Page 3 of Crying Shame
Probably was.
No one in my family except Jeff knew the truth.
Clarissa was gone. I should have followed through years ago on apologizing for my horrible behavior.
The look on her face when I'd told her "we’re done" and the way she'd lost all color had haunted me. I relived that moment over and over whenever I met with a patient who had relationship issues.
Maybe that should have been a sign that she’d had my son and not told me.
After eight years, I’d just found out about the boy yesterday and had flown back home as I had no leads on where Clarissa was now.
Pedar spoke about the meaning of having sons and stepped forward. Though I was across the crowded room, I felt his gaze on me.
Clarissa and my son, whose name I didn’t even know, deserved to have everything I could offer.
I clapped Kir on the back and said, “Let's not talk about me. How are the markets?”
He shrugged. “Always going. I bought a new home in Pacific Palisades.”
He owned more real estate than anyone else in the family.
A waitress brought us both champagne and left. I sipped and asked, “Are you moving into this house?”
He shrugged. “I like to have places where I can be completely on my own.”
I laughed. None of us were ever alone. “Except for staff.”
Clarissa’s parents were part of my parents' staff. Both were in uniform as her mother was head housekeeper and her father drove mine around.
Neither of them had heard or spoken to their only daughter in years. As Arman was giving a speech to honor our father, I followed Mrs. Brown, who was directing the staff, and waved to get her attention. She came over to me. “May I help you, sir?”
“Do you know where your daughter, Clarissa, is?" I asked even though I already knew the answer. "I need to find her.”
“She will never bother your family ever again and knows she is not welcome with either her father or myself. Have a good evening, sir.” She curtsied.
My shoulders were heavy. I was the reason for Clarissa's family problems, but her mother's coldness caught me off guard. She disappeared, and I walked back to the party. As Arman finished his speech, I widened my stance to stay focused.
Kir came to stand beside me. “I’m unsure howPedarran everything without ever taking a break.”
“He had a wife and twelve sons to support.”
Kir shrugged and finished the champagne in his flute. “Children are probably worth it. However, finding a woman to have them is difficult.”
I put my still-full glass to the side as drinking wasn’t something that interested me tonight.
My head was still processing what I’d learned about Clarissa. So I said to my brother, “You can have anyone.”
“So can you. It’s about quality.”
Clarissa filled that description. At twenty, I’d not seen that as clearly as I did now.
“True,” I said, and my phone beeped to signal I had a text. The investigator I'd hired to find Clarissa asked that I call him. I tapped my brother on the shoulder. “Look, I have to go.”
He nodded.
I turned to leave but ran right into Maman, whose hair was up in a loose bun with some dark hair having escaped and hanging in curls along the sides of her face. She smiled up at me. “You’re leaving early, son?”
“Maman, I’ll explain soon.” I kissed her cheeks.
