Silent Fall

Dylan shared a rare blood type with his true biological father. I can’t believe I’ve just written that down. It feels more real now.
    Anyway, it seems that Olivia had an affair with another man. And she’s lived a lie these past seven years. Now Richard knows the truth, and he’s livid. I don’t know how he’ll ever get past it. He hasn’t been home in two days. He can’t stand to look at his wife or his child. My heart breaks for both of them. I am furious that Olivia could do this to my son, could give him such pain, could bring him dishonor. Richard is a man to whom honor is everything. But I also see him for what he is: cold, heartless, a man who can’t love anyone as much as he loves himself. How can I say that about my son? I am racked with guilt. Did I make him this way? Was I responsible for how he turned out?
    Â  I knew Olivia was unhappy right after Jake’s birth. Richard withdrew from her. He’d wanted a son, and he had one, but he didn’t really care to raise a child. He left it all to her, and he couldn’t seem to bring himself to want her anymore the way a husband wants a wife.
    Olivia confided in me after several glasses of wine one night. It was very awkward. I know she must have been desperate, to have told me such a personal thing. I told her to give him time, to pretend all was well and it would be well. It was advice my mother had given me, and it had always gotten me through the difficult times in my own marriage.
    But Olivia found happiness only in the summers, when she ran to the beach house her parents had left her in their will. There on the island she was happy. I suspect it was also there that she met him, the man who fathered her second child. She wouldn’t tell me who he was. I’m not sure Richard knows either. But he’s too angry to listen. He wants her to go, but she can’t leave now. Dylan is just getting better. He needs care, rest, and the love of his mother.
    I pray that Richard will be able to bring his family back together, to forgive even if he can’t forget. I forgive you, Olivia. I just wish I could tell you to your face, but there are some things a mother can’t say aloud to the woman who betrayed her son. Richard must have all my loyalty.
    Catherine didn’t realize she was crying until a teardrop hit the page, smearing the blue ink. She closed the book and lifted her head, staring into Dylan’s wary eyes. He handed her a cup.
    "Tea," he said shortly.
    She took the cup from his hand, wondering what to say, how to tell him what she’d learned. Did she even have the right to tell him? It wasn’t her secret. It wasn’t her story. But he needed to know. So much now was clear.
    "I don’t want to hear what you have to say, but you’re going to tell me anyway, aren’t you?" he asked.
    "And I thought I was the only one who could see the future," she said lightly.
    He sat down on the bench next to her, stretching out his legs in front of him. He took a sip of his coffee, then set it down on the bench. "Is she dead?"
    For a moment she didn’t understand the question. "Your mother?"
    "Yes. Did my grandmother write that she died -- that my father killed her?" His gaze sought hers. "Tell me if it’s true."
    She shook her head. "No, at least, I didn’t get to that part, if it’s there. I don’t know what happened to her after she left, but I know a little more about why she had to... uh... go." She stumbled over her words, not sure how to reveal something that would shock Dylan down to his soul.
    "Well, something has you rattled. Just say it, Catherine. Whatever it is. Nothing could surprise me anymore."
    "I wouldn’t be so sure of that."
    He frowned, his lips tightening. "Now you’re scaring me. It’s probably not as bad as I’m starting to imagine."
    "It is bad. Okay. Here goes." She drew in a quick breath. "When you were really sick, apparently you needed a blood transfusion, and your father wanted to donate because he didn’t want you to have a stranger’s blood, but in the end your mother told him that he wasn’t a match." She let the words sink in. "That he couldn’t give you his blood."
    Dylan swallowed hard, his pupils dilating. "Are you saying..." He couldn’t get out the words.
    "He wasn’t your real father, Dylan. Richard Sanders is not your biological father." She blew out a breath.
    Dylan stared at her in