Mason Thomas watched his…son leave the lab. He straightened and ran a hand through his hair, then down his face. He hadn’t believed Kai’s mother at first, when she’d broken the news to him earlier this year. He’d absolutely refused to believe it. But staring at the boy, the resemblance was unmistakable. Not in the coloring, that was all his mother—deep brown skin, dark as night hair—but the eyes, he’d only seen that shade in the mirror before. It was startling to see them on another human being.
Kai had seemed equally taken aback by him, but Mason knew he didn’t suspect the truth yet. He’d had several conversations with Kai’s mother on the matter. Mason hadn’t wanted to be the one to tell him. Surely that was something she could do, since she was already so close to the boy. Or maybe Nate, the man who had raised him as a son could tell him. Mason wasn’t sure why this responsibility was falling to him, now, so long after the fact. But Leilani had insisted that it had to be him who told Kai.
Nate had also called him, insisting that he finally stepped up and acted like a man. Those words had deeply stung Mason. He and Nate had been close once, almost family, but Mason had been young and foolish, and he’d let lust and passion overcome his sensibilities. Truly, that whole situation had been so unlike him. He was usually so practical about things. But Leilani had taken his breath away. Mason had had no defense against her exotic beauty, her passionate nature. They’d fallen in love, seduced each other, and carried on a secret affair, right under the nose of her husband.
When she’d gotten pregnant, Mason had been sure the child was his. She’d insisted the child was Nate’s, and had completely and utterly broken things off with him. Crushed, he’d fled Hawaii and come to Denver, to start again. Leilani had let him believe for over twenty-three years that the child she’d born hadn’t been his. Even when her marriage had dissolved, she still hadn’t broken the news to Mason. That fact hurt more than he’d expected it to.
Sitting on the edge of the table, Mason watched his hands start to shake. He had no idea what to do now. He’d never married, never had children. His life had been dedicated to his work, and he didn’t have time for a fully-grown son to land on his doorstep. Running his trembling hand over his mouth several times, Mason thought back to that initial contact with Leilani, months ago, when she’d finally told him the truth about Kai’s paternity.
Mason had been at home, winding down for the day with a glass of wine on his deck when the phone had rung. Walking back to the house, he’d frowned at seeing the strange, long distance number…
“Hello?”
“Mason?” The feminine voice in his ear was unmistakable.
“Leilani? It’s been ages…” His voice trailed off as the old ache began to resurface.
Her voice tittered. “Yes, yes it has, hasn’t it?””
Setting his glass down, he swallowed a heavy lump. “Why are you…? It’s not that I don’t like hearing from you, but, why…?”
Her voice was nervous. “I feel horrible asking, but I need you to do something for me.”
Mason tensed. Leilani never asked him to do anything. She’d never asked him to stay, never asked him to take her away from her husband, never seemed to think much of him at all. “What?” he cautiously asked.
“It’s my son…Kai.” She paused and a ball of buried anger resurfaced in Mason’s chest. The son who had torn them apart, who had given her an irrefutable reason to never leave her husband.
“What about him?” he asked.
She sighed, and her voice suddenly sounded about twenty years older. “I lied to you, Mason. He’s yours. He’s always been yours.”
Mason furrowed his brow, not understanding. “What do you mean he’s mine?”
He heard Leilani exhale a harsh breath into the phone. “You know exactly what I mean. He’s your biological child. You helped me conceive him. You are half of who he is. You are his father.”
Mason sputtered, then laughed. “You expect me to believe that? After you swore up and down that he was Nate’s? After I left…and you let me?”
Her voice was heated when she responded. “Yes, you left! You overreacted to a brief moment of weakness on my part, and you bolted! I did what I could with what I was left with! What you left me with! How was I supposed to know whose son he was? I panicked, and you didn’t stick around long enough to find out the truth. Don’t blame me because you ran away!”
He blinked in surprise at her sudden outburst. Apparently, she had some long buried aches too. Ones he’d never considered. “Why are you telling me this? Now?”
“Because he’s looking for a job…and he wants to go somewhere new. Nate and I thought he could join your team.”
Mason fell into a chair, again surprised. “You call me, tell me I have a son…just so I can give him a job?”
Leilani sighed again. “No. We also want you to tell him…who you are to him.”