Chapter 122

Liam’s POV

When Joe came running out of William’s room, tears tracking down his face, I had no idea what had just happened. I stopped Joe in the hallway. Dropping to my knee, I pulled the crying boy into a tight hug.

“What’s going on?” I asked him.

“William said he hated me…” Joe said between his sniffles.

I barely kept my mouth from dropping open. Sure, the two boys had a rocky start for a while, but to my knowledge, things had been mostly mended for a good long while now. They acted better than friends; they were brothers.

Everything had seemed fine last night and this morning. I’d been slightly distracted, but we all still played together, until William started feeling bad at lunchtime.

Maybe that was it. If he really felt that badly, he might have lashed out at Joe.

“He didn’t mean it,” I said, patting Joe lightly on the back. “He’s just not feeling good.”

“He yelled at me.”

“Let me talk to him, okay? I’m sure in a little while, he’ll say he didn’t mean it.”

Joe gave one long, watery sniff, and said, “Okay.”

“Is something wrong?” Aria asked, stepping out of the bathroom. She seemed much better now, with more color in her face. She was freshly showered, wearing clean clothes. Her day might have started later than the rest of us, but she seemed ready to face it now.

For that, I was infinitely grateful, because I had no idea how I was going to handle this situation alone.

“William hasn’t been feeling well and said some mean things to Joe,” I explained.

“Oh, honey, come here,” Aria said, opening her arms. Joe immediately ran to his mother for comfort.

“If you could keep an eye on him,” I told Aria, “I’ll speak with…” I dipped my head towards William’s room.

Aria nodded, telling me that she understood.

As she ushered Joe out toward the living room, I headed into William’s room. Joe had left his door open, but I still knocked.

“William?”

“Go away, Dad,” William said miserably.

“Joe told me what happened. We should talk about it.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“You might feel better. I know you didn’t mean to hurt Joe’s feelings.”

“Maybe I did,” William snapped. I paused. This attitude wasn’t something I’d seen on him since he lived with Sophia and had been acting out under her neglect.

Why would he have need for it now?

“I know you aren’t feeling well, pal, and that’s okay. We often say things we don’t mean when we aren’t feeling well…”

“I did mean it. He has it so good, and he doesn’t know it!”

“You have it the same way now,” I said. “You two are brothers.”

“No, we’re not!” William shouted.

I had wanted to give William his privacy, but I couldn’t allow him to get away with talking to me or to Joe like he was. There had to be a deeper reason for him to act out like this, and I wasn’t going to pretend like everything was fine just to keep him from having a temper tantrum.

“I’m coming in,” I told him, giving him a moment to collect himself, and then I pushed the door open more fully so that I could step inside.

Immediately, I was met with a glare. Yet, as angry as he seemed, those furious eyes also held watery, unshed tears.

Something was hurting my son, and whatever it was hurt me too.

Whatever sternness that I had held onto when walking into this room immediately softened.

“Do I need to take you to the doctor?” I asked. “You told me you weren’t feeling well. You said it was your stomach. Does it still hurt?”

“I don’t want to go to the doctor.”

“But if you aren’t feeling well –”

“I don’t want to,” he said again, more firmly. He looked away, down to the far corner of his bed. “I just want to be left alone. Please.”

I wanted to press, but he was clearly upset and needed time to figure himself out. “Okay. But if you need anything, even if it’s just a hug or anything else, you know where to find us. All of us, Aria, Joe, and myself – we love you, okay?”

William’s bottom lip trembled. He looked up at the ceiling as if trying to keep the tears from falling. More than anything, I wanted to stop his pain, but if he wouldn’t talk to me, I didn’t know what else to do.

Some father I was turning out to be. Helpless. Useless.

“Just leave me alone,” William said once more.

Not knowing what else to do, I stepped out into the hallway, closing the door behind me.

Aria’s POV

For the rest of the night, William totally ignored the rest of us. Liam was deeply troubled, continuing looking down the hallway towards William’s room.

Joe was also upset. “Why would he hate me, Mom?”

“He doesn’t, honey. I promise. He’s just not feeling well right now.”

I wished I had better answers.

“If he’s not feeling better in the morning, I’m taking him to the doctor,” Liam said.

When the morning came, William still refused to come out of his room, only finally acquiescing when Liam threatened to carry him to the doctor’s office if he had to. William agreed to go, saying that his stomach still hurt.

While they were gone, I tidied up in William’s room a little, thinking that a cleaner room might help him feel better. It had been a few days since we’d asked the boys to clean their rooms, so there was clutter strewn about.

I returned the toys to the toy chest. Then I grabbed his book bag that had been thrown on the floor, to return it to the desk. Not realizing the zipper was open, I accidentally upturned it and everything inside came crashing out.

With a soft curse to myself, I bent to collect his books and papers.

Oddly, he had an opened letter among his things.

Grabbing it, I inspected the envelope and… Wasn’t this the company that did the DNA test results?

Liam, in his effort to prove to me that he never had an affair with Sophia, had sent away for new results with a hair belonging to him and one to William.

The post mark was recent. Was this the result of that test?

What was William doing with it in his backpack?

It was opened, too.

Realization hit me like a blast of ice water to the face. My stomach dropped as I removed the letter and looked at it.

The results confirmed that William was not Liam’s biological son. A relief for me. But for William?

I could only imagine his hurt. These results were never for him to see. As far as Liam and I were concerned, William was our child.

Liam had only wanted to prove that he hadn’t cheated.

No wonder William’s stomach hurt. No wonder he lashed out at Joe, and didn’t want to talk to Liam.

Oh, poor William.

Tucking the letter into my pocket, I continued tidying the room, placing the backpack on top of William’s desk.

Then, I went downstairs and waited for Liam and William to return. We all needed to have a talk.