Chapter Seventeen #2
The laminate flooring was cool and it helped, as did the cool, damp cloth on the back of her neck. He lifted her head slightly before lowering it onto some kind of lumpy pillow, and when the scent of him filled her senses, she realized it was his sweater.
“Siobhan,” he said, his voice very close to her head. “Look at me.”
She reluctantly opened her eyes and found Brian lying on the floor next to her, his head rested on his outstretched arm. Siobhan looked into his blue eyes, oddly comforted despite the power this man had to break her heart and destroy her life.
“I don’t want to take Oliver away from you.”
Her breath caught and a tear slipped out, running down into her hair.
If she hadn’t already been on the floor, she might have collapsed as relief sapped the strength from her body.
Untangling the mess Kelly had made of their lives was going to be a tough process, but she could get through anything as long as she had Oliver.
“You’re his mother,” Brian continued, and the words helped calm the storm of emotions inside of her. “But I’m his father, and that’s what we need to figure out.”
Siobhan wasn’t sure if he intended for his words to be an ultimatum or not, but she heard one. As long as she didn’t stand in the way of his parental rights, he wouldn’t mess with hers.
“Okay,” she whispered hoarsely, barely managing the single word.
She knew she should get up. The dizziness was gone and she felt steadier. But Brian’s face was relaxed and lying on the floor together felt so much less adversarial than facing each other across the table.
Then Stella crawled in between, her belly low to the ground, and Brian laughed. The dog licked his face and then wiggled her back against Siobhan. She smiled as she ran her fingers through Stella’s soft fur, and then her hand stilled when her fingertips brushed Brian’s.
He just smiled and kept rubbing his dog.
Siobhan shifted her hand to scratch between the dog’s ears and for a few minutes, the three of them were just content to hang out on Brian’s kitchen floor.
By tipping her head, she could see Oliver’s feet and the book he had propped open on his legs.
He was still lost in the picture book, oblivious to the goings-on in the kitchen.
“I’m sorry about that,” she said after a while. “I don’t know what came over me. It’s been so much and now it’s actually official and this is happening. Forever.”
“It’s a lot. I’ve had to sit down and put my head between my knees a few times myself.
” He paused, rubbing Stella’s belly. “And I get that I’m overwhelmed by what I’m gaining, so I can’t even imagine how it feels to worry about what you stand to lose.
So I just want to say again, right up front, that what I really want is for you and me to find a way to co-parent Oliver and nobody loses anybody. ”
Even after the week they’d spent together, it was so hard for Siobhan to wrap her head around this Brian lying on the floor with her and offering reassurance being the Brian her sister had been married to. How had Kelly given this man up so easily? It didn’t begin to make sense to her.
She slowly pushed herself to a sitting position, not at all surprised when Brian leaped to his feet to help her up. Once she was back in the chair, she gave him a sheepish grin as she accepted a glass of water.
“I’m not usually this dramatic,” she told him.
“This is all extremely intense. I get it. But I also think part of why it’s so intense is not knowing what lies ahead, so we’re both going to be off-kilter until it’s settled.
I’ll ask around and get some recommendations for a decent lawyer who’s as affordable as possible so we can start getting an idea of our next steps. ”
He sounded sincere, but alarm bells went off, drawing attention to the little voice in the back of her mind that remained skeptical.
Perhaps it was being raised by a manipulative mother, but she couldn’t be sure Brian wasn’t trying to make her drop her guard.
If she believed they were going to happily share Oliver, she might not pay attention to him pursuing legal options behind the scenes with a lawyer who technically worked for him.
She didn’t want to believe that, but when it came to Oliver, she couldn’t just go on faith.
“I hope you won’t be offended, but I’ll have my own lawyer.”
He thought about it for a few seconds and then nodded. “I understand that. But maybe I can pay one to do the initial consult and get an idea of what we’re working with, and then you’ll know what you need from yours. Save some time and money, perhaps.”
“Okay.”
“Okay. In the meantime, I want to show you something.” He stood, so she did the same, and he went to the living room first. “Oliver, do you want to see the upstairs?”
Of course he did, so Siobhan took him by the hand. He was pretty good at stairs, but he was also excited about exploring a new place. And Stella was pretty excited, too. They didn’t need a fall.
It took Brian a minute to get the baby gate open, and then they were held up again by the second baby gate at the top. She tried not to laugh at him, but some amusement squeaked out and he rolled his eyes at her.
“I’ll get it eventually.” Once they were in the hall and he’d secured the gate behind him, he pointed. “That’s my room and there’s the bathroom. But in here.”
Siobhan stepped into a room that was very clearly Oliver’s bedroom.
There was a box with a picture of a toddler bed frame, complete with side rails, on the label.
A small mattress wrapped in plastic leaned against the wall.
There was a toy box with some plastic trucks and stuffed animals in it, and a low bookshelf with more brand-new books on it.
There was that gut punch again, but this time she was able to shake it off quickly. Of course he’d need a room for Oliver. “This is amazing. You got all of this this morning?”
“Yeah. I figure after you’ve been here a few times, maybe we can try a sleepover. You know, when he’s ready. But this is what I wanted to show you.”
Siobhan turned, and that’s when she saw the framed photos on the wall.
The family photo, with Oliver sitting on Leo’s lap.
There was also a small picture of Nora and Oliver, their heads bent in concentration as they painted their rocks.
Next to that was Oliver in the grass with Stella, pointing to something in his book while the dog looked on eagerly.
There was an 8x10 photo of Brian helping Oliver toast a marshmallow.
And right next to that one, an 8x10 of Siobhan and Oliver taken during the reception. She’d been holding him—dancing, so to speak—and Oliver had his hand pressed to her cheek while they laughed.
“I wanted him to have family photos in his room, so Rob sent them to me and I had them printed and bought frames this morning.” He smiled at Oliver and then at her before turning back to the wall. “This is who Oliver’s family is to me and there’s no world in which that doesn’t include you.”
She breathed in slowly, taking in the images of all the people who’d fallen in love with Oliver over the course of a week, and who’d never once tried to push her out. It calmed her fears in a way no words ever could. “Thank you.”
“Let’s have a day of hanging out and just making this a comfortable place for Oliver. Then the rest, we’ll get through it together.”