Harkham's Corner (Harkham's Series Book 3) (31 page)

His dad cleared his throat. “That’s the other reason I wanted those tests run. I figured if we could find out if I was your father, Thomas would stop plaguing you and these episodes would diminish. I figured it was worth some temporary pain and confusion on both our ends.”

Adam swung his legs over to the side. “You feel confused, too?”

“I do. I know it’s silly since I always suspected and hoped, but being fairly certain about something and knowing without a doubt are two very different things. It took my breath away when I received the results. I knew it would hurt and free both of us.”

Adam got up and flung himself at his father, hugged him and his heart ached for Thomas more than he ever thought it could.

It may have freed him and Dustin, but Thomas would be trapped in a nightmare when he discovered the truth.

* * *

After his dad and Amelia left, Adam collapsed into bed.

Button was snoozing already, and Meg was in her own bed, looking at books.

“Adam, you’re not the only one this freaked out and caused episodes to.” Mari averted her gaze for a moment and sucked in her lips. She tossed her arms around her middle.

“It caused you to miscarry?” He rolled off the bed, strode over to her and wrapped her in his arms.

“No,” she said with a sniff. “I’ve had some time to go over all this in my head several times, and what I think now is that I wasn’t ever pregnant. But I knew this stuff about Dustin. I knew what he wanted to do. Amelia told me why they wanted the DNA tests, and I figured it would turn out this way. You remember how stressed out you were over keeping that secret from me about Thomas’s cancer?”

“Yes.” He held her looser so he could see in her eyes better.“

“Well, I had knots shooting through my stomach all the time, knowing I was keeping this from you—fully aware your dad was doing this paternity test.” She brushed her hands over his cheeks, then cupped his jaw loosely. “I wanted to tell you so much, but I worried it would only add more stress and possibly for nothing if it turned out to be negative. But still . . . That’s gotta be why my period was late. I found out that day from Amelia the results, and that night, my body released all that strain and my cycle came back.”

“I wish you would’ve told me so it wouldn’t have shut your body off like that. I would prefer to carry the heavy load for you. Just like I used to insist on carrying your loaded down backpack in high school.” He cupped her jaw back. They were almost boxed in by their arms.

“Okay.”

“Okay?” He kissed the corner of her mouth.

“I won’t ever do that again. I’ll tell you everything. I’m sorry.”

He smiled softly. “There’s nothing to be sorry for. You love me. You protected me. I’m glad your heart wanted to do that, even if it wasn’t what was best for you.”

They moved back over toward the bed, undressed and got in.

They snuggled for quite a while until he said, “Tell me tomorrow, okay? I don’t think I can handle it tonight.”

“Tell you tomorrow what those women said?”

His gut tightened at the thought of London and Mrs. Fahey. “Yes, but I need to sleep first. I know Amelia said the episodes were probably over, but I don’t know if she’s right about that. Ryan can send me screaming into a hidey hole in my mind.”

She chuckled. “Me, too, so I can see why. And you know very few women scare me, but she does.”

“Why?” He grabbed her hips and angled them back so she was more flush up against him.

“Because of what she’s been through. You’ll find out, and you’ll know what I mean.” She gripped his hand into hers.

Button stirred behind them in his sleep.

“It doesn’t matter, because I have a family I love. That’s what I care about.” Mari hummed a happy sound.

“There’s nothing better than that. I have the best one imaginable, and I wouldn’t give it up for anything. Not even a woman like her.”

He swallowed this strange feeling sliding down his throat and managed to hold her until she drifted off.

His sleep took longer, but when it came, he was watching clouds with her and his two kids with no fighting fathers around, because he belonged there and there were no questions about who they were. They were Adam’s, and he was theirs.

It would always be that way.

Chapter 16

Adam woke to Mari bringing him breakfast in bed.

“Did you sleep okay?” She set the food on the nightstand next to him.

He took a breath and gripped his hair for a moment, trying to get his brain to wake up. “Yeah, I think so. I don’t remember dreaming. I’m not sure if that’s good or not, though.”

“Does that bother you that you don’t remember it?”

“Yeah, a little. Yeah.” He rubbed his eyes and stretched his arms and legs.

“Oh, I’m sorry, sweetie.” She pretended to frown, but it kind of turned into a lopsided smile. “I was thinking maybe you could eat, get dressed and then come out into the living room so we could finish our discussion from last night. I had your dad and Amelia take the kids this morning so we could do it without any interruptions.”

He sighed and dragged his hands down his face. Did he really want to know what was going on with London and Mrs. Fahey? Couldn’t he just ignore it?

“Okay,” he said, his eyes moving over to his favorite bowl filled with his favorite cereal. “Sounds good. And thank you for breakfast.”

“Of course.” She gave him a kiss, then left the room.

He ate his food slowly, dreading hearing about those two psycho women and what they were up to.

When he was done eating, he rinsed his bowl in the bathroom, set it aside and got dressed.

He brought the bowl out with him, but stopped at the edge of the hallway right where it opened into the living room. His jaw dropped open, and his body felt on fire when he saw two intruders sitting on his brown couches.

“What the fuck is going on?” he all but yelled. He wanted to throw his cereal bowl at their heads, but instead, he placed it on the ground and marched over to them.

“Good morning,” London said, smiling. Mari sat next to her.

“I asked a question.” He looked at Mari.

“I know you did, and I told you it would all be explained. Take a seat, honey, and I can fill you in.” She patted the space next to her, which would sandwich him between his wife and Ryan Fahey.

Not a chance.

He moved over to the opposite couch.

The second his eyes landed on Mrs. Fahey, his breath caught, his spine went stiff and his hands fisted. “Why do they have to be here to do this?” His gaze moved over to his wife. “They’re not welcome here.”

“They are if I say they are,” Mari replied, her voice firm.

“Why would you say that?” A shiver rippled down his back. His wife never spoke to him like that before.

“Because Tori is like family to me—you know that, and when she needs help from me, I’ll always give it.” He started to protest, ready to bring up London’s old drug habit, but Mari kept rolling right over him. “With anything within reason and that’s good for her, that is.”

He swallowed. Okay, yeah—that made sense, but . . .

“I wasn’t ever coming on to you,” Mrs. Fahey said, sitting stiffer than him. “I’m sorry if it came off that way.”

He sniffed, and his nostrils flared. “It didn’t seem
anything
. It
was
that way. You were constantly trying to get me to be close to you and touch you and you were flirting.”

Mrs. Fahey rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine. Yes—at first, it
was
that way. But I only did that because it seemed the best way to get what I wanted, but I didn’t want
you
like that. Not really. I did all that for another reason.”

“I still don’t understand why you’re here,” he told Mrs. Fahey. “Mari, you remember what I told you she said and did?” His eyes narrowed at his wife. They never did that.

“Yes, I do.” She huffed for a second, then replied, “She called you beautiful and later said you were cute. She flirted with you and tried to get you to touch her hip when it was supposedly bruised. You thought she wanted sex, and you thought she stole your lab coat. She wore spicy perfume you didn’t like, and you freaked out because she told you her baby was not her husband’s, but that it would have blue eyes and red hair, insinuating it was yours.”

“Exactly.” He nodded. “Only that baby could have blue eyes anyway, because that recessive gene might run in her family.” He flipped his wrist at Mrs. Fahey. “That doesn’t have anything to do with me. I don’t know about the red hair. Maybe the real father has reddish hair.” He shrugged and kind of pouted. It seemed sad she ever did and said all of that. Mrs. Fahey had a tragic life.

“My husband is Italian, and he and all his family have dark hair and eyes.” Mrs. Fahey’s long lashes fluttered when she blinked in rapid succession. She stared down at her brightly painted toes peeping out through her sandals. “He beats me. He’s been doing it the entire time we’ve been together.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t help you with that. You should seek the proper authorities for battered women.” Adam clasped his hands together, because he really needed to hold someone’s hand right about now and his wife was too far away.

Choppy must’ve sensed it, because she hopped up on the couch next to him and then landed on his lap. He stroked her, and right away it eased the tightness in his shoulders and the constricting of his throat.

His teeth were still grinding, though.

“Adam, I tried to tell you that day I came back to the office to apologize that—”

“You were there to seek out sex again. I knew that’s what you wanted,” he said, his voice loud.

“I did not!” Her hand flew to her belly that was barely showing. “I was trying to fix what I’d done. I even left the lab coat behind in the hallway before I ran out of there, embarrassed and ashamed that you thought I was such a whore. You were obviously completely repulsed by me.”

Mari gave him a look like he should apologize.

“I’m sorry, but I . . . I was at work! What was I supposed to do?” Choppy barked at the woman, while staying on Adam’s lap. He calmed her down, but his own heart still raced like mad. “Women there are always flirting with me, and you seemed even more aggressive than most. I had to steer clear. I love my wife and kids, and I won’t ever disappoint them by straying.”

“I know that. And I told you that then.” Mrs. Fahey’s eyes oozed tears. “I came back because aside from trying to make amends, I was also trying to ask you something about your condition.”

He swallowed. “My . . .
con-condition
?” he stammered. He swallowed, and his throat was bone dry, making the act almost painful.

“Yes.” She rubbed her tiny belly in a protective way, then looked up at him. “I was on drugs when I first got pregnant four months ago. For the entire first semester actually, and my sister here”—she pointed at London—“she told me that was how her little boy turned out the way you did. I was too afraid to see Dr. Harkham myself, so I stole your lab coat and had some DNA tests run on it. I don’t know what I was looking for,
really
—but I thought it would maybe give me clues as to what it is you and J. J. have.”

His mind raced. “Sister? She’s related to you?” His heart almost stopped. Why hadn’t he noticed the similarities before? Same noses, eye shape, jawline. Their eyes were both green, only Ryan’s were lighter. Same height, but different shape. While London was tall and lean, Mrs. Fahey was very curvy with a very rounded rear end. Her hair was blonde, and London’s was almost scarlet.

“Half-sisters, actually,” London told him. “But we don’t think of each other as anything other than siblings, even if I ran away from home when I was fifteen, and she was only thirteen. We’ve always been close. Always.” She smiled at her sister. “I tried to watch out for her, since our father abused us and beat the shit out of me regularly. That’s why I left.”

“It’s why I left, too. Only I got involved with a boyfriend who I married and then he became physically violent with me as well.” Ryan sniffed. “I can’t seem to escape it. Men only want to hurt me, try to kill me. And it doesn’t seem to matter if I’m pregnant or not.” She lifted her left pant leg, revealing a large slightly swollen bruise above her ankle, very similar to that of the shape of a handprint.

“My God!” Adam gasped. “You need to get help!”

“I already left him two nights ago. I’m starting to show, no matter how little I eat. I can’t escape the fact I’m pregnant, and he probably already knew. He was beating me more and more, so London took me in.” Ryan swallowed and she almost went limp as she cried softly. “I can’t ever thank her. He’s come looking for me twice already, but she hid me well.”

“Who’s the father? Why isn’t he helping you?” Adam’s knees slammed together.
It’s not me, it’s not me, it’s not me
.

“You know who it is.” She wiped her tears away with her fingertips.

His face scrunched up, and he shook his head. “I don’t know why you would think
I
would know.”