Chapter 13

1 p.m. Thursday

"What are you doing here?" Camille Drayton asked.

"Interesting thing," Evan Duffield said. "I found out Monday that I've had a son running around this world for almost 18 years. I thought I might jet over and actually meet the boy."

"Please tell me that you didn't leave a rental car downstairs?" Camille asked. "It'll be long gone if you did."

"I took a cab," Evan replied. He still stood on the doorstep.

"You should have called!" Camille insisted.

"You know my credo, Girl!" Evan said, his smile never wavering. "'Better to seek forgiveness than ask permission.' May I come in?"

"This isn't a good time," Camille said. She glanced back over her shoulder to the coffee table. She had been going through a shoebox filled with every card or letter she'd received from Evan Duffield during their whirlwind romance almost two decades earlier.

"Do you have a bloke over or are you hand-washing your knickers?" Evan asked with a wink.

"Neither!" Camille said, aghast at either prospect. "The place ... it's messy."

Evan laughed aloud.

"If you will recall my apartment from university, you will know that I am not much of a housekeeper myself," he said. "And I seem to recall a pile of laundry in your dorm room that was half a meter high."

Camille rolled her eyes but couldn't stop the smile the memory evoked. Shaking her head, she opened the door to let her long-lost lover across the threshold. Evan stepped in and looked around. The place was small but it was tidy. He saw no sign of messiness.

"If you would prefer I call upon you later, I understand," he said. "I apologize for showing up unannounced. I told Mum about you and Andy yesterday. Maybe it was yesterday. I admit I'm not sure what day it is. It was Tuesday, nonetheless. Her first question was why I was still in England and not on a plane. I had to admit that I had no answer for her. I packed a bag and headed to the airport."

"How did you find our address?" Camille wondered. She had moved to the opposite side of the room from the coffee table. She didn't want Evan to know that she had been reminiscing about the past.

"I have your home telephone number," Evan said with a shrug. "Google is a wonderful thing. Would you like for me to leave?"

Camille looked at Evan for a moment. He hadn't changed much. He had a touch of gray at his temples and he was about 10 pounds heavier than she remembered him but he still had the liveliness in his eyes and the crooked smile that had once made her weak at the knees. She found they still had the same effect.

"Shit," she muttered as she shook her head. "No. I don't want you to leave. I still wish you would have called before you just showed up."

"It took all the courage I have just to get on the airplane," Evan admitted with a sigh. "This is the great unknown, Cammie. I worried that if stopped at a hotel first, I would head back home tomorrow without seeing you and Andy. Is he home?"

"He's in school," Camille replied. "Then he's going for a haircut. He has a date tonight."

"With the girl he spoke to me about?" Evan asked. He picked up a picture from the side table and stared at the face of his son. The boy in the picture was in his early teens, so the picture was a few years old. A flash of anger caused his jaw to clench.

"That was a shitty thing you did to me!" he said.

"I know," Camille admitted with a sigh.

"How in the world could you do it?" Evan asked.

"Probably easier than you think," Camille answered. She had known for years that the question would come up sooner or later. She always imagined it would be Andy's accusation and not Evan's.

"That's bollocks," Evan said. He took great care to keep his voice level. He didn't want to get into a screaming match with Camille. He knew how that would end – with him leaving again without resolving a single thing.

"I made my choice, Evan," Camille said. "I turned down your proposal. If I had contacted you and told you about Andy was on the way, how would that have looked?"

"I don't give a great bloody damn about how it would have looked!" Evan said. "The boy is just as much my child as he is yours. That is what you seem to have overlooked. I would have understood if you still didn't want to marry me. I would have done whatever I could to make Andy's life comfortable – and your life, too."

"I was barely 19 years old when I found out he was on the way," Camille responded. "I was scared. I had just come back from seeing firsthand how powerful your family is. I didn't want to risk you getting custody and taking him away."

"And you think I would have done things that way?" Evan asked. "You don't know me at all."

"I didn't know if your father might insist upon it," Camille replied.

"I told the old man to get bent often enough one more time wouldn't have hurt him any," Evan shot back. "And I would have told him to get bent if that's what he wanted me to do. Yes, if I thought that you were an unfit mother, I would have taken action. But I've never considered that for a moment. Over the years, I will confess that I have often wondered how my life would have turned out if you had agreed to marry me. The manor is a cold and lonely place but it is worse without the sounds of children to lessen the gloom. It's why my Mum started a daycare center. She found herself constantly oppressed in that place – just as I did when I was young. So instead of doing what was right – and don't you dare tell me that I had no right to know – instead of doing what is right, you did what served you better."

"It didn't serve me better!" Camille said. Unlike Evan, she made no effort to keep her voice down. She had listened to the neighbors fight and screw since the day they moved in. "Our life has been one catastrophe after enough. My mother set us out on the street, Evan! When my father died, she called my son a 'bastard' and set our belongings out on the walk. That is not better!"

"Our son," Evan cut in. "He is your son only because you hid his existence from me. Please do not allow that snippet of fact to elude your thoughts. And you could have picked up the phone and called me at any time in the past 18-and-a-half years. I always admired your stubborn pride when we were younger but now I think I understand why 'hubris' is one of the Seven Deadly Sins."

Camille sat heavily on the couch and for the first time since he'd entered the room, Evan noticed the items on the table in front of her.

"I didn't come here to quarrel," he said as he sat down on a chair. "I apologize. I promised myself that I was not going to begin our reunion with accusations. When I saw the picture ... when I saw all of I'd missed of Andy's life ... I'm afraid my promise was forgotten."

"No, I understand," Camille said as she wiped away tears. "I've always known my day of reckoning would come. I assumed it would be Andy who confronted me over my mistakes. Andy was never really supposed to be hidden from you forever. I planned to let you know once it felt like I wasn't coming to you for a handout. I couldn't return to St. Mary's as an unwed mother."

"Bollocks," Evan interjected. "Maybe you couldn't have in the 1920s but there were dozens of unwed mothers on campus. Whoever told you that is full of shit and green apples."

Camille stared at him with her mouth open.

"My mother said... ," she began.

"That hateful old witch?" Evan cut in. "Why do you think she would tell you the truth when a lie would suffice?"

Camille clenched her jaw but nodded her agreement.

"I suppose you're right," she admitted. "But the local priest was highly upset. Father Callahan came around and read me the Riot Act until my dad tossed him out on his ear. But I believed I would be unable to return to St. Mary's so I started to work. Then I fell into the trap that a lot of young people fall into. I had a bit of money for the first time and decided I didn't need to continue my education. I was living at home and my parents looked after Andy. I could never get far enough ahead, though. Each time I would get to that point, something would happen. I would get laid off or Andy would need something. I was finally doing pretty well just before Dad died. Once he passed away, things got pretty ugly for us. You're right. It was pride that led me to this point. But I've done my best for him. I hope you know that."

"I do know that," Evan said sympathetically.

"After a while... ," Camille said with a shrug. "I just resigned myself that you were gone forever. I was never going to get to the point where I could approach you on equal footing. Suddenly, Andy was 12 years old. I am sorry for keeping him from you. He is really an amazing kid. I love him with all my heart."

"He loves you just as much," Evan told her. "He's proud of you. You can hear it just from speaking with him. Let's do this: We'll put aside this discussion for another day and focus on what comes next. Does that sound sufficient?"

Camille shrugged. She wasn't certain that anything came next.

"I should tell you that I have a similar box at my home," Evan said, gesturing to the contents of the coffee table. Camille blushed and looked away. "I spent much of Monday perusing its contents but it is not the first time the box has been out in recent years. I don't want you to be embarrassed at taking a walk though the past."