Chapter 36
At the courthouse…
Dash exited the records office with the last bits of documentation he needed, Emerson at his side.
His stomach’s butterflies had butterflies of their own circling.
Before they’d left home, he’d thrown up breakfast, unsure if it was morning sickness or just his nerves.
Emerson assured him it was too soon for morning sickness, so nerves it was.
While he’d been confident in his decision the night before, daylight had brought doubts with it.
His doubts appeared to be fueling Emerson’s, too. His mate wore a tense expression and hadn’t said much all morning. As they approached the scheduled courtroom, Dash noticed his parents and Oakley seated outside it.
Dash walked closer. “What are you all doing here?”
“Creed told us you had court this morning,” his papa said before kissing his cheek. “We’re here for moral support.”
Oakley approached, hugging him. “I guess I was wrong about you, hmm? Sorry.”
“No. You weren’t exactly wrong,” Dash said to Oakley. “I’m actually glad you called me on it. What you said made this decision easier.”
Oakley squeezed him in another hug. “What you’re doing is brave, Dash.”
After Oakley stepped back, Dash’s gaze went to his father. Daniel Keller had both hands shoved into his pockets, his face a neutral mask.
“You’re sure you want to do this?” his father asked.
His doubts whispered, but he ignored them. “It’s the only way Emerson and I can be together.”
A hint of a scoff came from Emerson at his side. Dash turned to survey his mate, finding another mask of detachment that mirrored his father’s.
“Have you got everything you need?” his papa asked him.
Dash lifted his parents’ birth certificates he’d just picked up.
“Yeah. Not sure why I need your and Dad’s birth certificates, as well as my own, but they were on the list I was emailed.
” Dash scanned the one on top, noticing a mistake.
He re-read it a second time before shaking his head.
“Papa? Why is Tolliver McCreary listed here as your father?”
“What?” Papa asked loudly. He snatched the papers from Dash’s hands. Brows furrowed, his papa read over his birth certificate himself. “It’s a mistake.”
“Are you sure?” Dash asked.
“Yes!” his papa snapped, lifting his gaze to Dash’s. “I have a copy of my birth certificate at home, and his name is not on it. I swear to you.” He handed the birth certificate to Dash’s father, who read it over, wide-eyed.
“How could they make such an error?” his father said. “This is simply a print out from whatever data is in the system. Someone changed this information and we need to find out how or why.”
Before anyone could respond, a door beside the courtroom entrance swung open—one for the judge’s private chambers. Tolliver McCreary stepped out, leaning heavily on a gold-tipped cane. He shook the judge’s hand and smiled broadly before noticing them staring.
Rage filled Dash. He’d never wanted to come face-to-face with the arrogant bastard.
His papa snatched the birth certificate and marched forward. “I suspect you have something to do with this, hmm?”
Tolliver eyed the waving paper before his gaze fell on his nephew. “Hello, Aspen. It’s a pleasure to see you after such a long time.”
“Can it, old man. Why is your name listed on my birth certificate?”
Tolliver wavered a bit. He walked past Papa, the tap of his cane echoing in the space.
“You’re not even going to answer me?”
Tolliver sat down carefully and turned to look at Dash’s papa, both hands atop his cane. “Had either you or Dashiell come to speak with me, as I’d requested, this would’ve come as less of a shock.”
“I guess I’m nobody,” Oakley muttered under his breath beside Dash.
Before Tolliver could continue, Quinn, Bellamy, and Beau rounded the corner, all smiles. They approached. Their smiles turned to concern when they noticed Tolliver was there.
“Grandfather? How did you get here?” Quinn demanded. He searched the halls. “Where is your nurse?”
“I gave him the slip this morning,” Tolliver said. “I had business to attend to.”
“What business?” Beau asked.
“Correcting a few mistakes,” Tolliver said.
“Will you just answer me?” Dash’s papa demanded. “Why, Tolliver? Why is it there?”
“Because you’re my son, Aspen. Not my brother’s.”
Dash stopped breathing for a few seconds, blinking.
“You’re misremembering again, Grandfather,” Quinn said.
“No!” Tolliver roared, jabbing the floor with his cane. “I am not!”
Silence settled over them.
“I have not completely lost my mind yet. While I still have use of my faculties, I need to fix the mistakes of the past.” His watery gaze drifted to Aspen.
“Your parents were not a fated pair. They were a match made by my parents for political gain. There was some affection. At first. But it waned with time and they grew somewhat adversarial over the years. Your papa eventually asked for a dissolution of their mating. My brother asked me to convince him to stay. We didn’t need a scandal.
What happened next was worse than what the dissolution would’ve caused. ”
Dash’s head swam. He walked closer to the bench seating and sat as far from Tolliver as he could while continuing to listen, Emerson moving with him.
“Your papa was beautiful and I was weak,” Tolliver said to Aspen.
“We began an affair we had no business having. I thought myself in love and so did he. Months later, during one of his heats, he told your father he was going to one of those retreats, but we met in secret instead. I knew I shouldn’t, but I wanted him.
And I took what wasn’t mine. The following month, he didn’t go into heat and he came to me, in a panic. ”
Tolliver sighed. “I secured medicine to help him cover it up and fake another heat with my brother the next month. And then I ended our affair.”
“You used him until you got what you wanted—and then ran from the consequences of it,” Dash said.
Tolliver stared at him, silent a few seconds.
Ultimately, he nodded. “I could lie and attempt to escape your contempt, but I won’t.
That’s exactly what happened. I convinced him to remain in his loveless mating and allowed my brother to raise my son because I didn’t want a scandal.
” He turned to Aspen. “My brother learned of it years later and it nearly destroyed their relationship—which had somehow warmed after our affair. I sometimes think that was because of their shared love for you, Aspen.”
Dash eyed his papa, whose eyes were filled with tears.
“My brother was a better man than I was. Always had been. You were better off with him,” Tolliver told Aspen.
“I know something bad had happened. There’d been shouting and anger just before they left for Miamian. Was that why they left to work on their relationship? Daddy had learned about you cuckolding him?”
Tolliver nodded. “Yes.”
“They never made it back from that trip, Tolliver!” Aspen roared. “Their blood is on your hands.”
Tolliver’s gaze shone. “Yes. Yes, it is.”
“You brought me into your home, called me your nephew, and raised me in their stead. Why did you never tell me the truth?” Aspen asked. “Now, before you die—that’s when you finally toss this grenade into our laps?”
“I had my will changed with inheritances for you all, which I planned to tell you if you’d come to me. By changing your birth certificate, Aspen, you and your sons can inherit without question.”
“Keep your damned blood money!” Aspen roared before storming off.
Dash’s father rushed after his mate.
Dash eyed Beau and Quin. They all looked to be in a state of shock.
“Grandfather, are you sure your memory is as clear as it should be?” Beau asked.
Tolliver reached into the inside jacket pocket of his suit. A small diary was clutched in his hand when it came back out. “This was Aspen’s papa’s. There’s proof inside that he and I had the affair and that he’d gotten pregnant by me.”
Dash scoffed. “You should’ve told Papa long ago.”
“After it came out, I’d made a promise to my brother to never tell Aspen. It was part of the agreement he and I made in order to move forward.”
“He died,” Dash said. “You could’ve told Papa.”
“I didn’t die,” Tolliver said. “I kept the promise I made to him and left my son with the memory of the man who adored him as his father. He raised Aspen. He loved his son. He was a better man than I. I thought it a blessing at the time.”
“Or it was more of your cowardice,” Dash spat. He chuckled, shaking his head. “This makes you exiling him from the family a million times worse. You do realize that?”
Tolliver cringed. “I wanted what was best for him.”
“My father was what was best for him,” Dash said. “His mate.”
“Our family is a powerful one. No one had ever mated their fated one—not until Quinn and Tanner. We mated for power. Influence. I was raised to see these relationships as contractual, not a love match. I also wanted my son to live a life of ease. Of riches. Wanting for nothing,” Tolliver said.
“And I was angry he wouldn’t listen to reason.
I thought he’d see the error of his ways and come back. ”
“Good thing he didn’t,” Oakley said. “Dash and I wouldn’t exist had he listened to you.”
Tolliver’s cloudy gaze washed over Dash and Oakley. “You’re right. I was wrong but couldn’t see that in my arrogance. Now, nearing the end, even with my memory going, I see far better than I wish I did at times. That’s why I want to make things right before I leave this earth.”
“It’s too late,” Dash said. He turned to Emerson. “The courtroom should be open now. We need to get inside.”
Tolliver eyed Dash. “I’ve spoken to the judge on your behalf.”
Dash rolled his eyes. “You had no right to do that.”
Tolliver seemed to ignore him. “Things will go smoothly now. Rest assured.”
“It’s a simple reclassification,” Dash said, rising on his feet. “It shouldn’t have been bumpy in the first place.” He focused his attention on Beau, Quinn, and Bellamy. “Why did you come?”
“To show our support,” Quinn said.
“And you knew nothing of what he planned?”
Quinn shook his head. “Not a bit.”
“Can you take him home? I don’t want him here,” Dash said.
“I’ll handle it,” Beau said, walking towards Tolliver.
“I’m sorry,” Quinn said to Dash and Oakley. “I’m sure this isn’t welcome news. But, if anything, my brothers and I have gained an uncle out of this chaos.”
Dash eyed Quinn, underwhelmed.
“And you two have gained a grandfather. For however long he has left,” Quinn added. “Which means we’re all first cousins—not second.”
“I guess Oak and I are moving up in the world,” Dash muttered as he walked towards the courtroom.
“The bastard didn’t even mention me,” Oakley snarled. “I was never asked for a heart-to-heart with the bastard. But then, I’m only a lowly omega.”
“Perhaps he’ll forget me once I’m reclassified,” Dash said. “One can only hope.”
Emerson slipped his hand into Dash’s and opened the door inside. Oakley, Quinn, and Bellamy followed them and sat down on one of the benches beside them. A few minutes later, Dash’s red-eyed papa and father arrived and sat directly behind them.
“I’m sorry for my outburst out there,” Papa said, his voice low.
“You had every right—uncle,” Quinn whispered.
Papa scoffed. “At least I enjoy you and your brothers, Quinn. Learning you’re my nephews might be the only silver lining amid this storm cloud.”
Quinn reached back and squeezed Papa’s hand.
Dash eyed Quinn, thinking back to a meeting they’d had in his office long ago, when his cousin had first realized they were related.
He’d done everything in his power to push Quinn and the other McCrearys away, and while he still wasn’t interested in having anything to do with Tolliver, he was glad he and his family had developed a relationship with Quinn, Beau, and Tanner.
He didn’t appreciate the family he had enough.
Dash looked over his shoulder at his father. His dad looked back, a mixture of emotions on his face.
“Thanks for being here, Dad.”
A shine came to his father’s eyes before the man squeezed his shoulder. “Where else would I be, son?”
Dash bit the inside of his cheek, fighting back a wave of emotion. They’d never been overly expressive with one another. That was as close to an ‘I love you’ as he’d get from Daniel Keller. And it was enough.
His papa leaned forward and hugged him around the neck.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
“We love you,” his papa whispered against his ear, as if knowing Dash desperately needed to hear those words.
“I love you, too.”