When 75-year-old Richard sees his ex-wife Vanessa with a man 20 years younger than her, he decides they are dating and picks a fight. To his surprise, Vanessa reveals that the man with her is their son, who he never knew existed. But that’s not the only secret Vanessa has been keeping.
Richard was walking home from the grocery shop when an unpleasant sight stopped him on his doorstep. His ex-wife, Vanessa, was walking arm in arm with a man about 20 years younger than her.
‘Is she really seeing someone else already?’
Richard was furious. He saw them enter the café and hurried after them. Bitterness slammed into him as he saw Vanessa and the guy holding hands and smiling at something at a table by the window.
He couldn’t bear to see Vanessa moving on with her life so soon after their divorce. So he stormed over to their table with anger.
‘What the hell, Vanessa?’ Richard pounded on the table, startling Vanessa and the guy with her. ‘Well, well! My 72-year-old ex-wife found herself a new man just weeks after leaving her husband! Bravo! And how long have you two been together?’
Vanessa was so embarrassed and begged Richard to stop. Simon, the man with Vanessa, rose from his seat.
‘Mum… is that my dad?’ – He asked.
Richard was stunned.
‘What did you say?’
At that moment Vanessa realised that she couldn’t hide the truth from either her ex-husband or Simon.
‘Richard, please sit down. I have something to tell you both… Do you remember when we first met 54 years ago… in a bar?’ Vanessa’s voice trembled as she recalled her past….
It was the autumn of September 1968. Seventeen-year-old Vanessa and her friends were thrilled that they had managed to sneak away from home to have fun in a pub.
‘Van, are you sure your dad didn’t see you sneaking out of the house? I don’t want the party to turn into a church sermon!’ joked one of the girls as they burst into the pub.
Vanessa’s father, Alan, was a pastor at the local church, so Vanessa had received a strict upbringing. She wasn’t allowed to go out with her friends after sunset. Sunday school was the norm. Hard liquor and late-night parties were strictly forbidden. And definitely no sex or drugs.
And Vanessa hated it. She loved her father, but not his limitations. She wanted to live an adventurous life like her friends. So that night Vanessa plucked up the courage to sneak out after her parents were asleep and went to the pub with her friends.
Rock and roll tunes played in the background as the teens made their way to a free table and immersed themselves in the glitz and glamour of the nightlife. Soon Vanessa and her friend Carla headed to the bar for drinks.
‘By the way, I heard that Dylan and his friends are going to be here tonight!’ said Carla.
‘It’s over between me and Dylan! Full stop! I don’t even want to talk about him!’ replied Vanessa.
She and Dylan had recently broken up, so knowing he’d be at the pub annoyed Vanessa. She sat down at the bar and ordered a martini. As she sipped her drink, a handsome stranger approached her.
‘Hello, beautiful!’ – The 21-year-old said, leaning closer to Vanessa. ‘My name is Richard. Can I buy you a drink?’
Vanessa was new to drinking hard liquor, and she felt like stars were shooting up around her head. When she looked at Richard, he seemed handsome and she couldn’t resist his charm.
‘I’d love to!’ Vanessa smiled and locked eyes with Richard seductively. She had fallen in love with him at first sight.
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 town,’ Richard said, putting his arm around Vanessa and pulling her closer. ‘Came here on business. How about we take a ride? Maybe you could show me around the neighbourhood?’
‘Oh, I’d love to…but it’s getting late,’ Vanessa said as she saw the time on her watch.
However, she immediately changed her mind when she saw how disappointed Richard was. He was too charming for her to turn him down and she agreed to go with him.
That night became simply magical for Vanessa. She and Richard drove through the bustling streets, laughing and chatting. They kissed passionately, and soon Vanessa was in Richard’s arms, experiencing her first intimacy. It was like a fairy tale.
Once dressed, they kissed again, and then Richard drove Vanessa home. Every inch of her heart wanted her to stay with him as Vanessa snuck into her bedroom. She watched from the window as Richard waved goodbye to her and disappeared into the night.
Vanessa decided to forget everything about that night and move on with her life until three weeks later when she felt nauseous.
‘Vanessa, what’s wrong?’ Vanessa’s stepmother, Rebecca, knocked on the bathroom door. ‘I heard everything, Vanessa. You better come out and explain why you’re crying.’
Moments later, a distraught Vanessa emerged from the bathroom, holding her stomach and wiping her face. ‘I feel nauseous…I have a terrible headache.’
‘Why are you holding your stomach if you have a headache?’
Rebecca’s cold and suspicious tone made Vanessa freeze. ‘Girl, who do you think you’re trying to fool?’
‘I said I feel sick,’ Vanessa stammered and ran 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 grimly into the girl’s eyes, ’have you had intimacy with someone? Are you pregnant?’
Vanessa burst into tears. She realised there was no way out and confessed her secret to her stepmother. Rebecca’s initial shock was quickly replaced by outrage when she learned that Vanessa’s pregnancy was the result of a one-night stand and not a reckless moment with her boyfriend.
‘God… You slept with a stranger?’ Rebecca shook Vanessa by the shoulder. ‘Your father will be so ashamed…and how long can you hide it? This child will not grow up without a father…do you hear me?’
‘I’ll take your father to the restaurant tomorrow night. In the meantime, you’re going to tell Dylan you want to get back together. You’ll bring Dylan home and…’ Rebecca paused, as she didn’t usually advise her daughter to ‘…spend the night with him. It’s the only way to avoid a scandal. An abortion is out of the question.’
Vanessa nodded. She regretted sneaking out that night and meeting Richard at the bar. Every moment that had seemed magical then now haunted her.
Tricking Dylan was wrong, but she couldn’t admit to her father what she’d done. Vanessa spent a long, sleepless night pondering what to do. She finally made a difficult decision and approached Dylan in the park the next day. He agreed to have dinner with her.
When Dylan arrived, Vanessa sat down on the couch with him and put her plan into action.
‘Please forgive me, darling,’ Vanessa leaned over to Dylan and put her hand in his lap. ‘I made a huge mistake…being alone, I realised that you were the one…that I was wrong to break up with you. I’m sorry. I love you…like forever!’
Dylan wrapped his arms around Vanessa’s face and looked into her eyes. He was over the moon when she said that.
They embraced, and the evening ended as planned: Dylan carried Vanessa to her upstairs bedroom, and they made love.
Two weeks later, Dylan came over to Vanessa’s family’s house for dinner. Afterwards, he and Vanessa dropped a bombshell on her father, informing him that she was pregnant.
Alan was furious at his daughter, but the thought of becoming a grandfather calmed him down. And Dylan seemed like a nice guy from a rich family who would do the right thing by her. So at the end of a serious conversation, Alan put on a happy face.
Months passed, and at 18, Vanessa was rushed to the labour ward when she went into labour. Hours later, Dylan cried tears of joy as he held his son in his arms and introduced him to the parents and immediate family gathered in the labour ward.
Two days later, the couple was preparing to go home with their son when a doctor burst into the room and insisted on speaking to Dylan in his office.
Dylan was puzzled, but followed the doctor into his office. Soon after, he stormed back into Vanessa’s room where all his relatives and Vanessa’s parents had gathered to take her and the baby home.
‘YOU LIE!’ Dylan stormed into the room and confronted Vanessa. ‘THAT’S NOT MY BABY!’
Everyone gasped as Dylan recounted what the doctor had just said. A strange feeling crept into Vanessa’s gut as she realised she was going to have a lot of explaining to do.
‘Shame on you for doing this to me,’ Dylan grumbled. ‘How could you think I would father someone else’s child? Was this your plan…or were your parents in on this scheme too? This is so not good! Mum… dad… let’s go. I don’t want anything more to do with her or the baby.’
Vanessa begged and cried. But Dylan ran out of the room and out of her life that same day. Back home, she begged her father to forgive her, but Alan was angry and bitterly embarrassed.
‘You are a disgrace to my family,’ Alan shouted.
‘You disgust me. I don’t even want to see you. How can I stand up in front of everyone in town…and in church? What will I tell them if they ask me who the father of this child is?’
Those words hurt Vanessa like daggers. She realised that she would never regain her father’s trust, nor would she be able to lead a normal life in this town, because people were already gossiping about her.
‘…So I made a heartbreaking decision. I kissed my beautiful baby one last time before giving him up for adoption and leaving town,’ Vanessa finished her story with tears in her eyes.
‘Six months later I happened to meet you at an art show in the new town I moved to, Richard. You know everything that happened after that!’
‘Why didn’t you tell me the truth?’ asked Richard, feeling shocked. ‘We could have taken Simon to our house and raised him. Our son was out there…and you kept it a secret all these years? How could you, Vanessa? Is that why you never wanted children?’
‘I wanted to confess everything when we resumed our relationship. I went to the shelter…’ replied Vanessa disappointedly. ‘But it was too late. One family had already adopted him and taken him abroad. I couldn’t bring myself to have another child.’
Richard was stunned at the way events were unfolding. ‘And how did you find us, Simon?’
‘My father told me I was adopted before he died,’ Simon replied. ‘He gave me information about my birth mother. I later checked the records at the orphanage. I have been searching for my mum for over six months. Two days ago, I met her for the first time!’
‘Well… never thought that at 75 years old I would teach my 53-year-old son his first lesson!’ said Richard. ‘I hope you know now that it’s better to be truthful…and give people a second chance! That goes for your mother as well as me!’
