Trials and Tiaras (Untouchable #7) - Heather Long Page 0,19
this. Get to the point about the cunt’s story.”
“Call her that again—”
“And you’ll what?” Archie dared him. “Please, throw a swing. I made you a promise, and I have every intention of keeping it.”
We weren’t alone out here, another golf cart had pulled up behind ours, so I just said, “We need to move this along.”
Both men broke their stare-off to glance at me and then behind me. The others were still too far away to hear, but that didn’t mean they were going to stay there.
“I broke her heart,” Eddie said finally. “We were young and foolish and made bad choices, but we always chose each other until I had no choice other than Muriel. Afterward, I tried to keep her, to get her to stay, because I would have paid the penalty of divorcing your mother earlier after you were born. But she didn’t want to wait that long, and eventually…eventually, she left. I tried my best.”
Wow.
Yep. My dad was definitely looking better that this shit stain.
“Needless to say, she moved and changed her name, and I lost track of her. I never gave up on finding her, but her parents would have nothing to do with me and your grandfather was no help. When we moved here and it turned out you’d met her daughter—a child I wasn’t even aware she’d had—it seemed like kismet.”
The snort of derision from Archie actually made me wince. How the fuck was he putting himself through this and not beating the man with a club, I had no idea.
Well, that wasn’t true. Of course I knew.
Frankie.
“At first, she still didn’t want anything to do with me, but I made arrangements to take over the company she worked for.”
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any stranger…
“And while you may not think she cares, all she ever talked about was her daughter and how proud of Frankie she was. How Frankie would get to do all the things she never did. How she was cut off from her parents because she wouldn’t have an abortion or be forced into a marriage she didn’t want.” He grimaced. “Unlike me, she stuck to her principles.”
Did he really believe that?
“Get to the point,” Archie urged him.
“We grew closer again. I know you don’t like this and you don’t want to believe it, but I care about her. I never stopped. Your mother agreed to the divorce because she was as tired of our sham of a marriage as I was. Both of us did wrong by you, I can admit that. Frankie even called me on being a terrible father.”
Of course she did.
“But Maddy did the tests. She showed me the results. Frankie’s my daughter—”
“Yeah, did those results have your name on them?” Archie just kept plowing through. “Did you get it independently verified? Did you bring in a neutral party to oversee it? Someone with no skin in the game, or did you just take her word for it?”
“Why would she lie to me? Why now?” his father challenged. “Why would she wait all this time when she could have been comfortable? I would have more than provided for them. Been there…even if…”
“Even if you were stuck with me. I get it. I’d pick Frankie over me in a heartbeat. But I’m betting she never came after you because she had no idea. Maybe there’s a chance you’re the father, but that’s a one in four based on what I have, and I’ll take those odds.”
“Archie…”
“Don’t,” he said. “But I’d advise you to sort your shit out before she fleeces you for everything. Then again, you two deserve each other. Stay away from my girlfriend.”
“She’s your—”
“You heard me,” Archie cut him off. “She doesn’t want anything to do with you either. So you stay away from her, and trust me, we will be watching. You’re going to make arrangements to get her out of that internship with full credit. Then you’re going to stay as far the fuck away from her as possible. Muriel moved to New York. Not Paris. Shocked? Maybe not. Who cares? You could go to London or to South Africa or to hell, but what you won’t do is go near her again.”
With that, he turned to me and started walking. Edward stared at him for a beat, then said, “What if you’re wrong? What if Maddy isn’t lying, Archie? What then?”
“It won’t matter,” Archie said without slowing. “I’m not wrong. She’s not my sister.”