Chapter 12

They’d been talking for a while, but the big man could sense it was crunch time.

“Abigail, you know that whatever you want is what you are going to get. So tell me, what is it that you need, want, what all,” he said.

“Like I mentioned: I went to see him, his dad went to see him, and then my dad went to see him, all in the last few days since you’ve been gone, a regular parade,” said Abigail. Her husband smiled.

“Yes, seems so,” he said.

“Everyone, including me, had the same revelation if that’s what it was. I mean seeing him like that! Owen, the man has no hope of any kind of a life, not even a bad one,” she said.

“But? There’s a but in there somewhere, right?” he said. She gave him a look. She swallowed. He noticed.

“Yes,” she said.

“Abigail?” he said.

“Actually a couple of buts, as you say,” she said.

“Okay,” he said. “What are they?”

“There may be a way to fix his face. When he was in Germany, there were rumors or something that there was a doctor who could work miracles of reconstruction of faces disfigured by war,” she said.

“Okay, but you say rumors. So... ?” he said.

“Yes, apparently some of the soldiers that were in the hospital at the time with him had heard of this guy that could do the job, but that the guy was about the only one on the planet who could, and he was costly, very costly,” said Abigail.

“How costly?” said Owen.

“Upwards of a million dollars,” she said. They were in the kitchen, and her husband, who had been standing, took a seat at the breakfast bar.

“Okay, we were going to offer him half a million anyway. So a million, while it’s a lot more, it’s still not a deal breaker,” he said. “But, you said this guy may not be the real thing, right?”

“The fact is I don’t know. I don’t even know if Sam actually believes whether it’s true or not. It’s just what he told my dad he’d heard somewhere while he was in the hospital,” she said. “I guess we’d have to find out. Does Velma speak German by any chance?” He snickered.

“Oddly, she does, and four other languages as well,” he said. “Okay, I’ll put her on it. It’s going to drive up the cost, but if it can be done, it’ll be done.”

“Thank you, my husband, thank from the bottom of my heart,” she said.

“Is that all?” he said. She looked away.

“Abigail? Is there something else?” he said.

“Yes. It’s about the children,” she said. “Well, their fatherhood.”

“Okay, and...” he said.

“When my dad went to see him, he talked with him long. Dad tried to convince him to come home and accept help from all of us. Kind of bring him into the fold so to speak. But he wasn’t having any. Then he apparently asked a question, that is Sam did?” she said.

“A question?” he said.

“Yes, he wanted to know how the children referred to you. Meaning did they call you dad, or stepdad, or what,” she said.

“What did your dad tell him?” said Owen.

“He told him the truth, lying to Sam is definitely a nonstarter,” she said. “But, he did tell him that neither you nor I wanted to separate him from his children that we wanted them to have a good relationship with him too, and that as one of two daddies.”

“How did he react?” he said.

“Not how you might expect. He expected that the children would be calling you daddy. Dad said he actually smiled even laughed a little when he told him. Then he came up with his demand, I guess would be the way to say it,” she said.

“Demand?” he said.

“Remember, Owen, I broke his heart. We, you and I, have been living well while he hasn’t even been living, not in any real sense of the term,” she said.

“I can relate to that. What does he want, Abigail, spell it out?” he said.

“He realizes that the children will be living with us, and he accepts it, things being what they are. But, he wants them introduced to them as their daddy—their only daddy,” she said.

The man across from her paled. “Huh?” he said.

“We’ve adopted them,” he said. “They are legally ours. I want and need to be their daddy, Abigail.”

“I know. I’m open to suggestions,” she said.

I’d arrived early, and I had an ulterior motive. I was making sure that my ex-father-in-law had had it right and that the cheaters were willing to do and say what he’d said that they would. I trusted Gregory Williams, but he was not one of the principals in this particular saga nor was his wife Cecilia; their daughter was, but not them.

“So they are actually willing to ‘allow’ me to take my rightful place as their daddy,” I said. The question was sort of rhetorical.

“Yes, I have Abby’s word on that one. But, that said there are a couple of wrinkles that they are going to have to iron out with you,” he said. I know my look was challenging.

“Wrinkles? What wrinkles?” I said.

“Like I said, they have to deal with you one on one on those, or actually two on one I guess,” he said.

“But I get to be daddy, the only daddy, right?” I said. “That’s set in stone?”

“Yes, like I also said, I have her word on that. I haven’t talk to Owen, but she assures me that he will not be a problem in that regard,” said Gregory.

“Okay, then,” I said. I was nodding, but it was a challenging nod.

I was early but not that early. A half an hour later the first of the guests arrived, my dad.

“Hi Dad,” I said. He seemed out of breath to me, but okay otherwise: I wondered how far down the driveway he’d parked.

“Son, good to see you today, especially today I guess,” he said. “Greg clued me about the importance of this little party if that’s what it is.”

“That is exactly what it is,” said Greg, joining us.

Cecilia pulled me aside. Well she was the only one of the three seniors who hadn’t as yet prepped me as to how I should act or react during this more than strange party, meeting, conference whatever it was. I figured this would be her contribution to the cause. I was right.

“Sam, I know you’re jittery, all of us are. And, I can assure you that the Cords are going to be even more jittery than any of us.

“Tonight old problems may or may not be resolved. New ones may present themselves. But none such should be a reason to just dump all hope of developing a rapport among all of you, and yes, I mean especially the children,” she said.

“Cecilia, I understand what you’re saying. I won’t be rocking any boats tonight. Tomorrow might be a whole different issue, but this afternoon and tonight, well, not,” I said.

“Good,” she said. “Sam, a little bit of a heads up maybe, okay?”

“Okay,” I said, “but, a heads up?”

“Yes, about Owen, he’s not the wicked warlock of the East. Yes, he took your wife away from you and that was wrong, bad. But it happens sometimes. Half of all marriages end in divorce. Yours is one of those in the divorce half.

“The man’s actually a good guy. He has done well by Abby and the kids and has never said anything bad about you or any of that. He actually wants to do right by you. He knows that that’s going to be a hard sell. But he hopes you’ll be willing to listen and to give him a chance,” she said.

“Cecilia, all I’ve got, and I haven’t gotten it yet is my fatherhood. If he’s good with that, if they all are; then we won’t be needing to talk or any of it. All will be good.

“I know I will never have Abby’s love again. She’s given it to another. But, I want and need the love of my children, and I do mean as their undisputed and only daddy. I get that, like I said, it’ll all be good,” I said.

She looked dubious, but she nodded her agreement.

We all continued to talk for a bit. My dad was the first to hear the car pull up.

“They’re here,” he said.

The older man noticed the younger man swallowing and sweating. He’d seen cases of nerves like his son’s before, and there was not a thing one could do to put an end to them, not a thing. He was really hoping that his daughter and her husband would have settled things and come to the right decision: the promised decision.