You Can Answer All The Questions I Can't

"Mrs. Bryant-" Damon began to speak but she cut him off.

"Your family is responsible for why I couldn't be there for her! It's all your fault!" Her voice was filled with hurt. "You got her pregnant, you should've been looking after her better and taking care of her!"

Damon didn't say anything. He just listened as Mrs. Bryant vented out her feelings. I knew he felt guilty before but I could see on his face it was even worse now. He felt responsible because he left. He felt like he should've stayed and looked into the matter more but he let his anger take control that night.

"Trish stop it! Let's hear the man out." Mr. Bryant tried to calm his wife. "Where is the child now if Melissa passed away during birth?"

Damon pulled his phone out of his pocket and pulled up a picture of Sterling. "His name is Sterling. Melissa set up for him to go to the Nashville orphanage if anything happened to her. The one that she worked at. There was an accident that landed my wife in the hospital. While there Sterling was being checked out for a fall. My father saw him and then started digging. That's when he uncovered the truth. Sterling is now home with me."

"He looks a lot like you. But I can see he has her nose and her smile." Mr. Bryant spoke as he looked the picture over.

I could see a few tears escape from Mrs. Bryant. I felt awful for this woman. I couldn't imagine the pain she was going through. Finding out your child was alive and then wasn't in a span of two minutes had to be a lot to take in.

"I can't believe she didn't come to us." Mrs. Bryant spoke.

"Does he know about Melissa then?" Mr. Bryant asked as he handed the phone back to Damon.

"Yes." I spoke up. "He told me that he knows she's in heaven watching over him."

"I'm not intending to hide anything from him about her. That's part of the reason that I got in contact. I knew her yes but not as well as you two did. I wanted to give the opportunity for you guys to meet him. You can answer all the questions that I can't." Damon explained.

"So you're the stepmother I assume?" Mrs. Bryant asked.

"Yes." I answered.

"So you just come in and think you can take over the role my daughter should have for her son?" I could sense the anger within her. While it seemed like it was directed at me I knew it was just part of her grief.

"Mrs. Bryant, it's not like that. I would never do that." I responded.

"You know what how about you both get out of my house!" She spoke through gritted teeth. "You aren't welcome in my home. Leave."

Damon nodded and we both got up from the couch. "I'm sorry for the pain this has caused you both. If I could go back and fix this I would. I'm truly sorry but I felt you both deserved the truth about everything."

We headed for the door as we began to let ourselves out. I could hear Mrs. Bryant break down into sobs as we exited the house. This poor woman's heart had to be so broken right now. We walked on the side walk until we reached the black BMW.

"Wait!" Mr. Bryant's voice caught our attention.

He hurried down and met us at the car. "Is everything okay?" Damon asked in a concerned tone.

"Right now? Not exactly." Mr. Bryant answered. "I want to apologize for my wife. Melissa was her pride and joy. We struggled for years to get pregnant so when it happened she vowed to not let anything happen to her. It destroyed her when she heard of Melissa's passing."

"I understand. There's no reason to apologize. She has every right to feel the way that she does." Damon responded. "Is she going to be okay?"

Mr. Bryant nodded. "Yes, she's just going to need a little bit of time to process the information she was told. Thank you both for coming today and letting us know about our grandson. It couldn't have been easy."

"You're welcome." Damon spoke as he reached into his pocket to take out a paper and pen. He spoke as he wrote something down. "I can assure you that my sister hasn't gotten away with this. She is facing the consequences for her actions."

Mr. Bryant nodded as Damon walked closer to him and handed him the paper he wrote something on.

"The number I reached out to you on is my business number. This one is my private one. Call if you both need anything or if you and your wife decide you want to meet him." Damon's voice held a sincere tone. "It doesn't matter the time of day, if you call I will answer."

"Thank you. Trish will probably just need a few days and then I can get back to you." Mr. Bryant spoke before heading back to his house. "Drive safely."

"We will, thank you." Damon responded as we both got into the vehicle.

It was quiet as we drove back to Nashville to return to work. The silence was thick and I couldn't tell what was going through Damon's head. He was clearly thinking of something as he focused on the road. His grip was tight on the steering wheel.

"I feel like a piece of shit." He finally spoke to break the silence that had been created.

"You had no idea Damon." I responded. "There's no way you could've known."

"I feel like I should have though. I should have done more. I thought I lost my child but I had the opportunity to get him back. They aren't so lucky." He remained concentrated on the road as he continued to let me know his feelings.

"I know. I wish there was a way to make the situation better." I truly did. I practically felt useless in this situation. "All we can do now is hope that they take the opportunity to have a relationship with Sterling."

"I want to do more than that." He responded.

"Like what?" I looked at him curiously.

He thought a little longer before speaking. "I found out what name she went under after she left the hospital from the car accident."

"What was it?" I asked.

"Amber Morgan. Ava helped set up the identity for her." he answered and then explained more of what was going through his mind. "She was buried under that name. All these years her parents have visited a grave that probably has nothing in the urn they buried. I want to try to work something out to have her moved."

"Is that possible?" It seemed he had started to do his research on this.

"Yes." He still was focused on the road. "They deserve to have her in the proper place. It's the least that I can do for them."