Dead Water by Victoria Houston

been here too many times before, you and me. And I’m sorry if I seem rude, but Lew’s asked me to meet a flight at eight-thirty tomorrow morning … but, well …” Osborne threw his hands up in frustration. He wanted to be rested and alert when he met Gina Palmer, and he felt guilty about that. But he just didn’t have the time to waste tonight, especially if it had anything to do with Elise.
    “Elise may be on the same flight, Doc.”
    “Slumming it, is she? What happened to the private plane?”
    Ray ignored the sarcasm in Osborne’s voice. “She’s bringing someone this time.”
    “I’m afraid to ask. Her husband? No, wait. Her next husband.”
    “My son.”
    The words hung in the still air. Osborne wasn’t sure he had heard right.
    “Your son.” He repeated Ray’s words, hoping he’d heard wrong.
    “Yes.”
    “You never told me you had a son.”
    “I didn’t know until this afternoon.”
    “Ray … how could you not know such a thing?”
    “That’s what I thought, Doc. So after she called, I went up to see her mother at the nursing home. The old lady’s still got her wits, y’know. She said it’s true.”
    “Oh come on, she’s always believed anything her daughter says. You know that.”
    Ray ignored him. “I guess … I guess what happened was Elise got pregnant the end of our senior year. Then, in the fall, we both went off to different schools. I thought so, anyway. But it turns out her family sent her to a place in Minneapolis where she had the baby. They kept it a secret. Elise’s older sister and her husband wanted to adopt the baby. They raised the boy. Then, last year, Elise’s sister was divorced, the boy was having problems, and Elise decided she wanted her—our—son back. She says he’s a good-looking boy.”
    “Oh.” Osborne remembered a phrase his daughter Erin had used, referring to problems she was encountering as a president of the Loon Lake School Board. “So, parenthood as a fashion statement?”
    “C’mon, Doc, Elise isn’t that bad.”
    “Ray.” Osborne sat forward, halting his rocking chair. “I find it impossible to believe you would not have known about this years ago. How did she keep it a secret when you two were kids, for heaven’s sake?”
    “She told me she didn’t even know until she was three months along. Then her parents made her swear to keep it quiet. I believe her. You know her father hated the sight of me.”
    Of course he did, thought Osborne. He and that wretched mother of hers had big plans for their lovely little girl. Elise was raised to marry well, a plan that most certainly excluded local boys. They weren’t paying the bills for Northwestern University just to see her return to Loon Lake.
    “Does the boy know Elise is his natural mother?”
    “Now he does. And Elise told him I’m his birth father. But the kid’s kinda screwed up, Doc. She’s handing him off to me. She thinks maybe some time on the lake, away from friends who are a bad influence … maybe that’ll make a difference. Anyway, I don’t have a choice. He’s coming.”
    Osborne stared at Ray’s shadow in silence.
    “You’ve got to be kidding.”
    “I wish I was. They’re on an early United flight tomorrow morning. Could be the same one you’re meeting, I guess.
    “Jeez,” was all Osborne could muster. “Exactly what kind of problems is this kid having, Ray?”
    “The usual. Drugs, alcohol, too many Cheez-Its. I’ll know more when he gets here. Elise said he won’t listen to her. He’s run away a couple times. He’s rowdy, arrogant.”
    “And you’re supposed to be a good influence? You’ve never grown up yourself, Ray,” said Osborne, grinning. “I’m having a hard time imagining how this is going to work.”
    “Yeah,” said Ray, his voice lightening, “me, too. Pretty goofy, huh?”
    The two men sat in silence. A fish slurped somewhere off in the blackness. A loon sent out a haunting cry.
    “You never know, he might like it here,”