ONE YEAR LATER
Charlotte beamed with great joy as she watched Curtis and Matthew, smiling and posing for the photo she was about to take of them, something Curtis seemed to ask her to do a lot as of late. Something he’d been asking her to do on a regular basis, ever since he’d learned that Matthew was his child. His biological son.
It had come as a shock to all of them, but after David’s mother had called with such astonishing news, Charlotte had done what Mrs. Miller had suggested. She and Curtis had gone to court on the day of the hearing and Charlotte had asked Attorney Vellman to request that a paternity test be taken—which hadn’t been a problem since the judge had been quick to say that if he’d been David, he would have already insisted on that anyway. Especially after being told about a child thirteen years after the fact. Of course, David had become outraged, but the case had been continued and as it had turned out, there was no way David could have been Matthew’s father. The normal DNA testing had been administered, but what they’d also learned was that David had the rarest blood type of all, AB negative, and Matthew was O positive. Meaning any offspring of David’s would have had to fall into the A or B category and there was no possible way he could have an O child.
But still, as far as David had been concerned, those results had meant nothing, and it was only after two other tries with two other facilities and hearing the same outcome that he’d finally given up the fight. It was only after this that he’d relented and accepted the fact that Matthew wasn’t his son. Although, for a while, this particular truth had caused major issues between Charlotte and Curtis because Curtis had been sure Charlotte had slept with another man and was refusing to admit it. But Charlotte had promised him she hadn’t and had eventually convinced him to be tested again. Curtis had thought it was a total waste of time but when she’d printed out an article about a well-known, celebrity hairstylist by the name of Andre Chreky and how it had taken a two-year legal battle and hundreds of thousands of dollars to prove he wasn’t the father of a certain child, Curtis began to listen. Andre had been wrongly accused and the reason it had taken him such a long time to prove he wasn’t the father was that one of the largest paternity labs in the country had made an error and no one had wanted to believe this could happen.
But it had. And it was the reason Curtis had decided that maybe it was worth being retested and why the DNA lab in question was currently under state investigation. It was the reason Charlotte and Curtis could now say they had a child together, one that truly belonged to both of them, genetically.
Best of all, Matthew had finally forgotten about David, the man he’d known as his father for a short while, had become fascinated with, and had wanted to see on a regular basis. As soon as he’d discovered Curtis was his natural father, however, he’d apologized to Curtis many times over, and now he and Curtis were closer than they had been originally. They were together all the time and neither of them seemed to want to do much of anything without the other. It was almost as if their being together gave them both a certain sense of security. They had always thought the world of each other but now they seemed to treasure their father-son relationship even more and Charlotte couldn’t be happier.
“Now, Mom, you take one with Curtina,” Matthew said, stepping across the family room and reaching for the digital camera.”
“Come on, sweetie,” Charlotte said, and Curtina ran over to her.
Charlotte picked her up and Matthew positioned the camera in front of his face. “Smile, Curtina.”
When she did, he pressed the button and then looked at the screen. “That was a good one. Now, Mom, you take one of Dad, Curtina, and me.”
“Okay,” she said, and Matthew passed the camera to her.
“Smile,” she said, and this time Curtina giggled loudly and they all laughed with her.
“Come on, Curtina,” Matthew said. “Let’s you and me go get some ice cream.”
“Yeaaahhh.”
“I don’t think there’s any in there,” Charlotte told him.
“Yes, there is. Justine bought two gallons of it yesterday,” he said, referring to the new housekeeper.
When they left the room, Curtis looked at Charlotte and said, “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For accepting my little girl. Because I know it was the hardest thing you’ve ever had to do.”
“Sometimes it’s still hard, but when Matthew told me how wrong I was for not allowing you or him to see her, it was a wake-up call. I felt so ashamed when he reminded me that you could have treated him the same way when you thought he was David’s son, so how could I be so mean when it came to Curtina.”
“This has been a rough couple of years for all of us, and I’m just glad we’re still together.”
“So am I. But I’ll be honest with you, Curtis. I still can’t promise you that I’ll ever be able to be a mother to Curtina. I mean, I’m sorry that she might lose her real mother one day, and that you feel it would be your responsibility to take her in, but I just don’t know if I could ever commit to having her here on a full-time basis.”
Curtis didn’t say anything and Charlotte knew it was because he was worried about Curtina’s future. He worried because Tabitha had indeed contracted HIV from Reverend Tolson, and she was already having to take medication for it. There was no guarantee that she would get full-blown AIDS, because nowadays so many people were able to live normal lives, but Charlotte knew Tabitha had reason to be concerned. Especially since they’d learned from Vivian that she, too, was having to take medication and that Reverend Tolson was dying. All of which Curtis had told Tabitha about. Of course, Vivian was no longer married to Reverend Tolson and hadn’t spoken to him directly, but she’d heard from her ex–in-laws that he’d now been given only a few months to live.
“I’m sorry,” Charlotte continued and walked over to the row of windows facing the backyard. “I just don’t know.”
Curtis walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “I understand. I know it would be a huge step to have to take, and we’ll worry about that only if it becomes necessary.”
“It’s not because I don’t love you or because I don’t care about Curtina, because I do, but I still have such angry feelings toward Tabitha. And as much as I hate to say this, whenever I see Curtina, it makes me think about the affair you had with her mother.”
“I’m sure it does, but maybe it’ll get better with time. Especially since Tabitha now realizes that you’re the only woman for me and that I have no interest in being with her.”
“I hope that’s true, and I will say that I’m glad she’s finally stopped harassing us.”
Curtis squeezed Charlotte tightly and rested the side of his face against hers. “I love you so much.”
“I love you, too. I’ll love you for the rest of my life.”
“And I’ll love you for the rest of mine,” he said, and Charlotte knew he meant every word. She knew, for the first time since they’d gotten married, that only death would separate them.
And she couldn’t remember ever feeling more sure about anything.