“Let me finish the story,” Gail scolds him and keeps talking. “We went through a rough patch, like most marriages do. I had three little boys at home, and he worked more than I liked, and we decided to split. So, he moved out.”
“You moved out?!” Jules scoots forward in her seat, leaning forward, listening carefully.
“I did,” Steven confirms. “Worst fucking three months of my life.”
“Okay, this is surprising, but what does it have to do with what’s happening now?” Matt asks.
“The P.I. was looking for me,” Steven announces and meets Matt’s gaze. “While I was separated from your mother, I had a very brief affair with a woman while I was on a business trip. I didn’t know it then, but she became pregnant.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” Isaac growls.
“No,” Steven shakes his head. “I’m not kidding. The boy has been trying to find me since his mother passed away several months ago. He is the person who hired the P.I.”
The room is dead silent for several seconds while everyone processes what has just been said. I look up at Caleb’s face, and his jaw is clenched, muscles flexed and eyes narrowed on his father.
“You have an illegitimate son,” Matt clarifies.
“I do,” Steven nods with tears in his eyes. “His name is Dominic.”
“Holy shit,” Nate whispers and clenches his eyes closed. “We met him.”
“You met him?” Isaac exclaims, jumping to his feet.
“Yes, the day we took the girls shopping.” Nate nods. “He was having lunch with your parents.”
“You’ve been having lunch with him?”
“I can’t fucking believe this,” Caleb mutters, speaking for the first time.
“Look,” Steven holds his hands up, as if surrendering. “I was waiting for DNA tests to come back before I told the family. What if he was some asshole trying to get to my high profile children?”
“Your father was protecting you,” Gail tells them all with a stern voice.
“But the DNA confirms it,” Caleb states coldly.
“Yes.”
Matt swears, long and loud and paces around the room while Isaac just glares at his father. Jules and Will look shell-shocked, and Caleb is scowling, a tense ball of anger and frustration.
“I have something to say,” Caleb begins with a hard, yet deceptively calm, voice.
“Go ahead,” Steven says.
“You taught us what it is to be a man. A partner. A father.” Caleb inhales deeply and a muscle in his jaw ticks as he grinds his teeth together. “I feel like everything you’ve ever taught us has been a lie.”
“It’s not a lie,” Gail interrupts angrily.
“He fucked around on you behind your back! What kind of a man does that?”
“He did not!” Gail storms over to Caleb and stares up into his eyes. “We were not together, Caleb. And he told me about it when he came home, begging me to take him back.”
“He was fucking married!” Isaac interrupts. “I don’t give a shit if you were on a break.” Isaac laughs humorlessly. “This isn’t Friends. He was married to you, whether he lived in the same house as you or not.”
“We were taught to respect women,” Will adds with a husky voice. He looks up and pins his father in his blue gaze. “You taught us to protect the women we love. To take care of them. To never hurt them.”
Steven sighs deeply and hangs his head, staring at his shoes. “It was a horrible mistake, and something I’ve regretted every day of my life. Your mother was more forgiving than I deserved, and I’m thankful every day that she loved me enough to take me back and mend our marriage with me.”
“Where is he?” Caleb asks quietly.
“He lives not far from here,” Gail responds with tears in her eyes. “He grew up mostly in Italy with his mother’s family.”
“Were you ever going to tell us?” Jules asks. Tears are rolling down her cheeks.
“Yes, I just didn’t know how,” Steven whispers.
“But not if there hadn’t been a kid,” Isaac adds.
“If Dom hadn’t been born, there would be no reason to tell you,” Gail informs them all. “What happens in our marriage is between your father and me, and no one else.”
“How can you protect him?” Caleb asks his mother angrily. “After what he did to you?”
“Honey,” Gail takes Caleb’s hands in her own. “You need to remember, this happened more than thirty years ago. We’ve had more children since then, grandchildren. Thirty years of life.” She turns and looks at all of us as a tear falls from her eye unheeded. “This is fresh for you. For you, it happened today, but for us, it’s so far in the past it was a lifetime ago.”
“Do you have any more information for us?” Isaac asks Matt and pulls his wife to her feet.
“No,” Matt shakes his head.
“I’m out of here.”
Isaac leads Stacy out the door and we hear him start his truck and peel out of the driveway.
Jules is crying in earnest now and Nate pulls her into his lap, rubbing his big hand up and down her back and whispering in her ear, trying to calm her. Natalie’s face is pressed to Luke’s chest, where tears run silently down her cheeks.
Will stands and crosses to his father, his eyes full of anger and disgust and stops, toe to toe with the older man.
“I want to deck you right now. But out of respect for my mother, I’ll say this: I never expected to be this disappointed in you. Not you.”
Will shakes his head and turns away, striding quickly to the front door. Meg brushes tears from her cheeks and follows behind him.
Caleb’s gaze hasn’t left his father since he began speaking. He hasn’t moved. His face is white and his body is tight, and I can feel the anguish rolling off of him.
Tears are rolling down my own face, though I barely feel them. I don’t know what the fuck to do, so I do what feels right. I wrap my arms around Caleb and hold him. He unfolds his arms and wraps them around me tightly, pulling me against him. His body is practically humming with agitation.
“I think…” Matt begins but pauses and swallows hard. “I think this meeting is over. Just keep your eyes and ears open, everyone.”
As he passes by Caleb and me, he pats my shoulder reassuringly and walks out the front door, closing it quietly behind him.