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“Amazing,” she said, but she sounded more tired than she probably wanted to let on. “They’ve eaten breakfast and both are in their jumpy things.” He could hear giggles in the background and the sound made the world right itself. “Have you had a chance to finish filling out the medical history on your side of the family? The nurse called and said your part has been left blank and they just caught it after the eighteen-month checkup.”
“No. I haven’t,” he said, hating that he kept skirting this issue. The truth was that he wasn’t one-hundred-percent certain the twins were his biological daughters. Hazel had moved out after picking a huge fight and didn’t come home for a month. She’d said she needed time and space to clear her head and decide if being married was the right thing for her. What she meant was being married tohim.Since she didn’t go home to her parents’ house or stay with her sister, he’d suspected and she’d confirmed she’d gone back to the musician boyfriend with whom she’d been in a relationship before the two of them met.
The timing of the pregnancy caused him to doubt he was their father, which didn’t make him love the twins any less. He’d been ready to talk to Hazel about his concern once they got through the pregnancy and those early months. It had taken him a minute to do the math. Twins came early, Hazel had said. It wasn’t unusual.
Darren had committed to his marriage. When Hazel came home, they’d talked and agreed to go the distance with each other, just like in their vows. He’d never wavered from his promise despite the fact that he loved his wife, but wasn’t wildly in love with her like he’d been with...
He wouldn’t go there.
After the girls were born, they were knee-deep in dirty diapers. A paternity test needed to happen, but he kept putting it off, trying to figure out the best time to spring the news on Hazel. Things between them had been going good and he hadn’t wanted to stir the pot. Except the niggling voice in the back of his mind kept reminding him it wouldn’t be fair to the girls or their biological father if they weren’t his to stay in the dark.
Before he could bring up the subject to Hazel, she was gone. And then he was a single father with only a suspicion she’d cheated while they lived apart.
A year had passed by in a flash with the girls after their mother’s death. Suddenly, they were eighteen months and he still hadn’t taken the damn test.
Once Hazel died, her parents had come close to threatening to take the girls. They’d tap-danced on a line that shouldn’t be crossed.
They seemed to realize cooperation was in the girls’ best interest all the way around. Stacie had stepped in to defend him and help bring reason to an overcharged emotional mess.
They’dbeen a mess. But then, they’d lost their baby girl, so he couldn’t fault them too much even if he’d been the one to take the brunt of their anger.
Apologies had been made and he’d forgiven them for the sake of the girls. They needed grandparents, and his folks were gone. They needed an aunt, and he had no siblings. And they needed their father, which had been him every step of the way.
Like they say, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” But he didn’t feel good about not knowing the truth. Plus, his math could have been off, the girls could have been that early and he could be stressing for literally no reason. Confirmation would be a good thing.
He couldn’t ask Stacie for advice, considering she had no idea he was even questioning paternity. Could he ask Reese? She was objective. She could keep a secret. And yet, risking telling anyone else gave him chest pains.
He’d think about it.
“Darren?” his mother-in-law, Alice, said, sounding a little perturbed.
“Yes,” he said, realizing he’d zoned out on their conversation.
“Do you want me to put the girls on the phone?” she asked but one of the babies picked that moment to belt out a good cry. “Oh, no. I better go.”
“I’ll call back later,” he promised. Stopping by with Reese might not be his best play, especially after the way Stacie had reacted to her being in his home yesterday. Was Reese right? Did Stacie want more than to be the girls’ aunt?
The situation was a potential powder keg. Just like paternity.
Alice ended the call before he could say goodbye or ask about the past.
He walked in and then handed his cell over to Reese, who traded rooms.
“How’d it go?” he asked, hoping she got more than he did when she returned after a couple of minutes.
“It was so long ago that she doesn’t remember much,” Reese said. “She set up a group chat, though, and is putting the question out to my siblings and Granny. I explained what happened to me, briefly, and reassured her that I’m fine.”
“Good,” he said.
“I didn’t want word to get out and them to hear the news from someone else,” she explained. “I also asked if they’d been expecting me and she said they were at some point soon but I didn’t give an exact day.”
He nodded.
“Wait a second,” he said. “Granny is on the group chat? I thought she hated technology.”
“Me, too,” she agreed. “But then, a lot has probably changed in a decade.”
He nodded. Hell, his life looked nothing like it had two and a half years ago, when he’d been newly married. The marriage happened after a whirlwind courtship and, to be honest, he’d had doubts about what they’d done, too. So he couldn’t blame Hazel. She’d had doubts. His had to have been written all over his face, if not his actions.
