Chương 12
“You have it?”
“Not on me.”
“You said Dad wrote it down.”
“The paper’s at my house.”
“Take me back.”
Richard caught Daniel’s arm.
Daniel jerked away so violently that Richard nearly lost his balance.
“Don’t touch me.”
Richard lowered his hand.
“I’m asking you not to call him tonight.”
“Why does everybody keep asking me to wait?”
“Because you’re angry.”
“I’m going to be angry tomorrow.”
“Yes.”
“Probably Tuesday too.”
“Yes.”
“So what magical thing happens if I sleep first?”
Richard looked suddenly older than Claire remembered.
“You might decide what you actually want from him.”
Daniel opened his mouth, then stopped.
Richard continued before he could answer.
“Do you want a name?”
“I have one.”
“A father?”
“I had one.”
That struck everyone silent.
Daniel looked down at the porch boards.
His voice dropped.
“I had one.”
Peter shoved both hands into his coat pockets.
Claire saw him blink several times.
Richard sat on the edge of a wicker chair without seeming to decide to.
“Frank was your father.”
Daniel looked at him.
“You don’t get points for saying that now.”
“I’m not asking for points.”
“Then give me information.”
Richard rubbed his palms over his knees.
“Michael and I worked together.”
“Where?”
“At Brennan Tool.”
“The machine shop?”
“Yes.”
Claire remembered Frank mentioning Brennan Tool once or twice, usually in stories involving men whose names had meant nothing to her.
Richard looked toward the street.
“Michael started there a few months after me.”
“And Mom?”
“She knew us both.”
Daniel’s jaw shifted.
“Biblically, apparently.”
“Daniel,” Claire said.
He turned on her.
“What?”
She had no useful answer.
“Nothing.”
“That’s what I thought.”
The bathroom door opened inside.
Mara did not return immediately.
Claire suspected she was washing her hands with unprecedented dedication.
Richard said, “Michael left town before you were born.”
“Why?”
“He got a job in Ohio.”
“Convenient.”
“It was a job.”
“Did he know Mom was pregnant?”
Richard’s eyes stayed on the street.
“I don’t know.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because some of us didn’t spend the last forty years collecting sworn statements.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“You knew enough to tell Grandpa you weren’t my father.”
Richard looked up.
“Yes.”
“How?”
Richard hesitated.
Peter took his hands from his pockets.
“Because he tested you too.”
Richard’s face answered before his mouth did.
Daniel stared.
Claire felt the pieces shift again.
“Frank tested Richard,” she said.
Richard swore under his breath.
“When?”
Peter asked.
Richard stood.
“This is exactly why I told him to go home.”
“When?” Daniel repeated.
“Last year.”
Daniel went still.
“So Dad had your DNA.”
“No.”
“You just said—”
“He asked me to take a test.”
“And you did?”
“No.”
Daniel’s expression twisted.
“Then how could you tell him you weren’t my father?”
Richard walked to the porch railing.
“Because I already knew.”
Claire heard Mara’s footsteps inside, then stop again.
Daniel said, “How?”
Richard’s shoulders rose and fell.
“I couldn’t have children.”
Nobody spoke.
A car passed at the end of the street, its tires hissing over damp pavement.
Richard kept his back to them.
“I found out when I was twenty-six.”
Daniel’s anger did not disappear, but it lost its direction.
“You were twenty-six after I was born.”
“Yes.”
“So before that you thought you could be my father.”
Richard gripped the railing.
“Yes.”
Claire watched Daniel absorb it.
“When Mom told you?”
“She didn’t tell me I was your father.”
“She told you I was possible.”
Richard nodded once.
“And you did nothing.”
“I did what she asked.”
“What was that?”
“Stayed away.”
Daniel looked almost offended by the simplicity of it.
“For forty-three years?”
“No.”
Richard turned.
“For about eighteen months.”
Mara appeared in the doorway.
Claire held out a hand, and Mara came to her.
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
“What happened after eighteen months?”
“I saw you.”
“At the grocery store?”
Richard frowned.
“What?”
Claire said, “Michael saw Evelyn and Daniel at a grocery store when Daniel was almost two.”
Richard’s face changed again.
Not shock this time.
Confusion.
“No.”
Claire felt the cold return.
“What?”
“That wasn’t Michael.”
Daniel stared at him.
“Mom said it was.”
Richard shook his head.
“I was with Michael when he left.”
“Maybe he came back.”
“He didn’t.”
“You can’t know that.”
“I drove him to the airport.”
“That proves he got on a plane.”
“He moved to Arizona.”
Claire said, “Evelyn said Ohio.”
Richard looked at her.
“He’d already left Ohio by then.”
Peter swore softly.
Daniel sat down on the porch step.
The anger had finally given way to something worse.
Claire recognized it because she had seen it on Mara’s face in the kitchen.
Exhaustion from trying to make adults’ sentences agree.
“Who did Mom see in the grocery store?” Daniel asked.
Richard did not answer.
“Richard.”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel laughed into both hands.
Mara leaned against Claire.
“Can we call Grandma?”
“No,” Daniel said immediately.
Claire looked at him.
He lowered his hands.
“No more asking her questions over the phone.”
“What do you want?”
“I want her in a room.”
“With who?”
“Everybody.”
Richard shook his head.
“I’m not doing a family tribunal.”
Daniel stood.
“You’re already in it.”
“No.”
Richard pointed toward the street.
“You came to my house.”
“And you opened the door.”
“I should’ve pretended I was asleep.”
Peter said, “You still can.”
Richard gave him a look.
Peter shrugged.
“It’s late.”
For one absurd second, Richard smiled.
It vanished quickly.
Mara whispered to Claire, “Uncle Peter does jokes when he’s scared.”
Peter heard her.
“I do jokes all the time.”
“That’s because you’re scared all the time.”
“Excellent, now the child is profiling me.”
Daniel looked at Mara, and something in his face loosened.
He held out his hand.
“Come here.”
Mara crossed the porch.
Daniel pulled her against him.
She hugged his waist without speaking.
Claire looked away to give them privacy they did not actually have.
Richard cleared his throat.
“There’s something else.”
May you like
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Of course there is.”
