Author's Note – This is just a quick story I've thought up, I haven't really got anything planned for it but if it goes down well I might consider writing more chapters.
As with all my stories it takes place in the same universe as my original series 'Death & Love.'
Story first, sex second.
'Not yours.'
The words were burned into Joseph Martin's mind, the way his wife of 17 years had callously told him.
'She's not yours.'
A lifetime of memories and feelings all lies, how had he been such a fool.
'She's not yours. You're not her father.'
It was their anniversary, 17 years married, 20 together as a couple and an 18 year old daughter. Joseph had been planning on taking her to a fancy restaurant where he'd proposed, he knew their marriage had been slowing for the past few years and he was determined that this night was going to change that.
Everything changed just an hour before they were supposed to leave, Joseph had been talking to their daughter Leanne when his wife Helena came into the room. Joseph never saw it then but looking back in memory he could see the sadness in her face.
'Leanne, honey, do you mind leaving, I need to talk to your father.'
'Sure mum. Bye dad.'
Leanne kissed her father's cheek and skipped out the room, Joseph loved his daughter, she was the apple of his eye. Everything she did he was proud of, in fact the talk they just had was Leanne telling him she got an apprenticeship at a local Vet.
Which made what his wife tell him next all the worse.
'She's not yours. You're not her father.'
At first Joseph thought it was a cruel joke but she was serious, so many questions, he asked as many as he could.
'Who's the father?'
'An old boyfriend, I had a one-night stand with him while I was seeing you.'
'Why didn't you tell me?'
'You were so happy to be a dad, back then I loved you and I didn't want to hurt you.'
'Back then? So you don't love me anymore?'
'No, I don'.'
'Why are you telling me now?'
'Because our marriage is shame Joe, for years it's been routine after routine. I'm sick of it and I want a way out, this is it.'
'What is?'
'You have no reason to stay here, I want out of this marriage and you have no connection to my daughter.'
Joseph would've burst in anger just then but he heard Leanne jump down the stairs and come back into the room, she forgot her phone. When she left Joseph's rage had passed, he turned to his so-called-wife.
'We'll finish this later.'
'No Joseph we'll finish this now.'
'No. We're not having an argument with Leanne in the house, daughter or not I still love her and I don't want her hurt by this. You want me out fine, I'll be back for my stuff.'
As Joseph walked out towards his car he knew he should've stood up but he didn't want to fight with Leanne in the house. He drove for hours, not really knowing where he was going until he found a hotel, it was owned by his close friend Samuel Entwistle so when Joseph explained his situation he got a good discount on a room. Over the next few days Joseph gathered his personal effects from his home and took them back to the hotel, he barely said two words to Helena and never saw Leanne.
That was a week ago, it was now September and Joseph had been cooped in the hotel room since the confession, he only went out for food and work but he'd been performing less and less each day, his bosses knew about his problem so they gave him a holiday to get over it all. But now, with nothing to do, Joseph found himself stuck in numbness, for the past few days he had an overload of feelings.
Denial – She's mistaken, she cheated yes but Leanne is still his daughter.
Anger – That bitch, how could she. Without care or feeling she just ripped it all away from him.
Bargaining – Please God let her be wrong, let his family still be whole, please.
Depression – He was ruined, his was a 40 year old family loving salesman and in barely a week he was losing it all.
Acceptance – Leanne was not his daughter, she never was.
And that's when the emptiness hit, Joseph always considered himself a happy person, sure he had a short temper at times but 15 years as a salesman did that to him. But now there was nothing, he no longer cared about anything, when he looked in the mirror the bearded, wash-up, face wasn't his. By day 5 the mirror somehow ended up broken, a smashed bottle lay just below it.
Alcohol seemed to help ease the pain, Joseph wasn't a big drinker but for some reason he couldn't walk in the hotel room without tripping over a bottle so in the end he decided not move and slumped beside the fridge. The pain was disappearing with every bottle but as it did so the numbness grew, Joseph didn't even realise he had slashed his hand badly on broken glass until he saw the blood; the way the wound looked it was a day or two old.
It was 9 days after Helena's confession that Joseph heard the knocking on his door, drums in his head they were, he curled up between the fridge and the broken mirror and drifted away. He didn't even feel himself vomit.
Leanne Martin loved her father, she always preferred him to her mother, he helped her with everything in her life from exam help to job finding to consoling her when she had fights with friends. There was one moment she'll never forget when she was 15 and some strange woman told her and her dad she wanted her to model some school clothes for a magazine, if she had been on her own Leanne wouldn't know what to do but her father was there and he saved her, telling the woman Leanne wasn't interested and never would be.
That was one of many moments that her father helped her, Leanne had been cursed with the three Bs, blonde hair, blue eyes, big breasts and those three aspects had held her back so much in life because most people just saw her as a dumb blonde bimbo. That simply wasn't true, she was very smart and was studying to be a vet and she'd only slept with one guy in her whole life, a one-night stand with some boy she met at a party, he only wanted her body like so many others. With everything that happened to her because of people's misguided perceptions Leanne was very self conscious about her body and hated the way people saw her, she blew off any guy that came near here and had gone as far to do something nobody else knew about, not even her closest friends
And yet despite her anxieties her father always made her feel special, she knew he would never hurt and all the little hugs and smiles brightened up her day if she was down. So when he left without a goodbye she was devastated, everyday she came home more of his stuff was gone and all she wanted to do was talk to him. Her mother was no help, she tried for days to find out where and why he went but she said nothing. It was only by pure luck she managed to find out where he was.
And after 9 days of searching she found him, but had she. She had Samuel help find Joseph, Sam knew Joseph never left his room so when he didn't answer the door he was concerned. Thinking more about his friend than hotel damage Sam kicked the door open, and entered the Hell Joseph had created for himself. Leanne saw her father lying near unconscious and in a pool of his own sick, he was dressed only in dirty underpants and his right hand was bandaged.
Leanne knew there and then that her father needed out of there and quickly, with Samuel's help they called an ambulance and got him to a hospital, Leanne rode in the back of the ambulance, holding her unconscious father's hand and trying not to cry.
When they got to the hospital Joseph was rushed inside and put on an IV drip almost immediately, Leanne stayed by his side the whole time, even sleeping in the same room so she could be there when he woke up.
Joseph was unconscious for two and a half days, it was nearing 12 days since Helena's confession when he woke up. The blinding light and the damnable headache took him by surprise.
'Jesus fuck.' He looked around the room, it was a blur but he could make out a figure sitting beside him.
'Who the fuck are you?'
'Dad, it's me. It's Anne.'
Joseph could hear the tearful strain in her voice, Anne, the pet name he had for his daughter, or the girl who use to be his daughter.
'Anne? Wha, what am I doing here?'
'I found you in the hotel, you were a mess, a drunken, washed up mess. I couldn't leave you there so I took you to the hospital. Dad what happened to you?'
'I'll tell you, just, just not now.'
Over the rest of the day the doctors gave Joseph every test they could to make sure there was no lasting effects from the alcohol abuse, he stayed in for a few more days to gain some more weight having not ate anything in over a week. When he was released it had been 17 days since Helena's confession.
The doctor's recommended that Joseph be taking to a family's place, Joseph made it clear he didn't want to go home so Leanne offered to take him back to hers. The ride back was uncomfortable to say the least, Leanne desperately wanted to know why her father had run to self-destruction like that but Joseph remained tight lipped.
Once inside her house Leanne gave her father a quick tour of the place, it was a small home, one floor, two bedrooms and one bathroom.
'Don't bother trying to find any booze in here, I don't have any.'
'Probably best that way.'
Neither of them could look at each other, Joseph knew Leanne wanted the truth but it would only hurt.
'How'd you find me?' He finally asked her.
'Dan told me he heard his dad talking on the phone with you.'
Dan was Daniel Entwistle, Samuel's son and a close friend of the family.
'Dad what's going on?'
'I can't tell you Anne, you're so special to me and this would just hurt you.'
'Dad I'm 18, I'm not a kid. Mum's not saying anything I want to know.'
'You sure, it's going to change everything.'
'I don't care. I just want to know.'
Joseph sighed and tried to look Leanne in the eye.
'Before I left, your mother told me. She told that I'm not your father.'
Leanne felt her world crash down and slap her on the way to the floor. 'What?'
'You're not my daughter, we aren't related. Your mother said she cheated on me when we were together.'
'Is she sure, I mean I might still be...'
'No she's sure, she wouldn't have told me otherwise.'
Joseph could see the anger in Leanne, the same anger he had when he was told the same thing, only this time there was nothing to calm her down.
'That bitch.'