Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
R eese was right about one thing: Lauren had an affair.
What he was wrong about was when it had happened.
Reese and his son were at the hotel bar long after Oriana and Rachelle left to be with Darcy in the hospital. It was there for the first time they really talked to one another. It was then that Joel finally told Reese what was going on and why Carlotta was to blame for the mess with Lauren.
“Everything happened so quickly after the fire,” Joel began. He pressed his hands against his cheeks and stared down at his beer sorrowfully. “Suddenly, Lauren and I were in another world together. We had nobody to back us up. No friends. No family. And we basically fought all the time. I thought things would improve after we married, but they only worsened.”
Reese’s heart pumped with fear. That was back when he and Joel weren’t talking at all; back when Reese had been performing the rituals of pre- and post-surgery on a regular basis. Back when Alexis had alternated between crying over her brother and crying over her rage at having been caught in that fire.
An accident. The fire was an accident.
“I was working myself through college,” Joel explained, “and probably not paying close enough attention to Lauren. No, I definitely wasn’t. We were barely communicating. She started going to college, too, and staying out later and later and sometimes never coming home at all. At least, she said she was going to college. She said she was studying at the library or with friends. I found out later she dropped out of college after six weeks.” Joel rubbed his eyes. It was painful for him to recount. “She announced she was pregnant when we were twenty-one. I was surprised. I had more or less resigned myself to getting divorced soon. But I decided to be really excited about the baby. I decided the baby was proof that we were meant to be. Proof that we’d gone through tremendous hardships together and would carry on as planned. I thought it made everything worth it. Even losing my family.” Joel stuttered. “It wasn’t till Lauren was five or six months along that she broke down and confessed the baby wasn’t mine.”
Reese gaped at Joel. Tyler? Tyler wasn’t Joel’s son? Tyler wasn’t Reese’s real grandson?
“She wasn’t sure what to do. She was considering leaving me and starting a life elsewhere with the guy,” Joel informed. “We talked about it for well over a month. We weighed up every option. She told me who he was, who she was when she was with him, and what she thought her future would be with him by her side. She said she still loved me, but she was confused. I told her I’d felt the same ever since we left the Vineyard. The weird thing was, he lived on the Vineyard. She’d actually met him the same week she met me. Maybe you remember that day on the docks?”
Reese nodded. He remembered.
“When she started going to college, she contacted him and told him how miserable she was. He came and picked her up, and they started an affair. What a mess, right? I had no idea.” Joel shook his head.
“Why didn’t she leave?” Reese asked quietly. He couldn’t fathom why Lauren hadn’t gone off and built a new life with this other guy—Tyler’s real father.
Lauren could have been out of our hair from the beginning.
“I told her the truth,” Joel said. “I told her I loved her. I told her I would raise the baby as my own. I told her I would fully commit to our marriage and to what we’d built so far.”
Reese was flummoxed. Why had Joel done this to himself?
But love was nothing he could argue with. His son loved Lauren. He always had loved Lauren. It seemed likely he always would.
“I knew going back to the Vineyard was a risk,” Joel said, “but I didn’t know what to do after I lost my job. Lauren was miserable when we first got back. She still felt so guilty about the fire.”
Reese remembered when Lauren had brought it up that first evening: why didn’t you ever build a new pool house? Was that her version of feeling guilty? Reese shook his head. He would never understand everything.
“I didn’t know Hamilton had contacted her, wanting to see Tyler,” Joel expressed. “Not until you told me about them at the Solstice Party. I approached Lauren, and she said she had agreed to see him. But that’s when things really went off the rails. Hamilton is a business associate of Bobby Ringmaker.”
Reese’s jaw dropped. He couldn’t fathom how all of these pieces came together.
“Things went south between Hamilton and Bobby. It had something to do with that lawsuit Bobby was involved with,” Joel said. “In the midst of it, Bobby took it upon himself to ruin Hamilton’s life. I don’t know how, but he found out about Tyler. Maybe he’d always known. And he tried to blackmail Hamilton. He was going to spread the word that Hamilton had abandoned his son. Obviously, that’s only partially true. Hamilton, Lauren, and I had an agreement, and I have always been Tyler’s legal father. But Hamilton panicked. He has his own family. He doesn’t want everything out in the open.”
Reese shook his head and saw stars.
“Lauren wasn’t sure she wanted to come to Rome. She figured Bobby Ringmaker would be here,” Joel explained. “I thought she’d still come. I begged her to. But when she missed her flight, Carlotta sent along another car and pushed her to fly over. I think Carlotta did it to get on Bobby’s good side. She’d do anything for him.” He sighed. “I’ve felt like her pawn for weeks.”
Reese’s head throbbed. It was too much at once. Carlotta had been a worthwhile client of his for years. But she’s never manipulated you because she knows you’re too powerful and too firm in your belief systems to manipulate. That, or she’s bored by you.
She saw Joel’s and Lauren’s weaknesses.
And she saw Darcy’s, too.
Reese dropped his face into his hands and bit his cheek to keep from sobbing. He felt as though he’d delivered his family to the lion’s den.
“Lauren and I have our issues,” Joel said, “just like every married couple. But we’ve left the cheating scandal behind us. Tyler is my son, and I love him like crazy.” He sniffed. “I know my relationship with Lauren started out so messy. I know you remember the fire. And trust me when I say that Lauren and I haven’t forgotten it. We never will. But we want to make amends. We just aren’t doing a very good job of it.”
Reese reached across the table to touch his son’s shoulder. Around them, the hotel was quiet; even Rome, the Eternal City, was silent.
“You’re doing a wonderful job,” Reese said. “I’m the one unwilling to let go.”
Joel smiled softly. “Having my own sons has put everything into context. I can’t imagine how it would feel if one of them took off one day and no longer wanted to see me.”
Reese remembered Joel’s departure like a stab through the stomach. But he also knew, at the time, that Joel hadn’t felt he had a choice. He’d been broken. Guilty. Lost in a world that had suddenly named him an adult.
“Growing up is messy,” Reese said. “But Tyler and Peter are lucky to have you to guide their way.”
“They’re lucky to have you, too.”