It's All Relative(154)

Her son let out a long, tired exhale. “He has to know the truth, Mom. Truth matters.”





(Cut scene #2. This is at the end of chapter 3, when Kai and Jessie have returned to Millie’s hospital room.)




Millie sighed in irritation as she returned the phone to the nightstand. She loved her son, but she strongly disagreed with how he was handling this situation. Sending Kai thousands of miles away, to place him directly in the path of his biological father—a man that he didn’t even know was his biological father—seemed cruel to Millie. If Kai had to be told, and Millie really didn’t see why he ever had to be told, then Nate should sit him down and talk to him himself. That seemed a far wiser choice.

But that wasn’t the decision her son was making. He and his ex-wife had already called and made arrangements with the man who used to be Nate’s friend and colleague. Somehow, the pair had convinced the man to give Kai a job. Kai didn’t know it, but Monday morning he’d be walking into the office of the person who carried the other half of his genes. While Millie didn’t agree with Nate and Leilani’s choice, she was staying out of it, and hoping beyond hope that Kai remained ignorant. Sometimes truth mattered. Other times, it only stung.

Millie flinched as an ache in her hip went straight up her spine. The pain wasn’t too bad, but the occasional wrong movement did send a twinge through her. Glancing at the door again, she wondered where her two grandkids had run off to. Their reaction to each other had sure seemed weird. She’d been so sure they would instantly connect once they’d met, but that didn’t seem to be the case. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but then again, kids today often mystified her.

Millie wondered if her own mystifying child was hoping Kai would take one look at his real father and instantly know the truth. Well, “real” father simply in the sense that he had been responsible for creating Kai. The man Kai had become…well that was entirely because of her son.

Sympathetic regret washed through Millie as she thought about how Nate had learned about Kai. He hadn’t been aware of his wife’s infidelity when they’d been trying for a child. It was years later, when Kai had just entered his teen years that the harlot had admitted the truth to him…admitted that she didn’t know who had fathered Kai. Millie had no love for the woman. Not anymore, not after she’d ripped her son’s heart out. But Kai loved her and Millie was careful to keep her feelings about the subject to herself.

Not able to stand not knowing who Kai belonged to, Nate had secretly tested him. When the test came back, and he saw in black and white that he had no blood connection to the boy, he’d immediately divorced his wife. It had been a move that Millie had wholeheartedly supported. And in another move Millie had supported, and had been immensely proud of Nate for, he’d never stopped being a father to Kai. Lesser men would have rejected the child as well as the wife, but not her son. His affection and love for Kai had never faltered, and the truth of Kai’s paternity had never gone farther than Millie, her son, and her son’s unfaithful ex-wife.

Until now. Until the lie had finally worn Nate down.

Shifting on the stiff bed, Millie ran a hand through her silver hair; her gnarled knuckles betrayed the age she didn’t feel. Again, she hoped her son changed his mind about Kai knowing the truth. What good would possibly come out of it? Kai would only feel differently about both of his parents and be irreversibly thrust into the life of a complete stranger. A person Millie hadn’t even bothered to check out, even though he lived here in Denver. In her mind, the man was just as guilty of poor morality as Kai’s mother. Kai might not be blood to her, but he was so much more like her son than either of his biological parents. Kai had a habit of making sound decisions. She was very proud of him.

Almost as if on cue, the door opened and her grandson walked through it. She smiled at his exotic beauty and held a hand out for him. He smiled back and walked over to her. Jessica walked in a couple of steps behind him, intently watching his back. Her eyes shifted to the floor when Kai glanced back at her. Millie scrunched her brows. Odd. They almost seemed…embarrassed? Millie was curious for a moment, but then she shrugged and let it go. Who knew what was going on in the minds of young ones, these days?

Kai sat on the edge of the bed and gripped her bony fingers with his warm ones. “Gran, are you feeling okay? Do you need anything?”

Millie laughed and patted his hand. “I’m fine, dear. They’re taking good care of me here. I’ll think they’ll keep me for a few days, just to watch over me.” She grunted in annoyance and rolled her eyes. “It’s completely unnecessary. I could hop on a horse if I needed to. I could swing dance, if I had a good partner.” She patted Kai’s hand and raised an eyebrow at him.

He laughed and rubbed her knuckle with his thumb. “Maybe when you’re better, Gran.”

Jessica laughed softly as she sat in a chair next to the bed. Sounding remorseful, she placed her hand on Millie’s arm and said, “I’m so sorry I was late this morning, Grams.” She shook her head, like she felt personally responsible for Millie’s fall.

Kai seemed apologetic, as well. “Yeah, I’m sorry I didn’t come by sooner. I was running a little slow this morning.” He looked at Jessica oddly and Millie noticed her granddaughter’s face flush with color. Very odd.