Page 30 of Billion-Dollar Attitudes

“No. That’s not how things like these go. If I don’t tell him, I couldn’t hold up a lie like that forever. Our relationship would never be real. It would be based on a really really huge lie. Not to mention then I would have to lie to my daughter too. If I tell him it’ll be done and over with. We are having a good time, and there’s definitely some otherworldly connection going on here, but it’s not ‘oh by the way my daughter is actually yours’ strong.”

The recording cut out and a picture flashed on the screen. It said, “Graduation your junior year,” with the date of that graduation where I met Sicily. Then Harper’s birthdate flashed across the screen. I plopped down in the chair, my forehead wrinkled. Glancing at the note, I noticed another date on the bottom of the paper. It was from January five years before. January 6th. I had no idea what that date signified. Nor could I really begin to think about it. My mind was reeling around the idea that Harper, that beautiful little girl was mine. And that Sicily had hid it from me. She had lied to me over and over again, and she had kept that perfect little girl from me.

Even after everything we had been through, she still hadn’t told me.

I stood up again, shaking my head. “No. No way.”

I slammed the laptop closed and grabbed the thumb drive, turning around to find my driver standing in the door way. I grabbed my chest, startled.

“I’m sorry, sir. Are you alright?”

I shook my head. “Can you do me a favor and load that stuff up in the car and just wait here. I have to find something out. It can’t wait.”

“Of course,” he replied, stepping to the side as I raced out the door.

This time there was no leisurely walk to Sicily’s house. Instead, I took the steps up the sand embankment three at a time, and broke out at a jog, dodging the car rolling past as I crossed the street. I headed halfway down the block and knocked hard on the door. I could hear Sicily’s footsteps as she approached, her face worried as she opened the door.

“Hey. You’re back early. Harper fell asleep on the floor. I think she’s still tired so I put her down for a nap.”

I shook my head, walking past her into the house, turning back to her. “Please tell me this is a lie. Tell me this was made to mess with me.”

She stared at the thumb drive I was holding out for her. Slowly she took it from me and stared at it. “What is this?”

“Just plug it into your laptop and listen.”

She looked at me as she walked over to the counter and opened her laptop. “Where did you get this?”

When I didn’t answer her, she plugged in the drive and put in her earbuds, listening to the recording. I watched her face as she listened. As soon as the recording really started, her face fell. She listened to the end, and then watched the messages on the screen. When Harper’s birthday flashed through she yanked the earbuds out and jumped back, turning to me.

“Where did this come from, Daniel? Why is my daughter’s name on there?”

I walked quickly toward her and she pulled back. Part of me felt bad for scaring her, but I needed answers. “That conversation. That was you, right?”

She blinked and then nodded.

“And that was exactly how the conversation went? It wasn’t altered in anyway?”

She took a deep breath, looking confused. “Um. I don’t remember exactly but um…yeah. That was the conversation.”

I lowered my tone for a moment. “Are you talking about me? Am I…am I Harper’s father?”

Sicily nervously shook her head, her eyes darting everywhere. “Daniel…I…”

I grabbed her arms and she looked at me wildly. I jolted her a slight bit. “Sicily! AM I Harper’s Father?!”

She stared at me for several moments, tears pooling in the corners of her eyes. “Yes, but…”

I dropped my hands and put them up to my head, turning around. “Oh my God. I really thought you were going to say no. I thought you were going to say it was all a trick.”

“Daniel, if you would just let me explain…”

I swung my arm out. “No. No, you don’t get to try to make this better. That little girl is mine? You not only never told me, for all these years, but then we get close, really close, and you continue to hide it from me? You act like you’re a single mom and I’m this amazing man that’s come into your lives?”

Sicily pressed her lips together. “I know you’re upset. You have every right to be…”

I scoffed, turning away from her.

“But when I found out I was pregnant you were a wild college boy in California, and I was a college kid in Ohio. I barely knew you, and I was trying to protect Harper.”

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