Page 37 of The Addendum

Finally, exhausted, I sat on the rocks, staring at the water, hoping to find the peace in the waves that seemed to help my wife.

Maddox found me a short while later and sat across from me.

“What are you doing, Richard?”

“Hiding,” I stated honestly.

“From?”

“My life. My thoughts. Katy.”

“How’s that working for you?”

I met his calm, concerned gaze. “Not so well.”

“You know, you once gave me some good advice. You told me to trust the people I love and be honest. You said Aiden and Bentley would stand beside me and not desert me the way I feared they would. You were right. I was honest, and they were right there, supporting me. Loving me despite my fuckups.”

“It’s not the same.”

“Isn’t it, though? My past was threatening to destroy the world I’d created. Shatter the future I was building.”

I sighed. He was right.

“Katy has always been forgiving,” I said. “She has the best heart I know. But this is a lot.”

“More than the way you treated her? Like Reid said, Richard, it’s a child—a grown one—but still a child of yours. Knowing Katy the way I do, I would say she’d love her once she gets to know her.”

I sighed and told him about our fight. What I had said—my overreaction and angry words. He was silent for a few moments.

“It’s hard for me to reconcile the man you are—the man I know you to be—with the man you were all those years ago,” he admitted. “You’ve told me stories, but it was as if you were talking about someone else.” He leaned forward. “Be honest, Richard. If you had known Juliet was pregnant, what would you have done?”

I blew out a long breath. “Probably nothing. Told her to get rid of it. Given her money.”

“So, you wouldn’t have been involved? You wouldn’t have married her?”

“No.”

“And if you’d found out after you married Katy?”

I mulled over his words. “I would have stepped in to help. Tried to build a relationship. Once Gracie was born, I changed. I mean, I changed before that, but when I held her, when I became a father, it opened something up inside me.”

“Do you really think Katy held back information?”

“No. I know what I was like, and she’s right. Even if the idea of pregnancy had entered the conversation, I would have scoffed at the notion and carried on. I would have decided it was Juliet’s problem, not mine. I wouldn’t have sought her out. And I also know how often Katy dealt with my exes. It was practically in her job description.” I hung my head. “Jesus, I was a bastard.”

Maddox didn’t say anything, and I lifted my head. “Tell me what to do, Mad Dog. I’m fucking grasping at air here.”

“You know what to do. Apologize to your wife. Talk it out. Get a DNA test and face the music. Tell your kids and brace yourself for some fallout. Be the man, the husband, and the dad you need to be.” He leaned forward, grasping my shoulder. “And it’s not the end of the world, Richard. It’s another person in your life to love. Stop looking at her like she’s the enemy. She’s your daughter. Get to know her. Maybe you two can build a relationship.”

“If she stops hating me.”

“If you stop blaming her. I know the way she went about it was wrong, but I agree with Luc. She was blindsided by this, and she reacted—badly, but then again, she is your daughter. Drama runs in the family.”

His words made my mouth quirk. Katy always said I was dramatic and liked to be the center of attention. She wasn’t wrong.

“Maybe we should wait for the DNA test.”

“Do you really need it?” he asked quietly.