"Are the two of you planning to have kids?" I asked.
Brenda gave me a small smile. "We're hoping to start a family soon. Things are just a little stressed at both our jobs, and we'd have a hard time taking family leave and making ends meet."
"Can I help you in any way?" I offered tentatively. The last thing I wanted was to offend either of them, but they'd helped me immeasurably when they barely had two coins to rub together.
"I don't want your charity," Danny snapped. Finn frowned at his tone of voice, scooting closer to me.
When I held out my hands, he climbed onto my lap. "It wouldn't be charity, it would repay you for your kindness."
"The answer is still no."
"Thanks for the offer, though," Brenda was quick to say. "I appreciate you thinking of us, but we'll figure something out."
I nodded. "I understand." After all, my husband's evil deeds tainted our money.
"At any rate, I can't believe how big this little guy has gotten."
Smiling at Brenda's change of subject, I put my thoughts on the back burner.
The following day, I had plans to visit my parents. Danny and Brenda would stay at the house, though Brenda offered to ride over with me and remain in the car in case I needed support.
Since I didn't travel anywhere alone, Billy and Levi accompanied me. It was tempting to ask at least one of them to come inside and act as a buffer, especially since my newfound courage had waned in Chester. There was something about that city making me feel like the mousy little girl I used to be. Though they hadn't answered the phone, I knew my parents would be home based on the intel Oliver gathered for me. He'd watched the house for the past several days to ensure it was safe to visit, and he knew when they would return home from work. It was their usual schedule, which I wasn't sure they'd kept.
With an enormous intake of breath, I rang the doorbell, pushing out the air and kissing Finn on the head. Not much fazed him, thankfully.
My mother opened the door, surprise clear on her face. "Um, hi, Kinsley."
"Mother. Despite you dodging my calls, I came to introduce you to Finn, your grandson."
"Who is it, Jules?" Tom came around the corner from the living room, halting six feet from the door with a dumbfounded expression.
"It's your daughter, the one you forgot existed, and your grandson, whom you haven't met even though he's almost a year old." Neither of them spoke or moved, and I sighed. "Can we come in?"
"Oh. Sure."
Julia backed up, and I entered the house I grew up in. Nothing had changed except the way I viewed it. There were signs of neglect in the dust gathered on the television console, the dingy floors, and the smell of old cooking lingering in the air.
"Why are you here?" Tom demanded. Somehow, I couldn't even think of them as Mom and Dad anymore, and it seemed the feeling was mutual.
Struggling to remain calm, I said, "To pay you a visit, as I said."
"I mean here in Connecticut. Don't you live in Massachusetts now?"
"Oh, so you do know I'm still alive and where I live."
"Don't take that tone with me, young lady."
I snorted. "I'll take whatever tone I damn well please. You treated me like crap growing up, and you've pretended I don't exist since I moved."
"You ran off when that man knocked you up! That's not our fault."
"I moved to Bristol with my friends, and I told you that's what I was doing. Once I got in touch with Burke, he stepped up and married me."
"Sounds real romantic."
Frustrated tears burned my eyes, but I was done crying over the people who gave me life. "All I want is for you to acknowledge your grandson. I don't even care if you hate me, but he doesn't deserve that."
"I don't want to know anything about that devil's spawn," Thomas spat.
