"Honey, nobody can make that decision but you. Not even the father."
"Why do you have to be so sensible?" I grumbled and sat on the sagging brown couch.
"I'm repaying you for being sensible when I thought we should get married at eighteen and leave town."
"In hindsight, I wish we had done it."
He shook his head. "No, you were right. We aren't meant for each other."
"Easy to say now that you have somebody."
"I wouldn't have her at all if you'd said yes."
That was cold comfort, but he was right. He knew Brenda before their parents began dating, but they'd never spent any time together. Once their parents put their families in the same house for dinners and holidays, Brenda and Danny talked about what it was like growing up in a single-parent household. They discovered how much they had in common, and a relationship grew from there.
It hadn't occurred to them to expect the reaction they got from their parents. No one was happy for them; they insisted they were related now and that it was wrong. There were no blood relations between Danny and Brenda, yet everyone from our small town shunned the idea of the two of them being in love. They were ostracized from their families and no longer invited to gatherings. Brenda hadn't seen her brother in almost a year. It was completely absurd.
I wished I'd been there for Danny when he was going through that, but we hadn't spoken in a few years. I couldn't bear to be around him once he'd asked me to run away with him. We would have crashed and burned, ending our relationship in bitter divorce. I was glad we hadn't made that mistake, at least.
"Honestly, Danny, I think I should tell him."
"Okay. Do you want to call him or visit him?"
"I don't know where his Boston house is, only the one here in Chester."
He picked up my hand, and it nearly disappeared in his large grasp. "Then it sounds like you should call him."
With my gut churning, I pulled my phone from my pocket and dialed Burke's number. I wasn't entirely surprised to hear his voicemail recording, disappointed that it was robotic and not his real voice. It would have been nice to hear it again.
"Hi, Burke, it's Kinsley. I know you're busy, but I need to talk to you, so call me, please."
Putting my phone down on the couch beside me, I let the tears fall. They seemed to be ever-present, and only partly due to hormonal changes.
"Just wait for him to call you back. He deserves to know you've decided to keep it, and he should be involved."
I dropped my head to the back of the couch and sighed. "And if he doesn't call me back?"
"I think he's a fool for leaving you in the first place, but if he's into illegal stuff, you don't want to be part of that."
"I hate to say I would change for him if it meant he would want me, but I don't know another solution." I squeezed my eyes shut for a second, thinking of being the wife of a mob boss, and then looked over at Danny. He never judged me, just sat and listened.
"Sweetheart, you're perfect the way you are. Some things aren't meant to be."
"But this little one is meant to be?"
He gave me a half smile. "It appears so."
The front door opened and Brenda came in, dropping her purse on the counter and making her way into the living room. When Danny stood to greet her, they hugged, and I looked down at my lap.
"Hey, Kinsley. How do you feel today?"
"Same as every day. Like an idiot."
Pushing her long blonde hair behind her ears, Brenda sat on the coffee table and picked up my cold hands. "Danny and I have been talking." Brenda glanced at Danny, who nodded, then looked back at me. "We're going to move, and we want you to come live with us."
Tears welled up in my eyes again, and I dashed them away on my shoulder. "No, guys, really. I can't impose on you like that."
"Give it some thought, okay? We've been looking in Bristol for reasonable apartments. Danny is pretty positive he can find work, and I've sent out my resume already."
