Could This Be Love - S04 E03

3 years ago

Could This Be Love - S04 E03

Read Story: SEASON 4 EPISODE 3

continues

K yle looked at the certificate again,
seeing the surname. Tripps.
He re-read the name of the person listed as the
father. Danny Tripps.
Kyle looked back at the lawyer. “Seriously?”
Mister Crowler nodded. “Finding out that
you’re adopted must be a big shock, Kyle.

Finding out your father was Danny Tripps must
be just as big.”
Kyle shook his head. It didn’t make sense to
him, this lawyer claiming he was adopted, let
alone this absurd claim that Danny f-----g
Tripps, one of the wealthiest men in America,
was his supposed father. A thought struck him.
“Did Ed put you up to this?” Kyle had two best
friends, Ed and Casey. While Casey worked
upstairs with him, their friend Ed worked as an
illustrator on comic books, but was forever
trying to punk them with practical jokes. This
seemed right up his street, especially four days
after the world found out Danny Tripps had
died of cancer.
The lawyers expression turned serious. “Kyle, I
assure you this is no joke. There is more
information here for you, including a letter
from Mister Tripps.”
“A letter?” Kyle smiled, convinced this was the
work of his buddy. He chuckled. “Let’s see it
then.”

The old man frowned but opened the second
file and pulled out an envelope, the paper rich
and luxurious. Kyle didn’t recognise the
handwriting on the front, but he opened it up
and unfolded the letter.

Kyle,
I imagine you’re in a bit of turmoil right now. Try not
to give Mr Crowler a hard time — he’s a good man and
a good friend who’s been stuck with a hard job.

Anyway, you’ve just found out I’m your father. Danny
Tripps, billionaire, celebrity, playboy, entrepreneur,
business genius, etc. I’m sorry to say that it’s true, Kyle.
And you deserve an explanation.

Twenty six years ago I met a wonderful woman named
Karen, we fell in love and were soon married. I started
my own business making computers and doing some
programming, and soon my wife fell pregnant. Life was
bliss. Then the business boomed, some of the software
I’d written made me a small fortune and within months
I was employing hundreds of people. The business side
of things isn’t important now, but a few more months
passed and it was time to go to the hospital.

Karen gave birth to three infants, triplets, a month
early, two girls and a boy, but immediately began to
have complications. She was rushed into surgery, but it
was no good. Just like that, the love of my life died. She
was twenty five years old. She would have been a great
mother.

I knew nothing about raising kids, and I was so
overwhelmed with grief that the only thing I could think
of was to throw myself into my work. Anything to get
away from the pain. A doctor suggested offering you
and your sisters up for adoption. I agreed, thinking it
was the best for you. It was the biggest regret of my
life. At the time though, it was the best decision I could
have made.
You and your sisters were put with loving families,
raised in nurturing and healthy environments, and
despite my promise not to, I kept tabs on you all,
helping out in little ways whenever I could.

Scholarships, jobs and the like. I know it’s not
parenting, but you and your sisters are the only family I
have, even if we’ve never met.
And that brings us round to the present. As I write this
I’m dying. If you’re reading this, then I’m already gone
and you might have even heard about it on the news.
Which brings me round to the point of all this. For
twenty five years I’ve been building a business, an
empire some would say, and along the way, tens of
thousands of people have come to rely on me to keep
their companies afloat, keep their jobs in place so they
can raise their own families. It’s a responsibility that I
take seriously, which may well sound ironic to you,
given that I haven’t taken responsibility for raising my
own children.
I’d like you to meet your sisters, Katarina and Kara. I’d
like the three of you to get to know each other. All that I
have now belongs to the three of you. My inheritance.
I’m told it’s quite a sum.
Mister Crowler will give you the details on what
happens next, but here’s the clip notes. Go to my Island
in the Caribbean, get to know your sisters, learn a bit
about what’s being asked of you and decide what you
want to do.
Along the way you might even get to know a little more
about me.
In hope and love,
Danny Tripps
Kyle looked at the date on the letter, noting it
was only two weeks old.
Gone were the doubts that this was Ed’s work.
This really wasn’t his style at all. The knot in
his stomach was twisting as he realised he’d
have to make a call and speak to his parents. He
had to ask.

“Would you excuse me for a couple of minutes,
Mister Crowler. I need to make a call.” Kyle saw
the old man nod, but he was already on his way
out the door. He moved on autopilot out the
front doors of the building and onto the street,
crowded with the usual mixture of coffee-toting
office workers, shopping housewives and
tourists and stepped into a doorway. He dialled.
“Hey, honey.”
“Hi, Mom,” Kyle replied, trying to keep his
voice relaxed and casual. “Listen, I need to ask
you something.”
“Okay, honey, but you’ll have to be quick. Your
father and I are just about to leave,” She
replied. Kyle could hear a car door close in the
background.
“Oh, right. Today’s the hiking trip, right?”
He heard his Mom sigh down the phone. “I
swear Kyle, you never pay attention.”
He took a deep breath. “Mom, I need you to
listen to me here, okay. I just had a visit at work
from a lawyer called Mister Crowler.”
Kyle paused as he heard his mother shout on
his father. “Ben, you need to be in on this,” He
heard her say. “Okay, son. What did he say?”
“Mom, Dad. I’ve got to ask you. Am I adopted?”
Kyle had his free hand held flat over his free
ear, listening more intensely than he ever had
in his life.

The silence that stretched into seconds on the
other end of the line added to the sinking
feeling in Kyle’s stomach.
“Son, it’s me,” Kyle heard as his Dad came on
the phone, his tone gentle. “It’s true, son. We
adopted you when you were only a few days
old. I’m sorry you’ve found out like this.

Do you want to meet up and talk about it? I can
come and pick you up?”