"What's this?"
Hadley stared at the plate of chicken stir fry and glass of milk I'd just set down in front of her.
"I made you dinner."
"I can see that." She picked up a fork, speared some chicken and rice and took a bite. "It's pretty good. But what's the occasion?"
I dropped into the seat across the table from her and crossed my arms, pulling an offended look.
"What? Can't I be a nice, doting husband for once and make my wife dinner?"
Hadley grinned, setting down her glass of milk. "Of course you can, dear. Thank you."
"You're welcome."
It took her only about five minutes to scarf down the rest of the stir fry and finish off the milk, and then she was up on her feet, heading to the stove where the leftovers were.
"Rough day?" I asked.
"You have no idea," she said with a groan. "I got a new patient today, and it's not going to be easy working with him, that's for sure."
"You'll find a way. You always do."
"Thanks for the encouragement, honey."
We chatted about how our days had gone while we ate the rest of the stir fry. I hadn't done much except organizing CD proofs, clearing my memory cards and setting up appointments with clients starting next week, on January 5th.
After washing the dinner dishes, Hadley settled herself down on the couch, propped her feet up on a pillow and flicked on the TV.
I'd give it five minutes before she was fully engrossed in Supernatural and wouldn't miss me too much.
I had somewhere very important to be tonight.
I slipped on my shoes and shrugged into my jacket, swiped my keys off the kitchen counter.
"Where are you going?" Hadley asked me as I opened the front door.
"Mom's."
I didn't say why I was going to Mom's, but from the knowing look that came into Hadley's eyes I figured she knew all too well what was about to happen.
She beckoned me closer and pulled me in for a goodbye kiss.
"You'll come back soon, won't you?" she said as I pulled back.
"Always," I assured her.
I tried to give her what I hoped was a calm, confident smile before leaving the apartment and heading outside into the brisk cold. In reality, I was freaking out on the inside.
I wasn't going over to Mom's for a friendly visit, and we weren't going to be shooting the breeze. The truth was about to come out, and I already knew it was not going to be received too well.
I waited fifteen minutes for the next subway train and sat, twiddling my thumbs, during the short ride to Mama Rosa's.
It was late enough in the evening to where the coffee house was closed, so I headed through the alley, unlocked the back door and made my way up to the apartment. I didn't bother with the formality of knocking. I more or less just burst through the door.
All activity ceased when I walked in, swinging the door shut behind me. The girls were already sitting at the dining table, homework spread out in front of them, looking at me with surprise.
"Archer? What are you doing here?" June asked.
"Where's Mom?" I asked.
"Upstairs, taking a shower," April answered. "Archer, what's going on? You look - "
"Look, you three. We need to talk," I said, walking over to the dining table.
"About what?" June said. "Bro, you're kind of not making any sense here."
"I'm not your brother."
The silence that fell was so still you could've heard a pin drop.
"What?" May gasped, choking on a breath. "What do you mean, you're not our brother?"
I fought back a sigh and dropped into an empty seat. This was so not going to be easy.
"Well, I am your brother. But only by half," I explained slowly. "We have different fathers."
"What are you talking about?" June demanded loudly. Her face was growing flushed and her hands were clenched into fists on the table, nothing short of what I'd expected.
"Your father is Chris Morales," I told them. "Mom met him when I was oh, maybe nine or so? I can't remember. But they were married a few years later, Mom got pregnant with you three, and then - "
"Dad died in a car accident, we know," April finished snippily. "Why are you telling us this now? It doesn't matter, does it? I mean, you're still our brother. Who cares if it's just by half?"
"Then why is your last name Morales if you have a different dad?" June asked me, narrowing her eyes.
"He adopted me, that's why."
"Well, I for one would like to know why we didn't know this from the beginning," May said, glaring at me. "We're your sisters, aren't we?"
"Of course you're my sisters," I said quietly. "It's because you're my sisters I'm telling you this. You deserve to know the truth."
May was the first one that saw through that statement.
"Dad didn't die in a car accident, did he?"
This was the moment I had been dreading. Maybe there was some part of me that thought April, May and June would go their whole lives never knowing the truth about Chris, but that had been stupid of me. These girls were Chris's daughters, and they deserved to know about their father.
I know Mom meant well, trying to protect them, but the truth was going to have to come out sooner or later.
This was the entire reason I'd come here tonight, wasn't it? I had to tell April, May, and June this.
"No," I finally said. "He didn't."
"Then what happened?" June asked, her voice cracking.
I took a deep breath.
"He was murdered...by my biological father."
April was on her feet in an instant, converging on me. "You're lying! What the hell do you think we are, Archer? Stupid or something?"
"Yeah, Archer," June agreed hotly. "Do you really think that little of us?"
"Of course I don't, and you know it," I said, rising to my feet. "I may be an asshole, but I'm not that cruel. You three are my kid sisters."
"I'm not so sure about that anymore," April snapped. "You - "
"He's not lying."
Even I turned to look at May with wide eyes and an open mouth.
May believed me?
"Oh, come on, May." June sighed exasperatedly. "You don't actually believe this - "
"It's true," May said loudly, standing. "I wouldn't say it was if it weren't."
"But - "
"On the way to aunt Sophia's, I asked Archer about Dad," May continued, talking over June. "I didn't really like his answers, so I did a little bit of research of my own. I found an article from a newspaper about the murder, almost fifteen years ago. It's true."
"Then...then..." April looked at me, tears splashing down her cheeks, her lips trembling. "Why? Why didn't you tell us, May? Archer, why would your...why would he murder Dad?"
"What on Earth is going on here?"
Mom came down the stairs in her pajamas, hair wet from a shower, arms crossed, a very unhappy look on her face.
"Mom, is it true?" June asked, walking over to Mom, in tears now like April.
"Is what true?" Mom asked, looking around at all of us. "What's going on?"
"Is it true Archer's only our half-brother?" April listed off. "Dad was murdered by Archer's real dad?"
Mom's eyes immediately watered with tears. "What?"
"Is it true?" June repeated, gripping her shoulders. "Is it true?"
Mom took several deep, gasping breaths and grasped at the stair railing for support. May and April joined June, anxious for an answer.
"Yes," Mom finally said, a hand at her heart, her voice unsteady. "Yes, it's true. Archer." She looked at me, and I swear, I'd never seen her look that angry before, especially at me. "Leave. Just go. You're my son and I love you, but I can't stand to look at you right now. Go."
It was pointless trying to reason with Mom. I was sort of hurt by her harsh tone and the look she gave me, but it was only to be expected. This wasn't pleasant for her to hear and she'd kept it from the triplets for a reason.
But the girls needed to know.
"Alright," I said. "Okay. I'll leave. But, Mom...I only told them because they needed to know."
I left before anything else could be said.
I knew I'd done the right thing - this was plainly a fear that I had just faced - but it hardly felt like any weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I'd just thrown the fam into turmoil unlike any they'd ever seen before, entirely at my hands.
And yet that was facing a fear for me? That didn't really make sense at the moment.
When I walked through the apartment door a little after ten, Hadley was passed out on the couch, curled up under a blanket, the TV still going full blast.
I kicked off my shoes, turned off the TV and crouched down beside Hadley, reaching out to brush back her hair.
"Hadley."
She jerked awake with a start and sat up, blinking the sleep from her eyes. "How'd it go?"
I thought about my answer for a moment.
"Honestly? I have no idea."
She sighed, resting a hand against my cheek. "Well, you did it and that's what matters."
My head dropped on her shoulder and I had to fight back a groan.
"Hadley, you should've seen the look on Mom's face. I swear, it was like..."
"Archer, you had to."
"I know, but..."
If I was going to feel this awful after "facing" a fear, I could only imagine how the other ones were going to pan out.