Days With Zion Dawsey

18. The Magazine

It was a Sunday. Around noon.

Sheryl Dawsey was ready for her daily tea time. She would sit in her beautiful parlour and have a break. With some biscuits, tea and the daily magazine.

Today was no different. She sat down in her chair with a smile, thanked Margarine for the tea and grabbed the magazine. But this time, instead of opening it with interest, she lingered on the front page, having trouble grasping the heading and the pictures on it.

Zion Dawsey - heartless CEO and wealthiest Billionaire of Silverthorne - now alleged father of River Stewart

After months of mystery concerning self-made billionaire's Ebony Stewart's son's father, baby pictures of Zion Dawsey, CEO of Dawsey Enterprise, have been released and are causing shock and suspicion amongst Silverthorne.

There were two pictures underlining that heading. It was one picture of River smiling at the camera. And one of Zion when he was a baby, around River's age, as he smiled at the camera. Sheryl immediately noticed it was a copy of a picture that she had shown Ebony a few weeks ago when they celebrated Zion's birthday. The similarity was uncanny und undeniable.

Sheryl has obviously always been suspicious, but Zion swore he wasn't the boy's father. Now, she was doubting her son's confidentiality.

Before she could read the article on page 1,2,3 and 4, she heard voices and a second later her son stood in front of her, ripping the magazine out of her hand and tearing it apart. Sheryl blinked up at Zion, not knowing how to react. But she knew one thing: Zion was River's father. He would not act like a maniac if it weren't true.

"How could you?" He stopped his movements and looked into his mother's eyes. Into her glassy eyes.
"Mother." He sighed when her first tear rolled down her red cheek.
"I have asked you once. Once, because I trusted you to tell me the truth. And I find out like this. You lied to me." Shery said, slowly standing up.

"Mother, it means nothing. The people who wrote this-"
"The people who wrote this obviously know more about my own son than I do. Although I knew. I always knew I shouldn't have believed you. He looks exactly like you, everyone told me that after the party. But I assured them if that was the case, he'd tell me. I said it was a coincidence that you two look alike. But in the back of my mind, I knew."

Zion clenched his jaw and took a step closer to his mother. He grabbed her hand.
"Don't hate me." Was all he could say. He knew it was over. Now that whole Silverthorne knew, he had to come clear. Even though he didn't want to.

"What makes you believe that I could ever hate you? What makes you lie to me, just so I don't get mad? What makes you feel like lying to me about your first child? What is going on in that stubborn head of yours?" Sheryl placed a finger on the side of Zion's face. He closed his eyes before shaking his head.

"I don't know." He responded.
"Zion, I love you to death, but I don't understand you. I can't read you and you won't talk to me. I don't know what to do anymore. Please, help me understand why." Sheryl practically begged her son, who swallowed audibly. He wiped the tears off her cheeks and then took a deep breath.
"I couldn't tell you. Look, me and Bonnie-" He shook his head again. Was he actually going to tell her?

"Please." Sheryl said again, knowing he was close to closing up again. He knew there was no point in thinking about a better story, because he could not lie to her again.
"She wanted a baby." He said, carefully leading his mother to sit down again. He kneeled down next to her chair, still holding Sheryl's hand.

"So she asked me if I could help her out. We promised not to tell anyone, not even you. I just wanted to help her." Ziom said, knowing he wasn't lying, but he was sugarcoating it a little bit. No way would he ever talk about the deal and the contract. And truth be told, he genuinely wanted to help her after they broke the ice.

"Oh honey." Sheryl Dawsey cupped her son's cheek with her right hand.
"It's alright. You could've still told me, even if you don't want to officially be his father. I would still be- I am still his grandmother." Sheryl just realized that. She was a grandmother, a title she had early on known to never wear. She knew Zion was never planning to have a family and was always working. But now, she had a grandson, a beautiful grandson.

"I know and I'm sorry. I-"
"Sorry? Zion, a child is a wonderful thing. River is a wonderful thing. He's a miracle. There is nothing to be sorry for." She smiled down at her son. Zion hesitantly smiled back.
"I have a grandchild!" Sheryl jumped up from her chair. Zion looked at her suprised as he straightened his back.

"I'm going to spoil him. I mean I have to. He's my only grandchild, it's my duty." She momentarily forgot about Zion in the room.
"Mother, don't get too excited." He said, clearing his throat. Sheryl turned to look up at him with confusion.

"Why do you say that?" She asked.
"Well, because Ebony is-"
"She's going to have to accept me as the boy's grandmother. And I have a feeling she will grand me to be a part of his life without hesitation. We're good friends, you know that. And I'm pretty sure she'd let you be in his life as well if you two talk it out." She smiled up at Zion.

"I'm happy for you if you're happy, mother. But don't assume that I want to be in his life just because it's publicly known that he is my son. I knew what I signed up for when- when he was conceived." Zion felt awkward talking about sex with his mother, so he wanted to change the topic again.

"Besides, I'm pretty sure Ebony spoils him enough." He gave his mother a weak smile.
"I will beat her and if it's the last thing I will do." Sheryl joked, making her son chuckle.

Zion hasn't seen his mother this genuinely happy in years. It made him remember the last time she's jumped up in surprise. She would do that quite often, he thought. When he was younger and his brother or him won a random price at school or something. She'd be so happy for them and make the biggest deal out of that. Oh, how much he missed those times.

"So, you're not mad at me?" He had to be sure.
"Yes I am. But I'm sure after a few minutes with my grandson, I will have forgotten about my anger towards you." Sheryl Dawsey said with a shrug. Zion nodded.
"Fair enough."

"Splendid, is there anything else you wanted?" She asked, clearly not wanting to be rude and just leave her son in her parlour.
"You want to go to him, don't you?" Zion smirked.
"Unless you need me for something." Sheryl said excitedly.

"Come on, I'll drop you off."