Megan and Bill were seated side by side at the breakfast bar sipping coffee and trying to eat scrambled eggs and toast. He was in boxers and a Dodgers jersey, and she was wearing one of his old plaid shirts, which hung down below her knees.
“Last night was wonderful, Megan. It was really special for me.”
“Was that before or after I cried?”
Bill moved his arm, pulling her in, holding her close and wisely refrained from a wisecrack.
“All of it, Megan. We all have demons and I certainly have mine although I didn’t lose a child.”
Megan placed her hand on his chest.
“After I took you, Julio, and Jake to meet Eric I was so touched that I wanted to know more about you. The way you were with Eric-.”
Then it struck her. “The way you helped, Eric, Bill. That boy was very sick and may not have made it out of surgery, and now he’s healed.
“He was healed…and I know you somehow had something to do with it.”
Bill was looking at Megan with a studious and puzzled expression.
“I can’t explain how the tumor disappeared, Megan. And I sure as hell don’t have an explanation for what happened with Katie Lindskog. Jake and I didn’t do anything except try to help.”
They studied each other eyes for a moment and then Bill smiled.
“Your eyes are hazel, just beautiful and I like the tousled hair look.”
“Nice try big guy, but you’re not getting off that easy.”
Bill sighed. “It was worth a try. I’m not good at this emotional stuff. It doesn’t do me any good.”
Her hand was still on his chest, and she studied his face, letting her eyes take in the long lean face, the brown eyes and the stubble on his chin. He had a great smile when he was relaxed.
“Anyway, after Eric left the hospital, I Googled you.”
“And?” asked Bill with a smile. He didn’t have anything to hide.
Megan locked her gaze on his eyes, not at all sure what was going to happen when she spoke.
“You were orphaned.”
Three simple words.
The impact anything but.
Bill’s face iced over. He turned his head away as placed the toast he had been holding carefully on his plate.
He rubbed his right hand on the stubble of his chin, letting his fingers and thumb move back and forth for a long time before he stopped and turned to her again.
‘I was-. I guess I am an orphan, to be completely accurate.”
“I am here, Bill. Whatever you want to tell me is fine and if you don’t that’s fine too.”
He leaned back in his chair and wiped moisture from the outside corner of his left eye. His shoulders slumped and he blinked a few times as an immense sadness rose from deep in his soul.
“What else did you find out, Megan?”
“That you were only sixteen when Natalie was born.”
It wasn’t the answer he expected, which was a slight relief.
Bill nodded. Over dinner last month he had shared with her his relationship with Rachel, how his daughter had been kept from him by Natalie’s grandfather. But he didn’t remember telling her how old he had been.
“I figured that since you knew how old I was, it wouldn’t be hard to figure out when Rachel became pregnant,” said Bill.
“It wasn’t, and I don’t care anyway. You could have given up after what Rachel’s dad did, but you didn’t. I am proud of you for that.”
“Thank you,” he said simply.
Bill leaned forward, pushed his plate away then rested his elbows on the countertop.
It wasn’t really the morning after sex conversation he had hoped for. He had hoped for a joint romp in the shower. He sighed.
She was studying him.
“What else do you want to know?”
“I want to know about your parents, and if you were abused.”
He took a deep breath and let it out. One of the questions he expected. The other he did not.
“I was not physically abused, Megan.”
“That’s not much of an answer,” she replied gently, taking one of his hands in hers.
“Are you sure you want to hear this?” he asked.