“He will never be a part of our lives,” Lynch exclaimed.
Now Tara began trembling. “How is that possible?” she breathed. “You have a child and I would never have known about him? You would never take him on outings, spend time with him, celebrate his birthdays, go to his events in school?”
“It’s not like that, Tara,” Lynch exclaimed. “I give all the money he needs to his mother. That was our arrangement when he was born.”
Tara looked as though she was about to pass out. “This is not the man I knew,” she murmured. “I have to be dreaming a horrible dream.”
“Cut it out,” Lynch became stronger with her.
“The man I knew,” Tara went on, would have been a fabulous father. He was loving, caring, responsible, playful. He never could have abandoned a son.”
“I haven’t abandoned anybody,” Lynch’s face grew taut and angry. “I said I give him all the money he needs.” Then Lynch turned full on at Aldon. “How dare you come between us with this?”
“Blaming me may be convenient,” Aldon remarked, “but the child is yours, not mine.”
“And he’ll be here soon,” Tara whimpered now. “He and his mother are on the way.”
At that Lynch lurched backwards. “What in hell are you telling me?”
“I didn’t believe it was true, I wanted to see him for myself,” Tara declared.
“You had no damn right to invite my child and his mother to this room,” Lynch was enraged.
“Of course Tara had a right,” quipped Aldon.
“You shut up,” Lynch shot back at him.
Mattheus walked over to Lynch then. “It’s okay, take it easy, buddy,” he said, putting his hand on Lynch’s arm. “Secrets come out before a wedding. It happens all the time. There’s nothing so terrible here.”
Lynch looked at Mattheus relieved. “Thanks for that,” he said.
“If I had my way, we would never have said a thing to Aldon,” Mattheus went on. “My partner, Cindy here, thought we had to.”
“Well, she was wrong,” Lynch proclaimed as suddenly there were quick, repeated, sharp knocks on the door. “That’s my mother,” said Lynch, “I know her knock. She’s been waiting downstairs and is worried. I told her I’d call her and tell her when to come up. I guess the anticipation’s too much for her.”
“Does your mother know about the child or will it be a shock for her as well?” Aldon remarked sarcastically.
“No one knows about him,” Lynch said, suddenly sad, as he went to the door and opened it for his mother.
Raina, a strikingly beautiful woman in her early sixties, with coiffed auburn hair and dressed in a fashionable, glittery, green summer dress hurriedly entered the room.
“What’s going on? What’s all the commotion?” Raina demanded, immediately taking center stage and drawing all the attention to herself, like a moth to a flame.
The room quickly fell silent.
“Hello, Aldon, “Raina said perfunctorily, throwing him an off handed glance. Clearly, the two of them seemed to be at odds. Cindy could see how Raina could have been a huge irritation to Aldon, who was by nature more private and subdued.
“Good day, Raina,” Aldon answered crisply.
“Exactly what is good about it?” she tossed back, irritated. “And what in the world are you doing here? We’ve been waiting for you at the hotel. After all, you are the father of the bride. Reporters have been asking where you were. All kinds of newspapers are covering the event, you know.”
“So I’ve heard,” replied Aldon curtly.
“This is a huge week-end for us all. You can’t hide away forever,” she said, glaring at him.
“It depends what you mean by hiding,” Aldon replied condescendingly.
“Come on now, darling, we’re royalty down here, like it or not,” Raina, taunted. “Thousands of people are following our wedding. Even Tara’s gotten used to the glare of the camera, haven’t you dear?” Then she turned slightly to Tara, who simply looked aside.
Raina’s face fell a moment then, and she went straight over to Lynch. “Okay, enough. Out with it, what is the problem?”
Lynch looked at his mother dumbfounded, unable to speak.
Raina breathed out loudly. “Has someone died? Is someone dying?”
“It’s almost as bad as that,” Tara remarked.
Raina went over and took Tara by the shoulders. “Snap out of it darling, and open your mouth and tell me what’s happening. I’ll fix it in the blink of an eye. There’s nothing I can’t fix on the island.”
“Somethings cannot be fixed, even by you,” Aldon remarked caustically.
“Oh really? Like what?” Raina challenged him daringly, before suddenly looking over and seeing Cindy and Mattheus, standing nearby. Jarred, Raina flung her head back. “And who are these people, reporters?” she asked.
“The entire world isn’t focused upon your wedding, Raina, “Aldon quipped loudly.
“Well, then they’re missing something,” Raina suddenly sidled up to him. “Just as you are missing something, Aldon, dear.”