“Do you want to read it, Mom?” she asked once done.
Mom considered the question before answering. “No. I don’t think I do.”
Taylor refolded the letter and handed it back. She’d share the contents of it with Curt later. “I’m guessing you never knew Eliza was pregnant when you were together?” She had a lot of questions, and this one seemed as good a place to start as anywhere.
Jordan took a sip from the water Curt had set in front of each of them before joining them at the table. “Eliza and I never had a, uh… exclusive relationship, I guess you’d say.” He glanced at her mom and cleared his throat. “Every once in a while, she’d call me and then come over. If she knew she was pregnant the last time we got together, she didn’t say anything.”
“Then you haven’t seen her in over nine years?” Taylor asked.
Jordan shook his head. “About two years ago, I ran into her at the mall in Nashua. I almost didn’t recognize her.”
Yeah, she could understand that. When Eliza had shown up at the door suddenly a few months before the kidnapping, Taylor had been shocked by the transformation in her sister’s appearance.
“She said she would call, but she never did. Honestly, at the time, I was glad she didn’t. But yeah, I’d say it’s been more than nine years since she was at my house,” Jordan explained.
In the long run, it didn’t matter, but she wanted to know. “How did you meet my sister?”
“At a party a mutual friend was having.”
That made sense. Eliza always loved a party.
“Has Eliza written to anyone else and given them the same news?” Jordan asked.
Great question. Taylor hoped not. If Jordan proved not to be Reese’s father, she didn’t want to go through this again.
“I’m not sure. I haven’t talked to my sister in more than a year. But when Eliza found out she was pregnant, she claimed she had no idea who the father was. I always assumed that meant there were more than two possibilities out there. So it is possible she reached out to more than just you.”
“Sounds like Eliza.” Jordan clasped his hands together on the table. “As I told you on the phone, I want to know if Reese is my daughter.”
“And if she is?” Curt asked.
She wasn’t sure who wanted Jordan not to be Reese’s father more, her or Curt.
“Then, I want to be a part of her life.”
He’d said as much on the phone both when Mom spoke to him and again when they talked. Still, she’d hoped once Jordan had an answer, regardless of the outcome, he’d go away and they’d never hear from him again.
“You do realize that might not be the best thing for Reese,” Curt said.
He’d suggested she let him offer Jordan a nice sum to simply forget he ever received the letter and walk away. At the time, she hadn’t known if he was serious or not. His tone now erased any doubt. Curt would willingly transfer whatever sum of money it took to get Jordan out the door.
“She’s always known only Taylor and Priscilla. Not to mention the trauma she suffered last year at the hands of Eliza. Reese doesn’t need anyone else upsetting her life,” Curt continued.
Last night, Curt told her he’d leave this conversation in her hands, that he’d be there mostly for moral support. Either he’d changed his mind or his emotions were getting the better of him.
“I don’t know what Eliza did, and I don’t intend to take Reese away from Taylor. But if I’m her father, I have the right to be a part of her life. I believe kids do better when they have a mother and a father who play an active role in their lives.”
Five
“Reese already—” Under the table, Taylor squeezed his thigh, and Curt stopped before he completed his thought. If he became confrontational, it wouldn’t help the situation. “I agree. Children often benefit from having more than one parent.”
Taylor patted his thigh and then gave Jordan the condensed version of why Eliza once again found herself behind bars. While she did that, he kept his trap shut and listened. Now, like so many other times, Curt wondered how anyone could put their child through what Eliza had.
Jordan’s face expressed a similar amount of disbelief and outrage. “I wouldn’t have thought Eliza capable of doing that.”
Curt wanted to hate the man across from him. At the moment, Jordan stood in the way of what he wanted. Worse than that, though, he could potentially cause upheaval in Reese’s life. Despite those two issues, Curt didn’t hate Jordan. In fact, in a way, he even sympathized with him. If a paternity test proved Reese was Jordan’s biological child, the man had missed out on nine years of his daughter’s life. Nine years he could never get back, and all because Eliza hadn’t bothered to contact him before or right after giving birth.
“Has Reese suffered any long-term effects from the kidnapping?” Jordan asked, the concern in his voice only making it that much harder for Curt to dislike him.