Chapter 25
LEAH
"Did somebody say party?" Fiona stepped through the open door, into my house. In her hands, she carried a plate of cheese and crackers.
"Looks like the whole gang is here," Whitney said from where she sat on the couch. "There's nothing like a birthday to bring everyone together. Although, the Wilsons' gender reveal was pretty wild."
"I told you, you don't need to make a fuss over me." I shook my head at them. After a beat I added, "Wait, is there something you want to share with the rest of us?"
"Yeah, Whit, out with it," Connor said. He and Riley were in the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on lunch. "Who knocked you up?"
Whitney scoffed. "No one, that's who. I was just making a comparison, smart ass."
He flashed her a quick smirk before turning back to slicing sourdough bread.
"Hey, happy birthday!" Fiona gave me a one-armed hug before placing the plate down on the table.
I hugged her back. "Thank you."
"Can you believe she wasn't going to tell anyone?" Riley asked, shaking a piece of cheese in my direction.
"It's really not a big deal," I muttered. "I'm just another year older, that's all."
"Our woman's birthday is a huge deal," Connor said. "You deserve a bigger party than this." At short notice, they managed Sunday afternoon lunch, leaving Seth and Charlie in charge of a group of snowboarders. Not too many this early in the season.
"I hate to agree with him, but you do," Brooks said.
"You've never had a fuss made of you on your birthday.
" He and I shared a meaningful look. His father and my mother made a fuss of him, but it was always over the top, like he owed them something for remembering the day. I couldn't decide what was worse.
"You deserve it." Josiah put an arm around me and pulled me to his side. "You should be celebrated every day."
"Which reminds me, Brooks and Josiah, you need to tell me when your birthdays are so I can put them in the calendar," Riley said. "Josiah, I bet you'd love a surprise party." He grinned.
Josiah responded with a flat stare. If they tried pulling something like that on him, he'd probably turn and walk back out the door. He was even less inclined to be fussed over than I was.
"No surprise parties," I said firmly. "Unless you're projecting and you want us to throw you one."
"Riley would be ecstatic if you did that," Connor said. "Before you ask, I will fucking stab anyone who gives me a surprise party."
"What will you stab them with?" Riley asked. "Because if you're talking about your cock—"
"With a blunt knife," Connor told him.
"Can we not talk about my brother's cock?" Whitney grimaced. "No surprise parties, we get it."
"Remember that time we threw a surprise party for Francine Davis?" Holly was applying a layer of icing to a cake she brought with her. She'd declared she’d make it herself as soon as she heard it was my birthday. It was a little lopsided, but looked delicious.
Both Fiona and Whitney laughed.
"Oh my God, I'd forgotten about that!" Whitney was almost doubled over. "We were supposed to set up in her house, but her sister forgot to tell her parents about it." She shook her head, laughing too much to continue.
Fiona took over the story. "It was a Thursday afternoon. As it turns out, her parents like to walk around the house naked on a Thursday. So when we let ourselves in, there they were." All three women were laughing so hard, tears poured down their cheeks.
"That, right there, is a good reason not to have surprise parties." Connor waved his knife in their direction. "Sometimes the birthday person isn't the one to get surprised."
That made them howl even harder.
"I think it might have affected their brains," Riley remarked, but he was smiling as much as they were.
"No, Whitney was always like that." Connor moved the sliced bread to a big plate and carried it over to the table. Along with that was a selection of meat, cheese and various other things to make sandwiches with.
"Only since you were born," she quipped. "I was perfectly normal before that."
"The only person who can dispute that suggestion is Josiah," Connor said. He quirked an eyebrow at the older man.
Josiah raised his hands. "Leave me out of this."
"You don't remember kid-Whitney?" Fiona asked.
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. I'm still not weighing in." Josiah stepped over to the table and pulled out a chair, gesturing for me to sit.
"I think that's wise," Brooks said, sitting on the other side of Josiah. "No good could come out of that."
"None," Josiah agreed.
Everyone took their seats and started to make their own sandwich, and pour themselves wine, or got beer from the fridge.
"I'd like to propose a toast." Riley held up his beer bottle. "To the most beautiful woman in the whole hollow."
"It's so sweet of you to toast me,” Whitney deadpanned.
"I meant Leah," Riley said. "You're the equal second-best looking, along with Fiona and Holly."
Whitney regarded him for a moment, then smiled. "Good save, Mr Crane."
"I thought so, Miss Ferguson. Now, where were we?" Riley scrunched his brow. "Right we were saying happy birthday to Leah. Happy birthday, gorgeous."
In unison, everyone said happy birthday, making me blush like crazy.
"Thanks," I muttered, my chin almost to my chest. "Let's eat." If only to deflect from the attention.
Fortunately, that was what everyone did, digging into the fresh ingredients and talking amongst themselves.
As for me, I quietly basked in everyone's presence and the fact they'd all turned up for me.
Every one of them. I'd known them for a handful of months and they still took the time out of their Sunday to celebrate with me.
Brooks might have anyway; he'd surprised me with a gift of a few books. I hadn't expected anything from anyone else. Which was exactly why I hadn't told them about my birthday. I was worried they'd make a fuss. Okay, part of me was worried they wouldn't. That they'd shrug and no one would care.
The worry was silly, and unfounded, but there it was.
But the reality? I had a feeling, with more notice, they would have thrown a bigger party. Just as well they didn't.
"This is so good," Holly said, groaning around her mouthful. "What's in the sauce you made, Connor?"
He shrugged. "A bit of truffle, some other stuff. Secret recipe."
"It's delicious," I told him. I wasn't disappointed he'd decided not to become a chef, because he loved what he did, but he really was good in the kitchen.
"There's nothing nasty in there is there?" Whitney gave him the side eye, then looking dubiously at her half eaten sandwich.
"What sort of nasty?" Riley asked, barely containing a smile. "Like cum?"
"I was thinking anchovies, but yeah that too." Whitney wrinkled her nose. "He knows how much I hate them."
Connor scoffed. "You can't even taste them. But no, there's none of that in there."
"This time," Riley said ominously. "Beware of future mayonnaise."
Connor pulled off a piece of crust and threw it at him. "Bro, I don't put shit like that in my food."
"Of course you don't, that would mean having to share," Riley said.
"Yeah, let's go with that," Connor said.
Whitney was still giving him a doubtful look, she resumed eating.
"I'm sure he wouldn't put anything gross in there," I assured her.
"Not knowing you're going to eat it," she agreed. "He'd totally do that to me though. One time, he made a cake with salt instead of sugar."
"That was an accident," Connor said from behind gritted teeth.
"It was not," she scoffed. "You replaced the sugar with salt and forgot you did it."
He opened his mouth to argue, then shrugged. "It was worth it to see the look on your face."
"You bit into it too," she said with a laugh. "I wish I had a camera to take a photo of the expression on your face. And how fast you spat it out."
"I remember that," Riley said. "That was hilarious. Worst. Cake. Ever. Hey, Holly, there's not salt in the one you made, is there?"
"I guess you'll have to wait and find out," she said looking cagey while forcing back a smile.
Connor broke off another piece of crust, this time throwing it at Holly. "If you put salt in Leah's cake…"
Holly caught the crust and threw it back, hitting him in the side of the head. "Score!"
"What the hell?" He wiped crumbs off his head, while Riley and Brooks struggled not to laugh.
Josiah leaned over and spoke in my ear. "This is why I stay away from people." But he seemed as amused as everyone else, if in a quieter, more reserved way.
"That's very wise," Fiona told him. "I've met people. Some of them are very dubious. Most of them are sitting around this table."
"Including you," Riley told her.
"Especially me.” She laughed. "They say you can judge a person by the company they keep. Look at mine." She gestured around the table.
"You must be awesome, because we are," Whitney said. “Right, Holly?"
"Precisely," Holly agreed.
My phone beeped with an incoming text message. I considered ignoring it, but then realised it might be my mother, wishing me a happy birthday. Or maybe one of my city friends.
I picked it up and tapped at the screen, frowning at the preview of the message.
"Shit," I whispered.
"What is it?" Riley was practically shoving Brooks out of the way to take a look.
"The hell, dude?" Brooks pushed him back. "What is it, Leah?"
"The DNA results," I said. I wasn't expecting them on a weekend, but according to the message they were in my inbox.
"You want to look at them now?" Josiah asked softly, his hand on my shoulder. "We won't mind if you need to step away."
Whatever I needed, they'd understand and be there, even if I asked them all to leave. Which I wouldn't. The last thing I wanted was to be alone right now, with this in front of me.
Before I came to town, I would have done just that. Asked them to leave, or I would have left. Or I wouldn't have told them anything, I would have put the phone back down with the screen facing away. I would have waited until I was alone and dealt with it by myself.
But now I had all of them, my found family, sitting around my table looking at me and worrying that I was okay. If I thought about it too much, I might cry.
I shook my head. "I don't mind if you're here.” I realised how that sounded and added, "I mean, I'd appreciate the support." I sat staring at the screen until it went black, then stared for a good few minutes, trying to get up the nerve to open the screen again and open the message.
"It'll be there if you want to look at it later," Whitney said gently.
"I need to know," I whispered. I closed my eyes for another minute or two, then opened them and tapped on the screen. Opened my inbox and looked at the message in black text, contrasting with all the grayed out, already opened messages.
"Here goes." I clicked on the email. Scrolled down and clicked on the attachment.
It opened, displaying a letter with the letterhead of the DNA company on the top. I read the whole thing, once, twice. Trying to comprehend the words. Trying to believe what I was seeing in the results section.
I frowned.
"I don't understand."