“Birth records can be accessed at the county clerk’s office. You’ll have to head over to Athens to try to locate that particular one.”
“Aren’t birth records made public as part of the Freedom of Information Act?” I asked, afraid she might say something like that.
“If the record is more than seventy-five years old, then yes.”
“Well, that’s entirely possible since she was eighty-two when she died. Look, is it possible to just search the records here? I’m not looking for an official birth certificate or needing any of his private information. I’d just like to know if this man actually exists.”
Florence narrowed her eyes at me again and stared me down. I swear she could give a loan shark something to be nervous about. After a long moment, she sighed and turned to her computer, fiddling on the keypad before asking, “Name?”
I breathed a sense of relief, and calmly answered, “Jake Montgomery.”
As she continued to tap away on her computer, she told me, “I should warn you we’ve only got the records for about the past fifty years computerized. If this relative is as old as your grandmother, odds are he won’t be in my system.”
Fucking fantastic. Guess that was her way of saying I’ll go ahead and search for you because I know I won’t find anything to show.
After a few more clicks, her eyes began to squint even more, which I didn’t think was physically possible. “What?” I asked with hesitation.
She sucked in a silent breath through her mouth, her head bobbing back and forth slightly. Then she returned to her original position, staring down something confusing on her screen. “Well. I have one birth record coming up showing a Jake Montgomery. But it’s only a few years old.”
Now I was the one confused. Jake Montgomery wasn’t some middle-age guy or a brother of hers we never heard about? “Who’s the father?” I dared to ask, because deep down, I feared there was only one possible answer.
“There isn’t one listed. Just a mother.”
I don’t know how I kept my eyes from widening and my mouth from hitting the floor, but I appeared as cool as James Dean when Florence turned her attention back to me. Because inside, my heart just slammed on the brakes harder than a fat kid for the ice cream truck.
Of course there wouldn’t be a father’s name because Brad wasn’t around to sign anything that would acknowledge the boy as his. But the kid had to be his, right? I mean, what were the odds otherwise?
“And the mother’s name?” I inquired with a firm voice, my chest tightening all over again with anticipation.
“I’m sorry, I’ve told you too much already. Legally, only those whose names are on the birth certificate can request a copy of the record.”
Which basically meant I was screwed.
I sat in the car for several minutes, literally stunned. What the hell? Was Brad a dad? I wished to hell and back again that the woman would’ve given me a name since she wouldn’t pinpoint the year the kid was born. I mean, I hated to say it, but I knew for a fact that Mel was on the pill back then because Brad went on and on about it, trying to rub it in that he didn’t have to slip on a rubber with her. Did he screw around too? Possibly knock someone up?
I rolled my eyes and let my head fall back on the headrest. Hell, no. What the heck was I even thinking? Brad was all into Mel. No way in hell he cheated.
Unless…
Unless he did it after the break-up to get back at her. That was definitely something Brad would stoop to in the heat of the moment. Dumbass probably didn’t even have a condom because he never used them.
I roared out a long groan. Stupid, stupid, stupid! I anger dialed Brad, already yelling at him before he could even finish saying hello. “Who the hell did you f**k in this town besides Mel?”
“What?” he asked slowly, extending the word for at least three seconds. Great. Surprise, surprise, Brad was already lit – as if he ever came down these days. The guy probably even brushed his teeth with beer so as not to dilute what was already in his system.
“Listen. To. Me. Who did you f**k in Berryville before you left town?”
I could tell he was totally confused, letting out a series of one-syllable sounds that made absolutely no sense. “Dude, I mean…I didn’t. Huh?”
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. If only he were here so I could smack the shit back into him. “There’s a birth certificate here with a kid named Jake Montgomery who was born several years ago.”
“Um…okay. So?”
So? Jesus, this guy was f**king clueless. Did I really have to spell it out for him? “Brad, do you not remember you were the only male Montgomery left in this town? There’s a huge probability that this is the kid who got your life insurance policy, and since your grandmother left him the money, she probably thought this Jake kid was your son.”
“What?” he yelled. Even over the phone I could hear the spittle fly. Once he told me in so many ways that he couldn’t possibly be anyone’s father, I told him to just relax and we’d get it figured out. It could be this woman was just lying about it being Brad’s. In which case, a DNA test would disprove it and we might have grounds to challenge the policy or charge her with fraud. It was just going to take some effort to sort it all out.
After a moment of silence, he asked, “S’what now?”
“Well, now I’ve got to find out who the mother is, and I’ve got a few ideas how to go about it. Just hang tight and do…whatever it is you do.”
“Yeah, all right. Thanks.” I was just shy of hanging up on him when he quietly added, “Shane?”
“Yeah?” I replied.
He was quiet for a moment, and the stillness actually concerned me. “Brad?”
I heard him sigh over the phone. “I can’t have kids man. Never could.”
“What?” I asked, my voice filled with equal parts sorrow and shock.
“I just thought you should know that. Whoever’s claiming this kid’s mine is a liar.”
After he said that, there was a beep and the line went dead. I just sat there with the phone still stuck to my ear. A wave of sadness numbed me to the core. He couldn’t have kids ever? I couldn’t imagine dealing with that. I mean, I didn’t want them right now or anything, but I wanted them someday. And to know that I never could? I think that would kill me a little bit.
More determined than ever to help Brad rectify this mess, I made a call to Mr. St. Claire. He was already out for lunch, so I drove to his office and waited in my car for him to come back.
Couldn’t have kids. God, I felt guilty. Why didn’t I know that? I should’ve known that. I was his best friend but I hadn’t been that good to him since I moved away. Sure, we talked on the phone occasionally, but I only saw him once that first year of college when he came to Austin to check out the scene. I had hoped it would ignite his desire to consider college again, but he never did end up going anywhere. He just drifted through life doing…hell if I knew. Probably just lived off the trust he received when he turned eighteen. I figured he must’ve been close to bleeding it dry, and if he was, he was going to have to figure out something to do fast. Even if we managed to get him something out of this life insurance policy, it wasn’t going to last that long.
I wished I had kept better track of him. He tried rehab twice and it never stuck. Maybe I should’ve had him stay with me afterwards to give it a better chance of sticking. Maybe I should’ve gone down to Houston every once and a while to check up on him. Hell, I was busy and had a new line of friends I enjoyed hanging out with, but I could’ve spared some time for him. I should’ve spared some time for him.
But maybe I could make up for it now. Really help him get on his feet and stay there this time.
Mr. St. Claire parked beside me a little after twelve-thirty. I jumped out of the truck and awaited him to do the same from his black Seville.
“Mr. Michaels. Back so soon.” It wasn’t so much a question as an observation that seemed to annoy him a little. Too bad, because I had a question in need of an answer.
“Mr. St. Claire,” I replied as kindly as I could. “I know Jake Montgomery is a young child. I need to know who his mother is.”
“Sorry,” he replied, stepping past me on the sidewalk, but I followed right behind. “Even if I wanted to help you, I couldn’t. Beneficiaries aren’t public information. The only reason I even knew Jake was the recipient of Joyce’s policy was because she mentioned it to me while we were handling another legal matter. I don’t know who his mother is, and I can guarantee you that the insurance company will never tell you without a warrant. And unfortunately for you, you have no grounds to ask for one.
“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a full afternoon I need to prepare for.”
He slipped past the exterior door to his attorney’s office and disappeared.
“Fuck,” I muttered. I was really hoping he knew and would be willing to tell, but it was alright. I still had another idea of how to find out. I climbed back into my truck and looked up the contact for Kyle Richardson. We met through a mutual friend at UT and became pretty good friends ourselves. He was year behind me, getting his degree in business, so he could take over his father’s private investigation business one day. I dialed him up and waited for him to answer.
On the fourth ring, Kyle asked, “Dude, what’s going on? Are you in town?”
“No man, I wish. None of my friends are in Dallas so it’s pretty boring. School going alright?”
“Ppfftt,” he puffed. “Same ol’, same ol’. Last semester though. I’ll be glad when it’s done.”
“I hear that,” I replied.
“So if you’re not in town, do you need something or what?”
“As a matter of fact, I was hoping you could do a little investigating for me.” Thank God his family lived in Austin and he could just head over to the PI office during his free time. “I need to get a hold of a birth certificate from Henderson County. There was a kid named Jake Montgomery born several years ago and I need to find out who the mother is. Is that something you can help me with?”
“Mmm-maybe. Do you know the date?”
“No, unfortunately. Just the hospital he was born at.”
“Well, I’ve never searched for a birth record myself, but I know that every county sends them here to Austin. It’s likely my dad might have a contact who can sneak a peek and let us know.”
A released a sigh of relief. I was hoping he’d say that. “Thanks, man.”
“Hey. If I find this information for you, then you owe me a favor, ‘kay? Like say I need some legal help in the future for some reason, you’ve got my back, right?”
“Deal. Let me know what you find out.”
“Sure. Just give me a few days. And send me everything you know in a text to narrow down the search.”
We said our goodbyes and I did what he asked.
Now all I had to do was decide what the hell to do to pass the next few days. Stay here, or go home, where it was really boring. At least here in Berryville there were a few people I grew up with around, like Matt. The only downside was that dump I was forced to stay in. I wondered if old Mrs. Canton still ran that B&B out of her house. She used to love me, always pinching my cheeks. Bet I could charm her down on her nightly rate, or get a decent weekly rate.
By six my stomach had been rumbling for way too long. There were a couple of fast food joints around but I wasn’t really feeling it. Nor did I ever care for most of the small restaurants in town. But that burger I had at Sully’s… It was calling to me. But unfortunately, with the mouth-watering goodness came the spunky brunette who might spit in it. Decisions, decisions…
Fuck it.
I was hungry and ready to down a few with the locals. She could either deal with it or go back to her hidey hole again.
5
I really hated working. No, scratch that. I didn’t mind the bar or the people I worked with. What I hated was having to work fifty-six hours a week just to make ends meet. I had only one day off a week and I was missing so much time with my kid. Jake was growing up so fast, and I was missing everything. Who got to see him take his first steps and hear his first word? Amy, the girl I used to be able to afford to take care of him, back when I worked two jobs just to keep her at my house. Who got to watch him play with the other kids at the park, or teach him how to throw a ball, or tuck him into bed? Amy, Amy, Amy.
Nowadays it was either Susie or Mrs. Weatherly. Rarely was the answer ever me. I guess nowadays I did get to tuck Jake into bed, but only after I let myself into Susie’s late at night and carried his sleeping body back to his real bed. I hated that I couldn’t be there for him like I should. Financially, we were okay so long as I didn’t miss too much work, but I wanted to be able to stand beside him physically, too. I wished there was a job I could have that would let me work the typical eight-to-four, but either they were all held by long-term employees or required heavy labor or a special skill I just didn’t have. So I was stuck with the late night bar life. At least today was Monday – one of the four days we closed at midnight instead of two.
I kissed my baby on the forehead and watched him skip his way next door, where Susie was waiting on the porch, already waving me goodbye, greeting Jake with a smile and a hug. I forced my tired lips to curve and blew a kiss to them before falling into my Camry and driving into work. Monday through Friday, Steph opened the bar and worked the noon-to-four shift, carrying the load until the rest of us began trickling in at four. Hardly anyone came in before four since the grille didn’t open until five, so Steph spent most of her time washing and stocking all the glassware used the night before. It wasn’t a glamorous job, but it was extra cash for her family to pay for things like braces and all that out-of-pocket athletic wear her high school boy needed for sports. I could totally relate, hence the extra hours past forty.