The Pieces

April 23, 2028 I was walking down the street with my daughter; she was clutching her stuffed bear much more tightly than my hand. We were walking to my mother Deborah's house so she could drop off Thea and I could get a ride to work. When I was walking I ran into an old acquaintance who seemed pretty surprised. “Is this your daughter?” he asked. “I’m fine, thanks.” I replied, annoyed he didn’t even say hello first “But yes this is my daughter Thea, Thea say hi to Peyton, mommy’s old friend.” Confusion struck his face at the ‘old friend’ but I think he understood that she’s young and wouldn’t understand their complex relationship. “How old is she?” “She’s a little over 2” “Oh, who’s her father?” “I don’t know. It was a one night stand and I never saw his face or even cared to look at that time.” My face falls slightly when I talk but I smile as I said “But at least she looks like her mother.” He looks at Thea a little longer, making me slightly uncomfortable. “If you don’t mind me asking, do you know when you had the one night stand?” “Don’t worry I won’t find any offense in that statement but yes I do, it’s the only one I’ve ever had, it was the night of Jordan’s engagement party about 3 years ago” He doesn’t look confused but slightly puzzled as if he is trying to figure something out. “I’ve got to get her to my mother’s house so that I can get to work on time, I’ll see you around” I continue walking and, when I finally get to my mother’s house, I tell mom about the weird encounter with Peyton. She agrees on how weird it is and thinks he might just have been surprised I had a child all on my own. August 2028 Months pass without any more weird encounters with Peyton until I’m going through my mail and open a strange letter from a law firm. It says Peyton is trying to claim paternity of Thea. I immediately call my mom and look up if this is legal, it is. I eventually just go to where Peyton works looking pissed. I arrive at the hospital and go to the nurses station. “Hello, I need to speak with Dr. Kennedy. He’s an emergency physician” “Do you have an appointment?” one of the nurses behind the computer asks while still typing. “No but I need to talk to him because I just got a request for a paternity test for him and my daughter and I need to know where he got the balls to do that after we only talked for less than 10 minutes months ago.” The nurses look at each other a little puzzled “And you’re sure you’re talking about Dr. Peyton Kennedy” I give them a smile that turns into a sneer as I say “Yes I’m sure it’s him because it’s from a Dr. Peyton Gabriel Kennedy M.D.” “Leave your name and number and I’ll have him call you when he’s on a break” the nurse says, still typing all the while. “No you tell him I’m here waiting for him and he can talk to me face to face when he’s a on break or clocked out for the day” the nurse nods and writes down the message. “And what was your name?” “Kenzie Brown, K-E-N-Z-I-E Brown” I replied. I waited there for about 2 hours just adjusting my schedule and managing my emails and calls. When he finally came to the nurses station. “Who the heck do you think you are!” I screamed as I ran up behind him “Miss Brown Dr. Kennedy is busy…” the nurse interrupts. “It’s fine,” Peyton says, “this shouldn’t take that long” he turns to me “And, I think I’m Thea’s father. Didn’t I make that obvious by the paternity test request?” He hands some files to the nurse and she hands him some new ones. “What makes you think that? Huh?” I reply as he looks inside of the files and looks at other pages before handing the files back. “How about we talk somewhere not so public about our business” he suggested and I laughed out loud “Does it look like I care? I got knocked up on a one night stand 3 years ago and suddenly you think it was you” I laugh harder “So like you just think you have some claim because we were at the same event” He grabbed my arm, pulling me away from the waiting room. I follow him as he takes me into an empty patient’s room. “Kenzie, the morning after that party I woke up in a hotel room across from the saloon party n***d underneath the blankets. When I woke up I heard the door shut and if I was clothed I would’ve checked who it was. I was in room 312 so if you can prove you were at a different hotel or in a different room then I would gladly drop the request” “How the heck did you even get to draw this conclusion with such scant evidence?” “Because when I saw Thea I saw a familial resemblance but like I said if you can prove you weren’t in that room I’ll drop the order.” After he said that he opened the door and left.