CHAPTER 18
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Liam had barely finished removing his shirt when something stopped him from continuing.
His delicious bath was ready and his comfortable bed awaited him.
All he could think of was how much poor Emma had trusted him with her son, and what he was doing by sending him off with Anna Foreman, the daughter of the dead weight in his shoes.
He put his buttons back on and left the bathroom. Something was calling him intensely to go outside and look for the boy. In fact, that need was as compelling as a physical one.
He practically ran out to the lake.
And he came upon that horrible scene.
The little boat in the middle of the lake, with Anna slowly flapping her wings to get to the little figure who was flailing about in desperation.
Liam's face lost color at that image and despair spread from his chest as if it were a heart attack threatening to kill him on the spot.
He threw his cell phone and wallet right there. He took off his shoes and jumped into the water without thinking twice.
He must do everything to save him.
If Tanner died in front of his eyes, without him doing anything, he didn't deserve to live. How could he have been so stupid as to trust a crazy woman like Anna?
He began to brace himself with full force, he saw Anna who seemed to be surprised to see him as she was still sitting in the boat, but Liam didn't care because he had to get to Tanner.
The boy saw him approaching, but he couldn't shake his hand because he was sinking, swallowing water.
For a few seconds he despaired, thinking he would never reach him. He would never forgive himself, and he could see the face of Emma, who had trusted him with what he loved most. How could he ever see her face again if something happened to Tanner?
One more push and he was finally able to grab an arm of the boy who was beginning to lose consciousness. One more arm and Liam secured it.
By now, the mansion was already a hive of activity, with all the employees shouting from the shore and they had already moved another boat to help save the boy and get the skipper out.
Liam pulled the little boy into the boat, who was spitting and coughing up water. He didn't even remember Anna, who was left alone in the middle of the lake as he climbed into the boat with the boy in his arms while the clerk drove the little motor boat.
“Tanner! Can you hear me?”
The boy finished spitting out another mouthful of water and smiled weakly at her.
"As soon as we get to the shore, call for a doctor," he ordered the clerk.
Liam had no intention of delegating the boy's care to anyone else.
“I'm fine...I don't like doctors,” Tanner smiled weakly. “They remind me of Nicholas”
Liam was happy to see him upbeat, despite the horrible trance that had occurred so he played along for a lively chat, although remorse was nagging at him.
“I'll make sure you're fully examined... Who is Nicholas?” he finished by asking.
“An ex-boyfriend of Mom's...who was after Grandpa's money,” the little boy laughed again. “The day that fool manages to take a penny from Grandpa will be the day the pigs will fly”
Liam was glad that Tanner's was apparently not serious, but he wanted to make sure with a doctor. Still, that revelation of an ex-boyfriend in Emma's life was harder to swallow.
He felt ridiculous for feeling that way but couldn't help it.
When they were calmer, he would ask her in more detail.
They reached the shore, and he carried Tanner himself, while the housekeeper and other staff followed.
He took him straight to the room he had had fitted out for him.
The boy hugged him and Liam felt weird with that strange sense of familiarity. He couldn't remember the last time he felt that way. Maybe when he was very small and close to his father, before his father became too severe with him.
“What a nice, big room!” the boy marveled. “My goodness, it's as big as the apartment where I live,” he coughed a little as he said it.
Margaret, the housekeeper who came with them, brought towels.
“I'm going to prepare a nice warm bath,” said the woman. “The best thing is for the young man to take off his wet clothes, so he doesn't catch a cold”
Liam nodded.
“Go and prepare the tub, with the best smelling salts. I'll take care of the rest,” Liam told his maid.
Liam wouldn't take his eyes off the boy until the doctor came and certified that he was in good health. He was still wondering if he should tell Emma what had happened.
She would be angry and rightly so. It was very likely that she would ask her to take the boy back.
When the housekeeper left, Liam approached Tanner.
“Come on, I'll help you take off those wet clothes, that lady is already gone, there are only men left in the room,” Liam felt natural to relax with the boy.
“I was embarrassed with the lady,” laughed Tanner, who began to take off his shirt and jeans. “From looking at the gentleman of this house who is all muscle as opposed to me being a brat, there's quite a difference”
Liam was about to respond with another witty retort, but the smile faded when he noticed something near Tanner's belly.
Something he knew all too well because he had grown up with something identical.
A small birthmark in the shape of a tiny white spot that looked like an inverted waning moon. To anyone else it would have been unnoticeable, but besides him, his father Harlock had it too.
It was so recognizable and identical that Tanner noticed Liam staring at his mark as if he were idiotic.
“This is my birthmark,” the little boy alluded innocently. “Yes, I know, it looks like a mark similar to sailor moon, that Japanese manga”
Liam shook himself so Tanner wouldn't get uncomfortable and passed him the towel.
There he looked back at the boy's face, the one that always looked so intensely familiar to him since he first met him.
Those blue eyes.
The bearing.
The features of the face.
The color of the hair.
So many details that were always in view.
And then the birthmark, one that only the Van Dykes had and he never saw on anyone else.
His face went white.
“Are you all right?” Tanner asked, worried that his friend looked lost.
The door opened and Margaret came in to tell him she had a warm bath ready.
Tanner happily stepped out of bed, bundled up in his bathrobe, happy to bathe in a tub that had a whirlpool and things he'd only seen on TV.
“I think you should go change those wet clothes or it will be you who catches a cold,” Tanner told him as he passed him, since he was practically mute.
And it was true, Liam was pale and speechless.
However, poor Tanner was not to blame for the mess he was in, so he left to go to his rooms.
As he stepped out into the hallway, one of his staff told him that Miss Anna asked to see him.
“Now I don't want to be disturbed!” he ordered, but then remembered something. “Check the camera recordings, I want them to investigate what the hell happened at the lake and... if Miss Foreman had anything to do with it, you will report only to me, is that clear?”
The employee nodded and ran to carry out the order.
Liam on the other hand was far from calm.
As soon as he opened his room he locked himself in, so that crazy Anna wouldn't come and bother him.
Thousands of ideas came to his mind as he took off the clothes that were scattered on the floor and took the ones that were on the bed, arranged by the housekeeper.
Ideas and memories that compared one to the other, but ended with Tanner's face in her mind.
Emma was his mother...
He had to do a genetic test on that child, even though the results were in plain sight and he only seemed to need a nudge like seeing that shared birthmark to wake up and realize the truth that lay before his very eyes as a reminder of his youthful sins.
And in case that powerful suspicion was true, Liam was never careless and the only time he made a mistake...was that distant night in Cheyenne, with that unknown woman who snuck into the room when he was drunk and wasn't even aware of that girl's face.
He closed his eyes and tried to remember...and rescued some images lost in his memory.
At some point in that frantic remembrance, he felt again the unknown vanilla of that lover that survived in the recesses of his soul.
It was practically the only thing he could remember.
Was that woman Emma Darby?
He clenched his fists tightly.
Had she deceived and seduced him?
He held his hands to his head.
How could that be happening?
At that moment, two powerful sensations began to assail him, on the one hand, that inexplicable tenderness at the possibility of having been a father. But on the other, an almost homicidal rage at the deception.
He was unable to think of the details of how Emma could keep something like this from him and then appear under his nose again with no intention of revealing anything.
He picked up his cell phone and called William Sanders.
“Do you still have contacts with that lab? I need a DNA test”
On the other end, the surprised lawyer said yes, but when he wanted to probe further, Liam cut him off.
“I'll call you later to see the details, but I really need that test”
He didn't even give William time for any more unwelcome questions as he hung up the call to get rid of them.
A genetic study would give him the answers he needed.
What if his visible suspicions were true?
If Tanner really was his son?
He'd nearly died today and Liam suspected that crazy Anna had a lot to do with it. It was really about to give him something and although he was dying to hug Tanner with all his might, it wasn't to go scaring him either. He wasn't that insensitive.
He stared at the clock on his wall, its hands moving in time with his own thoughts and the outburst that threatened to make his chest burst with anxiety.
No one would see his foolish face!
He didn't have the patience to wait for some lab test results. He had a way to advance those results.
He got up from his chair like a spring in his step, seized by the idea. They were going to return with Tanner included, since he did not plan to leave him with an Anna nearby.
He would deal with her later, so he headed for Tanner's room.
The boy was sitting, drinking a hot chocolate.
Mrs. Margaret was with him, tidying the room.
“The doctor had already examined him, he said that Master Tanner is in perfect condition, but not to drink anything cold tonight”
Only there, Liam seemed to realize that two hours had passed since he went to the room. He was so nervous that he lost track of time.
“Miss Foreman made a fuss to try to see him...but she was stopped,” Margaret whispered to him as she passed him. “We were carrying out his orders not to disturb him”
“Order one of the drivers to take her to Manhattan right now, I don't want to see her”
“And if she refuses...?”
“Her wishes don't matter; I just want her off my property!”
The housekeeper knew her employer and must be in big trouble to be so impatient, so she ran to do his bidding. She had never seen him so angry that he looked like a time bomb about to explode.
When they were alone, Tanner's boyish voice filled the room again.
“I don't know if it's a good idea to tell Mom about what happened at the lake, she could get pretty angry....”
“Don't feel guilty about keeping a secret...because your mom has some hidden away over there too,” Liam snorted.
“Do you know any of my mom's secrets?”
Liam tried to relax. Whatever happened there, Tanner was not to blame.
“We're going back to town now, because an emergency came up at the office”
The boy made a gesture of disappointment, grimacing with his mouth that Liam found incredibly identical to when he had tantrums.
“What, so you got mad about the lake?”
“It has nothing to do with it,” Liam denied, trying to pretend that discovering those gestures in Tanner didn't unsettle him. “We'll get there tonight, it's only two hours in the car, and I promise to come back when I solve the problem”
The boy grumbled a little, but Liam was determined to leave right away.
He wasn't going to go to sleep until he got an answer to those doubts that were gnawing at his heart.
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Emma picked up her bottle of cold beer and toasted with Lisa. They had just eaten a delicious arroz con gandules from a Puerto Rican recipe she had seen on television.
She had been very anxious about the Tanner affair and the little trip he took with Liam.
How fickle fate could be!
In the end father and son found each other, even though it seemed to be impossible.
Emma had many regrets and doubts. She even thought that so many coincidences were a sign that she should tell Liam the truth.
She was tempted to tell Lisa about that secret. After all, that woman would be able to understand it since she was involved during that fateful night... but magical that only lived in her memories of when she conceived Tanner.
Lisa had the night off and Emma was grateful for it because it was extra company in case that crazy Nicholas showed up at her door.
She wished that scoundrel had already gone back to where he came from.
“Lisa, there is something I'd like to tell you....”
“You know I'm a grave if it's a secret....”
But just as Emma was about to begin speaking, the doorbell rang.
“Saved by the bell, Emma,” laughed Lisa.
Emma left her bottle on the table.
Nicholas spotted her and was coming to bother her. Of course she would kick him out, but if he got any heavier she would call 911.
“If it's your crazy ex-boyfriend, I'll have the baseball bat ready, Emma,” Lisa pulled out her old bat and showed it to Emma.
"I don't think we'll need it, Nicholas is quite the coward," she opened the door, "How the hell did you find my address?" She said without lifting her head, but when she did, she was very surprised because she hadn't expected them so soon.
“Mommy, how could I not know the address? I live here”
“But how did they get back?”
Tanner and Liam were at the door. Her son was smiling, but Liam was serious.
In fact, Emma had never seen that expression on his face before, as if he were holding something back.
Tanner ran past, gave Emma a hug and then did the same with Lisa who was sneaking up with the bat.
“Oh my goodness, if it isn't Liam Van Dyke himself,” Lisa approached and her infectious expression had cut some of the tension between the newcomer and Emma.
The man looked at her, as if digging through his memories to identify her.
“It seems that coming from Cheyenne to New York has become a habit, you're the Maldivian girl, Lisa?”
“It's a wonder a New York businessman still remembers an old high school classmate”
Liam just nodded, but at no point did he take his eyes off Emma and the woman could tell.
He just turned and pulled something out of his pocket. A card.
"I have some business to discuss with her," he pointed at Emma. "You might get bored, could you take Tanner to get the anchovy pizza from Time Square? Take this company card and my driver is downstairs. You can go anywhere you want."
Liam's sudden request threw Lisa off.
They had just met and he seemed eager to send her and Tanner away.
Emma could have intervened at the unusual request, but her chest began to tremble as she noticed that Liam didn't come for work. He was very angry and she had no right to take him out. She didn't have to be very smart to understand that their early return was about that.
She called Tanner, trying to put calm in her voice, even though she was horrified at what was about to happen.
Lisa looked at her strangely, not understanding at all, but Emma begged her with her eyes to listen to her.
The woman understood that something very serious was happening, so she took the card Liam was offering her and grabbed Tanner's arm, who was looking for something in the fridge.
“Let's go to Manhattan to buy some food, Mr. Van Dyke and your mother have to talk business. We'll go in his car”
The boy snorted, but he loved the prospect of going to Manhattan at night.
“I love it!” Tanner got carried away and as he passed Liam he gave him a nod. “Thanks buddy! I promise to bring some pizza for you too, bye bye mommy!” Tanner said goodbye to his mother with a childish cheer typical of his age.
When Lisa and Tanner disappeared down the hallway, Liam entered the house closing the door.
Emma had her back turned and was trembling, but she was perfectly capable of feeling his gaze on her.
She didn't want to turn around lest she meet that gaze. That man wasn't here on business, she was sure of it.
“Who is Tanner's father?”
Liam got straight to the point and Emma didn't feel prepared at all to face him.
She did what she did best: pretend.
“I'm sure my personal business is none of my boss's business,” Emma turned away, feigning a poise she didn't have.
But he wasn't about to let himself be led astray by a cover. He was determined.
He walked a few steps toward the woman, causing her to take another step back.
“I didn't come here as your boss, and I'm warning you to stop playing dumb because I don't think you realize what you did”
That comment from him, as if it was all her fault, outraged her: "No one dares talk to me about what I do or don't do!"
Liam cornered her again.
“You know I'm not playing games, so confirm me here and now about the identity of Tanner's father, don't force me to take action”
The woman tried to get out of the corner, but he wouldn't let her.
“Please get out of here....”
"Of course I'll go," he threatened. "But I'm warning you, I'm going to run a DNA test on Tanner, and if it confirms what I know, I'm going to have you removed from his custody. In fact, I'll have his parental rights taken away, how about that?" and he said it with amazing calm. "You know I'm a shark in front of you, and I can tear you apart in court with a snap of my fingers."
Emma, by this time, had completely lost her temper.
Tanner was the only thing she had and if she lost him, it was preferable to die.
She looked at Liam who didn't move an inch, looking confident and firm. There would be no way to get away from him or lie to him. He would not hesitate to take her son from her.
And that she would not stand for.
She began to cry uncontrollably.
“Please don't take him away from me,” she cried desperately. “He's the only thing I have,” lashing out at Liam. “He's your son...but he doesn't know...no one knows!”
He didn't try to pull away, because with the final revelation of the truth he had come for, he was frozen with the force of the weight of that frankness.
The birthmark was no coincidence.
Nor was that attraction to Tanner.
He was her son...and Emma had taken away his chance to know him. He didn't know whether to hate her for it.
Liam never cried, but tears began to fall from his eyes before his conscience could hold them back.
“You were the girl that night....”
Emma put her hands to her face, but nodded her head.
Liam grabbed her arm.
“Why? because you denied me the chance to meet him... answer me!”
To be questioned in this way, Emma felt she didn't deserve it either.
She tried to let go, but he wouldn't let her.
“Do you think it's easy to show up in front of someone who only saw me as the ungraceful fat girl in the living room and tell him I'm expecting his child? Is he going to believe me?” Emma wiped away a few tears with her free hand.
“For God's sake, Emma, I wasn't that much of a jerk!”
“You were and are an imbecile!” the woman exclaimed, almost beside herself.
He squeezed her arm and pulled her to him to the point where their faces were face to face, where they could even analyze the details of each other's facial features.
“And if I was a jerk...you still crawled into my bed,” Liam had never had her so close, well except for that night ten years ago that he almost didn't remember, except for one detail that began to surface in the air.
That vanilla smell.
From afar it was not perceptible, but having her so close, he felt again that scent lost a decade ago of the mysterious woman. It was always Dorothy , that woman.
And though he felt he wanted to loathe her for depriving him of a parenthood he didn't know he wanted, his eyes were beginning to lose themselves in her soft physiognomy and in the light that always emanated from those eyes he liked ten years ago and never dared to assume.
How could he admit to himself at that time that he liked that Dorothy ?
Emma was right.
He was a perfect asshole.
And now, having that smell of yesteryear back, so nostalgic and sweet, getting into his nostrils, activating the gene of melancholy of that lost youth, added to the glow of the half-open lips of that woman whose cheeks were bathed in tears,
Even so, he was not going to let himself be defeated, that woman owed him everything.
“You deprived me of my son!”
Emma tried to push him away.
“I raised my son alone because I didn't know if I could trust you! What the hell do you think you are? you bastard!”
And again the dangerous closeness, with so many sensations between them surfacing all over their skin, with that attraction that always existed between them and that they knew how to hide very well either because of shame or shyness.
Emma was hurt by the reproaches, but Liam was too.
Neither was exempt from guilt. She omitted information, but he never showed any sign of being able to handle it if he had known.
“I hate you,” Emma murmured between sobs. “You want to take my only son away from me....”
Neither of them knew exactly which of them initiated the approach.
Maybe both of them at the same time to silence the harsh words that were flowing from their lips.
Regardless of who started it, they suddenly found themselves kissing with unheard of passion. they began to devour each other trying to escape from guilt, sadness and all the prejudiced ghosts. Each clung to the other desperately so as not to sink into the sea of guilt...but also because they were hopelessly drawn to that desire they always felt for each other.
Liam buried his face in Emma's neck, completely losing his sanity.
He cornered her against the wall where the picture of the small room was, tasting her lips and seeking her prominent curves with his hands. Without stopping kissing her, he began to remove her blouse while she desperately rummaged through the zipper of his pants to pull them down.
The garments began to fall to the floor as the two lovers continued to poke their tongues in an uncontrolled frenzy of animal desire. They no longer remembered prejudice or guilt.
Nothing mattered at that moment except possessing each other, so much so that Emma completely lost the shame of her curves, which always made her feel insecure.
Let him see her as she was, that's how she wanted to give herself away. That's how they met and they hadn't changed.
Liam took her in that position, cornered against the wall with all the ardor that was born to have that woman at any cost and Emma, who had never made love that way before, clung to Liam's shoulders to keep from falling.
Her pitiful sex life with pure losers like Nicholas paled in comparison to what this man was doing to her.
He was a fiercer and more experienced version of what she had felt that early morning of their first time when they conceived Tanner.
In that moment, nothing else mattered but having each other.