| |
Trent
“Looks like I missed a lot recently.” Bill looked between me and Blair as we sat on adjacent couches in the living room.
We had spent the last hour recounting everything that’d happened recently. Blair had tried to sugar coat the part where I tried to sabotage her position at Parker, Inc., but I hadn’t felt right about it. As much as I wanted to be a part of Parker, Inc., I couldn’t find any glory in being reaccepted as a part of the family, or even a part of Parker, Inc., if the man who I once thought was my father—the man who I looked up to, the man who I worked so hard to impress—didn’t know the whole truth of what had happened and the grave errors in judgment I’d made along the way.
“Dad, we really wanted to tell you sooner, but we wanted to make sure you were in good health and could voice your thoughts and opinions once you knew everything.”
“That was very thoughtful of you, Blair.”
I watched Bill look at his daughter with pride and love, and a dull ache inside my chest reminded me of what I did have, and what I would never have—a father who’d look at me in that same way.
“Trent played an instrumental part, too,” Blair tried to share some of the credit. This was something she’d often done when we were growing up. While I appreciated it, I always wished that she would just take complete ownership over something great she’d done.
“Don’t listen to Blair, Bill. I probably did more harm than good.”
Bill looked at me and smiled. “Son, you know I never thought it was polite to call your old man by his first name.”
What was implied in his words stung me to a halt, and the word “son” rang in my ears like a beautiful melody.
“Sorry, Dad.” We shared a knowing look and I saw Blair beam at us from the corner of my eyes.
“So I’m glad you guys decided to tell me about what you recently discovered about Trent and Katherine because there’s something that I’ve been waiting for a long time to tell you.”
“What is it?” My eyes grew wide as I looked at Bill. Blair and I exchanged a quick glance before we looked back to Bill.
“I knew about Katherine before you guys told me today.”
I heard Blair let out an audible gasp, mirroring the same surprise I felt inside. This revelation was the last thing I’d expected from Bill. If he already knew, why did he keep me around?
“When? How? Why didn’t you say anything?” I heard myself ask in quick intervals.
Bill chuckled. “Slow down, Son. I’m going to tell you everything.”
“Dad, you must know this is quite a shock for both me and Trent.” The shocked expression hadn’t left Blair’s face. “Can you start from the beginning?”
“So when you were about ten, Trent, I had my tax account do an audit of all my financial accounts. It was when I was thinking of taking Parker, Inc. public, and I wanted to make sure all my financial records and transactions would pass scrutiny by the SEC. Anyway, my accountant notified me that in the bank account I had set up for you and your mother, there was a monthly check payment for a substantial amount of money that went back as far as three years. The accountant knew that I paid for your mother’s house and car, so the monthly payments to a random individual I’ve never heard of raised some red flags. I had it looked into and found out that your mother was sending money to a family on a monthly basis. I confronted her, and that was when she told me what she had discovered three years earlier—that you were accidentally switched at birth with our biological daughter. Your mother told me that she couldn’t bear to give you up so she started paying them off monthly to keep quiet.”
“But,” I couldn’t help but interrupt his story, “My mom said in one of her letters that what happened was a secret and you didn’t know. Why would she tell me that if it wasn’t true?”
“Your mother and I disagreed on whether or not to tell you. She went back and forth on whether or not to tell you. At the time, I didn’t think it was a good idea to tell you. I thought it’d affect you and your relationship with your mom, Blair, and me. I had told your mother that if she wanted to continue to pay the monthly payments to the other family, she couldn’t get me involved or tell anyone that I knew about the payoffs. I didn’t want this to cause legal issues for the company if it was discovered that the CEO was not only involved in the scandal but used the company profits to fund the monthly payoffs.”
“Oh.”
“But now that you know a lot of what happened, there’s no longer a reason to keep it from you.”
“What do you mean ‘a lot of what happened’? What else is there?”
“That’s the part I wanted to tell you today. A few years after I discovered the secret your mother was hiding, I talked with your mother and we made a decision.”
“What was it?” Blair’s eager voice cut in. I could tell she was just as eager to find out everything as I was.
“Your mother and I decided to legally adopt you, and the other family had legally adopted Katherine. We had promised that they would continue receiving their monthly payments for the rest of their lives. I also created a separate living trust for Katherine so that she would be well provided for once she reached the age of twenty-five. However, she would not have entitlement to Parker, Inc.”
“A living trust?” Blair’s voice piped up again. “So she’d get monthly payments sent directly to her, not her parents, when she reached twenty-five?”
“Exactly. Even though she wasn’t a part of my life, she was still my flesh and blood. I set up a multi-million-dollar trust fund for her, and made sure she received a sizable monthly allowance so that she could live comfortably even if she never worked a day in her life.”
“But?”
I saw the confusion on Blair’s face and wondered what she thinking. But before I could ask, her expression changed and she dropped her question.
“Dad?” I looked at Bill, my mind full of questions I wanted to ask him.
“Yes, Son?”
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. “Why did you and mom decide to adopt me?”
“Son, what are you getting at?” He furrowed his brows in confusion.
“What I mean is, when you found out Katherine was your biological child, why didn’t you use the money you probably had to use on the formal adoption to get her back? You wouldn’t have had to create that trust fund for her, and all those monthly payments to her parents would have stopped.”
“Oh, Trent. You still don’t get it, do you? After all these years, I thought you’d eventually understand.”
“Understand what?” I glanced at Blair for answers, who shrugged in response.
“You’re my child, not Katherine.”
I stared at him blankly.
He shook his head. “I was the one that suggested to your mother that we should legally adopt you. We talked and both agreed that, to be fair to everyone involved, we could only pick one child between the two of you to call our own, and to love unconditionally as our own.”
I felt a swarm of emotions evade me as I took in his words. “And you picked me?”
He smiled and nodded.
Tears welled up in my eyes. “But...I thought you never cared for me.”
“And why would you think that?”
I saw the genuine hurt on his face in response to my words, and I was overcome by a wave of guilt. “You were always so tough on me. Blair seemed to be the perfect child in your eyes, but you never really acknowledged any of my accomplishments. I grew up trying so hard to make you proud of me.” I blinked violently as tears fell from my eyes.
“Son,” he beamed at me, “I wish you wouldn’t be so hard on yourself. I wish you could see what I see. I’ve always loved you like you were my own. I was always tough on you because I wanted to cultivate you into the future CEO of Parker, Inc. when I officially step down. I am proud of you, so much so that I feel so confident leaving you in charge of our family company.”
I looked into his eyes. Even though he gave me the same look he’d always given, it looked different now. For the first time in my life, I saw the same look of pride and love that I’d always seen him give to Blair—that same look that I’d craved my entire life. It wasn’t until now that I realized my father had always looked at me that way. It was me who had been the one to shut him out.
“I love you, Dad.” I wiped away the tears from my eyes. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me through the years. I promise you that I will do everything in my power to make you proud.”
“I have no doubt, Son.”
For the first time in my life, I felt like I belonged. I felt loved. I felt like a real Parker.
***
“I’m glad to have you back, big brother,” Blair giggled as we walked toward our cars that were parked along Dad’s circular driveway.
I laughed, feeling the dark clouds that’d surrounded me throughout my life had finally disappeared. “Well, technically, I’ve been legally your big brother since we were young.”
She joined in my laughter. “I’m glad you’ve always been there.”
Just then, I recalled something that had bothered me earlier. “Hey, Blair?”
“Yeah?”
“When Dad was talking about the living trust fund for Katherine, why did you seem confused?”
She frowned. “Well, on the first day I’d met Katherine a week or so ago, she told me that after her parents died, she had to deal with the mortgage and funeral expenses. She ended up swimming in debt ever since.” She shook her head in confusion. “I even wrote her a check for $5,000 to help her out...but now, I don’t know why she lied. If she was getting more than enough from the trust fund, why did she need me to think she was poor? Why did she cash the $5,000?”
“Hmm. That is strange behavior. So why didn’t you bring this up earlier?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I guess I didn’t want to break Dad’s heart if he knew Katherine was lying to me about money and how bad her life had been. I didn’t want Dad to worry.”
“Blair, sometimes you’re too selfless. I know you want to get to know your biological sister, but from everything that you’ve told me, please be careful with her.”
Her face suddenly fell, and I suddenly noticed the pain and heartache in her sad emerald eyes, and I knew that something had happened that I wasn’t aware of.
“What happened, Blair?”
Tears immediately streamed down her face. “Dean and I broke up,” she sobbed.
“What? How did that happen?” I couldn’t believe my ears. From what I had seen between the two of them, I thought they were meant for one another.
“I...God, this just sounds too crazy to believe.”
I’d never seen Blair fall apart like this before. “Start from the beginning, Blair.”
I was shell-shocked by Blair’s account of what had happened and what Dean had told her. I’d met people like Katherine, the cold, manipulative type who preyed on others to get what she wanted.
“Blair, I once promised you when we were kids that I’d protect you forever.”
A small smile appeared on her lips as she blinked back her tears. “You remember that?”
I nodded. “I never told you this, but my happiest moments in childhood were with you. Outside of my mom, you were the closest family to me—you always loved me unconditionally, and you always giggled and looked at me like I was the most important thing in your life. You were the only person that seemed to look at me like that. Even though I hadn’t known then that I was switched at birth, I had always felt like an outsider. But you were always there to love me. I want to be always there to protect you.”
“Thank you, Trent. That means a lot to me.”
I smiled at her, “The big brother in me is dying to give you some advice.”
She chuckled lightly. “Okay, lay it on me.”
“Okay, I know you don’t want to believe it, but it’s clear to me that Katherine’s intentions aren’t genuine. She lied about not having money. She lied about not knowing Dean. And from what you told me, she was the one in the wrong when she cheated on him.”
“I’ll be more careful with her.”
“Good. And for my second, and more important, advice.”
She laughed. “You’re on a roll.”
“You betcha.” I winked. “But in all seriousness, from the interactions I’ve had with Dean, I can tell he’s a good guy. I also know that he cares about you a lot. Six months ago, the temporarily-insane Trent tried to recruit him to help me get you kicked out of the company.”
“I remember that.” She shot me a knowing look.
“Sorry again,” I said sheepishly. “Anyway, he wouldn’t do it. He said he cared about you and wouldn’t do that to you. I knew then that he loved you.”
Tears returned to her eyes.
“Blair, you know me. You know I’m a pretty good judge of character. I know the type of guy Dean is, and I think he’s perfect for you.”
“But I...I don’t know if we’re meant to be.”
I frowned. “What are you scared of, Blair?”
Her voice cracked as she answered me. “I’m scared that he’s not over her. She was his very first love, and if she hadn’t cheated on him, he would have proposed. It was because of her crushing his heart that he’s been a commitment-phobe bachelor for the last decade.” She sighed. “I’m worried that she will always be a part of him—that there are feelings there that he doesn’t even know he has because he’s been resisting her because he wants to be faithful to me.”
“Blair,” I grabbed both her arms and looked intently into her eyes. “Fuck Katherine! There was a reason that relationship ended. It’s also been over ten years. People change. Dean’s changed. Blair, I let the secret of Katherine almost destroy our relationship. Don’t let her destroy the relationship you have with Dean. I can tell you both love each other.”
I could tell my words were marinating in her mind as she tried to decide what to do. Finally she smiled and threw her hands around me, hugging me as tightly as she could. “Thank you, Trent! You’re right. I made a big mistake.” She then walked quickly to her car.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to go tell Dean exactly how I feel about him before it’s too late!”
Before I could respond and wish her luck, she sped off. I stood there smiling after her, happy that she was going to go fight for her happiness.
