3. Who is Hunter?

Present time...

McKenna

My heart raced as I stood before the mystery man, Hunter Brooks. His icy blue eyes stared daggers into me, draining my confidence away. The silence was suffocating.

Was the gravity of my revelation too much? Anxiety flooded my veins as I waited for him to respond, desperately hoping he had something to say, anything to ease the tension.

Say something.

Anything!

'I'm not your father,' Hunter finally declared.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"I think you have the wrong guy," he said.

I stood up abruptly. I had come prepared, and I'd been practicing my speech all morning because I knew he would try to deny the truth.

"I beg to differ," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. "I've done a lot of research, and I've been thinking about it all morning. I was conceived around the time you and my mother dated, so it makes complete sense. And look, we even have the same eyes!"

He shook his head, an expression of disbelief on his face. "I'm sorry, McKenna," he said. "But no. I remember your mother from college—we had a brief relationship before she dropped out at the end of freshman year. We never really talked after that—it wasn't anything serious."

"But that doesn't mean you couldn't have gotten her pregnant!" I pointed out. "I mean, you did have sex with her, didn't you?"

Hunter let out an awkward cough.

I could feel my face turning red as soon as the words left my mouth. Hunter looked uncomfortable. "Err...yes, we were...intimate but that doesn't mean..."

"It all adds up. You are definitely my father," I interrupted.

Hunter sighed and ran a hand through his hair.  "How can you be so sure with just a picture of me and my class ring?" he asked.

"Well, for starters, I look exactly like you," I said. "How do you explain having these same blue eyes as me and a jaw sharp enough to slice a watermelon?"

Hunter chuckled. "Well, I..."

"Aaand!" I interrupted him again. "How do you explain the timeline? I just happened to be born around the same time you two were canoodling?" I put my hands on my waist and looked at him questioningly.

He looked stunned.

We stood there in silence as he processed what I had just said. Finally, he spoke up. "It seems like you've put a lot of thought into this," he said softly. "But why me? Why did you come looking for me after all these years?"

I hesitated before answering him. It was a difficult question to answer—one that even I didn't have an answer to yet.

"I guess I just wanted to connect with my real father, that's all. My mother never talked about you, and I always wondered why. I want to know what exactly happened between you two," I said.

Hunter threw his hands up in surrender. "I don't know what to tell you, little lady. You've definitely got the wrong guy. I am sure Tatiana would've told me if I got her pregnant. But she didn't. She simply went away and never called me again."

At my mother's name, I could not ignore the pained expression on his face.

Hope flickered inside me. Could he still have feelings for my mom? I wondered who broke whose heart. "Fine! Don't believe me. But I will prove it to you. Just watch!" I declared and strode out of there before Hunter had the chance to protest.

I didn't look back until I was out of the house and onto the street.

How dare he not believe me! I thought angrily.

 He has no right to deny me the chance to finally meet my father after all these years of being kept in the dark.

The wind blew through my hair as I marched on, determined more than ever to prove Hunter wrong and show him that I'd found my real father all by myself. My mother had been holding back from me for so long. It was time for me to find out the truth for myself.

I clenched my jaw and quickened my pace as a feeling of determination began to wash over me. I will be eighteen soon, and I will get to know my father even if it kills me.

I found my mother putting up cups and dishes in the cabinets, so I marched straight to her. 

"Mom," I said, trying to keep the anger from my voice. "Why didn't you ever tell me about Hunter?"

My mother froze, her hands stilled mid-air. Slowly, she turned around to face me with a strained expression on her face. She opened her mouth as if to say something but then decided against it and closed it again.

"Mom," I said again, this time more gently. "Please tell me the truth. I'm old enough now."

"Wh...where did you hear that name?" she asked in a shaky voice.

"It doesn't matter how I found out. Just answer my question, please. Why did you hide him from me? He is my father, isn't he?" I asked more demandingly.

Mom's voice was cool and clipped as she spoke: "You don't need a father, McKenna. We managed just fine without one for all these years, right? So what does it matter who your father is?"

I could feel the annoyance bubbling up inside me.

GUH!

"Mom...please. Stop avoiding my question. You've been keeping me sheltered my entire life, never telling me anything about where I came from. But now I am eighteen and I want to take charge of my own life. I want to know more about Hunter Brooks," I said.

Instead of relenting, Mom glared at me. "No! You don't need to know about Hunter Brooks. In fact, stay the hell away from him. Who put this idea in your head anyway? Was it him? Did Hunter contact you?"

I felt my face heat up. "What? No. I did that on my own."

"Yeah, right. You've always been a good girl, Kenna, so this has to be his doing," Mom exclaimed. "He had always been nothing but trouble. I have to go see him and give him the piece of my mind!" Mom declared.

"What the heck? Mom, don't do that. He didn't---"

"Go to your room!" Mom cried and stomped away.

I stood there, alone and shocked.

What the hell was that about?