When 75-year-old Richard sees his ex-wife Vanessa with a man 20 years younger than her, he assumes they’re dating and starts a fight. To his surprise, Vanessa reveals that the man she’s with is her son, whom he never knew existed. But that’s not the only secret Vanessa is keeping.
Richard was walking home from the supermarket when a shocking sight stopped him in his tracks. His ex-wife, Vanessa, was walking arm in arm with a man 20 years her junior.
“What the hell is going on? Is she already dating someone else?”
Richard was furious. He saw them enter a cafe and hurried after them. Bitterness gripped his nerves when he saw Vanessa and the man holding hands and smiling at something at the window table.
He couldn’t stand Vanessa moving on so soon after their divorce. So he stormed off to their table.
“What the hell, Vanessa?” Richard slammed the table, startling Vanessa and the guy with her. “Oh, oh! My 72-year-old ex-wife found a new man to hook up with just weeks after leaving her husband. Bravo! And how long have you been together?”
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Vanessa was very embarrassed and begged Richard to stop. Simon, the man Vanessa was with, got up from his seat.
“Mom… is this my father?” he asked.
Richard was stunned.
“What did you say?”
At that moment, Vanessa realized she couldn’t hide the truth from her ex-husband or Simon.
“Richard, please sit down. I have something to tell you both… Do you remember when we met 54 years ago… at the bar?” Vanessa’s voice trembled as she recounted her past…
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It was the fall of September 1968. 17-year-old Vanessa and her friends were delighted with their success in sneaking out of the house to party at the pub.
“Van, are you sure your dad didn’t see you sneak out of the house? I don’t want the party to turn into a church sermon,” one of the girls joked as they burst into the pub.
Vanessa’s father, Alan, was a pastor at the local church, so Vanessa had a strict upbringing. She wasn’t allowed to go out with her friends after sunset. Sunday school was the norm. Hard drinks and late-night parties were strictly prohibited. And, of course, no sex or drugs.
And Vanessa hated him. She loved her father, but not his restrictions. She wanted a life full of adventure, like her friends’. So that night, Vanessa worked up the courage to sneak out after her parents fell asleep and accompanied her friends to the pub.
Rock and roll tunes played in the background as the teenagers made their way to an empty table and immersed themselves in the glitz and glamour of the nightlife. Soon, Vanessa and her friend Carla headed to the bar for drinks.
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“By the way, I heard Dylan will be here tonight with his friends!” Carla said.
“It’s over between Dylan and me! Period! I don’t even want to talk about him!” Vanessa retorted.
She and Dylan had recently broken up, so knowing he was going to be at the pub irritated Vanessa. She sat at the bar and ordered a martini. While she was sipping, a handsome stranger approached her.
“Hi, gorgeous,” the 21-year-old said, approaching Vanessa. “My name’s Richard. Can I buy you a drink?”
Vanessa was new to drinking strong drinks, and she felt like stars were exploding around her head. When she looked at Richard, she thought he was handsome and couldn’t resist his charm.
“I’d be delighted.” Vanessa smiled and looked at Richard seductively. She fell in love with him at first sight.
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Richard and Vanessa talked as if they had known each other forever and danced to the jazz music playing in the background.
“I’m new to this city,” Richard said as he wrapped his arms around Vanessa and pulled her close. “I came here on business. Hey, should we go for a walk? Can you show me around town?”
“Oh, I’d love to… but it’s getting late,” Vanessa said, looking at the time on her watch.
However, she immediately changed her mind when she saw how disappointed Richard was. He was too charming to refuse, so she agreed to go with him.
That night was magical for Vanessa. Richard and she drove through the bustling streets, laughing and chatting. They kissed passionately, and soon Vanessa was wrapped in Richard’s arms as she experienced her first intimate encounter. It felt like a fairy tale.
After dressing, they kissed again, and Richard took Vanessa home. Every inch of his heart wanted her to stay with him as Vanessa crept into their bedroom. She watched through the window as Richard said goodbye and disappeared into the night.
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Vanessa decided to forget everything about that night and move on with her life until three weeks later she started feeling nauseous.
“Vanessa, what’s wrong?” Vanessa’s stepmother, Rebecca, banged on the bathroom door. “I heard everything, Vanessa. You better come out and explain to me why you’re crying.”
Moments later, an uneasy Vanessa emerged from the bathroom, clutching her stomach and wiping her face. “I’m sick… my head hurts so much.”
“Why are you holding your stomach if it’s a headache?”
Rebecca’s cold, suspicious tone froze Vanessa. “Girl, who do you think you’re trying to fool?”
“I said I feel sick,” Vanessa stammered and ran back to the bathroom to throw up. Rebecca’s worst fears were confirmed when she saw her teenage stepdaughter emptying her stomach into the toilet.
“Vanessa, tell me the truth,” Rebecca looked her straight in the eyes, “Have you been intimate with anyone? Are you pregnant?”
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Vanessa burst into tears. She knew there was no way out and confided her secret to her stepmother. Rebecca’s initial shock quickly turned to outrage when she learned that Vanessa’s pregnancy was the result of a one-night stand, not a reckless moment with her boyfriend.
“God… You slept with a stranger?” Rebecca shook Vanessa’s shoulder. “Your father will be so embarrassed… and how long can you hide it? This child won’t grow up without a father… do you hear me?”
“Tomorrow night, I’ll take your father to a restaurant. In the meantime, you’ll tell Dylan you want to get back together. Bring Dylan home and…” Rebecca paused, as this wasn’t how she would normally advise her daughter “…spend the night with him. It’s the only way to avoid a scandal. Abortion is definitely out of the question.”
Vanessa nodded. She regretted running away that night and meeting Richard at the bar. All the moments that had seemed magical now haunted her.
Cheating on Dylan felt wrong, but she couldn’t confess to Dad what she’d done. Vanessa spent a long night wondering what to do. Finally, she made a difficult decision and approached Dylan the next day in the park. He agreed to have dinner with her.
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When Dylan arrived, Vanessa sat down with him on the couch and put her plan into action.
“Please forgive me, baby,” Vanessa leaned closer to Dylan and placed her hand in his lap. “I made a huge mistake… Being alone, I realized it was you… that I was wrong to break up with you. I’m sorry. I love you… just like always!”
Dylan took Vanessa’s face in his hands and looked into her eyes. He was beside himself with joy when she told him that.
They embraced and the evening ended as planned, when Dylan took Vanessa upstairs to his room and they made love.
Two weeks later, Dylan met Vanessa’s family for dinner. Afterward, he and Vanessa told her father she was pregnant.
Alan was furious with his daughter, but the idea of becoming a grandfather calmed him down. And Dylan seemed like a good guy from a wealthy family who would do the right thing for her. So at the end of the serious conversation, Alan put on a happy face.
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Months passed, and at just 18 years old, Vanessa was rushed to the maternity ward as labor began. Hours later, Dylan was crying tears of joy as he cradled his son in his arms and introduced him to his parents and closest family members gathered in the maternity ward.
Two days later, the couple was preparing to return home with their son when a doctor burst into the room and insisted on speaking to Dylan in his office.
Dylan was perplexed, but followed the doctor to his office. Soon after, he burst back into Vanessa’s living room, where all her family and Vanessa’s parents had gathered to take her and the baby home.
“LIAR!” Dylan burst into the room and confronted Vanessa. “THIS IS NOT MY BABY!”
Everyone gasped as Dylan revealed what the doctor had just said. Vanessa felt a strange feeling in her stomach as she realized she had a lot to explain.
“You should be ashamed of yourself for doing this to me,” Dylan fumed. “How could you possibly think I’d be the father of someone else’s child? Was this your plan… or were your parents involved too? How disgusting! Mom… Dad… let’s go. I don’t want anything to do with her or the child anymore.”
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Vanessa begged and cried. But Dylan stormed out of the room and out of her life that day. She went home and begged her father to forgive her, but Alan was furious and bitter.
“You are a disgrace to my family,” Alan yelled at him.
“You disgust me. I don’t even want to look at you. How am I going to face everyone in town… and at church? What will I say if they ask me who the father of this child is?”
Those words cut Vanessa like knives. She realized she would never regain her father’s trust and that she would never lead a normal life in that town, since people were already gossiping about her.
“…So I made a heartbreaking decision. I kissed my precious baby one last time before giving him up for adoption and leaving town,” Vanessa concluded through tears.
“Six months later, I saw you again by chance at an art exhibition in the new city I moved to, Richard. You already know everything that happened next.”
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“Why didn’t you tell me the truth?” Richard asked, shocked. “We could have gotten Simon back and raised him. Our son was out there… and you kept it a secret all these years? How could you, Vanessa? Is this why you never wanted children?”
“I wanted to confess everything when we rekindled our relationship. I went to the shelter…” Vanessa responded disappointedly. “But it was too late. A family had already adopted him and taken him abroad. I didn’t dare have another child.”
Richard was overwhelmed by the unfolding events. “So how did you find us, Simon?”
“My father told me I was adopted before he died,” Simon replied. “He gave me my biological mother’s information. Later, I checked the orphanage records. I searched for Mom for over six months. Two days ago, I met her for the first time.”
“Well… I never thought that at 75 I would teach my 53-year-old son his first lesson!” Richard said. “I hope you now know that it’s better to be honest… and give people a second chance! This applies to your mother and me too.”
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