Chapter 30 #2
He’d found out the night of his father’s birthday party—the night Daisy and I had talked on the balcony. The night she’d gotten pregnant.
Todd had called me in a panic the next day. I thought it was because Daisy had told him what I’d said—what I’d suggested.
I remembered the way my heart clawed at my throat waiting for Todd to get to the farm. I didn’t know what was going to happen, so I figured it was safest to talk where there was only a field of flowers to hear.
Except the fury—and alcohol—he’d shown up with wasn’t for me. It was for his parents.
Apparently, earlier in the night, while he’d been roaming the house looking for Daisy—who’d been out on the deck with me—he’d walked in on his dad and another man together.
“I don’t understand. I don’t fucking…I don’t understand.” He’d trampled a path through the flowers, chugging from the bottle of vodka as he went.
“I asked him this morning. I asked, and he just brushed me off. ‘We have an image, Todd. A happy family. We don’t talk about what doesn’t fit in that image.’”
“Does Mom know?”
“Of course, she knows. We have separate arrangements, but the family—our legacy—comes first.”
“And me?”
“Enough. This conversation is over and is never going to be spoken of again. You know better than this, Todd. You know how our world works.”
Todd had replayed the whole conversation, letting me feel as though I’d been a fly on the wall the whole time.
Knowing his parents lived mostly separate lives hadn’t been a tough pill to swallow. There were so many couples in that upper echelon that did the same. But learning his father was gay, it cracked something inside him that I couldn’t understand.
Later that week, he’d done a DNA test.
Todd McCormick Sr. wasn’t Todd’s father.
“After the night after he found out you’re gay, he took a paternity test,” I said, watching his eyes dart around the room like some invisible microphone was recording me.
Todd got the results a few weeks later—a few days after Daisy realized she was pregnant. My resolution to keep my distance, to protect my heart, went up in smoke when my friend realized his family, the box he’d cut himself into pieces to fit into, wasn’t actually his.
I told him to tell Daisy, but he wouldn’t.
Maybe he couldn’t. But there was nothing else I could do except respect his wishes.
Even now…even after the choices he’d made, I’d kept this part of his truth from Daisy.
However, my respect for him ended at his parents—crashed and burned when they started threatening my wife and our baby.
“Goddammit, Todd.” McCormick sat back in his chair, his ruddy face taking on a distinctly clammy sheen.
It wasn’t my responsibility to wait while he processed the information. He didn’t deserve that kind of compassion. He certainly hadn’t shown it to me, let alone Todd.
“You want to threaten to ruin my business? Go ahead. I don’t know what Todd told you, but I never relied on your name or connections to make my business what it is.
I guess maybe I always knew it was nothing but hollow support,” I informed him coolly.
“However, if you try to physically or legally insert yourselves into my daughter’s life, I can promise you that the first thing that will come out is how little biological right you have to do so. ”
I straightened. McCormick looked like I’d set off a blasting cap on the desk right in front of him.
“I’m sure you’ll let Mary know we’ve spoken.” I rapped my fingers on the desk, making sure his eyes contacted mine before I went to let myself out.
“Max!” he called, and I stopped at the door, watching a man who I’d never seen falter, who I’d never seen unsure, bluster unsteadily, “You can’t—”
“I just did,” I said and walked out.
I told Daisy I was going to fix this, that I was going to protect her. Now, I was sure that I had.
My blood was buzzing by the time I climbed into the seat of my truck. The first thing I did was reach for my phone. I wanted to let Daisy know I was on my way back. I wanted to tell her it was finished, that she’d never have to worry about the McCormicks again.
In an instant, my heart, previously thundering with excitement, plummeted to the pit of my stomach, wrapped in a cold shroud.
A message from Todd sat like a bright red warning flare on the screen.
After all these weeks, what were the chances he’d message me today? Within minutes of my visit to his dad?
Maybe he had been in contact with them. Maybe as soon as I’d walked out of that room, Mr. McCormick had called Todd and leveled all his fury on his son. To me, it made no difference that there was no biological relation between the two of them, but to them, the image was all the difference.
I wished I could’ve talked to him before going to speak to his father. I wished I could’ve talked to him weeks ago when he left Daisy at the altar. Or when I offered to marry her. Or when we moved into my house. Not because I needed his approval, but because I wished I could know he was okay.
Now, we were here. I was married to his ex-fiancée, and I’d just threatened to expose his family’s darkest secrets if they didn’t leave us alone.
I didn’t leave myself time to wonder whose side in all this Todd would be on.
I simply swiped open the text and pushed through the tornado of emotions whipping through me.
Anger. Concern. Frustration. Pity. My eyes collided with the message inside, and all those riotous emotions shattered like glass.
Daisy’s water broke. We’re at Stonebar Hospital.
Nausea followed the whiplash as I read and reread the text. Like I’d stepped into a boxing ring with a heavyweight champion, each pass a harder hit than the last.
Daisy was in labor.
And Todd was with her.
Why—how? I should be there. I should be with her. My wife. My baby, not his.
I’d stood on the sidelines for years, ignoring how I felt because of how it could hurt others. I couldn’t do that anymore. I wouldn’t. Daisy was my wife. My future. My heart. And I was going to do whatever it took to make him understand that, even if it cost me our friendship.
I cursed myself every minute of the hour it took to get back to Stonebar. And I broke every speed limit on the way back to her.