CHAPTER 12
"Since your wife is going to the beach, I think it's appropriate for us to take a little road trip." Margaux suggested as soon as she heard about Violet and her friends going away for the weekend.
"Oh, her friends told me not to come after them." Anton replied, a little too sad.
"Oh come on, don't be a fucking pussy Anton. We're not going after them, we're going for a three hour drive to New Jersey." Dennis replied.
"That's right, we can finally show you guys our new house in Jersey. We bought it earlier this year." Zachary chimed as he poured himself another glass of whiskey.
"Well then, let's go to the Ocean City lads." Anton cheered. He was ready to spend the weekend with his friends, to make up for lost time.
"Great! I'll call the others to see if they would tag along." Margaux walked out of the room with her cellphone.
—
After almost four hours of driving, Anton and his friends finally arrived at the beach house. Everyone else was already waiting for them.
"Anton is here!" Lorenzo cheered as he raised is red plastic cup, everyone cheered with him as they welcomed their friend.
"Goddamn, this house is really nice. Thanks for having us man." Anton was grateful and happy for having his friends with him. Just like the old times, he thought to himself as he joined his friends.
More questions to answer was what he thought to himself when he joined them.
"So, Violet Martin. Interesting." Scott was holding a red cup in his right hand, as he looked at Anton curiously. Scott was one of his high school friends. The most honest of all his friends.
Anton shrugged seeming to think he knows where this conversation is going. "We're happy."
They all nodded in understanding, but Anton could tell that there was more to this topic.
"We were all surprised that you got married is all. We never knew you were the marrying type, and if you were, we always saw you marrying Margaux." Dennis stated and then drank his cold beer.
Anton looked from the counter to the opened back door that leads directly to the beach, he saw Margaux and a couple other of their girl friends talking and laughing animatedly. He looked at Margaux in her white bikini top and Gucci sunglasses at the top of her head, the wind was blowing hard but she didn't seem bothered by it.
Margaux must have felt him staring at her because she looked his way and gave him a small smile as she looked in his eyes briefly, before turning back to talking to their friends.
It felt like a long time before he snapped out of it. He shook his head and looked down at his warming beer, "I think I need a new cup of beer." He started to walk toward the keg stand. But Zachary's voice stopped him.
"You can't avoid this Anton, you need to talk to us about it. Is it because of the baby?"
Anton felt his chest tighten, "What baby? What are you talking about?" He faced his friends again looking at all their faces.
They all seem to know something that he didn't know about.
"Was Margaux— but she told me it died, she told me the baby didn't make it, she said—"
Scott shook his head as everyone else did. "The baby never died Anton."
"W-what do you mean? She told me it didn't make it, she said the baby died what.. she—"
Zachary walked toward him, "Keep your voice low, Anton. You think we didn't plan this trip? We have been waiting for you to come back. You had to know about your son. We couldn't keep it from you. The kid has been asking for his father and we couldn't keep lying to him."
Anton was feeling dizzy, he didn't know what to feel, his heart was beating as fast as this information is being processed. "A son? I have a son? All this time? Margaux never told me? Why did she keep this from me? I had the right to know, I could have been there for her."
Dennis ran a hand through his face, he was frustrated, "Look, this wasn't easy to keep from you. But we had to do it. Don't you remember how badly you were treating her when you realized you still loved Violet? You kept pushing her to the side, like she didn't fucking matter." He spat angrily. "You weren't there Anton, when you left her a few months after she told you she had a miscarriage to go and fucking force a girl to marry you when she didn't even love you."
Anton didn't say anything. He kept thinking about the months prior to marrying Violet. How his relationship was with Margaux went.
"She had to tell you she had a miscarriage because you were treating her like shit, even if you knew she was pregnant with your child. She felt like she was hindering you from being happy. Like she was trapping you by being pregnant. So she sacrificed herself and her son so you could run off and be a selfish fuck." Scott was angry as well, and he didn't hide it in the way he spoke.
"No, no, I don't— I wouldn't ever—"
"But you did!" Scott cut him off, this time he was shouting. "She ran to me first! I was the first one to hear about how much shit you put her through, she almost did have a miscarriage because of the pain and the stress you were putting her through. We all took care of her, we all took care of her son. She was relieved when she found out you married Violet and went off to Paris. Because she was still thinking about you and your fucking happiness."
Anton shook his head, it was like a nightmare, "Scott, I'm sorry. I didn't know— If I did I would have treated her better, I would have taken care of her and made it up to her." Anton could not keep the tears from falling down his face.
"Oh? Like you treated her better when you knew she was pregnant with your child?" Dennis replied sarcastically as he stood up and shoved Anton in the chest; he didn't fight back, he deserved worse was what he thought to himself.
"Face it Anton, you were a selfish fuck who only cared about his own happiness. Here was a girl carrying your child who loved you so much, and you didn't fucking care. You still went and forced another girl to love you. Like Margaux and her son's love wasn't enough for you."
"Where is he now? How is he?" As much as Anton was hurt by the words that were spewing out of his friends, he knew he deserved it. He knew he was a selfish fuck, but he never knew that he was missing out on his own child and was hurting both him and Margaux.
Zachary crosses his arm over his chest as he watched the exchange of his friends. He's had enough of keeping this child from not knowing his own father, Margaux' son deserved that, and Anton needed this intervention. He won't allow him to be selfish anymore.
"He is the most wonderful little boy you will ever meet." Zachary replied.
Anton chuckled sadly not meeting the gaze of his friends. "What's his name?"
"Charles, but he likes it when we call him Charliebear." Dennis replied with a small smile. The others chuckled.
He thought about the little boy whom he has treated like his own son, much as the rest of his friends who made it their mission to help Margaux take care of him. Charles was the sweetest five year old boy. Anton was a selfish asshat but they weren't doing this for Anton. They were doing this for Charles. He deserves to know his father—selfish asshat and all.
"I'm assuming he's five this year?" Anton asked.
The guys nodded.
"He's turning five a month from now." Scott replied.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know. I know this won't be enough for all the shit you all went through. But most of all I want to thank you guys for being there for Margaux and Charles." Anton remarked.
"Just so we're clear, we didn't do this for you, we did this for Charles. And it's not us you should be apologizing to." Dennis replied as he glanced outside to where Margaux was sitting.
Out of everyone, Lorenzo was the only one who was quiet, he didn't want to say more because they've all said it. He thought about what Anton must be feeling as they were telling him everything. But when he thought about the little boy caught in the middle of everything, he cared for his friend less.
"She didn't know that we were planning to tell you. Charles deserves to feel the love of his father, even if the love of his four uncles and three aunties are enough for him." Lorenzo chuckled softly. "You and Margaux need to talk."
Anton nodded as he drank a big gulp of his warm beer. Bitter, he thought to himself, just like the memories of five years ago and how his past actions made him feel.
The four ladies had come inside when the sun began to set and the wind grew colder. Tonight, they would be bonding and catching up as friends, just like old times.
But tomorrow. Tomorrow, he will be facing reality he thought to himself as he glanced at Margaux at the other side of the dining table. Tomorrow he would know more about their son.
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