Page 57 of Save the Drama for your Mama
“You may be right,” Cooper said. “But right now, we have work to do.”
Back in the living room, we were ready to get to work.
Cooper and I focused our search on the key dates in his mom’s life that might reveal clues about James. I suggested looking at her diaries from around her wedding anniversary, the anniversary of the newspaper article about James’s alleged death, and the time periods around his dad Craig’s death, as well as Cooper’s and Chad’s birthdays.
Cooper agreed and pulled out stacks of his mom’s diaries from those time periods. We had a daunting amount of material to comb through and knew we’d likely be reading for days. But I tried to stay optimistic that somewhere in these hundreds of pages we would uncover a telling detail his mom had forgotten to censor, something that would shed light on the elusive James. Cooper and I hunkered down and began poring over the diaries, intent on unraveling this mystery man’s significance.
After setting aside the fourth diary I had gone through, I glanced over at Cooper. “Still nothing. Are you having any luck?”
Cooper shook his head. “No, not yet, but I am just blown away by the way she expressed herself on paper. There was so much emotion in her words. She knows how to draw the reader in. And this is her private diary.”
I nodded. “I guess you get that from her then.”
He turned his head toward me. “Me? Not even close. My mom was at a different level. She was a true master wordsmith.”
“Don’t sell yourself short, mister,” I said. “You also know how to draw the reader in.”
“How would you know?” Cooper asked.
I shrugged and gave him a mischievous smile.
“Wait . . . you read my book already?”
“I’m in the middle of chapter nineteen, I believe.”
He just stared at me.
“Why are you looking at me that way? I’m not lying. You are also a master wordsmith. And I know I told you that daredevils only perform reckless stunts because they want attention. But when Fernando parachuted out of that airplane to be with the girl of his dreams and was falling in the sky right toward her, oh my word! That was the most romantic thing ever. And remember, I went into your book with a closed mind, thinking I would not like it at all because of the genre. So this is a tremendous compliment. Your writing brought those characters to life. I felt Fernando’s longing for his true love, and the euphoria when he finally had her in his arms. It was beautiful.”
Cooper nodded, still looking surprised. “Well, thank you. I appreciate that.”
“You’re welcome,” I said, smiling, then diving back into the diaries.
It was only on the second page when I found something, a bombshell. I set the diary down in my lap, wondering how Cooper would react to this news.
There’s no use in delaying the inevitable.
“Uh, Cooper . . .” I began shakily, my heart pounding.
“Yeah?” He glanced up, noticing my hesitance. “Did you find something?”
I nodded, not trusting my voice.
“Well, what is it?” Cooper prodded. “Don’t leave me hanging.”
I took a deep breath and gave him a sympathetic look as I delivered the news that he would no doubt remember for the rest of his life. “James Blade is your father.”
ChapterFourteen
COOPER
As I drove north on Highway 5 to San Clemente with Melody to meet James, my mind seesawed back and forth between curiosity and excitement. It was still hard to believe my mom’s diary entry.
Dear Diary,
As I marked another anniversary of Craig’s passing, I found myself reflecting on our relationship. Yes, my dreams of eloping and marrying my soulmate vanished in an instant, along with the hopes of James holding that special child we had created together, but I never imagined I’d come to love Craig just as much. I did, even though it wasn’t with the same intensity. I’m grateful for him asking me to marry him, even when he had known my heart belonged to someone else, Cooper’s father. Craig had just wanted to make life easier for me, with the promise of giving me all the time I needed to love him as a husband. He loved me that much. And I never regretted saying yes.
James Blade was my biological father. Not the man I had called Dad my whole life. But as I drove to meet James for the first time, I felt more excited than anything.
