Chapter 103 The Meeting
A couple of Byron’s security agents went on ahead to check out the hotel on the day of the meeting. They found nothing at all suspicious about the premises, and so Emily and Byron arrived at the appointed time.
They sat down at a small table. The security agents were still around in case anything went wrong, but Emily still felt a little jittery.
It was already seven, but no one had shown up.
“Maybe it’s Quinn Faines!” Emily suggested.
“Yeah, you wish, naughty kid,” Byron said, “Still planning to run away with him?”
“If I was, I wouldn’t tell you,” she replied.
At five past seven, the bar was still mostly empty, and no one came to greet them.
“Maybe it’s a practical joke, and they just stood us up,” Byron said after another couple of minutes had passed.
Just as he said it, his eyes alighted on a man who had entered the bar and was heading straight towards them.
He was a good-looking man, possibly in his sixties. His hair and stylish goatee were both grey, but his skin looked healthy and practically free of wrinkles. He smiled when he arrived at their table.
“It’s been a long time,” he said.
“You’re late for your own appointment,” Byron pronounced.
The man flashed an even more charming smile. “Apologies. Traffic was brutal.”
“I should have known it was you,” Byron said coldly. “Tricking me into meeting you, how typical.”
“It was the only way,” said the man, “You wouldn’t have come otherwise, would you?”
“Probably not,” Byron said, “and now this meeting is over.”
Emily realized who it was. They looked so much alike, they had to be father and son!
Byron stood up to leave, but she didn’t move. “We should hear him out,” she said, looking up at him hopefully.
“Emily, you don’t know who you’re dealing with,” Byron said, a look of disgust crossing his face.
“So, why don’t you introduce us,” she said, hoping her cuteness could win the battle despite Byron’s apparent distaste for his father.
She had a feeling this was meant to be. All the therapy sessions should have prepared Byron for this, though maybe not well enough, considering how angry he looked. But she had always suspected he needed to come to terms with his father to feel completely whole.
Since Byron had no intention of introducing his father, the man introduced himself. “Theodore Pomeroy. You can call me Teddy. This must be your beautiful fiancee.”
“Nice to meet you,” Emily said, and she really meant it.
He reminded her of what Byron was like when they first met, a man so roguishly charming he thought he could get away with a lot more than most normal people. But if Byron only had a tiny bit of that quality, his old man seemed to have it in spades.
“I saw the announcement of your engagement in the newspapers,” Teddy said, “I always keep an eye out for those kinds of things. Your mother doesn’t want me to contact her either, so the press is the only way I can learn anything about your life.”
Emily felt sorry for the guy. Whatever he had done in the past, he clearly missed his former family. And he didn’t seem like an utter villain. Of course, she had been wrong about people before...
“Why are you here, dad?” Byron asked wearily.
“Getting right down to the point I see,” Teddy smirked. “Does there have to be a particular reason to see my son?”
“You already have another son and daughter,” Byron replied, “they’re your family now.”
For the first time, Teddy’s confidence actually seemed to waver. A tiny look of hurt showed when he winced at Byron’s words.
“You are my son too,” he said, “And the fact that I have another family doesn’t change that.”
“I still think you want something,” Byron replied, giving him a steely look.
“I want to see you,” Teddy said earnestly. “To get to know you better. I mean, you’re a grown man now, you’re engaged. It completely blew my mind!”
“So you have no ulterior motive other than to spend time with me?” Byron questioned as if conducting an interrogation.
“I wanted to see you before I get old and die,” Teddy said. “And I don’t blame you for suspecting me. I’ve done things before that I’m not proud of, but that’s all in the past.”
“Is it?”
“We haven’t seen each other in what, ten years?” Teddy said. “Can you not believe that I’ve changed in all that time?”
Byron’s distrustful look said that he was not convinced. He seemed haunted by distant memories.
“You don’t know what you’ve gotten us into,” Byron said bleakly on the drive back.
His driving, usually extremely smooth, had never been so jerky. He shifted gears in snappy, angry motions.
“It’s all part of a fun adventure,” Emily suggested.
“More like a nightmare,” he said, refusing to play along, “There’s a reason my mom doesn’t speak to him anymore.”
“But he’s changed,” Emily said.
“According to him, the pathological liar.”
“He didn’t seem that bad... Are you mad at me for making you stay?”
They stopped at a red light, and Byron looked at her with a smile. “No. I know you have a good heart, and you just want us to be reconciled. But I warn you, it’s probably impossible.”
Emily wondered if she had made a mistake in encouraging the reunion. Maybe there were some terrible secrets she was not privy to, and after all, Byron knew his father better than she did.
