Now, unusually, they didn’t look smug and sure of themselves. Georgiana kept twisting her hands in her lap, and Ferguson rubbed the back of his neck.
Paul just waited. He couldn’t seem to find in himself the social skills to make nice with Wendy’s parents. He’d known their values were off-kilter, but he thought they were basically sound, and that they had raised Wendy that way. If anything, her upbringing had made her a little rigid, or so he thought.
Now he found out she’d cheated on him.
“Andrew McMartin came to see us this morning,” Ferguson said. “He had a big shiner, and he said he got it from you.”
“No more than he deserved.” Then Paul realized what they’d said. “Wait a minute. You know McMartin?”
Georgiana nodded. “We’ve known his family since the children were small. They belonged to our club.”
So that was how it was. Paul had figured McMartin to be a wealthy guy, just from his clothes and the way he carried himself and spoke. But to know he and Wendy had known each other all their lives... Yeah. That made a few more pieces click into place, but he didn’t like the picture that was emerging.
Ferguson cleared his throat. “He said he’d told you about Davey.”
Paul stared at him. “He did. Did he tell you as well or did you already know?”
The two of them glanced at each other, which was all the confirmation Paul needed. His fists clenched reflexively but he forced himself to relax them, drawing in deep breaths and letting them out slowly as his PTSD therapist advised when he was having a panic attack. This wasn’t a panic attack. It was more like an anger attack.
His in-laws had known about their daughter’s infidelity, had known Davey wasn’t even Paul’s child, and they never said anything?
“You knew.” He spoke carefully, forced his body to stay in a relaxed posture. No matter their flaws, Ferguson and Georgiana were older and they were Davey’s grandparents. They didn’t deserve violence or even a feeling of physical threat from him.
“It was my fault,” Georgiana said. “I had Wendy’s old computer, and one day a few weeks ago, when I was really missing her, I found her password and scrolled through her old emails. I just wanted to remember her, but...but that’s when I discovered the truth about Davey.”
Ferguson took over the story. “That’s why we’ve been acting so strange lately,” he said. “We were so confused. Who had the real rights to take care of Davey?”
“I did,” Paul said. “I still do.”
The couple glanced at each other. “After the whole...situation over the weekend, with taking Davey to our house, we understand things better.” Georgiana ran her fingers through her normally perfect hair, messing it. “We took Davey to Andrew’s house—”
“You what?” Paul leaned toward Georgiana, not sure he’d heard her right.
Her husband stepped in. “Andrew never even saw Davey up close, nor vice versa,” he said. “Davey stayed in the car. It turns out that Andrew didn’t want anything to disrupt his family life, so we just drove back home.”
Overwhelmed with all the new information, Paul sat on the edge of the desk, shaking his head. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Our counselor—we saw a counselor for the first time yesterday—she says we should try to work it out with you, that we shouldn’t keep secrets.” Georgiana’s chin trembled. “I’m sorry, Paul. I don’t know why Wendy would do that. She wasn’t using good judgment.”
That was an understatement Paul didn’t even know how to process.
Ferguson took up the story. “From the email Georgiana accessed, we learned a little bit of the story. She thought, for a short while, that she wanted a different life from what she could have with you, but she pretty quickly regretted the notion. By then, it was too late. She was pregnant.”
“At first I hoped it wasn’t true,” Georgiana said. “But that day we took care of Davey, we dug through Wendy’s things and found her journal. It...” Her voice quavered. “It confirmed everything.”
Paul tried to imagine such a thing. He’d sometimes felt restricted by Wendy’s desire for a higher-priced lifestyle than he could provide, but he’d always loved her, always been loyal to her, never thought of straying or of breaking up.
His own faithfulness made him feel like a fool.
He thought back to the time before Davey was conceived. He and Wendy had fought a lot, usually over money. It had led to such a chill between them that he’d been surprised when she had come up pregnant.
Now it all made an ugly kind of sense.
Ferguson leaned forward. “What are your thoughts about keeping Davey in light of what you found out?”
Paul stared at him. Then he looked at Georgiana. She was intent, too. How could they not know his answer? “Of course I’m keeping Davey. He’s my son. I’m the only father he’s ever known.”
Only after the words were out of his mouth did he realize that he was directly quoting Amber, what she had said to him last night.
“That’s good of you, Paul.” Ferguson sounded relieved. “Of course we would take him if you refused, but we’re getting too old to care for a young active boy like Davey. You’ve been a wonderful father to him, and we would very much like to see that continue uninterrupted.”
Georgiana frowned. “Apparently, Wendy told that woman the truth about Davey. We don’t know why she told her, but not us.”
It took Paul a moment to realize that that woman was Amber. For just a moment, he thought of Amber and Wendy laughing together and contrasted it with the tears
