He shook his head. “It wasn’t me. We can thank Jess for this. Apparently, when Joey was doing protection detail last month, she noticed that he and Jamie had the same eyes, Bellini eyes she said. She stole our toothbrushes and sent them to a lab for testing. She told me she’s been sitting on the results for a couple of weeks.” He held Lane close. “So, how and when do we tell him? He’s got a lot on his plate right now, but maybe this will distract him from the football situation.”
Lane leaned into Ben, putting her head on his chest as she wrapped her arms around him. “The report came from Jess; do we want her with us when we talk to him? It might make things easier.”
Ben smiled and kissed her cheek. On the other hand, it might make things more difficult, he thought. “Sure. Do we want to wait and include Jake too, or should we just get this over with now?”
Lane smiled; the Parkers had a saying, ‘What are the three fastest methods of communication? Telephone, telegraph and tell-a-Parker.’ She knew that Jake would soon know whatever they talked about with Jamie and Jess. She looked at her watch. Jake’s office probably closed early for the Thanksgiving holiday anyway. “I’ll give him a call and ask if he can come by.”
Thirty minutes later, Ben, Lane, and the Parker Kids assembled in the hearth room. Jess, who knew why they were assembling, had forewarned her friend and guest Gabe Greer that he might want to stay away from the room. Of course, she hadn’t told him why, and Gabe, having grown up in Hollywood as an only child, wasn’t about to miss the show, whatever it was. He chose to hover in the kitchen. His spot gave him a clear view to both the sights and the sounds in the hearth room, yet allowed him some seclusion and the family a feeling of privacy.
Ben stood and paced as though he were in a courtroom and the Parker Kids were the jury. It wasn’t much of a stretch; he and Lane were about to be put on trial. “Your mother and I have something we need to talk with you all about. While it concerns all of us, it’s mostly about Jamie.”
Ben stopped pacing, sat on the arm of Lane’s chair and took her hand in his. Ben glanced around the room, sizing it up as if he was about to deliver opening arguments. Jamie sat in the chair next to his mother. Jess and Jake, sat on the sofa adjacent to Jamie’s chair.
Jamie sat, frozen in his seat. Whatever this is, it can’t be good. Maybe someone else is dead. Maybe I’m about to be arrested, he thought.
Lane reached over to touch Jamie’s hand and as though she’d read his mind she said, “It has nothing to do with the football team.”
She took the paternity report from Ben and held it in her hand. “This is a report. Before I give it to you, I want to tell you all a story. Just after Philip left me, I went out with friends who were trying to cheer me up and get me over being dumped by your fath… by Phillip. We went to a bar where I had a little too much to drink and spent the night in a hotel room with a stranger.” She gave a half smile in Jamie’s direction. “I always believed that Philip had gotten me pregnant the night he left, but that’s not what happened.”
Ben stood, took the paternity report from Lane’s hand. God, they weren’t handling this very well, but then how did you go about telling someone that what he’d believed his whole life was a lie. An unintentional lie, but still a lie. He approached Jamie and held out the report.
“Bambino, this is a paternity report. I was the stranger who spent the night with your Mom, and it shows that I’m really your biological father.”
Jamie took the paternity report and looked at it. He read it and handed it to Jess.
Jamie looked at Ben, and balled his hands into fists; through clenched teeth he seethed, “So what you’re telling me is that you knocked my mother up twice and abandoned her both times.” He stood and pushed past Ben as he made his way to the window overlooking the lake. “At least this time you married her, so you only have one bastard.”
Since Jess knew what the report said, she barely glanced at it before handing it to Jake. She stood and walked toward Jamie. “Okay, Boysenberry, take a breath.”
Even in her trademark five-inch heels, she was half a foot shorter than he was. Jamie spun to face her. The muscles in his arms rippled as he clinched and un-clinched his fists. “Believe me, Sis, I am breathing.” He practically snarled at her.
Lane looked at her son, tears glistening in her eyes. “I’m afraid we’ve handled this badly, Jamie. Ben and I haven’t known very long.”
“Oh, crap. Boysenberry. It’s not quite what you think.” Jess put her finger in his chest.
Jamie moved his sister’s finger away from his chest. “There are rules, Jess.” He pointed toward Ben. “He taught them to me a long time ago.” He counted them off on his fingers. “Rule 1: No means no and stop means stop. Rule 2: never have sex with a woman who’s too incapacitated to say no or stop and Rule 3: Always, always, always wear protection.”
His hazel eyes were slits as he glared at his father and seethed, “How many rules did you break that night, Dad?”
Ben ran his hands through his hair as he looked at his son. “God, Bambino. How the hell do you think I came up with the rules to begin with? I left your mother the next morning and went to get breakfast and aspirin. When I got back to the room, she was gone. I waited in the room until checkout time, thinking she’d gone to get food and or aspirin but she didn’t come back. I spent a week looking for her.” Ben reached for Lane’s hand. “Jesus, I was 19. But, believe this, I have always loved your mother. I would never have abandoned her.”
Jess still stood next to her baby brother. “I figured it out last month when I was here. I stole your toothbrush and Ben’s and sent them in for testing.” She motioned toward Ben and Lane. “They had no idea. He didn’t abandon her. He spent a week looking for a woman named Angie Valle and he had no idea she was pregnant.”
Lane stood and approached Jamie. “I’m sorry. I never meant to lie to you.”
Jamie let his mother hug him, and perhaps out of habit, he put his arms around her too. “I need to think. I’m going for a drive. No protection detail. Alone.” He stated firmly as he released his mother and stormed toward the garage.
Jake stood up. “Not in this lifetime, Jandy. I don’t care who your father is, you’re still my baby brother, and I’m coming with you.”
Jess ran after her long legged brothers. “If y’all think you’re going anywhere without me, you’ve got another think coming.”
Gabe Greer sat in the kitchen, his mind spinning from the scene that had just played out in the hearth room. Fellini couldn’t have written or directed it any better. He grinned. This is going to be the best Thanksgiving ever.
Chapter 16
Jamie opened the door to his Chevy Colorado pickup and climbed in. He was vaguely aware that his siblings had piled in through the passenger doors as he started the engine. Neither Jake nor Jess said a word as Jamie slammed into reverse and backed out of the garage barely pausing as he slammed the manual five-speed transmission into first gear.
Okay, Jamie is pissed off, that much is crystal clear, but he’s going to have to talk about it eventually. Jess thought as she settled in the back seat. If she were taller, she’d have been uncomfortable, smashed into the half seat. She pulled the seat belt across her lap and snapped it into place. She and Jake were both waiting for Jamie to blink first. Regardless of whose genetic material he carried, he was one of them and it looked like they were in for a long ride.