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Last time in our story, Bo had sneaked into Nora’s bedroom to question her about Matthew. After some emotional conversation, Bo and Nora started to kiss only to be interrupted by the bedroom door opening and the words, “Mom, are you okay?”
Now, on with this chapter...
Their lips had been only centimeters apart and their eyes shut, but the new voice caused them both to pull back abruptly.
“Mom!! What’s going on here?!”
Bo looked down and saw what Matthew had seen, him holding Nora, his arms wrapped around her. He stepped back not sure what else to do.
“Matthew, what are you doing up, honey?”
But Matthew only had eyes on the older man. “Major? How could you?”
Nora attempted to pull the attention from Bo, “Matthew, it’s not what you think.”
“I think I just saw the two of you kissing.”
The silence was deafening, but Matthew’s look of anger spoke volumes, then his anger came to the surface. “You said you loved Red! You said you would always love her. You said she was the love of your life!” With those tearful words, he stormed off and a minute later they heard the front door slam.
Nora’s head snapped up and she looked at Bo with wide eyes.
“Bo?”
“Let me go talk to him.”
“Bo! Is what he said true?”
He smiled and rushed back to her and gave her a sound but quick kiss, “I’ll be back.”
“I should come with you! He seemed so upset.”
“He’s fine, I promise. I know where he went, we’ll come back together, but give us a little time to talk. Then hopefully we can talk.”
He gave her one more quick kiss and then raced out of the room to follow Matthew and all she could do was stare at the open door.
Within minutes Rachel came in, out of bed and barely awake in her rumpled robe. “Mom, I heard yelling, what happened?”
Nora smiled, “He loves me.”
“Who loves you?”
“Bo!”
“He was here?”
“Yes!” Nora sighed, trying to keep the teenage girl dream sound out of her voice, but failing miserably. “He went to chase after Matthew”
“It’s two in the morning, Mom. Why isn’t Matthew in bed?”
“He might have seen Bo and I kiss, well, almost kiss.”
“And?”
“Apparently at some point he told Matthew that he was still in love with me.”
“Matthew didn’t say anything to me about that.”
“Not me, Bo told Matthew that he loves Red.”
“Oh, Mom, that’s so sweet!”
Nora nodded, the happiness radiating from her face. “He didn’t know about Matthew being his son.”
“I knew it had to be something like that. Bo has always loved you Mom. Just like you’ve always loved him.”
“Yeah, I have.”
“Do we need to go help Bo find Matthew?”
“Bo said he knew where he was and that he’d bring him back. Let’s go put on some hot chocolate, it’s a little chilly out there.”
********************
“Not much of a hider there, kid.”
Bo walked out on to the dock, staring at the back of his son’s head. As he came closer, he realized the boy’s shoulders were trembling so he offered a handkerchief.
“Hey now, it’s not as bad as all of that.”
“How could you?”
“Matthew, there a few things we need to hash out.”
“Is everything you told me a lie?”
“No, I didn’t lie to you about anything. I’m an old man and if there’s one thing I’ve learned in all my years, it’s that lies hurt. It’s always better to tell the truth.”
Matthew leaned back on the post, turning to face him, and Bo could easily see his features with the full moon’s light. His son’s face was filled with doubt and confusion.
“Kid, there are a lot of things I need to tell you. I’m going to ask you to listen before you react. But first, let me ask you a question. Why are you so upset because you think I lied?”
Matthew shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know. I guess I just thought you were perfect. You’ve had so many adventures and fun times, and now you live at this camp. I just thought you did everything right.”
Bo laughed. “I’m just a human being, son. I make mistakes like everyone else.”
“Like kissing my mom?”
That question caught Bo off guard. “No, Matthew, kissing your mom was not a mistake.”
Bo settled in, leaning himself against a dock post facing Matthew. “I’m going to tell you this one thing, and it’s going to open up a ball of questions. You can ask whatever you want, and I’ll do my very best to tell you what you want to know. Ok?”
Matthew nodded warily, and stared at the older man.
“You know how I’ve told you about Red and how we both did some stupid things and lost each other?”
“Yes, but you told me you loved her and that you still do.”
“That’s right, that’s what I said.”
“But you lied about it?”
“Sheesh, kid, no! We lived in a small town and when we broke up she moved away, in fact she moved to another state. What I didn’t know until recently though was that when she left our town, she was pregnant.”
“Oh, wow! So, you have a kid somewhere? That is so cool! That’s a good thing, right, since you still love Red? How old would your kid be?”
“Matthew, I haven’t seen Red for over thirteen years. And she had a son.”
Bo watched Matthew digest the information, but could tell he didn’t quite have the connection. “Matthew, my Red......is your mom.”
And like a lightbulb turning on, Matthew proclaimed, “that means you’re Bo Buchanan!”
“That’s right.”
“And that means you’re my dad.”
To be continued...
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