Vicky could see by the look on his face that something was wrong. Panic rose up inside of her. The last time she was away from Angel…she couldn’t even think about it.
“Jason, what’s wrong? Angel…Is Angel okay?”
He saw the panic on her face. How the hell was he going to tell her about this?
“Yes, babe, Angel is perfectly fine. But, we do have a problem.”
Jason handed Vicky the newspaper clipping.
Vicky read the headline and article. The clipping slipped from her fingers and dropped to the floor.
“My god Jason…everything in here is lies! The only thing that’s true is Ryan is Angel’s father. How could they print this? No one even contacted me for my side of the story!”
Frustrated, Jason ran his fingers through his hair. “Sweetheart, that’s not all, Ryan is doing a press conference in few minutes regarding this.”
Jason turned his cell phone on and as soon as he did it started ringing and beeping.
“Rutherford.”
“Jason, thank god. We’ve been trying to reach you for the last few hours. We’ve got a problem.”
“I know Dad. Franklin sent over a messenger.”
Jason put the phone on speaker and grabbed Vicky’s hand as they walked into the great room with the satellite television. Jason turned to the channel for the press conference. It hadn’t started yet.
“We’ve already contacted our lawyers on this and they are working on a full retraction. Where is Vicky? Is she okay?”
Vicky sighed “I’m here dad. I was wonderful until about five minutes ago.”
Jason could hear his mother’s high pitched voice in the background, “Hi Jason…Hi Vicky. Please don’t worry too much. I can’t believe he did this. He knows you guys are on your honeymoon. Dad’s got our attorney John Lucas on this one. Jason, you know he’s a bull dog.”
Jason was seething “I should have beaten his ass when I had the chance.”
Vicky rubbed his arm to try to calm him down.
“Cooler heads will prevail son.”
Vicky turned up the volume on the television. Her eyes were glued to the TV. She tensed when she saw Ryan and his wife enter the room to stand at the podium. Alicia had the dutiful looking wife expression down pat.
Jason rubbed her lower back trying to keep her calm. He knew she was beyond angry. They both were.
They’d forgot his parents were even on the phone until he heard his dad say “Here we go…looks like it’s about to start.”
“Good afternoon everyone, thank you all for attending this press conference. I’d like to start off by reading a brief statement before taking your questions.
‘Almost four and half years ago during one of the lowest points in my life, my wife and I separated. Let me be clear, the separation was not due to any third party. The stresses of marriage, the stress of my career, and the stress of trying to start a family took its toll. I thought the marriage was over. During this time, I met a young woman and we started a sexual relationship. It didn’t take long for me to realize that the relationship was going nowhere because the only woman for me was Alicia. I fought hard to win my wife back'
Ryan looked lovingly into his wife’s eyes before continuing to read from his statement.
‘I made every effort to sever ties but she tried in all manner of ways to continue the association even using the knowledge that my wife and I were unable to conceive. She told me that she was pregnant. I informed her I would step up, be responsible and care for my child but we could not continue the relationship. In her anger, she informed me that there was no baby and that it had all been a lie. What I didn't know at the time was that she'd had a history of dating wealthy men and that I was one of several she'd dated at the same time.'
Vicky screamed at the television, “My god! That bastard is lying!”
‘Several months after Alicia graciously and lovingly accepted me back into her life, I ran into the woman at an event. After noticing a small baby bump, Of course, I inquired about the paternity only to have her tell me that she’d met the man of her dreams. He was rich and that he was the father of her child. I wished her well and did not hear from her again until about four months ago.
I was told that the child I’d inquired about all those years ago was really my child. She was three and a half and in need of a life-saving operation. She threatened that if I didn’t come to the hospital immediately to be tested as a blood donor – which was in another state, she would ruin my political career. She would inform the public that I’d had an affair that produced a bi-racial child. I immediately informed my wife about this situation and we flew out to Atlanta as soon as possible so that I could be tested. Fortunately, I was a match.
Anyone who knows me or Alicia is aware of how much we love all children – including bi-racial children; if there was anything we could do to save any child’s life we’d do it. And, if the child were mine, there would be no way anyone would prevent me from being there for her.
However, since Alicia and I found out about my daughter four months ago, we’ve taken repeated steps to try and establish a relationship with her. The mother, who is now onto her third relationship with a prominent business man here in Minnesota, refuses to allow me to see her. That is why my wife
