Off to a rocky start

Now that you were getting a closer look at her, you saw that she was younger than you had expected. If you had to guess she was somewhere in her late twenties, early thirties but that still left her at least a decade younger than your father. You couldn’t exactly point any blame at a relationship with an age gap but you could imagine that it was the only reason he had started this relationship given your opinion of him already being at the bottom of the barrel.

You didn’t have time to examine her fully and it would have been rude in any circumstance, especially when she was waiting for an answer as to why you were both standing at her front door.

“Hi, err sorry we… my fath…John is…” you tried to start, stumbling over your words as if you had gone on stage and forgotten your lines.

Even calling him John felt foreign on your tongue as you spoke.

“Hi, this isn’t really a conversation to have at the front door so would you be able to invite us inside? Or at least in the back yard for some privacy if you don’t feel comfortable doing that” Emma asked, bailing you out of the awkward conversation you had put yourself in.

The woman gave you a look once over and there seemed to be some understanding from her that you weren’t a complete stranger as she nodded her head.

“Sure, you can both come in. Let me get you something to drink” she said, inviting you into her home.

You both walked inside as she moved to one side and you stood in the corridor waiting for her to direct you further in. Again there wasn’t anything out of place or any glaring evidence that this was a dysfunctional home but you did see a few pictures hung on the wall that showed this woman and your father together that were hard to look at without a pit forming in your stomach.

The woman led you to a breakfast bar in the kitchen so you turned away from the pictures but the logical part of your brain was somehow still working and told you to take a picture of them as evidence later if you managed to get the chance.

You also got to take a moment to actually look at the woman while you stood there and she was definitely attractive. You understood why she had caught your father’s eye even if you were **** to admit it.

She wore casual clothes with a loose shirt covering a light top and then some shorts that would have showed off her legs but they were currently hidden from view. She had long black hair bunched up into a ponytail which you assumed was more for convenience than anything else with the baby around.

The thoughts you had had about stealing her away from John had somewhat disappeared now that she was an actual person here in front of you and not just a idea but you couldn’t help but wonder what her kink could be even with that.

You and Emma were able to sit on one side of the bar while the woman moved through the kitchen, grabbing you both a quick drink before sitting down opposite you. She let you take a sip and you felt Emma’s hand on your thigh to calm you, taking a deep breath before you felt ready to start again.

“Sorry about that. It’s just it’s a bit of a weird topic to broach when I’m not sure how much you know. First off, apologies for not introducing myself, I’m Max and this is my girlfriend Emma. John is my father and was or well still is married to my mother who doesn’t know I’m even here to talk about this. I’d also prefer if you didn’t talk about this with him either but I’m not gonna make you promise anything when you don’t even know me. So, my first question I wanted to ask, other than your name of course, is if you actually knew about our existence?” you asked, feeling calmer once the question was out there and seeing she wasn't reacting in all the negative ways you had imagined.

“Hi, I’m Isabelle but you can just call me Izzy. Almost everyone else does” she greeted, a warm smile on her face as she didn’t seem to have any hostility towards you that you somehow thought might be there.

“I’ve known you might exist as John hasn’t been… let’s say forthcoming about his past but I didn’t expect you to be this old or that he was still technically married if what you are saying is true” you said, a sad look crossing her eyes that showed she believed you even if you didn’t say anything else.

“It is. But I can understand that it’s not something easy to believe. I don’t really have any documentation or any physical proof to show who I say I am but…” you started to reply.

“No, you do look like him. I believe you” she replied, truly not needing you to say any more in your defence.

She also didn’t mean any harm about the comparison to him but it still hit you in a way you hadn’t expected.

“Thank you. So I guess I can start from the beginning if you want me to? Before that just as a heads up, I know where John is currently but you might have a better idea of how long he will be gone” you mentioned, knowing this was likely going to take some time and you didn’t want to get cut off mid way through.

“Oh don’t worry about that. I don’t think he will be back for a good while” Izzy replied, not hiding the connotation behind that.

With that, you started to give her a brief rundown of your life and your family's.

You talked about your home life and included Mom, Sarah and Lucy who she was just as surprised about. From school to Emma and Grace and then future plans.

Izzy did the same in return. Telling you about her life before she met your father and then what you were now learning had been about 18 months that they had been together, the timeline sounding rather rushed given what you knew.

“Those first few months were nice and I still do have some fond memories from back then, then I found out I was pregnant and…” Izzy started to explain, stopping herself when she got to that part as she realised you might not have known.

“Don’t worry I knew that so I was prepared for you to mention it. Sorry if you think this is an invasion of privacy but we came here with the plan of spying on my father and this morning we saw you at the door with him and were holding your… “You replied, feeling that ‘child’ or ‘baby’ were a bit formal and from the distance you saw them earlier, you hadn’t been able to make out if the baby was a boy or a girl.

“My son, Jack. Do you wanna meet him?” Izzy said, knowing what you were trying to silently ask and then she threw you a curve ball.

You didn’t see any reason to not see them at first but the question still gave you pause for a moment longer than you liked. The fact that he was technically your half-brother somehow caused some hesitation in you but that split second reaction gave way after you thought about it more.

“...Sure” you answered.

Author's note: Spoiler chapter will be updated shortly :)