Facing the Past

Happy Monday All.  Hope it was a good weekend.  They go by so dang fast; it's scary.  Still hotter than hades here.  Ray and I joke that it's getting us ready to AZ summers.  If that's the case, Mother Nature is doing a bang up job.

Today's story is a little different.  It may be the first chapter in a new book or just today's story.  I would like your opinions.  I have to warn you, though; there is no spanking so far so you may not want to read but hell, it's for free, so I don't feel too bad.  LOL

Give me your thoughts, please.

Daniel Lodestone walked into the establishment, his eyes searching for a familiar face. He had been gone a long time and wasn’t sure if there was anyone left who knew him back before all the hoopla.  He didn’t want to be recognized, so he purposely downplayed his appearance. He hoped that sporting a three-day growth of beard, clipped hair with all highlights removed, glasses instead of contacts, without his usual garb and minus his entourage, would go a long way toward making him unrecognizable except to those who knew him well. His eyes locked onto his target – his search was over.  Now it was up to him to make amends.

She felt eyes boring into her.  People were always staring, so at first it didn’t phase her.  It wasn’t until she had that creepy feeling in the back of her head that she paid attention. It can’t possibly be him, not after all this time was her first thought.  His eyes never wavered as she went about her business.  When she couldn’t ignore him any longer, she felt her shoulders slouch, and her reserve disappear – it was him, and she wasn’t sure what to do.  Time was up; he was coming toward her.

Callie Morgan grew up with Daniel Lodestone in Bensonville. Daniel’s father employed Callie’s mother as a housekeeper.  Callie often accompanied her mother to work and so the two kids spent a lot of time together. It was fine until Ben Lodestone found them with each other in Daniel’s bedroom.  He told Lila Morgan not to bring Callie around anymore, and he forbid Daniel to spend any more time with Callie.  He had bigger plans for his son than to end up with the housekeeper’s daughter. 

The forbidden fruit was all the sweeter and Daniel, and Callie continued to see each other secretly.  It wasn’t that difficult; Ben wasn’t the most attentive of fathers, and for a long-time Daniel had him snowed.  Ben Lodestone assumed Daniel obeyed his edict until Lila Morgan came to him to tell him that Callie was pregnant, and Daniel was the father. Furious, he immediately shipped Daniel off to military school and arranged an abortion for Callie and paid Lila for her silence.  He cut all ties with Bensonville and relocated to California.

Daniel’s efforts to stay in touch with Callie failed.  His letters were returned unopened and after a while; he quit trying.  Years passed. Much to his father’s displeasure, Daniel became the lead singer of a famous rock band, with every sordid detail of his life chronicled in magazines and tabloids in and out of this country.  Some of it was true, but most were stories made up by the band’s publicist.  His life continued in this fashion until that fateful day when the band’s tour bus was involved in a fatal accident that took the lives of two of his band mates, and the drivers of both vehicles.  Daniel (known as Stoney) survived, but barely.  His injuries included two broken legs, damage to his pancreas and liver, as well as head trauma and numerous deep facial cuts. He was hospitalized for months, and in rehab for months after that. During that time, he took stock of his life and made life-altering resolutions.  He granted an in-depth interview to a reporter he trusted to lay out his plans for the future.  What he learned from that reporter changed those plans.

The trip to Bensonville was the first step - what happened here would determine his future.

“Hello, Callie,” he said unsure of himself.

“What are you doing here?”  Her manner was defensive.

“I think we have some things to discuss, don’t you?”

“I can’t imagine what they would be.”

.

“I think you can.”

From behind her, he heard someone yell to her that customers were waiting, and their food was getting cold.

“I have to get back to work.”

He took a seat at an empty booth.  “Fine, I’ll just sit here and wait.”

“I’ll get you a menu,” she told him as she walked away.  She was still his Callie.   She may have grown taller and some of those angles had turned into womanly curves, but she still had that long strawberry-blond hair, pulled back in a pony tail, with a smattering of freckles across her nose and those cornflower blue eyes that could see right through him.  He knew from the reporter she had never married and that Lila had bought the diner in which he now sat a couple of years after he left town. 

When she brought him the menu, he managed to ask why she never answered his letters.

“I never received any letters.” He could tell by her stunned expression, she was telling the truth. 

“Well, someone returned them to me unopened.”  Her face flushed as she realized it must have been her mother’s doing. “I’ve kept them if you want proof.”

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“Daniel, that’s all water under the bridge and I see no reason to dig up old dirt.”

“I have good reason to believe there is.”  Her face flushed again.  The bell over the door jingled and a nine-year old boy walked in.  Daniel lost his breath, it was the image of him at that age. So, the reporter was right.  He yelled, “Hi Mom” as he walked through the swinging doors to the kitchen.  Callie spun on her heels and ran to the kitchen as if there were demons on her tail.

While he sat in the booth awaiting her return he thought about all the time lost with his son and how difficult her life must have been.  Dealing with pregnancy at sixteen in a small town could not have been easy.  Even with today’s relaxed standards, there were always small minded righteous people in a town the size of Bensonville that could make life difficult for her and his son.

Why hadn’t she contacted him?  Surely, once he became famous, she could have found him.  Then he thought back to those returned letters.  She didn’t realize he cared and what his father did, didn’t stop his feelings for her. Hell, did my father know she was pregnant, and that’s why he sent me away and left Bensonville for good?  Knowing his father, he realized that was the case.  Damn him and his righteousness and thinking he could make everything and everyone bend to his will.

The next thing he knew, Lila Morgan was standing next to him.  “Did you come here to cause trouble?”

“Hello, Mrs. Morgan.  No, I came because I learned I probably had a son.  After seeing that boy walk in here a while ago, I don’t think you could possibly deny that he is my flesh and blood.”

“And if he is, do you plan on upsetting him by announcing you’re his father and then taking off the way you and your father did when he found out Callie was pregnant.”

“I knew it, that sonofabitch.  I never knew Callie was pregnant.  I wrote to her for a year after I left and every letter was returned to me unopened.”

“Your father arranged for Callie to have an abortion.  He paid me to keep silent about the whole thing.  I was just doing what I thought was best for everybody.”

“You mean best for you and my father.”  He was getting angry and it wasn’t all Lila’s fault, but she was the one standing in front of him at the moment.

He calmed himself down as faces started to turn their way.  This wasn’t how he planned this meeting to go.

“Lila, I’m not going to let this go. I’ll give you time but I intend to be a father to my son and I will take the steps necessary to make that happen.”  He handed Lila a card and told him to have Callie call him. 

                                                                  ********************

Callie did call him and arranged to meet him that evening.  . They agreed to meet in his hotel room where they were assured a degree of privacy.  In a small town, there was always someone around to eavesdrop and Daniel was trying to keep his identity under wraps, at least for the short term.

She was nervous, not sure how she felt about Daniel; it had been too many years of hoping to hear from him and being disappointed. Afraid he would fight her on having custody of their son; he had the wherewithal to take her to court.  When she knocked at the door to his room, he beckoned her in.  He placed his index finger to his lips and rolled his eyes upward and told her to listen. It became very apparent some intense lovemaking was happening in the room above.  They could hear what sounded like a headboard banging against the wall and the cries of a woman in the throes of orgasm. Callie smiled at Daniel and the ice was broken, their connection was back.  They began to share what their lives were like in the intervening years between then and now. 

“How do you see this going forward?” He asked her.

“I think that depends on you.  Do you plan to pursue your musical career?  Is that even a possibility?”

“I’ve talked with Jeff and Brett and they’re not sure they want to restart?  Hell, I’m not sure if I want to restart again, pursue a solo career, or just live an entirely different life.  Right about now, a whole different life is very appealing to me, especially if it includes you and my son.  Is there a chance for us?  I know what we had when we were younger and I would like to build on that.  I haven’t had anything even close to that since, notwithstanding what you may have read.”

“If you plan to be a father in more than name only, then you can definitely count on being in Danny’s life, I won’t stop you.  If you just want to be a cardboard cutout of a father, I will fight you tooth and nail.  He’s better off just the way it is now than be continually disappointed because you’re never around.  As for us, I guess it depends on how you answer the first question.”

“Let me ask you this, does life with you and Danny have to be here in Bensonville?”

“Until I know we’re permanent, the answer is yes.  I’m not about to uproot Danny until then.”

“I understand that.”

“I want to be present when he learns about me.  I want to try and explain why I haven’t been around until now.”

“I’ll have to think about that.”

                                                         ****************************

In the end, Callie granted Daniel’s request.  Their first meeting took place in a nearby park.  Seated on a park bench he spied Danny and Callie walking toward him.  They were holding hands and when Danny saw him, he looked to Callie and Daniel realized he knew, he didn’t need to be told.  It was a sweet moment, Daniel allowed Danny to make the first move.  Daniel stood as Danny came forward and extended his hand.  Daniel shook his hand and then enveloped him in a hug.  “Sorry, young man, I need more than a handshake.” Daniel was trembling, he didn’t think he’d ever been so nervous in his entire life.

“You’re my dad, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am and I’m so sorry this is the first time I’m meeting you. I assure you, from this day forward I will be available to you every single day, in one way or another.” Tears rolled down his face and Callie realized she too had tears in her eyes.

See you later for more Aimless Ramblings.