Page 63 of Biker's Baby

His smile had that same lopsided, carefree charm to it that I’d learned to use to my advantage. At Tris’s age, he was just smiling, but I knew that smile. It came naturally to me, even if I did play it up a bit. The eyes, the smile, the color of his hair.

I’d thought that he looked like Iris when she first got to my place, but now as I really looked at him, I could see a lot of similarities of myself, too. I thought about what Iris had said about his father, realizing now more than ever she hadn’t ever said a word about the man.

Not one word.

She’d talked about Joel, but she never said anything to make me think that Joel was the father. I just assumed, and I’d never so much as asked her outright, either. It was just something that had gone unspoken, and since I figured that it had to be her ex, I hadn’t given that side of things much thought at all.

Now, however, I began to realize that she might not have told me who the father was for a reason. Perhaps there was far more to the story – far more to our history – than just hooking up that one night never to have anything to do with each other again. Maybe there was another reason why she had come to me instead of anyone else when she was in need.

And perhaps that reason was standing right in front of me, a crayon in one hand, a piece of paper in the other.

“Listen, Glenn,” I said. “I’ve got to go. That’s all I’ve got to share with you right now, but I’ll keep you up to date in case anything changes, okay?”

“Sounds good,” Glenn said. “Everything okay? You sound like something’s wrong.”

I looked up as I spoke, and my eyes met Iris’s.

Clearly, she had been watching the interaction between me and Tris, and she had seen me making the connection. She didn’t do anything to deny the fact that I was obviously suspecting I knew who the father was, and instead she just wrung her hands in front of her and looked down into her lap.

“Everything’s fine,” I said. “I’ll talk to you later.”

I hung up the phone and set it on the table in front of me, leaning forward and placing my forearms on my knees. I looked over to Iris without saying a word. This was huge. This wasn’t something I would just ask her in passing. Clearly, she knew about this for a long time and hadn’t said a word to me yet.

And she knew her game was up.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about this. I was numb, really.

But I was also curious as to what she had to say. I’d let her be the one to break the silence and tell me why she hadn’t said anything about this before now, and she was about to find out just how patient I could be.

Iris was clearly uncomfortable as she looked up and we made eye contact once more.

There was no more ignoring the fact that I knew. It was time for her to come clean.

No more secrets.

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