17. Chapter 17
Chapter seventeen
“That look is killing me.”
Allie didn’t want everything Kai had to be hand-me-downs from Gentry’s boys, so on Friday she made a trip to White City. When Abe got home from work, she had a pile of stuff for him to look at in the living room.
“Jeez, Mom. You didn’t have to do this.”
“I just wanted to spoil my grandson a little bit. Speaking of which.” She held up an envelope. “This came today from the lab.”
Abe stopped breathing for a moment. “Is that…?”
“Yes, honey.” He didn’t move, and she walked over to him. “Would you like me to open it for you?”
He stared at the paper. “Um…no. I’ll do it.” He wiped his hand on his pants, then took the envelope from her. Kai was removing all the items from the bags and tossing them onto the floor around him.
Abe went to him and picked him up. “Come with me for a second.” Kai struggled to get down, reaching for all the treasures on the floor.
Then he looked at Abe and smiled. Abe carried him out to the front porch and sat down on the old wooden swing his grandfather had made many years ago.
He rocked back and forth for a moment, contemplating the envelope.
He ran a hand over Kai’s hair, then whispered to him. “I could tell them I opened it and that it was good news.” He continued rocking. “Or, I could just man up and open the damn thing.” Kai reached for the envelope, and Abe moved it out of his reach. “Okay. You win. I’ll open it.”
He ran a finger under the flap and ripped the envelope open.
He removed the folded report and read it while holding his breath, then he exhaled loudly and closed his eyes for a moment.
“Looks like it’s you and me, kid.” Kai leaned against him.
Once again, Abe had gotten home just after bath time, and Kai smelled like coconut and vanilla.
He kissed the top of his head. “You and me.”
When Abe didn’t go back inside, Allie opened the front door and stepped out. “Are you okay, honey?”
Abe handed her the letter. “Yeah. I’m okay.”
She read it, then hugged him, catching Kai in the embrace. “My two darling boys.”
Abe smiled. “I don’t think I’ve been your darling boy for quite some time.”
“Of course you have.”
“Hard to compete with Milo and your baby boy, Luke.”
“Nonsense. I love you all equally.”
“How do you do that?”
“Do what, honey?”
“Find room in your heart for six kids, a husband, and several grandchildren?”
“There is always room in your heart for one more child.”
“And one more. And one more. You’re amazing. I think I’ll stick to one.”
“Do you want to show this to your father?”
“Yeah. Sure.” He stood and handed Kai to Allie. “Is he still in the garage?”
“Yes. Where else would he be? Kai and I will be unpacking the bags.”
“He appears to be pretty good at it.”
Abe left the porch and crossed the yard to the garage. John was banging on something, and Abe waited until he stopped to catch his breath before speaking.
“Dad?”
“Come in here and hold on to this damn thing. It’s rusted together.”
Abe tucked the letter into his pocket, then went to help John remove the cap from an old water tank. “Why do you need the cap off? This thing looks useless.”
“Nothing is useless, son. Everything, even trash, can be used for something.”
With a few more bangs from the hammer and a couple of swear words, the cap dropped to the floor. Abe stepped back and looked at the rusty water tank. “I’d love to know what use you have for this.”
John set the tank on a shelf full of a collection of other stuff Abe would definitely label junk. “I’ll know it when the time comes.”
“Okay.” Abe took the paper from his pocket. “We got the results of the paternity test.”
“Hmm.”
“Would you like to read it?”
“No. I know what it says.”
Abe smiled. “You do, huh?”
“I knew that boy was a Buchanan the minute I laid eyes on him.”
“Even though he’s the only blonde in the family?”
“Even so. Milo was quite fair as a child. Not as blond as Kai. But not dark like the rest of you.”
“Mom says she doesn’t have a favorite son. How about you?”
John cocked his head. “My favorite child is whichever one is out in this garage with me or in the orchard at any given moment.”
“So, currently…”
“You would qualify.”
“Yes.”
John smiled. “I’m sure it’s comforting to get the confirmation from the lab, but that boy was yours from the moment you took him in your arms.”
“I don’t know why everyone is so confident of that.”
John wiped his hands on a towel. “How do you feel when you’re holding him?”
“Like…I could kill anyone who might mess with him.”
“There you go.” He held up a finger. “But of course, you can’t literally do that.”
“Right. Maybe I could just mess them up a little bit.”
“Abraham.”
“Just kidding.”
“Now, get back inside and fawn over all the stuff your mother brought home.”
“She kind of overdid it.”
“That’s your mother.”
When Abe returned to the house, Kai was sitting in the middle of the room crying while Allie picked up the various items he’d pulled from the bags.
“Mom?”
She glanced at him. “He has to learn that he can’t always get his way.”
Abe looked down at Kai, who stopped crying to look up at him and whimper. “Can I pick him up?”
“Give it a minute.”
Abe shook his head. “I can’t. That look is killing me.”
“He knows exactly what he’s doing.”
Abe sighed, then groaned and picked Kai up. “Sorry. I can’t handle that face.” He wiped Kai’s face with the bottom of his T-shirt. “Okay, kid. You’re okay.” He bounced Kai a few times and looked at Allie. “Does this make me a bad parent?”
She smiled. “No.”
“I didn’t just spoil him?”
“No.”
Abe looked at Kai, who was smiling at him. “Hmm. Somehow, I think I just got played.”
Allie laughed. “As I said, he knew exactly what he was doing.”
“That was smooth, kid.”
“You really need to stop calling him kid. He’s going to think that’s his name.”
“I’ll stop calling him kid when he stops calling me Papa.”
Kai patted Abe’s chest. “Papa.”
Allie picked up the last bit of stuff from the floor. “I think maybe you’re stuck with it, honey.”
“Okay, kid. Have it your way.”
Alley kissed Kai on the cheek. “Go put him to bed and then come down and put this stroller together. You’ll need it for the rodeo tomorrow.”
“There’s a perfectly good stroller in the Quonset hut.”
“Like I said, no more hand-me-downs.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Abe headed for the guest room with Kai in his arms. He laid him down in the crib, and Kai sat up. “Time for bed, buddy.”
Kai stood and started bouncing. “Dog.”
“Right. We need Dog.” The toy was on the floor under the crib, and Abe retrieved it, then handed it to Kai. “Here you go.”
Kai hugged the cat, then lay down. Abe covered him with a blanket and patted his leg. “Goodnight…son.”
“Papa.”
“Alright. I give up. Papa loves you. What do you think about that?” He watched Kai for a moment. “Go to sleep now.” He bent down and kissed him on the forehead. Kai held up the cat, and Abe kissed it too. “Goodnight, Dog.”
He turned on the nightlight, then switched off the overhead light, before going out the door and closing it halfway. He stood in the hallway for a moment, then smiled and joined Allie in the living room.
John had come inside, and she was trying to justify her shopping trip.
“I just wanted to get him a few things.”
John looked at the clothes, toys, dishes, diapers, and brand new stroller. “Okay, honey.” He kissed her.
“You’re placating me.”
“No. I love you.”
Abe cleared his throat. “Okay, you two.”
John laughed. “I’m going to take a long shower, then go to bed.”
Allie smiled. “Wait up for me.”
Abe covered his ears. “Geez, Mom.”
“We like to talk before bed.”
“Right. Can we talk about something else? Show me what you got.”
“Well, first, let me show you this.” She held up a T-shirt with ‘Yee Haw’ written on it.
“Wow, Mom. Please tell me you didn’t get one of those for me.”
“You need to wear your Rocco’s T-shirt and help advertise the booth.”
“I am planning on doing that.”
“Maggie should wear one too.”
“Maggie can wear whatever she wants.”
“Of course. Get to work on the stroller while I sort through this stuff.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
He looked at the picture on the box. “This is a really fancy stroller.”
“I expect you’re going to be an active father. He’ll get a lot of use out of it.”
“Active?”
“Yes. What with all the motorcycle racing and snowboarding you’re planning on doing with my grandson.”
“Right.” He took out his pocket knife and sliced open the box. “Let’s see what we got here.”
Thirty minutes later, Abe had the stroller together, and he stood back to admire it. “Not bad.”
Allie came in from the kitchen. “Finished already?”
“I’m rebuilding a twenty-year-old Toyota. I can build a damn stroller.”
She pushed it around the room. “This will be perfect.”
“It’s so nice I hate to take it out in all the dust at the rodeo grounds.”
“It’ll be fine.”
“Thank you for this and all the other stuff.”
“You’re welcome.” She went to him and hugged him, then wiped a tear from her cheek. “We bought a new stroller when you came along. The one we bought for Wes had been through three boys. It was time for a new one. Then that one lasted through Luke.”
He hugged her. “Go to bed and talk to Dad. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Goodnight, honey.”
She left the room, and Abe sat on the couch, then picked up Kai’s rodeo T-shirt.
“Yee haw.” He set it on the couch and smoothed out the wrinkles.
“Papa. How the hell am I someone’s papa?
” He heard Kai fussing, and he got to his feet.
After turning off the lights, he headed for the bedroom. “I’m coming, kid.”