Chapter Nine #3
Siobhan managed to fend off conversation for a while by focusing on Oliver.
She drew shapes on the back of his placemat and they went through color names as he used crayons Kenzie provided to color them in.
He watched them in silence, wishing he could find the right words to restore their easy way with each other, but nothing occurred to him and eventually their food arrived.
He watched her preparing Oliver’s meal for him—
cutting the larger pieces of popcorn chicken in half and moving fries around to cool them off. She popped one of the French fries into her mouth, and he laughed when she immediately ate a second while very obviously avoiding looking at him.
“I told you the fries are unmatched,” he said, pointing one at her before putting it in his mouth.
“I don’t know about unmatched, but they’re very good.” Once she was satisfied Oliver’s food was cool enough, she squirted a dollop of ketchup next to the fries and slid the plate to him.
After centering her own plate in front of her, she took a bite of the popcorn chicken and smiled as she chewed and swallowed. “Okay, these might be unmatched.”
He nodded, but he knew his return smile was forced as the distraction the food arriving had offered faded and his mind returned to his ex-wife. “Speaking of your sister, since it may or may not be relevant in the near future, where is Kelly living these days?”
“I don’t know.” Skepticism must have shown on his face because she held up her hand. “I swear. I tried to call her the first day at the campground and her number’s no longer in service.”
“When was the last time you heard from her?”
“The day we finalized the adoption. Once that was done, she was gone and I haven’t seen her or heard from her since.”
“If there are documents to amend, they’ll probably need to serve her.”
She stared at the chicken on her fork without raising it to her mouth. “Anything we do to amend his birth certificate will lead back to the original, which could nullify the adoption because Oliver wasn’t his to surrender.”
He blew out a breath, running a hand through his hair. “But Kelly’s still his biological mother and, since I’m his biological father, you and I should be able to adopt him together. Both states do second parent adoption.”
“I think that’s for unmarried partners who live together, though.”
“We need a lawyer, Siobhan,” he said, even though it was hard to watch the fear that settled into her features. “Do you know if she and the other guy are still together?”
“I don’t know, but I doubt it. He didn’t seem like the long-term type.”
“So what happens if they void the adoption and Kelly decides to keep him and get child support and health care from me until Oliver graduates from college?”
Siobhan’s chin lifted. “She wouldn’t do that.”
“Really?”
“If you’re going to go into bitter ex-husband mode and trash my sister, I’m going to leave and you can walk back to the campground. By the time you get there, we’ll be gone.”
Brian didn’t believe for a second Kelly deserved that kind of loyalty, but he also had three brothers of his own and knew he had to tread carefully. Sibling relationships could be messy, but they ran deep.
“I’m not trying to trash her,” he said. “But she lied to you, Siobhan. She lied about the possibility I could be Oliver’s father and she lied to you about our marriage.”
“Using a child she didn’t want to raise and hurting me just to get money out of you is different than lying to get out of a relationship she didn’t want to be in anymore. And we need to stop talking about this right now because he’s only two, but…you know.”
“Okay. I’m just trying to say that you and I are on the same page, but we’re not the only people involved.”
“We would be if we just leave it alone. You and I can figure it out like reasonable adults, without involving lawyers and courts.”
Not when it came to his son. And Brian knew Siobhan didn’t believe it, either. She was reacting out of fear, and nothing he could say was going to mitigate that. They needed professional advice on how to go forward.
“I think you and I have a lot of misconceptions about each other,” he said, and she nodded.
“You’ve handled this with so much grace and generosity, and I know we can do this together.
But I’ve exchanged promises before and then had the future I’d envisioned ripped away with no warning.
If this goes the way I hope, I need it to be made legal. ”
She looked at him for a long time, her eyes searching his, and then the corner of her mouth twitched. “The way you hope?”
He looked at Oliver, who grinned at him with ketchup smeared halfway across his cheek, and his heart squeezed like a fist in his chest. “Yeah.”
“Time for ice cream!” Oliver declared, and as far as Brian was concerned, it was the best way to put an end to the conversation.
He groaned and put his hand over his stomach. “I forgot until just now that I have to play volleyball this afternoon. I’m probably going to regret those French fries.”
“So no ice cream for you?” Siobhan said, cleaning up the small amount of mess Oliver had made and depositing it on his plate.
“I didn’t say that. I just said I’m going to have regrets.”
Her laughter lightened his mood, as did the joy of watching a toddler thoroughly enjoy a bowl of soft-serve vanilla ice cream with chocolate jimmies.
Oliver even offered him a bite and being fed melting ice cream from a spoon that trailed vanilla and jimmies across the table and down Brian’s chin filled him with a quick burst of happiness he hadn’t felt in a long time.
By the time Siobhan dropped him off at the front of the campground so she could go give her sticky son a more thorough scrubbing, Brian was looking for a few minutes to decompress.
Rather than heading for where he knew they’d be putting the volleyball net up or going into the store, he let himself into the house.
He was hoping for a few minutes alone, but he should have known better. Joey was rummaging around in the fridge, and he looked up when he heard Brian come in. “Hey, you’re back.”
“Whatever you’re looking for, we don’t have any.”
“Too late.” Joey held up a jar of pickles and closed the fridge. “I’d warn you that you were the number one topic of conversation over lunch, but you probably know that already.”
“The kid wanted popcorn chicken.”
“Taking a right out of the campground and driving a few minutes up the road doesn’t seem like tough directions to give.
” When Brian flipped him off, Joey leaned against the counter and set the pickles down so he could cross his arms in big brother mode.
“This is one of the messiest situations anybody in the family’s ever gotten into, and everybody’s just afraid you’re going to do the one thing that would make it a whole lot messier. ”
A familiar anger triggered by his family being up in his business rose up, but he didn’t allow himself to react until he had it under control. If ever he’d been in a situation that affected all of them, it was this one.
“I was talking about their fries and she said I could join them, so I did. I’m super grateful everybody’s handled this so well, but it was nice to have a break from the goldfish bowl.”
“And that’s it?”
What, exactly, was Joey getting at? There was no way he could be implying it was some kind of date. “We talked a little. Kelly came up, and that was tense.”
He sighed, wondering where his dog was. Stella either hadn’t seen him come home or she was getting so spoiled by belly rubs or food she didn’t care.
“She came up in what capacity?”
Brian snorted. “She’s a pretty central character in this drama we’ve found ourselves in. But to answer your question, I asked where Kelly lives now and Siobhan doesn’t know.”
“She doesn’t know where her sister lives?”
He could understand the skepticism, but not every family was like theirs.
“She said she hasn’t seen her since the adoption was finalized and my gut says Siobhan hasn’t lied to me.
And before you ask, yes, there’s a chance we might have to involve her, but that’s a next week problem. This week’s about the wedding.”
“Yeah, the bride’s been walking around with the ball for twenty minutes, trying to get people to show up at the playground.”
He snorted. “She probably thinks she’s going to win because nobody can play rough with the bride three days before she walks down the aisle.”
“She’s a Kowalski. She should know better.” Joey chuckled. “But still, dibs on being on Team Bride.”