One Night Love Affair *COMPLETED*

Chapter Twenty Seven

 

All the consumed alcohol made James fell asleep. One moment he was talking to Lana, pouring his heart out about all the misery he went through with his wife, the next, he was sound asleep on the sofa.

The sleep was restless, and at one moment he thought Lana kissed him, but he decided he was just dreaming about it. He tried to process the information he got today, everything from Gabe saying yes to his proposal, to meeting Vivian again, only to find out hours later, she's not Vivian, but Lana. The lies, deception, big amounts of alcohol were all too much to grant James peaceful and restful sleep.

And even though the sofa was comfortable when he first sat down, sometime during the sleep he started feeling his age, because the pain in his back woke him up.

At first he wasn't sure where he was or what he was going on, the surroundings totally unknown to him. It took him few moments to remember he was still at the Reed's Ranch, where Vivian... No, Lana! was home.

Because of all the alcohol he consumed before he fell asleep, his head was pounding and his throat was dry and sore. He got up to get himself some more water, when he heared voices coming from one of the rooms.

"Shit! There's no more lemonade here."

He lifted the empty pitcher, watched it for a few moments as he was trying to make water appear out of thin air, then put it back down and picked up his glass. He wandered out of the living room, towards the only lighted room, where the voices were coming from. James didn't know which room that was, but he figured, at least people in it will be able to tell me where to go to get a glass of water.

Gabe was sitting behind the table looking at Lana, who was looking at her lap, telling him something, that obviously wasn't easy to tell. She was nervously rolling her hair around her fingers, making them unusually curly in the process.

At first James wasn't really listening about what they were talking about, but the closer he got to the room, the clearer it became to him, they were talking about him.

"Long story short, we flirted, we had dinner, we danced, we had sex. And in the morning I left. Two days later I got a call from granny, and I took the first flight back to Texas, so I could be with her. And you. So yeah, Sammy is James's son. And no I didn't tell him, because he was already married by the time I figured out I was pregnant and gathered up the courage to tell him. Then it felt like it didn't matter anymore. He had a new family, and I didn't want to break it up."

The moment Lana stopped talking and her words penetrated the fog that lifted in his mind, he let go of the glass he was holding and it broke.

The sound of breaking glass made Gabe and Lana turn towards him, and realize they weren't alone in the room anymore. If they were talking about anything else, but him, James would of apologized for intruding and tried to leave as fast as he could. But that wasn't the case. They were talking about him. More accurately, Lana just told Gabe, Samuel James Reed was actually his son.

"I have a son?"

 "I have a son?"

Just when James thought there can't be any more surprises waiting out there for him, he overheard a sentence that will change his life for good.

Years ago, when his wife told him, she's pregnant, he decided to go all the way, and really be there for the unborn child. He even married the lying bitch. Five months later, when it became clear she wasn't pregnant, he was crushed. His company had some of the most successful months after that. He wanted nothing to do with the lying bitch, who used his love and need to have a child against him, in order to get what she wanted.

But now there was another woman, the woman he spent dreaming about ever since the moment she left his sight. For six years he was daydreaming about her, about the moment they would meet again, and continued their short, one night affair, into something more, something permanent. Never in all the times he was thinking about how his life would be different if he wouldn't let Lana go, never once he let himself dream she got pregnant the very first night they spent together.

"I have a son?"

He might sounded like a broken record, repeating the same sentence for the third time, but shock about this new discovery didn't even start to wear off.

"There was a little version of me living here, in Reedville, Texas for the past six years, and I just find this out now?"

Gabe got up, the first thought that jumped into James's head was: 'He'll punch me for yelling at his sister...' But that never happened. He avoided his eye contact and simply walked out of the kitchen without saying a world. But the silence told both, James and Lana, more than enough. This matter was between the two of them, and two of them, and only the two of them, were able to solve it.

"James..."

Once again, like hours before when she was explaining to him about her alter ego Vivian, she started talking to James with eyes pleading he'll understand. But unlike before, James had no intention of listening to her.

"DON'T! Don't even think you can talk civilly to me about that. The fact you had a child, MY child, and never bothered to tell me about him, tells me a lot about what kind of person you are."

"I... I wanted... I wanted to..."

Words didn't want to come out of Lana's mouth, and she wasn't explaining the situation fast enough, so James interrupted her again.

"If you really wanted, you could find a way. It's not like I ever lied about my name, or pretended to be someone I'm not."

The last sentence burnt Lana to the core. Expression of hurt was so purely painted on her face, it could be presented in a text-book as a perfect example of a person who feels hurt. Lana thought James moved past the fact she lied about who she was when they met. But it was obvious James wasn't over her lie. On the other hand, all the lies, half truths and silenced truths were coming back to haunt her. One after another they were blowing into her face, and she barely made it out each time.

Under any other circumstances, James would be ashamed about the things he was saying to Lana. The days of freely speaking his mind were long behind him. As a matter of fact, ever since he moved from L.A. to New York City, he changed. But one short visit to Texas, and it was like six years never passed.

Except they did, and HIS SON! was almost six years old.

"Look, I know I'm harsh, and I'll probably regret half the things I said so far, sometime in the future, but right now, I'm pissed. And I have a right to be! Six years ago, you lied about who you were, but this I could understand, but you got pregnant, and you didn't think it was important enough to find me and tell me I was about to become a father? I want to get to know my son, I deserve to get to know my son. And no matter what you say, I am ready to fight you in court for this. And trust me, even in Texas, I have enough connections that I'll win. Don't try to fight me on this Lana, I'll win either way. It's up to you to chose if you want this to go the easy or the hard way..."

Not feeling drunk at all, James walked out the kitchen, leaving stunned Lana behind. He felt a pang of sympathy for her, after all she probably never expected for him to show up in a small Texas town in the middle of nowhere.

Nevertheless, he said all he needed to say, and he wasn't in the mood to listen to another round of Lana's explanations, so leaving seemed the best option.

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