Reflecting on a Memorable Meeting in Miami

"Don't run up on me like that." Jett cautions to the man who had rushed up to him while he was stirring his coffee at Crimson Lights.

"You were rather short with me on the phone, when I called you the other day." Adrian tells him. "You don't seem to be very cooperative."

"Hmm..." Jett continues to stir his coffee and then takes a sip. He puts his cup down and then gives Adrian a stern look. "Well, I don't know how I am supposed to act regarding this news that you've just sprung upon me all of a sudden." He shakes his head and frowns. "This is some big news."

"Do you realize how blind sighted I am by this?" He asks. "I mean…, after all these years, you come forward with this news… Come on man…"

Adrian leans forward and looks at Jett with a frustrated look on his face. "I mean I just found out myself." He claims. "I mean I found the letter, after Celeste gathered up all of my things and threw it on the lawn." He reveals to Jett.

"She just threw it all out there, huh?" Jett asks. "Well, that's what you get man when you keep stepping out on your wife." He sighs deeply as he thinks about Adrian's news. "That's what you get." He repeats. "Man…you constantly stepping out on your wife, is why you are even in this situation to begin with." He remarks disapprovingly.

He shakes his head. "And why innocent people are being dragged into and affected by this situation." He gestures towards Adrian. "Including your wife and your kids with her and…." He looks at Adrian and he raises his eyebrow.

"And my other child will now be affected." Adrian finishes for him. He shrugs. "But she has a right to know that I am her father."

"But now?" Jett questions. "She's in a great place now. She's happy, she's settling down here and doing work that she loves." He informs Adrian. He sighs. "She got a good man and they are happy." A thought then crosses his mind. He frowns and gives Jett a suspicious look.

"Wait a minute..." He wonders thinking. "Is that why you decided to contact me about this news? Because you found out that your daughter's man is rich?" Jett holds up his hand in protest. "Hey man, if you think you are going to use her and her relationship as some sort of money grab..."

Adrian rolls his eyes. "Now, why would you think that of me?"

"I don't know because you seem like the type that would do that man." Jett states bluntly.

"No, I don't want to take money from her." Adrian insists. "And have you forgotten my other daughter is married to a rich man. I haven't really been hitting them up for cash." Adrian moves his head and then smiles. "Well not too much. My new son-in-law did loan me some cash a while ago, after I crashed Lola's wedding."He informs Jett. "But that was after I got into a bit of a pickle and I needed some help."

"Man, you are not going to try that with…" Jett begins but Adrian cuts him off. Adrian holds up his hand to stop him.

"Like I said I'm not trying to do that." He proclaims. "I just want to get to know my daughter." A thoughtful look comes across his face. "Lola is my youngest. And after watching how beautiful she looked walking down the aisle and getting married, that… well, that made me realize just how much I have missed out on her life." Adrian confesses to him. "And how much I regret not being the father I should have been to her, Arturo and Rey."

"Well, you also weren't a father to…"

"I know." Adrian interrupts again. "I know." He repeats. "But I want to make things right and try and get a chance to know her." He sighs. "And explain things to her, because I really didn't know that she existed."

"But this is going to turn her world upside down." Jett predicts protectively. "And I don't think…"

"She deserves to know the truth." Adrian insists firmly. "And I would like to get to know her, maybe have a relationship with her." He shrugs. "Maybe I can make things right with at least one of my kids, especially since the others resent me." He shrugs again. "Well Arturo doesn't full on resent me, he's more disappointed than anything, but Rey and Lola are very upset with me…" He admits.

"Well, you can't really use a new relationship to make up for what you did to your other kids." Jett warns him.

Adrian frowns. "Yeah, but I would still like to get to know my daughter." He rubs his face thinking. He then gestures towards Jett. "Surely you understand, you're a father."

Jett nods. "Yeah and I love my daughter to death." He smiles thinking about Ana. "She's wonderful." A thoughtful look then comes across his face. "And I wish I had gotten to know her sooner. I wasn't around for most of her life, because her mother didn't tell me about her."

Adrian nods knowingly. "So, you do understand."

Jett sighs. "I understand being blind sighted by this type of news, but ultimately being happy about the result. Ana finding me was the best thing that ever happened to me." He nods his head. "I wish I had known her sooner."

"Well, let me have that same chance."

A concerned look comes across Jett's face. "But man, you haven't done right by the kids that you knew about."

"I made a lot of mistakes." Adrian admits. "But I want to be a better man and do right by all my children… Including…." He gives Jett a serious look.

"Including Elena." Jett finishes for him. The two men become silent for a moment and look at each other.

"Including Elena." Adrian repeats. "I want to get to know her and I think you can help me."

"This is just all so out of the blue." Jett expresses still trying to process the news. "I just can't believe that my sister Monica would hook up with you like that." He shakes his head. "I mean a married man." He frowns. "That wasn't my sister man." He claims strongly. "Going after married men wasn't her style."

"She didn't know." Adrian admits to him. "At least not at first."

"But how did you guys even get together like that?" Jett probes.

"Well, like I was telling you on the phone. It happened in early 1987 down in Miami." Adrian states to him. "Remember you were on tour then down there."

Jett nods reminiscing. "Yes, I was just starting out in my career then. That was one of my earlier tours."

"Yeah, man your career was really starting to boom back then." Adrian states. "And I was living and working in Miami. My boss had given me some tickets to see your show." Adrian remembers back to that time. "And I went and I saw your sister. She was standing there near the front of the stage, so bright and beautiful." Adrian comments smiling at the memory of Monica, Elena's mother. "So full of energy and optimism."

Jett smiles as he listens to Adrian's description of Monica. "Yeah, that was my sister alright…"

"And I made her acquaintance and things went from there." Adrian said. "You were in Miami for a few nights and Monica and I...well we hung out."

Jett raises his eyebrow. "It sounds like you two did more than hang out."

Adrian nods. "Yes, we did. We had a connection and it was just… it was something man."

"But you were a married man, Adrian." Jett scolds him. "Didn't you think about your wife and children?" He questions him.

"Celeste and I were on the outs then. We were often on the outs until one day after Lola was born, she kicked me out." Adrian confesses. "And I never really returned home, until this last time around."

"She probably kicked you out because you were cheating again, right?" Jett guessed.

"Yes, I was, I have had my issues with philandering over the years."

"Probably a lot of issues." Jett presumes.

"I'm not going to lie; I do enjoy the ladies." Adrian confesses smiling.

"Including my sister." Jett shakes his head again. He looks down at his coffee and then back up at Adrian. "So, what happened after you and Monica, made each other acquaintance in Miami?" He questions. "She didn't mention you, I never met you…"

"Well, we kept in touch for a little while after." Adrian informs him. "We wrote and called. But then…."

"Then what?"

"Then one day she called the house and Celeste was there and answered the phone, and Monica ended up covering." Adrian reveals. "But after that I had to come clean to her about being a married man." He pauses before he continues the story. "And she wrote me this letter about how upset she was but also mentioned she had gotten back together with a boyfriend."

Jett nods as he listens. "Right. She was dating a guy around this time named Wayne who I always thought was Elena's father…" Jett pauses, and he thinks some more. "They were actually dating before I was touring in Miami."

Adrian nods. "Yes, and she actually told me about him. She told me that they had broken up when I met her in Miami."

"But they got back together after we left Miami." Jett interjects thinking some more.

"Probably not too long after her and I met."

"Which was why it was easy for him to believe that Elena was his." Jett finishes. "But…" He shrugs. "How can we know for sure that she's not really his?" Jett asks.

"In the letter that I found in my box of stuff, Monica said that I was the father." Adrian states. "She seemed to know for sure."

"When did she send you this letter?" Jett asks.

"In 2004." Adrian informs him.

"Elena would have been 16 or 17 then." Jett replies. "I wonder what pushed Monica to try and tell you the truth then?" Jett wonders. "Though I will say that her and Wayne had ended things by then, but he was still apart of Elena's life."

"I don't know." Adrian shrugs. "But she wrote me that letter, that I never got."

"Yet it was found in your stuff, unopened?" Jett asks. "No one went in it?"

Adrian shakes his head. "No one, not even Celeste." He pauses and then continues. "That is one thing I will say about my wife, she actually didn't snoop much, which is probably why I've been able to get away with a lot of the things that I have gotten away with."

"So, you got the letter and you just found it now…" Jett rubs his face. "Sis never said anything."

"Maybe she decided not to say anything after the other guy stepped in. And even more so after I didn't respond to her letter." He frowns. "She must have thought I didn't want anything to do with Elena."

A sad look comes across Jett's face. "And now Monica is gone."

Adrian nods a somber look on his face. "And I'm sorry man, I didn't know her for very long, but I could tell she was a special lady."

Jett nods in agreement. "She was. And so is Elena." He remarks in a matter of fact manner.

"And I would like to get to know her."

A concerned look comes across Jett's face again. "But how do we tell her the truth? And maybe we should still get a DNA test or something." He suggests.

"Okay, we can do that, if she agrees to it." Adrian responds. "But I think we need to be straight with her."

Jett nods. "Hmmm…. Yeah. But man, I just don't want to rock her world like this." He replies hesitantly. "She's been through a lot the last several years, dealing with her mother's illness, losing her, taking care of me when I was ill." Jett gives him a serious look. "You know she dropped out of medical school and took care of me."

"She sounds like a remarkable young woman." Adrian states.

"She is and I just don't want to upset her with this news." Jett takes another sip of his coffee.

"I mean she is like a daughter to me." Jett states protectively. "I helped raise her and had a big part in her life. I don't like to see her hurt or blind sighted and this news will do that to her."

"Which is why I need your help in telling her." Adrian repeats. "We have to find a way to break this news to her." The two men share another look and Jett looks down thinking.

"Man, this is a lot. I'll have to think about how we should approach this." Jett says. He then hears his phone buzzing. He looks at it.

"Is that her?" Adrian asks curiously.

"No, it's actually Ana." Jett says. "She's going to be a little late to our dinner tonight, because she's caught up at work at Hamilton-Winters." Jett tells him after he reads her text. He glances at the time before he puts his phone away.

"I actually should be getting out of here. I have some work that I would like to do on a new song that I'm writing." He reveals to Adrian.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah." Jett gives Adrian another serious look. "Songwriting is very relaxing for me, it's good for me to do when I'm trying to figure stuff out. And boy do I have to figure out how to handle this situation with you and Elena."

"But you will help me, right?" Adrian questions.

Jett sighs and looks at him again. "I guess. I just need some time to think about how we should approach this. Give me that time okay?"

Adrian nods. "Okay, just let me know."

Jett nods. "Un-huh." He then gives Adrian a curious look. "So are you sticking around in town or…?"

"I actually am going to stick around for a bit." Adrian tells him. "I am staying at the Grand Phoenix, Kyle put me up there."

"Un-huh."

"You know almost all of my children are here, so maybe I can stay around and reconnect with them. And get to know Elena." Adrian expresses hopefully.

"Well, good luck, with all of that. You're going to need it." Jett tells him knowingly. The two men talk for a bit more and then Jett leads to go home.

Adrian watches him walk away for a moment and thinks about their conversation. He sighs and hopes that Jett will be able to help him break the news to Elena. He knew he had made a lot of mistakes but did want to work things out with his children, including his newest daughter.