Chapter Twelve
“Sorry. I’m doing it again, aren’t I?”
Siobhan smiled at Danny, who’d definitely been watching Oliver with an intensity she hadn’t seen since their first day at the campground. “A little bit.”
“It’s uncanny. I’m only three years older than Brian and five years older than Rob, but I have some fuzzy memories of them at that age.
And there are a ton of pictures, of course.
” He winced, pressing his palm to his forehead for a moment.
“Sorry again. Brian threatened terrible things if we made your stay awkward.”
She liked Danny. They’d met for the first time when Brian married Kelly, and he’d gone out of his way to socialize with her and Janelle, as well as the smattering of acquaintances Kelly had lured to the wedding with free food to balance the bride’s side of the aisle with the groom’s.
“Trust me, day one was probably the most awkward day of my life,” she said. “We got past that, but you just got here and, like you said, it is uncanny.”
“Notice how I timed my arrival for after The Annual Kowalski Volleyball Death Match Tournament of Doom,” he said, giving her his own version of the endearing Kowalski grin that had blown up her life.
“You’ll notice we saved you plenty of potato salad, though.”
When he groaned, she laughed and he joined in. Oliver, who was a few feet away, painting a rock with what Terry had assured her were washable paints, laughed with them even though he had no idea what was happening. He just knew laughing with Mommy was fun and made her happy.
Danny pointed at the streaks of green in Oliver’s hair. “Not only making the rock into a frog, but himself as well, is dedication to the activity.”
“I figure once he’s done painting himself green, I’ll just dunk him in the pool.” As expected, Brian and Rob—who were in conversation not far from them—both turned to face her, and Rob was actually about to say something when she laughed. “I’m kidding.”
After his brothers returned to their conversation, Danny gave a low whistle. “You really picked up quick on how to push their buttons.”
“It’s almost too easy.”
They lapsed into silence, watching the rock painting activity.
It looked as if it was wrapping up, with the teens and some of the adults already cleaning their brushes.
Most of them had chosen to paint flowers, which would be set around the bottom of the rented arch.
A few of them had gone rogue, including her son, and painted whatever struck their fancies.
Because it wasn’t something she could stop no matter how often she lectured herself, she shifted so Brian was in her peripheral vision.
He’d been standing with his brothers Rob and Joey for about ten minutes, with his hands in his pockets.
There was something in one of his pockets because she could tell he was fiddling with something.
A pocketknife, she’d thought, but now he pulled it out and rubbed his thumb over it.
It was a small gray rock. And after a moment of watching him turning it in his fingers, she realized it was the rock Oliver had given him before running off to play their first day in the campground.
There had been a lot of clothing changes between then and now, which meant it was a treasure he was deliberately keeping, and she had to blink away a sheen of tears.
It had to be so hard for him, falling for a child who might or might not be his.
For all of them, actually, but especially for Brian.
And yes, even Siobhan had to agree there was almost no chance Oliver wasn’t his biological son, but until the test was done, there was a very slim chance it was just the worst coincidence of physical features ever.
Siobhan knew that very slim chance her son wasn’t Brian’s was the best case scenario for her.
She and Oliver would be free to resume the life they’d been living and this would just be a memory of a strange vacation she didn’t want to revisit.
But she couldn’t wish that kind of heartbreak on Brian or his family.
Even though he’d only known Oliver for a few days, he would be devastated.
They’d managed to avoid being alone for even a second today, and moving through different family conversations so they were always talking to other people was a dance they’d mastered the steps to.
And it held for the remainder of the evening when Brian was tasked with helping move the rocks to the makeshift table in the garage they’d made with a sheet of plywood across two sawhorses.
Because Oliver had gotten as much paint on himself as he had the rock, she had a good reason to excuse them to get cleaned up.
When they reached the site, she had him sit on the step while she got the worst of the paint off with a cloth and plain water. Washable or not, she didn’t want him leaving smears and handprints all over the interior.
By the time she scrubbed all of the green paint off of Oliver and then off of herself and then out of the shower in the camper that didn’t belong to her, Siobhan was exhausted.
Luckily, Oliver was worn down, as well, and he didn’t seem the least bit interested in getting re-dressed and going back outside.
“Where’s my frog?” he asked once they were in pajamas.
“It’s going to dry in the garage while you’re sleeping, and then they’ll put a clear spray on it to keep the paint safe.”
“Then I can have it back?”
“Yes. You’ll get to bring your froggy home with you.”
He rubbed his eyes, and she wondered if he’d make it through a single story tonight. “Home?”
Siobhan ran her hand over his dark hair. “We’ll sleep here three more times, and then we’ll go home and you can show your froggy to Auntie Robin.”
He grinned. “And go to school?”
“You can probably bring it to school. We’ll see.” Siobhan knew her life was made immeasurably easier by the fact that Oliver loved his daycare program. He wanted to share everything with his teachers and friends, but it was a big rock. “Which book should we read tonight?”
“Beep beep!” Oliver yelled, grabbing the book out of the pile, and heading for the bed.
Siobhan knew going to bed early meant getting up early, but Oliver was going to drop into sleep one way or another. He might as well be in bed for the night when it happened.
Sure enough, it was barely full light when Siobhan sipped her coffee the next morning, listening to her very excited son talking about his frog rock. And she tried not to think about Brian running his thumb over the small rock he kept in his pocket.
Hours later, when breakfast was over, the men headed out with the ATVs and side-by-sides for a day on the trails. Today was serving as the bachelor and bachelorette parties, with the men taking the groom out into the woods, apparently.
For most of the women, the fact that the men would be gone all day was enough of a party, but there were some fun activities planned.
Robin had helped Siobhan pull together a few basic bachelorette party games last-minute, and with a few family traditions and an impressive mimosa pitcher added in, it promised to be a good day.
“We’re definitely playing Scrabble,” Terry announced when they were all gathered together with nothing to do but enjoy themselves while Cat played with the younger kids on the playground.
Siobhan looked at Steph, wondering what her friend’s reaction would be to playing a board game at her bachelorette party, but judging by the grin and bouncing on her toes, she was excited about it.
That didn’t make any sense to Siobhan, but she had to admit a bachelorette party probably landed differently when your mother and grandmother were in attendance. And when it came to word games, Siobhan usually crushed her competition, so she was in.
“Wait,” she said, holding up her hand. “Do you mean actual Scrabble? Or is this some kind of Kowalski-fied Scrabble of Doom where we use a slingshot to pelt each other with letter tiles and have to spell out words with the ones we can catch before they take our eyes out?”
They all stared at her for a minute, and then Emma laughed. “That actually sounds super fun. We should try that some year.”
Siobhan held up her hands. “Did you miss the part where they take your eyes out?”
“We’d wear safety glasses, of course.”
“It’s the board game,” Steph said.
Keri nodded. “The actual game, with standard Scrabble scoring, along with a bonus double word score for any word you shouldn’t say in front of the kids.
Any if there’s a word you can’t bring yourself to say out loud at all, even if there aren’t any kids nearby, you get a bonus triple word score.
We’ve changed it a bit, though, as the kids got older, and you also get a bonus triple if it’s a word Gram would smack you with a wooden spoon for saying in front of her. ”
Siobhan nodded, considering. “Does she actually hit us with a wooden spoon?”
They all laughed when Mary very slowly reached down and adjusted the tote bag on the ground next to her, folding over the top so nobody could see inside of it. Siobhan doubted she actually had a wooden spoon in there—though she wouldn’t have bet against it—but she loved the woman’s sense of humor.
“Oh, we do have one somewhat coed activity, too,” Siobhan added. “Low risk of personal injury, I think, though I make no promises because…well, you know. And I’m not going to tell you what it is, but just so you know to leave a time slot.”
It was a game Robin had suggested, but Siobhan hadn’t been sure how it would go over with people she hadn’t met.
But she’d gotten to know the Kowalski family pretty well and they were exactly the right players, so she’d mentioned it to her counterpart, the best man.
Wes had immediately been on board, but they were both a little out of their element as far as supplies, so they had to get Brian involved.
When she’d explained it to him, he’d laughed and said they would absolutely make it happen.
“I’m intrigued,” Steph said, leaning forward. “Can we get a hint?”
“Nope.”