Page 14 of Sudden Summer

“Shit. Yes, of course. Come in.” Lachlan moved to the couch, picking up the pillow and nailing Hayes right in the face.

“Jesus! What the hell, Lach?!” Hayes’s eyes popped open, scanning the room before landing on me. “I feel like I missed something…”

“You’re an idiot,” Jessie sighed. “Much like our other idiot brother who was just about to tell us where the mother of his child is.”

“The mother of…you have a KID?!”

“This is why I called all of you to be here together so I wouldn’t have to explain it more than once,” I groaned. “Who did you think Birdie was holding in her arms?”

His eyes moved over to Birdie, and if I wasn’t in the hot seat, I would have laughed from how wide they were. My usually calm brother looked like he was about to completely lose it. “I don’t know! I thought maybe she’d finally snapped and took one from the hospital! Maybe we needed to help her escape to Canada or something after giving the kid back. I didn’t think this was a reveal for your secret child!”

“Hayes, knock it off. Your brother has only explained about fifteen percent of the story so far. He needs to get a move on before your father has another heart attack.” Ma’s face was pulled tight as she looked over at Dad.

But he just waved her off. “I’m not going to have another heart attack, Doll. Quit fussin’.”

“Hey, sleepy dipshit, the pillow to the face was kind of a signal for you to get up so Birdie can sit down with your niece and feed her…” Lachlan grumbled to Hayes, who was busy rubbing his eyes.

“Oh, shit. Sorry, Birdie.”

“No, I’m sorry. I could probably manage, but I need to heat her bottle first, and she’ll probably go right to sleep after she eats. Best to just be able to hold her with maybe a pillow propped under my arm.”

“We need to get more seating in here,” Colt mumbled.

“I’m not the one who decided everyone needed to come here for family meetings,” Lach sighed.

“Yeah, well, we’re not leaving you out,” Hayes griped as he moved around Lach and toward me.

“Beau, stop stalling. Where is this baby’s mother?” Ma finally snapped.

“Give me the baby’s bag.” Colt’s wife, Violet, reached for the strap still weighing heavy on my shoulder. “I’m going to help Birdie get her bottle ready.”

My eyes followed them to the kitchen before they disappeared towards the sink.

I tossed my hat down on the bench next to the door and ran my hands over my face. “Rosa died in a car accident four days ago. Juniper was with a foster family until they were able to get her birth certificate and track me down.”

“You’re an idiot,” Lachlan nearly shouted, his footfalls heavy with his cane as he got closer to me. “Just because some woman writes your name down on a piece of paper, doesn’t mean you’re that baby’s dad.”

“You’re going to get a paternity test done, right?” my dad asked.

“No, I don’t need to. I know she’s mine.” I’d never been so sure of anything before in my life.

“How?” Jessie asked. “This is wonderful and heartbreaking at the same time, but I think everyone in the family just wants to make sure that you’re not being taken advantage of.”

“By a four month old baby? She literally has no other family in this world, Jess. CPS looked for someone, anyone, on Rosa’s side. I’m all she has. We’re all she has. And Rosa clearly never wanted to tell me about her. Why would she lie and put my name down if she was never going to contact me about Juniper? Nothing else makes sense. She’s mine.”

My family went silent. Hayes shifted. Lach leaned more on his cane. Ma rubbed her hand over her heart. And Dad sighed. He walked over to Ma, pulling her into his arms.

“Well, that’s that then. Looks like we just added our first granddaughter to the roster, Doll.”

Violet and Birdie walked back from the kitchen, a shared smile between the two of them. My sister-in-law patted Birdie’s shoulder before she sat on the couch with Juniper. Hayes and Lach were nearly elbowed to the ground by Jessie and Ma as they sat beside Birdie and looked down at my daughter.

“Congratulations, Dad.” Violet’s arms wrapped around me, and my throat ached.

“Vi, I⁠—”

“Nope. I know what you’re going to say. We’re good. You don’t need to apologize for anything that happened when I came back to Silver Springs.”

“It’d be okay if you wanted to watch me eat crow right now.” I smiled.