in his SUV and made the short drive over to Yaya’s house.
When he got out, he found her in the kitchen, standing at the stove. He knocked on the screen door.
She jumped, startled at the intrusion, and then waved her arm. “Come in, come in, come in!”
He stepped inside the kitchen that seemed so much smaller than it had when he was growing up. She reached up, grabbed his cheeks and kissed him on each side. “Sit, sit, sit.” She did a three-sixty and suddenly there was a steaming bowl of stew in front of him. “Eat, eat, eat.”
AJ had zero appetite. The last thing he wanted to do was eat, but he knew that there was no way he could say no.
He picked up his spoon, and it was only then that he realized her entire front room was packed up.
All of her bookshelves, which were normally cluttered with so many knickknacks that gave AJ anxiety, were totally bare.
“Yaya, who did all this?”
“Zion came. He help me.”
“He packed all this?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I get married.”
“Are you moving?”
“Of course!”
“Are you moving to Golden Years?” AJ knew Yaya was getting married, and that Mr. Santino lived at Golden Years Retirement Home, but he hadn’t realized that this home, Papou’s home, was no longer going to be in the family. That Yaya was leaving it.
“No, no, no. Not to Golden Years. To cottage right next door, just in case Arthur need anything.”
AJ definitely knew he had feelings about this, strong feelings. He felt his chest tightening, and then his eyes started to water, but he closed them, then gathered everything to do with this house into a file, put it in a box, and shut the box. He would deal with that later.
“Yaya, can you sit down?” He put his hand on the table. “I need to talk to you.”
She looked over her shoulder, turned the oven off, wiped her hands on her apron, and then patted his hand as she sat in the chair next to him. “I love you. If you love the men. Is okay. I still love you. Is fine.”
“I’m not gay, Yaya. But thank you.”
Her hands flew in the air. “Then what?! Why so serious?! I have to make food for wedding!” She started to stand.
“It’s about the wedding, about Frank. I need to talk to you about his life before he came to Hope Falls.”
She sat back down. “What? Why? Because my Arthur work for CIA and is assassin and is good at job. So what? I was spy in Greece, so was your Papou. That is how we meet.”
“What?” AJ could not believe what he was hearing. “You were a spy?”
“Yes. Resistance fighter.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“I have whole life. Why I tell you everything?! I know Arthur and his past, he tell me. But I know before that. Papou tell me. He say, before he die, he say, ‘Arthur is killer but good guy.’ Is last thing he say to me.” Yaya’s lip trembled, and she clutched the locket she wore on her neck of their first photo together.
A single tear fell down her face, but she wiped it away and straightened her shoulders.
“I am so mad. Why he say this to me? Why not say he love me?” Her voice trembled.
“Months later, I am so, so, so sad. So, so, so lonely…I sit at Papou’s bench at river begging, in my head, pray to God, please to take me, I don’t want stay here, not without my Frank, and I feel a tap on my shoulder.
I turn, is Arthur. He give me those.” She motioned to a bouquet of flowers in the center of the table.
“Violets. On first date in Greece, Papou give me Violets. Your Papou send Arthur to me.”
AJ couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
He wasn’t sure what was more unbelievable, that Arthur showed up with violets, the same flowers that Papou gave Yaya on their first date, that Yaya and Papou were resistance fighters, or that Yaya knew about Arthur’s past and hadn’t told everyone.
What he did know was that even in death, his Papou was still taking care of Yaya, and she still felt his love.
That was the kind of love he felt for Poppy, unconditional, timeless.
Not till death do us part, even in death, love.