Chapter Twenty Seven

Kelleigh leaned against the workbench. She was tired; she had never been this tired. All she wanted was to crawl into bed. She had the suspicion that if she did that; it would be days before she would get out. Hiding out simply wasn't an option.

She went into the house, determined to do something. The problem being she had no idea what to do. The discovery of Becky left her feeling empty, helpless. Steve had apparently not just cheated on her but fathered a child as well. He left money for Becky and probably the child. With Steve's death, it was as if her marriage had never existed. It certainly seemed like it hadn't to Steve. Kelleigh wondered why he even bothered staying married.

With the discovery of the child, Kelleigh decided not to go through the probate system to try to secure the money in the bank. With a child involved, it just wouldn't be right. No matter how much she hated Steve at this moment, she couldn't take money from the child. In fact, she wasn't sure that if the child didn't exist she would fight for the money. It simply didn't seem worth the effort. Kelleigh reached for the cell phone to call the bank when it rang.

This time she looked at the display before answering it. It was Delly, finally calling her back.

"Delly! Where have you been? You won't BELIEVE what I found out today!"

The story burst out of her in a deluge of words; starting with the bank and ending with seeing the little boy. She felt purged when she finished, like the air being let out of a balloon, the pressure on her chest lightened.

Delly was quiet on the other end. “Delly?”

“Wow, Kel, that’s amazing. I can’t believe it.” Delly didn’t sound right.

“Del, what’s wrong? You don’t sound okay. Has something happened?”

Again, there was quiet. “Delly? What’s going on?” The pressure in Kelleigh’s chest was returning.

“Well, I had heard rumors but they were just rumors so I didn’t pay attention to them. He was your husband and I didn’t want to interfere…” her words trailed off.

“Delly, what the hell are you talking about?”

Again, there was a pause. “I had heard that Steve had a son. It sounded so absurd that I didn’t give the rumor any thought. But the timing and the description is about right. Kel, I’m sorry but I think you’re right. I think that’s Steve’s kid”

Now it was Kelleigh’s turn to be silenced. Finally, she blew out a breath. “Delly, you knew, didn’t you?”

“But that’s just it: I didn’t KNOW, I just heard rumors and…” Kelleigh interrupted her: “DELLY! You knew! You KNEW something was going on and you didn’t tell me! Rumors or not, you should have told me! You’re my friend!”

Delly persisted “Kelleigh, I didn’t know for sure. Steve never said anything. But I heard his friends talk and when I saw him driving her car…” Kelleigh didn’t hear anything beyond that. “Delly, I’m hanging up. I can’t talk to you about this right now.” She clicked her cell phone shut and heaved it onto the couch. She was mad enough to throw it but not stupid enough to break it, as much as she wanted to. As it bounced against the cushion, it flipped open and rang. Kelleigh saw the display showing it was Delly. Picking it up, she turned it off and set it down. Turning, she went over to the regular telephone and shut it off too. She wanted to be alone, and alone she was. Steve was gone and now she felt betrayed by Delly as well. Everything was changed.