April 18, 2004 – 19:00
"Three more months until flyball retirement, it's got to be feeling weird for you," said Frank, handing Sebastian a beer.
Coralis and Sebastian returned home from Madagascar during the night. Coralis took off in the early afternoon to set up wards around the White Moon pack territory, which was located near Baie-Comeau. Frank wasn't working that day and Coralis didn't like him being alone at home until she knew what the Howars were up to, so Sebastian and Stephanie stopped by.
"Weird, yes. I never thought I would ever say that, but quite frankly, I'm looking forward to being done with the season. Don't get me wrong, I still love playing the sport, but there is too much going on lately. It's time," said Sebastian, glancing at Stephanie.
"Don't lie, darling. You can't bear that I could be a target too and you want more eyes on me," said Stephanie.
"Of course, I want more eyes on you, my eyes to be precise. Like I said, it feels weird, but it's time. I can't keep spending half my time outside the country and juggling between jobs. What happened before we left for Africa made me realize how real the threat is for you two. The time has come to quit flyball and move on to more important stuff. I know for a fact that Blue feels the same way, can't blame me for it."
"You're right on that," said Frank, laughing, "she definitely can't bear it."
They heard the doorbell and Frank got up to answer it.
"DAD?" he said as he passed his head through the doorway to see who was down the stairs.
Stephanie jumped up as soon as she heard her brother and took a long sip of beer. Sebastian looked at her, frowning and suddenly worried. He didn't know much about their dad, except he never was part of their lives. He left their mother when they were young.
"What are you doing here? How do you know where I live?" said Frank as their father walked through the door. "I shouldn't even let you in."
"Your friend Rita told me."
"Rita? As in Rita Thébert? Or are we talking about a different one?"
"Yes, Rita Thébert. Did you know she lives close by?"
"She ISN'T my friend, and no, I did not know. I don't talk to her. What are you doing here?"
Stephanie was still standing in the living room. Sebastian pulled her to him and she sat on the armrest to his right, and he wrapped his left arm around her.
"Stephanie?" their father said, looking at her.
"Are you saying that you're not sure if you're recognizing your own daughter? How many more do you have?"
"And who are you?" their father said, looking at the man beside her.
"He's Sebastian, my husband," said Stephanie, holding tighter to Sebastian's arm. "Darling, this is Zachary, our sperm donor."
"Really, is it who am I do you?"
"You certainly never acted as anything beyond that. You still haven't answered Frank's question. What are you doing here?"
Zachary sat down on the couch and sighed. Frank still stood up near the entry door.
"Seems like I've been missing on a lot if both of you are now married. What about Raymond?"
"I'm not telling you anything about Ray. You left and stayed away. The few times you showed up, you brought trouble. Ray doesn't want to hear about you, and you won't hear about him from us," said Frank.
"I've had problems to solve. You made a good name for yourself, son, but you shouldn't have married so young. You're becoming famous, all girls want is to take advantage of you and have you pay for every caprice they have."
Frank got upset, and so did Stephanie. Sebastian was confused. He understood the man clearly didn't know anything about Coralis but wondered what type of problems he had that prevented him from seeing his children, thinking he would have known that Coralis wasn't like that had he been there.
"How dare you come here just to disrespect my wife? You have no idea who she is, never met her and you dare talk like that about her? Careful about what you say next or I will kick you out."
"Coralis is not like that. Why do you think neither one of us invited you to our wedding? That neither one of us even bothered looking for you?" said Stephanie.
"Because women are all like that, mooching off the rich and famous. Did you at least sign a prenup agreement?"
"Why would we be a signing divorce provision? That's what it is, right?" said Sebastian.
Frank wanted to laugh at Sebastian's comment and Stephanie's expression softened as she looked at him.
"Yes, darling, that's what it is," said Stephanie as she passed her right hand through his hair. "Zachary, you know damn well that Mom isn't like that and never was. She didn't leave you because you had nothing. You left chasing something she didn't have, don't lie to us."
"You see Dad, if it was like that, she's the one who would have requested me to sign a prenup agreement. I was a student when I met her and she worked two full-time jobs."
Zachary stared at him.
"If that's the case then maybe you still can help me. I'm still trying to solve my problems, but I have too many debts."
"Is money all you need?" said Sebastian.
"Seb, no," said Frank, glancing at his brother-in-law, and turned his attention back to his dad. "Let me get this straight. You accumulated more gambling debts and came here hoping I'd be rich or something. Now that I think of it, it's probably why you were upset at the thought that all of my money went to Coralis. When you realized she has more money than I have, you wanted her to write you down a check right after you disrespected her."
"Son, it's not like that."
"Oh, but it is like that. You need to leave, now. Steph is right, we didn't invite you to our weddings for a reason. You never wanted to be part of our lives, you can stay out."
A few minutes after he left, Coralis got back home.
"Why does it feel like I'm walking into a funeral? Did something happen?"
Frank pulled her into a hug and kissed her head.
"You missed our sperm donor reappearing out of nowhere and trying to convince Frank that you married him for his money when in fact, he was the one with questionable intents," said Stephanie.
Sebastian could tell that Coralis was also confused, as she looked at Frank.
"I never met him, how can he think that?"
"Because it's how he is, luv. I don't want any of you two giving him a dime, he doesn't deserve it. When we were young, I remember him fighting Mom about getting additional jobs. She was working full-time and couldn't always find a babysitter for us. Lizzy babysat us a few times, but she also had to go to work and our grandparents were placed in nursing homes. Mom found out he had gambling debts and she didn't want to pay for them."
"Mom also said that she caught him cheating with another woman, and that was when she sought divorce," said Stephanie.
"I was 5 when he left. He came back a year later. He apologized to Mom. She took him back, but they kept fighting again. One day, after coming home from picking me and Ray up from after-school daycare and, well, Steph from a different one, I remember seeing him with another woman on the couch. They weren't naked, but almost, so yeah, that day she kicked him out," said Frank, as Coralis held tighter to him and massaged his back. "When Ray started working, he came back again, asking him to pay his debt. He told him the same about his girlfriend of the time that he said about you."
"I remember Sandra. I didn't know Zachary met her," said Stephanie.
"He never met her, just like he never met Blue."
Coralis suddenly felt a sharp pain in her back, and it wasn't coming from Frank. And another one on her left arm. She closed her eyes. Frank felt her stiffen and noticed her arm turning red. Stephanie looked at her, confused.
"Sonylla?" said Sebastian.
Coralis nodded.