Tony stood in the door of her office for what seemed like forever. She was on the phone and had turned around in her chair to face the one window in her office. It looked out over the quad at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD.
Sallie ended her phone call and turned back around in her chair to hang up the phone. She looked up when she sensed a presence in her doorway. She was startled at first. She knew, well, was pretty sure, she would hear from him. But she hadn’t expected to so quickly.
Tony came into the office and dropped into one of the chairs without a word. He had no idea how to start the conversation. He just shook his head. “Why?”
Sallie sighed. She had told Olivia the whole story. She also knew that Olivia would respect her wishes and not say anything without her blessing. Based on what Tony had just said, he, indeed, knew nothing.
Sallie sighed again. She then got up from behind her desk and closed the door before she began. She then sat down in the other chair facing Tony. She didn’t want to talk to him like a professor would talk to a student, from behind a desk.
“Tony….” Sallie started.
“OK. Preliminaries, right. You look great. You haven’t changed a bit.” Tony paused as if giving Sallie an opportunity to echo his sentiments. “Why, thank you.” Tony paused. “Okay, that’s over with…Why?”
Sallie started. “I…You were a junior. I was a married graduate student.”
Tony opened his mouth to speak. He had no idea.
Sallie shook her head. “I know you didn’t know. There was no reason for you to. It…it was not part of our relationship, not until that night, anyway.” Sallie smiled. “When I found out I was pregnant. I…I agonized over telling you. But I…you were just a junior. One more year…You were so smart Tony. I don’t want you to quit school. And I thought maybe you would. You would quit school and get a job and ask me to marry you. That was my reasoning at first. We couldn’t have gotten married. But I thought you might quit anyway. I….” Sallie paused. “Then I found out about all the money behind the DiNozzo name. I…I thought you would…you would use all your money and take her away from me.”
Tony shook his head. “That wouldn’t have happened.” Tony replied, and probably not for the reason Sallie was thinking. Tony knew his dad would not back him, give him money, to get custody of what Senior would call a bastard child.
Sallie shook her head again. “I couldn’t risk it Tony. She…she was, she’s mine, ours. I couldn’t risk never seeing her again.”
Sallie smiled, but there was no humor in it. “I had told my husband she was his. You can image trying to explain to my husband when I gave birth to a green-eyed brunette.” Sallie paused. “A real rarity for a blond-haired, blue-eyed couple.”
Tony laughed, it was awkward, but it relieved some of the tension.
“She has been a joy. She, I never knew one person could talk so much. I though you talked a lot. But, I swear, she talks circles around everybody. She, she looks so much like you. I…She acts so different from our other children.” Sallie backtracked and explained a little. “Surprisingly, my husband forgave me, and we had two more children after Olivia. Jeremy is 15, and Crystal is 13.”
“I deserved to know.” Tony stated. “Regardless of what you thought, of what your life was like at the time, of what my life was like at the time.” Tony paused. “I still deserved to know.”
Sallie nodded. She could not deny that. She wasn’t even going to try. “I did what I thought was best for everybody at the time. I had a stable home life. I was in a situation where I could raise a child. You were living in a frat house, enjoying college, enjoying your life.” Sallie paused. “I knew you would do the ‘right thing.’ I could see such potential in you. You were so smart. You wouldn’t have gone to Harvard. You wouldn’t have done that. You…” Sallie leaned forward in her chair and took Tony’s hand, which was resting on the arm, and squeezed it. “…you deserved Harvard.” Sallie let go and leaned back in the chair. “You did so well there, accomplished so much. I know you are still working on your education.”
Tony opened his mouth again. How did she know all this?
Sallie nodded. “I’ve kept up with you. I did Internet searches. I have been on the Ohio State and Harvard Alumni pages. I…when Olivia got ready to find you, I wanted to make the search easy for her.”
“So…you encouraged her?” Tony asked.
Sallie nodded. “I didn’t make the decisions I made to hurt you, Tony.”
“If that is the case, why didn’t I know…years ago?” Tony asked.
Sallie sighed. “It…We, my husband and I, were still dealing with our own stuff, with the betrayal. I…it took him a long time to get over it. Then, I turned around and Olivia was 5 years old. You would have asked then why did I wait 5 years?” She paused. “Then every year after that… why did I wait?”
Sallie got up and went to the window, looking out at the quad as she spoke. “I did what I did for, what I thought, were good reasons. I know they sound like excuses to you. I am aware of that, I am very aware of that. But you were still…a kid. You were a carefree, college student, just as you should have been. I was…I was older. I’m 4 years older than you, Tony. I knew better than to cheat. I knew better than to get pregnant. I knew all that. I just…I just had a weak moment. You were there and you were so nice. And I really, really liked you, so….”
Tony sat mute. He was not sure what to say.
Sallie turned to look at him. “I was ready for a child though, Tony. I was about to graduate. Jacob, my husband, was starting a good job. We already had a decent house. I was ready. I just….”
“Bet on the wrong horse.” Tony stated.
“Not sure I liked the way you put that, but yes.” Sallie agreed.
“So, Jacob….” Tony started.
Sallie smiled and nodded, knowing what Tony was about to ask. “He loves Olivia like his own. He adopted her, officially when she was a year old. She thinks the world of him. She has known, since, she was about 2. She asked him one day why she didn’t look like him, at all. She knew something was not quite right.”
Tony smiled. “Smart kid.”
“Yes, she is.” Sallie stated. “She has a college professor and a Harvard grad for parents. How could she not be?”
TBC
End Note: I am not sure if children have such a self-awareness at the age of 2, but it works for the story.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.