The Quest for Epic

Chapter Thirty Three

**sorry for the long wait guys**

"What do you mean I'm your father? I have no kids... Sandra didn't you tell them?" His eyes narrowed angrily at each of us but I could sense something behind them, a mixture of disbelief and belief, fear and a wariness of what this could mean.

"My mother... Mary. She found out she was pregnant with me about the time you left her and she decided not to tell you. I just recently found out myself", I explained taking a step closer to him. I knew how this hard it was to take in this information; it had hit me like a ton of bricks at the time. But this had to be worse for him. I knew I had a father, I just didn't know anything about him and I resented him for the most part of my life. He, on the other hand had no idea he had a child somewhere.

"You're lying", he said, although his voice sounded like he knew somewhere deep down inside that I wasn't "Why would Mary never tell me if we had a kid together?"

"I highly doubt she's lying, Darryl", Sandra stepped in just then carrying two little plates of pie slices "She and her boyfriend look like good kids. They have no reason to come all the way over here to lie to us"

I smiled at her, appreciating her support at this moment in time. Noah held my hand in his, letting me do the talking but still offering support through our joined hands.

Darryl looked like he was processing this bit of news that had come at him out of nowhere; his eyes becoming unfocused and glancing everywhere like many thoughts were running through his brain.

"Well you look just like Mary, that's for sure. And you look right about the age", He ran a hand through his hair and sank down to one of the chairs near him "Oh my God, I actually have a kid"

"I know this must be hard for you to take in..." Noah started, breaking the heavy silence.

Darryl ran his hands over his face, shaking his head. "Damn right it is"

I almost laughed at his choice of words, but this wasn't that kind of situation.

"We want you to know we mean no harm or have any bad intentions", he squeezed my hand in his and looked at Sandra who was nodding and giving us a wistful kind of smile.

"I just wanted to meet you", I said, my voice sounded small and frail so I cleared it "And give us the opportunity to get to know each other"

He shook his head again and I think I saw a tear brimming in the corner of his eye. "I just don't get it. Why would Mary never mention this to me all this while? I mean, I know we didn't end on the best of terms, and I know I screwed up and didn't handle it properly" he said and I wondered if he was trying to convince us or himself. He shook his head again and groaned out loud. "This is the last thing I could have imagined would happen to me"

"I understand if you need some time to process all of this and clear your head", I said. I couldn't help the heavy feeling of disappointment that washed over me. I mean what did I actually expect? Did I think the guy would throw me a big party and welcome me with open arms into his heart and his home? I was way in over my head to think this encounter would end happily. I tried to suppress the hot rush of tears to my eyes.

Noah as if sensing how I felt, squeezed my fingers between his. "Ellenore just really wanted to meet you. It's kind of late to drive back now so we'd just find a hotel to stay in tonight. You could call if you want to meet up and talk or meet up or anything really"

I nodded and tried my best not to sound choked up. "Yeah I would really like that"

Darryl stood up suddenly, startling the both of us or mostly me, I think.