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Dex nodded, his bottom lip starting to tremble.
“Hey you lot,” I heard my mum say, “how about we go and watch that cheeky TV show.”
I was too busy watching Dex to notice, but gathered that she’d ushered them out of the room. A few seconds later, Isaac placed a glass of brandy in front of Dex.
“Thanks, love,” I muttered and then heard the door close. “So what exactly did they say?”
I reached for Dex’s hand and pulled it onto my lap, nestling it between both of mine and rubbing it, trying to get some warmth into it.
He reached for the brandy, took a swig, and then turned to me. “I have a kid, Katie. A four-year-old kid that I knew nothing about. A kid who has been living with her grandma since Cherry died.”
“So why call you now, after all this time?”
Dex’s eyes teared up again as he looked up at me, total desolation written all over his face.
“Cherry’s mom died two weeks ago. Massive heart attack, and she – my kid - sat with the body for hours before a neighbor called around and found them. She thought her grandma was sleeping.”
I slapped a hand to my mouth as my stomach turned over. “Oh my God, the poor little thing.”
Dex nodded. “I can’t imagine what she must have gone through, Katie. Shit, darlin’, it doesn’t bear thinking about.”
I pulled him into a hug and kissed him softly on the cheek. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered.
“You got nothing to be sorry for, Katie Cat. It’s me who’s sorry…sorry that I never knew I had a kid and sorry that Cherry hated me so damn much she felt the need to keep her from me.”
“Why do you think she did?”
Dex shrugged. “No fucking idea, other than I was probably a dick to her when I ended things. But apart from that, I don’t know. I was always good to her, or so I thought. She was pregnant when I left her, and found out a few weeks later according to a letter her mom left, so maybe if I was a dick that would explain it. Fuck, she could have told me when we bumped into each other, just before she died. In fact, was that what she was trying to tell me, when she said we could have a family, if I went back home with her?” he asked, anxiously dragging a hand through his hair.
“I don’t know, Dex.”
I tried to put myself in Cherry’s shoes, but I had no idea whatsoever why she would keep Dex’s child from him. I didn’t know her, I didn’t know Dex when they were together, so it was probably pointless me even trying to wonder what she was thinking.
“Fuck if I know either. All I do know is they want me to go over to Houston,” Dex said, rubbing at his temple.
“To meet her?”
He nodded. “Lucy, Cherry’s mom, had left the letter with her attorney. It stated that I was her father and I should be contacted in the event of anything happening to her, if Savannah – that’s her name – was still under the age of twenty-one.”
“Savannah?” My eyebrows rose as her name skipped off my tongue like a melody. “That’s beautiful.”
“Yeah, Cherry always liked it.” Dex lifted the brandy to his lips again, closing his eyes as the liquid slipped down his throat. “They wanted to know if I want custody of her.”
I nodded, watching him carefully. “And?”
“I don’t know, Katie. I mean they dropped it on me that I had a kid one second and then the next ask me if I want custody of her because some cousin of Cherry’s would be happy to take her; like she’s some fucking second hand sofa that’s being given away,” he snarled out the words as he flopped back into the chair, slamming his brandy glass onto the table. “Fuck, what the hell do I do, Katie Cat?”
“I have no idea, love. I think you should definitely go out there and meet her.” I held his hand tighter, giving it a little tug. “Are you scared about meeting her?”
He looked up at me and smiled softly. “Fucking petrified.”
I nodded. “That’s totally understandable.”
“Is it? I’m a grown man of forty-six, scared of a damn four-year-old child. Pathetic if you ask me.” He turned to look at the brandy glass, which was almost empty.
“You want some more?” I asked.
“No thanks, darlin’. I’m going to need to drive home.”
