A Bad Boy's Gift

Chapter 36

With my mouth on the floor, I can't stop staring at Mabel. I feel my eyes start to leak and Mabel scoots her chair closer to mine so she can hold my hand.

I really hope Archer didn't know she was pregnant, and I really hope she got rid of it, but I have this nagging feeling that this isn't the end of Adam's story.

"I'm guessing by your silence that you've figured it out and you're just too shocked to say it aloud. So I'll continue." Wonderful, because I wanted to hear more.

"I wanted Beth to find Archer so he could support them, but she was adamant that she didn't want him to know about the baby, and she point-blank refused to get rid of it. So I held her hand while she told our parents. When she decided halfway through her pregnancy that she wanted to put the baby up for adoption, my mum offered to adopt the baby herself. My mum is so family orientated it's ridiculous. She would have never let Lucy be adopted by a stranger and never get the chance to know who her biological family was. So Beth gave our parents an ultimatum. Her or the baby. And mum being mum, she chose the baby over her own daughter." He takes a deep breath, I can see why he would be angry at Archer; without the baby he created, Adam would still have his sister and he probably wouldn't be such an arsehole. I wait for him to continue, wanting to hear the whole story before commenting.

"So, the day that Lucy was born, our mum was there with Beth and when Beth asked to hold her baby, mum told her she didn't need to because she was giving her away. Beth never came home. She didn't tell anyone when she was discharged and just said she wanted time on her own to recover. She left Lucy in Dad's office at work, and we never saw her again. So a few weeks ago, when I got a message on Facebook from my sister's old account asking me to meet her, I didn't hesitate. She's incredible, she went to uni, has a job at a high stakes law firm and is about to get married. She asked me about Archer, and I told her I hadn't seen or heard from him since they stopped seeing each other. I told her about Lucy and how Mum and Dad have brought her up better than they brought us up, that our old driver takes Lucy to school, just like he took us to school, I loved it when Mellor drove us to school." Hang on a minute...

"I'm sorry, did you just say Mellor?" I find my voice while my head puts the pieces together. Holy fucking shit balls. It all makes sense now. The girl with the beautiful blue eyes that my brother likes is Archer's daughter. Oh my God, Archer has a daughter.

"Yeah, why?" He sounds confused that that's the part of his story I decide to question.

"I met him this week, my 12 year old brother has a thing for Lucy and her grandparents want to set up a meet up for the kids to get to know each other better. Oh my God, I saw her, her eyes match Archers. I was listening to you thinking you must be delusional and just trying to tear us apart, but how can you be lying when she looks just like him." I can feel my brain imploding.

"Is there anything else you need to tell me? I need to go back to work soon." I ask him, wishing he'll stop breaking my heart.

"There's one thing. Beth wants to meet Archer again and tell him what happened. I told her it's probably not a good idea, that it will just upset everything, but she said she wants her daughter to be able to decide whether she has a relationship with her father if she wants it." He sighs. "I'm sorry for telling you like this, I was going to come to the race and try to speak to you, but I didn't want Archer in the way when I do. He rang me yesterday and asked me about it, but I have no idea how he figured it out. He said he tried to see Beth again but she just ignored him, so he didn't push her, but now he wishes he had pushed to see her again. I think he might want to have a relationship with Lucy if she wants it. I just wanted you to know the truth River. I'm sorry you've found out like this. But when I spoke to him today and said he should tell you, he told me to fuck off and not bother either of you again. But I just couldn't let it go. I'm sorry River." He finally stops talking long enough for me to take a deep breath.