| Chapter 14: The Truth Comes Out Lauralee sat by the phone in the home office awaiting Chad’s phone call. She left a message on his voice mail. Alex had gone out with the guys, preparing for Kevin’s bachelor party. It was perfect timing. She became startled when the phone rang and answered it on the second ring. “Hello?” “Lauralee, Chad here.” “Hi Chad. I’m sorry I wasn’t home last night. I was waiting for your call.” “No problem.” “So, what’s the word?” “I have a name.” “The name of who? The woman he was having the affair or the kid?” “The woman. Her name is Rebecca Palermo. She was working at Jerry’s first law firm as a secretary. She was the daughter of one of the partners.” “Do you know what is going on with her now?” “I have the last known address of her, with a phone number.” “Good, fax me the information, here’s the number,” Lauralee gave Chad the home fax number. “I’m sending it now. Call me back when you’ve gone over it.” “Thank you Chad.” “Just doing my job. I’ll talk to you later.” “Bye.” Lauralee hung up the phone and turned on the fax machine. She tapped her foot nervously as she heard the fax machine buzzing and the paper coming out. When the last page finished, she ripped the paper out of the fax machine, and looked over the information. She overlooked the information as she read it aloud. “Rebecca Palermo. Employment at Palermo & Ribisi Law Firm. Position, secretary for 3 years.” Then she saw her picture. She was rather young in the picture, about Lauralee’s age. “But that was 10 years ago. She’s in her thirties now.” Lauralee looked at the picture again. “God she looks so innocent. What a bastard to take advantage of her like that.” “Take advantage of who?” Lauralee turned around to see Alex standing in the doorway. “Jesus Christ Alex! You scared me!” “What are you doing?” Alex came up behind her and looked at the paper she was holding. Lauralee quickly folded the paper. “Nothing.” “Lau, lemme see the paper.” “God, can’t I have some privacy?” Alex grabbed the paper from her hands. “Not when you’ve been acting so strangely.” He looked the paper over. “Who’s this?” “Um…” “Lau, enough bullshit. What in the hell is going on? You’ve been so secretive lately. Now you’ve got a profile of some woman who I’ve never heard of before. And who are Robson and Young?” “How did you know about that?” “I found a envelope with their names on it.” “What are you the FBI now? You wanna look at all of my papers!” “Lau, what’s wrong with you! I don’t wanna fight, but I just want to know what’s going on. You know I don’t like secrets between us, and you promised me no more after Elegance was formed. So fess up, or else I’ll be real pissed.” Lauralee sighed. She knew she had to tell him eventually. “OK, I’ll tell you.” She pulled out the thick envelope and looked at him. “Robson and Young are private investigators.” “Why would you hire private investigators for?” “To check up on Jerry.” Alex’s eyes bugged out of his sockets. “Jerry?” Lauralee nodded. “I wanted to see what he was all about.” “Why didn’t you try asking him.” “Because I wanted to see if he had any skeletons in his closet.” Alex shook his head in disbelief. “I think you have truly gone off the deep end. Why are you doing this?” “I told you why.” “So? Have you found out anything?” “Yeah. Remember when I told you that he doesn’t have kids?” “Uh huh.” “He lied.” “Are you serious?” Lauralee took the fax paper and handed it to him. “He had an affair with that girl and she got knocked up with his kid while he was married. The girl was my age.” “So, what are you going to do about this?” “Tell my mother about it.” “Wait a minute,” Alex stood up. “Don’t you think you should confront Jerry about this first?” “Why should I? He lied to my mother and my whole family.” “Because it’ll kill your mother. She’s in love with him Lau. She’s gonna see him forever in a new light.” “Maybe it’s for the best.” “Why do you want to ruin your mother’s happiness?! Because Jerry isn’t your father?” Lauralee stood up. “That was a low blow Alex.” The tears started to flow from her eyes. “That’s right, Jerry is not my dad, he never will be! My father was the most caring man in the world. He never lied about anything. This guy isn’t the real thing. He’s a liar, and I’m gonna call him on it.” “I don’t agree or like this. Not one bit. I think you’ve gone to the extreme, and you’re going to hurt a lot of people, especially your relationship with your mother.” “Mom would pick me over a guy any day.” Lauralee picked up the papers. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some paperwork to read.” Lauralee jumped as Alex slammed the door. ~*~ Lauralee came downstairs and walked out to the patio, where she saw Alex drinking a beer and looking out at the sunset. “Have another one?” Alex ignored her as she sat down on the edge of the chair and took a bottle of beer from the six-pack lying beside Alex. “I’m sorry for being so rude to you.” “Fine.” Alex took a swig from the bottle. “But you have to understand where I’m coming from.” “All I know is that if my mother was dating someone, I wouldn’t go as far as you have. This is wrong.” “Alex, maybe I am being wrong. But I need to know the truth.” “Even if it will hurt your mother?” “I want her to have a honest relationship with someone.” “Or not at all.” “That’s not true.” “Oh, stop lying to yourself,” Alex swung his legs around to the side of the chair. “Lau, I know you better than anyone. I know how close you were to your father. Whenever you talk about him, your face lights up. I know that your mom dating someone hurts you, like she’s putting your dad away. And if she wasn’t dating Jerry, you would be angry at another guy.” Lauralee looked down. “But, why did he have to lie?” “I don’t know Lau. But, if he does have a kid, he needs to acknowledge it. I know what it’s like on the other end.” “So you think I should tell Mom?” “I think you should tell Jerry first, and then let him explain it to your mother. If he does have a kid, he should tell your mother about it.” “So do you forgive me?” “Although I don’t agree with your way of going about this, I love you too much to be mad at you.” Lauralee embraced him tightly. “I love you too baby.” Chapter 15 Contents Chapter 13 |