“I don’t know.” Skepticism must have shown on his face because she held up her hand. “I swear. I tried to call her the first day at the campground and her number’s no longer in service.”
“When was the last time you heard from her?”
“The day we finalized the adoption. Once that was done, she was gone and I haven’t seen her or heard from her since.”
“If there are documents to amend, they’ll probably need to serve her.”
She stared at the chicken on her fork without raising it to her mouth. “Anything we do to amend his birth certificate will lead back to the original, which could nullify the adoption because Oliver wasn’t his to surrender.”
He blew out a breath, running a hand through his hair. “But Kelly’s still his biological mother and, since I’m his biological father, you and I should be able to adopt him together. Both states do second parent adoption.”
“I think that’s for unmarried partners who live together, though.”
“We need a lawyer, Siobhan,” he said, even though it was hard to watch the fear that settled into her features. “Do you know if she and the other guy are still together?”
“I don’t know, but I doubt it. He didn’t seem like the long-term type.”
“So what happens if they void the adoption and Kelly decides to keep him and get child support and health care from me until Oliver graduates from college?”
Siobhan’s chin lifted. “She wouldn’t do that.”
“Really?”
“If you’re going to go into bitter ex-husband mode and trash my sister, I’m going to leave and you can walk back to the campground. By the time you get there, we’ll be gone.”
Brian didn’t believe for a second Kelly deserved that kind of loyalty, but he also had three brothers of his own and knew he had to tread carefully. Sibling relationships could be messy, but they ran deep.
“I’m not trying to trash her,” he said. “But she lied to you, Siobhan. She lied about the possibility I could be Oliver’s father and she lied to you about our marriage.”
“Using a child she didn’t want to raise and hurting me just to get money out of you is different than lying to get out of a relationship she didn’t want to be in anymore. And we need to stop talking about this right now because he’s only two, but…you know.”
“Okay. I’m just trying to say that you and I are on the same page, but we’re not the only people involved.”
“We would be if we just leave it alone. You and I can figure it out like reasonable adults, without involving lawyers and courts.”
Not when it came to his son. And Brian knew Siobhan didn’t believe it, either. She was reacting out of fear, and nothing he could say was going to mitigate that. They needed professional advice on how to go forward.
“I think you and I have a lot of misconceptions about each other,” he said, and she nodded. “You’ve handled this with so much grace and generosity, and I know we can do this together. But I’ve exchanged promises before and then had the future I’d envisioned ripped away with no warning. If this goes the way I hope, I need it to be made legal.”
She looked at him for a long time, her eyes searching his, and then the corner of her mouth twitched. “The way youhope?”
He looked at Oliver, who grinned at him with ketchup smeared halfway across his cheek, and his heart squeezed like a fist in his chest. “Yeah.”
“Time for ice cream!” Oliver declared, and as far as Brian was concerned, it was the best way to put an end to the conversation.
He groaned and put his hand over his stomach. “I forgot until just now that I have to play volleyball this afternoon. I’m probably going to regret those French fries.”
“So no ice cream for you?” Siobhan said, cleaning up the small amount of mess Oliver had made and depositing it on his plate.
“I didn’t say that. I just said I’m going to have regrets.”
Her laughter lightened his mood, as did the joy of watching a toddler thoroughly enjoy a bowl of soft-serve vanilla ice cream with chocolate jimmies. Oliver even offered him a bite and being fed melting ice cream from a spoon that trailed vanilla and jimmies across the table and down Brian’s chin filled him with a quick burst of happiness he hadn’t felt in a long time.
By the time Siobhan dropped him off at the front of the campground so she could go give her sticky son a more thorough scrubbing, Brian was looking for a few minutes to decompress. Rather than heading for where he knew they’d be putting the volleyball net up or going into the store, he let himself into the house.
He was hoping for a few minutes alone, but he should have known better. Joey was rummaging around in the fridge, and he looked up when he heard Brian come in. “Hey, you’re back.”
“Whatever you’re looking for, we don’t have any.”
