Chapter 33
Gordon
“Ollie, please. Even if you don’t want to come home, at least send me a message to let me know you’re fine. I’m worried about you, son. I love you.”
I sent the voicemail and placed my phone on the dashboard before starting my truck. Charlie had informed me that she would be going to the community center and had asked me to pick her up. I hadn’t been there since the night I’d kissed Beau on the stage, and I had planned to stay away. I was nervous about seeing Beau again. There had been little contact between us as I focused on finding Ollie instead. My mother and I had done several routes, sticking the missing posters in public places. So far, I'd heard nothing, but I was not giving up hope. I would never give up hope I’d see my son again.
I blew my horn at Glenna, and smiling, allowed her car to get ahead of me to join the evening traffic. The evening was beautiful as I watched the sunset, casting a splash of orange light in the sky. I didn’t even mind the traffic because I felt at peace. Each day I would live with the hope it was the day I would be reunited with Ollie. And if I didn’t, the next day I would continue hoping.
The closer I approached to the community center, the more my heart increased its tempo. I was excited about seeing Beau again. So much time had passed since the two of us had seen each other. I spotted his parked car and had to spend five minutes in the car to calm down. I had so much to say to him, but probably wouldn’t be able to say it until we found some time alone. I was here to pick up Charlie and nothing else. Still, I was hungry for a sight of him.
I entered the auditorium with my hands deep inside the fronts of my pockets. I was trying to go for casual.
I spotted them the instant I entered. Charlie and Beau were facing each other, and their sides turned to the door, so they didn’t see me. I frowned, wondering if Charlie was giving him hell. She had been improving over the last couple of days, but I had no idea what her feelings were with regards to Beau.
As I approached them, I had every intention of announcing myself, but then I got a snippet of their conversation.
“I just had to know that question though before,” Charlie was saying. “-before I told you that you have my permission to date my dad.”
I came to such an abrupt halt I almost lost my balance. My beautiful girl. I couldn’t take my eyes off her as her words sank. She was granting us her blessings. I did not take it for granted. This was not easy for her to do. She had loved her mother, and much time had not lapsed for her to forget the family we had been. Still, she was reaching out to us, meeting us halfway. At that moment, if she wanted the moon, I would have lassoed it for her.
“Thank you,” I heard Beau tell her.
“Yes, thank you,” I added, and both heads swung in my direction. Charlie’s face went red, but she ran to me, her arms wrapped around my waist. I hugged her back.
“I’m so sorry, daddy,” she whispered.
“Me too. Me too.”
I glanced over her head at Beau to find his eyes shiny with unshed tears. A lump stuck in my throat. I’d missed him. God, how much I’d missed this man. How could someone I’d known for so little time affect my emotions in this way?
“Hi,” I said to him, releasing Charlie.
“Hi,” he said back with a smile. “I’m sorry about your son.”
I nodded. “We’ll find him.”
“Dad, I’ll go sit in the car,” Charlie announced, taking the car keys from my hands.
“Okay. I’ll be there in a few.”
She hurried from the auditorium to give us privacy. She had hardly left when Beau and I stepped towards each other at the same time. He walked into my arms, and I clutched him to me, inhaling his scent. He clung to me, grabbing the end of my jacket. We didn’t speak for a while, just savored the moment we never thought we would ever get to be together again. I closed my eyes and tried to brand his scent and his form in my arms to my mind.
“I don’t know how much longer I would have been able to go on without you,” he whispered. “Being apart fucking hurt, man.”
“Shh. I know it did. I know, but things are getting better.”
“Yes.” He leaned back to look up at me. “I can’t believe the kids showed up today for practice. Not after the way parents protested to the video and had me placed on administrative leave.”
“What?”
“You didn’t know?” he asked, pulling back a little, but I wasn’t ready to let him go just yet.
“No, I didn’t.”
“I assumed you would have heard from Charlie.”
“Beau, Charlie hasn’t spoken to me until a couple of days ago. My time has been filled with finding out where Ollie is and trying to keep my business afloat, after half a dozen workers quit on me.”
“Oh no. Are you okay?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I got it taken care of. Little by little everything is working itself out.”
He sighed. “I hope that’s the same case with the school. I’m having a hearing day after tomorrow to find out if I’m fired or not.”
“They can’t fire you.”
“Under their morality clause in the contract, they can. I’ve no legal representation here, Gordon. As an foreign teacher, my avenue for arbitration is very slim.”
“That’s some bullshit right there.”
He smiled, but sadness filled his eyes. “I know. Little I can do about it though.”
“I meant what I said,” I told him, staring deep into his eyes. “I’ll marry you so that you can stay with us and never leave. France is a world away, Beau. I can’t have you there while I am here. If nothing, these couple weeks without you have taught me how much you’ve come to mean to me.”
He leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine. “Thank you, but we shouldn’t feel compelled to get married.”
“But I’ll do it.”
He shook his head. “Come on. Help me lock up. We can talk about this when it’s necessary.”
“Okay but just know that’s my offer, and it won’t change.”
We locked up in silence, but it was a companionable one. I loved just seeing him in my peripheral vision. My car was parked beside his, so we walked side by side.
“Dad, can we stop for pizza on the way home?” Charlie asked, sticking her head through the window.
“Sure thing. That sounds good.”
I turned to wish Beau goodnight and that I’d see him later. I had to hold him in my arms tonight. It had been too long.
“Mr. Moreau,” Charlie called, interrupting me. “Do you want to join us?”
Beau glanced at me surprised, but I only smiled. Charlie was showing us that she was here to give us support. The only blemish on my happiness remained the absence of my son. Now if only we could win over Ollie. I left him a voicemail every single day to remind him I loved him, and he could always come home, but nothing.
“I don’t want to intrude,” Beau said.
“We want you to come with us,” she insisted. “Right, dad?”
“That’s right.”
Beau’s lips curved into the most beautiful smile. “Okay. I’ll follow you guys in my car.”
I squeezed his hand, and we separated only to meet up at Beth’s Pizzeria moments later. The restaurant was a casual setting that was a favorite place for me to take the kids back when everything was normal. Although I was so aware of the one person missing from our table, I tried to focus on the moment.
“Have you been here before?” I asked Beau as we occupied a booth.
“I came one Friday with some teachers from the school,” he answered. “The food’s good.”
“It sells the best pizza around,” Charlie added. “Dad, you know what pizza I like. Can you order for me? I need to use the restroom.”
“Okay. Can you also call your grandmother and let her know where we are?”
She nodded and slid from the booth to use the bathroom. I watched her go and realized Beau was doing the same thing. He looked impressed.
“I can’t believe how well she’s taking this,” he said. “You know I tried talking to her at the school once, and she ignored me. I never thought she would talk to me again.”
“Not many people would care if a child doesn’t speak to them.”
“She’s not just any child. She’s yours, and I so wanted her to like me.”
I smiled at him. “I think she does.”
A waitress appeared and took our order. When she left, I reached across the table for Beau’s hands. “You need a shave,” I told him.
“Yeah, well I had no one to complain since I wasn’t kissing anyone.”
“Well, that’s going to change. I’ll be seeing you later.”
He groaned. “Don’t say things like that. You’re going to make me think about sex and your daughter will be back any minute now.”
“Okay. Then tell me what you’ve been up to the past two weeks.”
He brought me up to date with what happened for him to be placed on administrative leave. I was outraged on his behalf that parents had called into the school to protest him teaching their children. Shouldn’t the important thing be that he was a damn good teacher?
“Dad.”
I glanced up from Beau to Charlie who approached our table. Her face was white and her eyes wide.
“What is it?” I asked, alarmed that someone had done or said something to her while she went to use the bathroom.
“It’s Ollie,” she gasped. “He’s here.”
Elation filled me. “He’s here? Where? With whom?”
I was a paradox of emotions. Relieved to find he was alive and well, and mad that he didn't get in touch with me just to let me know he was fine. I rose to my feet as Charlie pointed me in the direction. I rounded the wall which blocked the other side of the restaurant from me.
And there he was. That son of mine, casually sitting in a small booth all by himself. He must have sensed my presence because he looked up and when he saw me, he freaked out. He started to get up before he sank down in his seat and went back to his plate of cheesy fries and chicken fingers.
“Ol-” I choked on his name, unable to get it all out. “Ollie, thank God, you’re okay, son.”
He stared down at his plate. “Don’t call me that. I told you I wasn’t your son.” Something was strange about how he said those words this time. Regret laced his words.
“I was so worried about you,” I told him, sliding into the booth across from him. I couldn’t stop looking at him, checking that he really was okay and sitting across from me. “Why didn’t you call me?”
“I’m not your responsibility,” he replied. “I’ve nothing to say to you.”
“Well, I’ve a lot to say to you. I love you, son and I want you to come home. Things have not been the same without you.”
He glanced up then from me to Beau and Charlie who lingered back from us. “Seems you’ve got your family started again. You don’t need me.”
“You’re wrong. No one could replace you. Even when you’re old, you’ll never stop being my son.”
“But I’m not!” he snapped, and I could see his knees bouncing under the table. “I’m not your son, and you are not my father.”
“That’s right, Gordon. You should listen to him. He’s not your son.”
Conscious of the eyes in the restaurant observing us with curiosity, I stiffened at the sound of Eric’s voice. He sauntered up to the table, a smug smile on his face.
“Eric. What are you doing here?”
“I’m here, hanging out with my son,” he answered.
I got to my feet. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the fact that Ollie isn’t your child,” he remarked with a smirk. “You sure had Barb fool you. Ollie never was full term, was he? Do you never wonder why?”
“He was just a preemie. Many babies are born prematurely.”
“Did he look premature to you?” Eric said with a chuckle. “Would they allow him to leave the hospital the next day if he was? Don’t be a fool, Gordon. After all these years, you should know the truth. Ollie is my kid. You see, Barb and I had been messing with each other way back, before you. When she got pregnant, I wasn’t ready to be a father yet, so she told you the baby was yours.”
I glanced at Ollie, the boy I’d raised as my own since he was born. He didn’t look at me, and I knew Eric had already discussed this with him. As much as Eric couldn’t be trusted, I couldn’t dismiss his claim. Ollie had been born just over seven months, and he never spent a day in the preemie unit at the hospital. Barbara also hadn’t been keen on us being a couple when I first tried, but then she had been willing all of a sudden. The next thing I knew she was pregnant.
“Is this why you’ve not come home?” I asked Ollie, diverting the anger I had by ignoring Eric. “You think you’re not my son?”
“He proved it,” Ollie answered.
“I don’t give a damn what any test says, Ollie. I raised you as my own. I loved you from the moment you were born and placed in my arms. Nothing will ever change the fact that I am your father.”
“Except you’re not, and I won’t let you raise my child!”
I almost lunged at him, but Beau held me back. “Gordon, don’t!”
“It’s too damn late for you to try to play father!” I shouted at him. “He’s my son, and you can’t change that. You can’t take that away from me.”
“Except he’s not and he’ll tell you he’d rather stay with me just as he has been doing for the past week and a half.”
Anger boiled inside me. “You had him all this time? I was worried about him. Your damn department is searching for him, and you had him all this time.”
I shook Beau off and was about to lunge at him again, but the manager who had been called to observe us situated himself between us.
“Sir, you’re causing a scene,” the manager announced, giving me his attention. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
“I’m not going anywhere unless my son goes with me!” I snapped, turning to Ollie. “Please, Ollie, you can’t stay with him. He’s not who you think he is. He’s not a nice person, and he will hurt you.”
“I’d never hurt him,” Eric stated. “He’s my son. Why would I harm him?”
Dry-mouthed, I glanced from him to Ollie. The words were on the tip of my tongue to blurt out that he would hurt the boy if he found out he was gay, but I couldn’t let out Ollie’s secret like that. His secret was not mine to tell. And what if I blurted out his secret and he walked out of here, deciding not to stay with any of us. I wouldn’t trust Eric to not go after him. I had to find a way to communicate with Ollie what he was setting himself up for with a man like Eric.
“Sir, if you don’t leave, we’re going to have to call the police,” the manager announced, pointing at me. “These two were here peacefully before you came along.”
“I’m not leaving!” I insisted.
“Gordon.” Beau clutched my arm. “It’s best for us to go.”
“I can’t leave Ollie with him, Beau. You know what he’s like.” I turned to Ollie. “You need to leave with me. Now. He’s not your friend.”
Ollie turned cold eyes towards me, his mouth set in a mutinous line. “I know. He’s my father.”
“You heard the boy,” the manager announced. “Come on, let’s go.”
Beau tugged at my arm. “Remember what happened the last time, Gordon. Let it go for now. At least we know where he is.”
“That’s right, Gordon. Listen to your boyfriend.” He spat the word at us.
I wanted to wrap my arms around his neck, and it hurt because he was supposed to be the brother I never had. But when it came to my children, I didn’t care who stood in my way, and this man was a threat to my son.
“If you so much as harm him, Eric,” I said, my teeth clenched. “I’ll find you, and I’ll make you pay for it. I already owe you one for what you did to Beau. If you hurt my son, it may very well be the last breath you take.”
“That’s it!” the manager announced. “I’m calling the police.”
I could have told him not to bother since we were leaving anyway. It killed me to leave Ollie inside the restaurant with Eric. Every moment he was with the other man, he was in danger of being exposed, and if Eric found out Ollie was gay, how much different would he act to when he had abused Beau?
I couldn’t let that happen to Ollie. Not over my dead body.