Blinded by Limerence

83 | Together At Last

Morgan noted the waver in Archer's voice as he said this.

"I — I was missing from Adrienne's life for about two years, and if I'm being honest, I wasn't even thinking of finding her — I just thought I'd make a big mess of things, you know? And I figured it was probably best that I not interfere... Isn't — isn't that the reason why you left in the first place?" he added tentatively, pausing, and Morgan opened her mouth to answer, but before she could, Archer gently pushed Adrienne toward the playground, prompting her to run off (which she did), and he continued in what seemed like a subdued voice.

"But — er — but then Hanna died, so I had to step up — stop being a coward and finally man up, be a father." He drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes. "I should've been there for Han when she told me she was pregnant with Adrienne — I was just — so dumb — and scared — and I kept thinking that this wasn't really happening to me. It was selfish, but I didn't care then.

"D'you know Oliver? He was Hanna's friend, the Will to her Grace — except that he wasn't gay, I guess. He stepped in when I couldn't. Became the dad Adrienne never had. Did as much as he could with Adrienne, did right by Han — but, you know, she's rightfully and lawfully mine..."

Morgan sat there, feeling her brain sag at the sudden outburst of new information. She didn't know what to think. Life was so crazy, and their story sounded like it came straight out of an angsty novel — and yet...

"Oliver loved her," Archer said quietly. "It should've been him — with her, I mean — he could've made her happy..."

"Where's he now?" Morgan asked softly.

"He lives in town, visits Adrienne quite often," he said in a kind of offhand way. "Truth be told, sometimes, I fear Adrienne prefers being with Oliver — and I don't blame her — he's always been around, and he loves her like his own. You should see the way her face lights up every time she sees Oliver driving down the street to our house."

"I'm sure you're a great father, Arch," said Morgan earnestly. "I saw you with Adrienne a while ago — you should've seen the look on her face, too..."

Archer smiled, but the smile didn't quite reach his gray eyes. "Thanks, Darhk."

A silence fell upon them as they both stared vaguely at the children; Adrienne was now building sandcastles in the sandbox, Nick and Lexi not too far from her on the swings.

Without warning, Archer turned to look at Morgan with an unfathomable gaze. Morgan felt herself sweat more nervously still as his watchful gaze seemed to be studying her; his eyes travelled down her short hair (she was quite self-conscious about it since it was now curling wildly at the ends — she was due for a haircut any day now), to the outfit she was wearing, then —

"Is that —" Archer broke off, hesitated, but seemed to think against it. "Is that — is that Trevor's jacket?"

"Yeah," said Morgan, slightly relieved that that was all he had to say. 

Archer sighed. "It's been six years, and I still haven't accepted the fact that he's gone. Life's too fickle, you know? You can never know when your conversation with someone would be the last... I guess, in a way, I was afraid your speech to us about graduating high school would be the last time I'd ever hear your voice," he added, his cheeks reddening. 

Morgan didn't have to look into a mirror to know that her own cheeks were probably dusted in pink as well.

"I — er — I didn't leave because of you," said Morgan, which was slightly off-topic. "You must know that, right? I was pregnant with Nick, and I was so scared and alone... I certainly couldn't tell my parents that their 17-year-old was knocked up — they'd have a cow — so I just opted to disappear. It seemed the easy choice.