“God, Jess, let me explain.”
She held up her hand and shook her head. “Believe it or not, I don’t want to know. But my Mother and brother deserve to know.” She turned, walked out of his office, pulling the door closed behind her.
Chapter 12
Ben sat at his desk still holding the paternity papers. He was a father. How the hell had Jess figured this out? He picked up his cell phone and sent her a text. “Just give me 5.”
There was a knock on his office door and Lane stuck her head in. “It’s after lunch time. I thought we could take Gabe to Papa’s and maybe we could stop at the mall this afternoon before it gets too crazy. Would you like to join us or are you too busy?”
God how had he not known that this beautiful woman, the love of his life, was the same woman who had disappeared without a trace 18 years ago? Angie, she’d told him her name was Angie Valle. How had he not put this together before? He hadn’t wasted just the three years since they met in Kansas, he’d wasted 18 years going through that stable of women looking for one that could help him forget that night. He shook his head as he stood and walked toward her.
“I really need to work.” He took her in his arms. “I love you.” He said as he kissed her. He held her tightly. “I’ve always loved you.”
“I love you. Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?”
“Want to? Yes, but I can’t. I have some work to do and I want to talk to Tanner again. You go and have fun. If Gabe doesn’t want to go shopping, drop him here before you go.” As he bent and kissed her again, he saw Jess in the hallway.
“Mom, I have a legal question for Ben. Can you give me a few minutes?”
Lane looked from her husband to her daughter. Secret legal questions? “Sure. I’ll go entertain Gabe.”
Jess stepped into the office and closed the door. As she set the alarm on her phone, she said, “Okay, you have five minutes.” She was frowning and had her arms crossed across her chest.
“Just let me tell you this. We met in a bar in one of the casinos in Council Bluffs. We spent the night together in the hotel and the next morning I left the room to get breakfast and some aspirin because I was sure she’d need it. When I came back, she was gone. No note. Nothing. Just gone. I waited until checkout time, thinking she’d come back. I spent days looking for her. She had told me her name was Angie Valle. Now that I know it was a made up name, I understand why there was no trace of her.”
Jess shook her head. “I told you I didn’t need to know. You need to talk to Mom. And the two of you need to figure out how to tell Jams that his whole life has been a lie.”
“I’ll handle all of that. I just have one question for you. How did you figure this out?”
Geesh, what was it he’d always told us? “Pay attention?”
“Well Ben, I did what you’ve always told me. I paid attention. He has your eyes. I figured it out last month because of Joey. I knew I’d seen those eyes somewhere and then it hit me. Joey’s eyes were my brother’s eyes, and yours. I took your toothbrushes and sent them in for DNA testing. I’ve been sitting on this this for weeks, but it’s not the kind of conversation you have over the phone.” She let out an exasperated sigh, “Mom and Gabe are waiting. I need to go.” She turned and walked out of his office pulling the door closed behind her once again.
Ben stood looking out the window, staring at the lake behind the house. How on earth was he going to have this conversation with Lane? Why had she left him that morning all of those years ago? The reason she didn’t drink tequila made sense now. What was the name of that song? Tequila makes her clothes fall off. Tequila shots had certainly done the trick 18 years ago. He shook his head. Jamie is my son. Maybe they’d both felt it on some level, it would explain why he’d always felt close to Jamie and why he’d called him Bambino from the first time they met.
He was building the question tree in his head. It was something he’d learned in law school. You build a tree with the questions you planned to ask a witness. Each question could solicit one of two answers and you kept building the tree, asking questions until you got the answer you wanted. He had the in-disputable evidence sitting on his desk.
Maybe he should just show her the paternity report and tell Lane. He would definitely be gentler than Jess had been. He had a few hours to figure it out, but they needed to have the conversation and sooner rather than later. He was still staring out at the lake when his cell phone rang.
“Bellini.”
“Dad?”
“Yeah, Bambino. What’s up?”
“Mr. Tanner and I are going to take a break for lunch and I thought I should check in. Is Jess home yet?”
Ben laughed. “Your timing’s perfect. Yes, Jess is home and she brought Gabe Greer with her. They’ve gone with your Mom for lunch at Papa’s. They left about five minutes ago. You can probably join them, if you want to.”
“Why didn’t you didn’t go?”
“The Garcia trial starts on Monday and I have some prep work I need to finish. By the way, be warned, we told Jess what’s going on with the football team.”
Jamie heaved a heavy sigh. “Great. How worked up is she?”
“Not as much as I expected.” Then again, she had other things on her mind.
“Okay, I guess I’d better have Mr. Tanner take me to Papa’s.”
“Probably a good idea, Bambino. Tell Tanner to call me after lunch.”
Ben still needed to talk to Tony’s bookie. He knew that Tony used Freddy, whose brother Enzo was the bartender at Papa’s restaurant. He knew that while Enzo wasn’t actually making book in the bar, he did carry information and cash back and forth for Freddy. Ben needed to talk to Freddy, and the best way to do it was through Enzo. Hell, I just as well join my family for lunch. He walked to the bedroom and opened the safe in his closet. He placed the paternity report in it and closed the door. He dialed Lane’s cell number as he walked through the house. Damn. His SUV was still at the office where Uncle Sal had taken it yesterday afternoon. If Lane had driven the Escalade, he’d have to drive the Jag. As he opened the door into the garage, he saw that Lane’s Escalade was sitting in its bay. Gabe must have driven. He took the key from the hook and pushed the button to open the door.
Chapter 13
Gabe followed directions and parked as directed. He looked for signage saying “Papa’s” but all he saw was “Bellini’s.” He turned and looked in the back seat, at Jess, who had let her mother take the front seat.
“Good thing you were in the vehicle. When you said we were going to Papa’s, I thought it was the name of the restaurant. I might still be driving around the parking lot looking for it if you hadn’t told me where to park.”