Jalen didn’t know why she was so nervous about giving her sisters the information because it wasn’t as if it were a bad thing. It honestly could have been worse because they could have been finding out some no-good bum was their father instead of this great person who was willing to take responsibility for them all, either way.
She jumped slightly when she felt hands on her waist because she hadn’t known that Rohan had followed her into the kitchen. However, she leaned back against his chest and breathed in the smell of his cologne for a few seconds.
“Everything is going to be fine,” he told her. He removed his hands from her waist and reached around her to grab the cookies and brownies.
Jalen nodded, and they returned to the table. Jalen retook her seat beside Rohan and across from Kodi. The teenager raised a brow in question, and Jalen knew she was asking if they were going to deliver the news. Jalen nodded at her, waiting for everyone to grab a dessert.
“Girls,” Jalen called, getting her sister’s attention. “Vega and I have something we’d like to tell you.” She waited until she had all of their attention before continuing. “A few weeks ago, Landon was spending a lot of her time on the phone, and I thought she was talking to some boy at school. When I asked her about it, she told me she was talking to her dad.”
“What?” Mikal asked. “That’s why she was being so belligerent?”
Jalen cut her eyes at Kodi, and her little sister simply mouthed,Sorry. Since she’d taught the eleven-year-old that word a week ago, she used it whenever she could.
“I was not,” Landon responded. Before an argument could start between the two of them, Jalen interjected.
“The man she was speaking to was Vega.”
The table went silent for a moment, and all the girls, aside from Kodi, turned to look at Vega, who was sitting at the end of the table. Jalen had made the conscious decision not to sit there because she didn’t want the hypothetical spotlight Vega was now receiving.
“But,” Jalen continued before anything was said. “We don’t know if he’s actually Landon’s father.”
“What do you mean?” Landon questioned.
Jalen thought about how to best answer that question, but it was Kodi who spoke. She explained the mix-up with the way her name was printed when she’d done the genealogy test at school. Since their middle names were so similar, it sounded like he’d been using Landon’s when it was Kodi’s.
“So, he’s Kodi’s dad,” Landon whispered.
Jalen watched her little sister for a long moment as she took the time to process the information, and she could see the exact second that disappointment entered Landon’s eyes. Vega must have seen it as well because this time, he spoke.
“That doesn’t mean that I may not be your father, Landon,” he said. “Your mother and I were in a…relationship for many years until we stopped seeing each other nine years ago.”
Jalen watched Landon look from Kodi to Mikal, and she could see the pieces falling into place in her little sister’s mind. It was like watching a lightbulb come on. Landon opened her mouth only to close it again and swallow.
“You’re saying you could be the father of all three of us?” Landon inquired after a few seconds, gesturing between herself, Kodi, and Mikal.
“Four,” Vega corrected her, gesturing to Jalen, and Landon snapped her attention to her.
“I…have so many questions,” Landon responded.
“I know,” Jalen told her. “And I’ll answer whichever ones I can.”
“And if Jalen can’t, I’ll do my best to,” Vega supplied.
Jalen then turned her attention to the twins, who were eating their brownies, so she wasn’t sure if they’d been listening at all. However, she wouldn’t leave them out of the conversation.
“Nathan, Omari. Do you understand what we’re talking about?”
“Sure,” Nathan responded. “Vega might be your dad,” she supplied with a little shrug.
Omari nodded. “Yep, but not us because we’re only six and that’s less than nine.”
Well, that’s one way of putting it, Jalen thought.
“And you’re both okay?” Jalen asked.
“Yeah, because we don’t feel left out,” Omari told her.
“Right, because we have Rohan,” Nathan responded with an innocence that only a child could have when saying something so impactful. Jalen went to correct them when she felt Rohan’s hand on her thigh.
