Finding Isadora(35)

He did that shove-up thing with his glasses again, then blurted out, “He may not be my father.”

“What?” My hand jerked and wine slopped over the rim of my glass and splashed onto the embroidered tablecloth. I must have misheard. “What did you say?”

“Gabe may not be my father. He—”

Our waitress appeared with a cloth and mopped at the spill. “Sorry,” I told her. Then Richard and I stared at each other silently and I replayed what he’d said. The words didn’t make any sense.

When the waitress left, Richard said, “You know how you were talking about that beagle with epilepsy?”

Now he’d really lost me. “I remember, but what’s that got to do with your father?”

“I started thinking about genetics and hereditary diseases. If we’re getting married, I should know if anything like that runs in my family. I never really knew Mom’s parents, they died when I was a kid. I think Gabe’s died when he was a teenager. I gather it was a bad situation—maybe alcoholism and abuse—but he never talked about it. Anyhow, I had dinner last night with Mom and Frank and asked Mom if there was anything she was aware of on her side or Gabe’s.”

My stomach clenched into a nervous ball. “And?”

“She said we’d talk about it privately, after dinner. She was pale, she played with her food. I started to worry, to think maybe there was some horrible illness. Anyhow, after dinner Frank went to watch something on TV, leaving Mom and me alone. She told me there was nothing to worry about on her side. Her mother was killed in a car accident and her father died of a heart attack, but he was seriously overweight, never exercised, drank a lot.”

He gave a wry laugh and took a determined slug of wine. “Here I am drinking, and there’s alcoholism on both sides of my family. Well, if Gabe’s really my father.”

I was getting seriously impatient. “What did Diane say?”

“She doesn’t know if he’s my biological father.”





Chapter 6


“Doesn’t know?” I almost yelled the words. Richard’s mother didn’t know who his father was?

He made a hushing motion with his hand.

Perhaps our waitress thought he was summoning her, or maybe she sensed trouble, because she hurried over to refill our glasses and murmured in her soft, melodic voice that our meals would be ready any minute.

“Fine, fine.” Richard, who was usually courteous to servers, waved her away. Then, lowering his voice, he said, “It was before AIDS became a big scare and people realized the importance of using condoms. Mom was on the pill but she admits she wasn’t very good about taking it. She was nineteen, away at university, having fun and being, you know, irresponsible. She had lovers. Gabe was one of them.”

“Diane?” That so didn’t match up with the conservative woman she’d turned into.

“Yeah, and Gabe, too. I mean, he had other lovers.”

Now that I had no trouble believing. “So, when Diane got pregnant…”

“She didn’t know who the father was, but she did something really bad. She lied to Gabe. She wanted to have the baby and she wanted Gabe. She told him she hadn’t been with anyone else in the last couple of months. That it was his kid.”

I gaped at him, but didn’t interrupt.

“She says she loved Gabe, the other guys were just—you know, casual sex. Also, she was impressed that he planned to be a lawyer. Most kids were so aimless, but he had drive. She respected that he had ideals, and she also figured he’d have a great job and income. She thought they’d have a good future together, and that he’d be a good father.” Richard gave a snort. “Doesn’t say much for her judgment.”

“I can’t believe Diane did that.” The woman I knew was a little materialistic, but not a bad person. Slowly, I said, “Okay, I can imagine a frightened teenager panicking. But are you saying she wanted to be with Gabriel because she loved him or because he was the practical choice?”

“Beats the hell out of me,” he said flatly. “I don’t know whether to be mad or sympathetic. When I was a kid, I know she got really upset when he wasn’t around, but I don’t know whether that was because she loved him or if it was injured pride.”

He paused as our waitress placed our meals in front of us and asked if she could bring us anything else, Richard said, abruptly for him, “No.”

“Yes, sir. Enjoy your meals.” She hurried away.

“This must be a terrible shock, sweetheart,” I said, reaching over to stroke Richard’s hand. In one night he’d learned that his mother had told a dreadful lie and his father might not be his father.

“Yeah, it’s a shock.” He shook his head as if to clear it. “Anyhow, so she lied and Gabe bought it. He didn’t believe in marriage and she was okay with shacking up, as she called it, but they did agree to be a couple, and be parents to the child. To me.”

“Does Gabriel know?”

“She never told him.”

“My god.” Poor Gabriel. And then another idea occurred to me. “You don’t think he might have found out, or suspected? Maybe that’s why he, uh, wasn’t the best of fathers.”

Richard took a forkful of beef and chewed absentmindedly. “It’s possible. But why wouldn’t he have said something to Mom? He could have had a paternity test and if he wasn’t my father he could have bailed on us.”