Richard, 75, believes his ex-wife Vanessa is dating a man 20 years her junior, so he gets into an altercation with her. He is shocked to learn that the man with her is his son, whom he was unaware even existed. But Vanessa has been holding on to more secrets than just that.
Richard was returning home from the grocery shop when he was startled by something. Vanessa, his ex-wife, was strolling hand in hand with a man who was around 20 years her junior.
“Is she seeing someone else…already?”
Richard was enraged. He raced inside the café after seeing them go in. When he saw Vanessa and the man smiling and holding hands over something at a window table, resentment shot through his veins.
Seeing Vanessa move on so quickly following their divorce infuriated him. So he stormed up to their table, angrily.
“What the hell, Vanessa?” Vanessa and the guy she was with were startled when Richard pounded on the table. “All right, all right! Within weeks after divorcing her husband, my 72-year-old ex-wife had already found another man to lust after! Well done! Additionally, how long have you been dating?”
Vanessa begged Richard to stop because she was so embarrassed. The man with Vanessa, Simon, got up from his chair.
“Is this my dad, Mom?” he enquired.
Richard was stunned.
“What did you say?”
Vanessa realised at this point that she couldn’t keep the truth from Simon or her ex-husband.
Richard, kindly have a seat. I want to share something with you two.Remember that night at the pub 54 years ago when we first met?” As Vanessa described her past, her voice wavered.
It was September 1968, autumn. Vanessa, 17, and her pals were ecstatic to have succeeded in slinking out of their houses to celebrate at the bar.
Are you certain that your father didn’t catch you slinking out of the home, Van? I don’t want the celebration to become a sermon at church.” As they rushed into the pub, one of the females made a joke.
Vanessa grew up in a conservative household because her father, Alan, was a pastor at the nearby church. She was prohibited from spending time with her pals after dusk. Sunday classes were customary. There was an outright ban on late-night gatherings and hard alcohol. And absolutely no drugs or sex.
Vanessa detested it as well. Her love for her father did not extend to his limitations. Like her companions, she desired an adventurous life. Vanessa had thus plucked up the bravery to leave the house after her parents had gone to sleep and go to the pub with her pals.
The adolescents were engrossed in the sparkle and glamour of nightlife as they moved towards an empty table while rock ‘n’ roll songs played in the background. Vanessa soon made her way to the bar with her buddy Carla to buy drinks.
“By the way, I heard Dylan will be here tonight with his friends!” added Carla.
“My relationship with Dylan is ended! Exactly! I’d rather not even bring him up!” Vanessa answered back.
Vanessa was irritated to learn that Dylan would be in the pub because she and Dylan had broken up recently. She sat down at the bar and placed her martini order. She was sipping her drink when a dapper outsider approached her.
“Hey there, gorgeous!” The twenty-one-year-old man stated, angling in towards Vanessa. “My name is Richard. Would you want a drink, please?
It felt like stars were popping around Vanessa’s head because she was new to drinking strong drinks. She couldn’t help but be drawn to Richard’s charisma when she saw him.
“I’d be delighted!” Vanessa gave Richard a sexy smile and made eye contact. She was instantly enamoured with him.
Richard and Vanessa danced to jazz music playing in the background while conversing as though they had known one other for centuries.
“I’m new to this town,” Richard pulled Vanessa closer with his arms encircling her. “I came here for work. Hello, how about we take a drive? Is there any way you could give me a tour?”
Yes, that would be wonderful.nonetheless, it’s growing late,” Vanessa remarked as she glanced at her watch.
But when she saw how disappointed Richard was, she quickly had second thoughts. She agreed to accompany him since he was too endearing for her to refuse.
For Vanessa, that evening was just magnificent. While driving through the busy streets, she engaged Richard in conversation and laughter. After their passionate kiss, Vanessa was quickly wrapped in Richard’s arms for her first personal experience. It had a fantasy-like quality.
After getting dressed, they shared another kiss before Richard took Vanessa home. Vanessa slipped inside her bedroom, and every fibre of her being yearned for her to stay with him. As Richard waved her goodbye and vanished into the darkness, she observed from her window.
Vanessa made the decision to move on from that evening and forget about it altogether, but three weeks later she began to feel queasy.
“Vanessa, what’s wrong?” Rebecca, Vanessa’s stepsister, pounded on the bathroom door. “Vanessa, I heard everything. You really ought to come out and tell us why you’re crying.
Shortly afterward, a restless Vanessa came out of the bathroom, gripping her tummy and dabbing at her face. “I’m ill…I’ve got a really bad headache.”
“Why are you holding your stomach if it’s a headache?”
Vanessa was frozen by Rebecca’s icy and suspicious tone. “Girl, who do you think you’re trying to fool?”
Vanessa stammered, “I said I’m feeling sick,” and hurried back to the loo to puke. When Rebecca noticed her teenage stepdaughter emptying her stomach into the toilet, her worst fears were realised.
“Vanessa, tell me the truth,” Rebecca asked the girl, her eyes gloomily fixed on hers, “Have you been intimate with someone? Do you have a baby?
Vanessa started crying. She told her stepmother her secret since she realised there was no way out. When Rebecca learned that Vanessa’s pregnancy was the consequence of a one-night stand rather than a careless moment with her boyfriend, her initial amazement rapidly gave way to indignation.
“Oh God…You have sex with an unknown person?” Rebecca gave Vanessa a start. “Your father will feel really guilty.How long can you keep this a secret? “This child needs a father to grow up…do you hear me?”
“I’ll take your father to a restaurant tomorrow night.” You’ll let Dylan know that you wish to reunite with him in the interim. Take Dylan home, and…” Rebecca hesitated, for this was not the usual advice she would give her daughter to “spend the night with him.” There isn’t any other method to prevent a controversy. It is totally forbidden to have an abortion.”
Vanessa gave a nod. She felt guilty about meeting Richard at the bar that night and slinking out. Everything that had seemed magical at the time felt eerie today.
Although she felt bad for tricking Dylan, she was unable to tell Dad what she had done. Vanessa thought about what to do for a long, restless night. She ultimately had to make a tough choice, and the following day at the park, she went up to Dylan. He consented to go out to eat with her.
Vanessa got her plan started and sat down on the sofa with Dylan when he came.
“Dear Dylan, please forgive me,” Vanessa leaned in to put her palm on his lap. “I erred greatly…You’re the one, and I was wrong to end our relationship, I realised while I was by myself. I apologise. You have my undying love.”
With his hands cupped around Vanessa’s face, Dylan met her eyes. When she stated that, he was ecstatic.
After giving each other a hug and Dylan carrying Vanessa upstairs to her bedroom, their evening came to an end as intended.
Dylan ate dinner with Vanessa’s family two weeks later. Subsequently, he and Vanessa revealed to her father that she was expecting a child.
Though he was still upset with his daughter, Alan found solace in the idea of being a grandfather. Moreover, Dylan appeared to be a kind man from a prosperous background who would take care of her. Thus, Alan put on a pleasant face as the important debate came to an end.
After several months, Vanessa went into labour at the age of 18, and she was hurried into the maternity unit. A few hours later, Dylan broke down in floods of delight as he held his newborn boy and presented him to his parents and closest family members who had assembled in the maternity ward.
After two days, as the couple was getting ready to leave the ward with their son, a doctor suddenly barged in and demanded to talk to Dylan in his office.
Dylan followed the doctor to his office, but he was perplexed. He stormed back into Vanessa’s ward shortly afterward, when Vanessa’s parents and all of his relatives had assembled to take her and the baby home.
“YOU LIAR!” Dylan stormed into the room and went straight up to Vanessa. “THIS IS NOT MY BABY!”
When Dylan relayed what the doctor had just said, everyone gasped. Vanessa felt a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach as she realised how much explaining she still had to do.
Dylan raged, “Shame on you for doing this to me.” “You really had no right to assume that I would father someone else’s child. Were your parents also complicit in the scheme, or was it solely your idea? How ill! Mommy, Dad, let’s go. I no longer wish to interact with her or the child.”
Vanessa wept and pleaded. That day, though, Dylan stormed out of the room and her life. When she got home, Alan was furious and extremely ashamed, even though she begged her father to forgive her.
Alan shouted, “You’re a shame to my family.”
“I find you repulsive. Not even that I want to see you. How am I going to face the whole town and the church? If they inquire about the identity of this child’s father, what would I say to them?”
Vanessa felt those words like daggers. She came to the realisation that since everyone in that town was already talking bad about her, she would never be able to win back her father’s trust or lead a regular life.
“So I came to a really painful choice. “I bid farewell to my adorable child and placed him for adoption before departing the town,” Vanessa concluded, shedding tears.
“I unintentionally ran into you again at an art show in the new city I relocated to, Richard, six months later. Everything that transpired after that is known to you.”
“Why wouldn’t you be honest with me?” With horror coursing through him, Richard enquired. “We could have raised Simon by taking him back.” Our son was on the field.and for all these years you kept it a secret? Vanessa, how could you? Is this the reason you’ve never been a parent?
When we got back together, I wanted to tell you everything. I visited the shelter. With disappointment, Vanessa answered. It was, however, too late. He had previously been adopted and taken abroad by a family. I was unable to bear the thought of having another child.”
Richard was taken aback by what transpired. “And how did you find us, Simon?”
Simon retorted, “My dad told me I was adopted before his death.” “He provided me with my biological mother’s details. Later, I looked over the orphanage’s documentation. I spent more than half a year looking for Mom. I met her for the first time two days ago.”
“All right…I never imagined that I would give my 53-year-old son his first lesson at the age of 75! stated Richard. I hope you now understand that telling the truth is preferable.and provide them another chance! This also holds true for me and your mother.”
