* * *
Brian was alone in the store, pretending he needed to deal with a vendor issue while actually just hiding from his family, when his brother Danny arrived. He was towing a trailer with stuff for the wedding, so he pulled alongside the pool. Even though Brian knew he probably wanted to know where they wanted the stuff before heading into narrow campground roads with the trailer, he’d hoped he’d keep going.
While he might be good at hiding his feelings from most people, he wasn’t sure he could hideI kissed the mother of the child I didn’t know I had last nightfeelings from his brothers.
He wasn’t even sure what they were himself, so he certainly couldn’t explain them to anybody else.
“Hey, Danny,” he said when his brother walked in. Brian knew from the way he looked at him—concerned and with a dash of amusement—that he’d been filled in on the news already. “I guess you’ve heard.”
“This is one of the few times I don’t even need to ask you to be more specific. How are you holding up?”
“Honestly? I don’t know. Nobody’s avoiding me or,on the flip side, fussing over me, so I must look like I’m doing okay.”
“I’d say you didn’t answer the question, but I feel like you did. How are things between you and Siobhan?”
“I knew her being here was going to be hard, but this? Didn’t see it coming.” That was an understatement, and he had to actively concentrate on not spilling everything, either verbally or with his face. “I guess we’re doing okay, all things considered. I appreciate that she didn’t take Oliver and run home that day because being here can’t be easy.”
Danny nodded. “Showing up to be your friend’s maid of honor and having your sister’s ex-husband and former in-laws lay claim to your kid? I would have run.”
“I’m laying claim tomykid,” Brian bit out. “Probably.”
His brother’s eyebrow shot up. “Are you going to try to have the adoption overturned?”
“Not if she doesn’t make me do it.” His shoulders dropped as he shook his head. “No. That’s shock and fear and I don’t even know what talking. Siobhan hasn’t given me any reason to think she’ll keep Oliver from me once the test makes it official, and I certainly don’t want to take him away from her.”
“So you’ll share custody, basically, like if you were a divorced couple with a child.”
“Something like that.” He wasn’t sure why that made him sad. It was the best he could hope for, really. They both knew the kiss had been a mistake, and this was a big reason why. Whatever was between them just made a messy situation messier. “I try not to think about the future too much because there’s still the very, very slim possibility it’s just a coincidence and he’s a dark-haired kid with blue eyes.”
“Mom and Gram both said it was like looking at one of us, and it’s not as if they were looking for it. It was just there and they couldn’t miss it.”
“We’re holding off on the hard discussions until after the paternity test, obviously, but that’s basically a formality as far as everybody’s concerned.” He sighed. “And then? We’ll take it one step at a time, I guess.”
Danny chuckled. “The easiest solution might be getting married and then adopting him as your stepson.”
“No.” If last night had taught him one thing, it was that he and Siobhan could definitely not live in the same house platonically, no matter what they might tell themselves and each other going into an arrangement.
“Why? Then you get divorced, but because you adopted him, you’ll do a standard custody agreement, which is essentially your end goal, anyway.”
“Again,no. There’s nothing easy about that. One, we’d all have to live together for at least six months after the wedding before they’d do it, and then we’d have to turn Oliver’s life upside down all over again when we split.” He paused and blew out a breath. “And two, there would be new paperwork, but that guy’s name would still be on the original and I want him erased.”
“You’ve looked into it already, then.”
“Of course. Not a lot because we’re busy and I’m only using my phone because one of the things we do in the store when we’re bored is dig through the computer’s search history and give each other a hard time.”
“You need to accept that no matter how the paperwork gets accepted, that original will probably still exist. Maybe you just need to keep your eyes on the road ahead and not look in the rearview mirror.”
“That’s good advice,” he said grudgingly.
“I’m offended by how surprised you sound.” Danny sighed and looked out the window at the truck and trailer. “Where am I dropping this stuff, anyway?”
“You can drop the trailer in any empty site for now. Most of it isn’t getting set up until tomorrow, and we can move the trailer with the tractor when it’s time. Rob and Joey were able to do some mowing and trimming because we only got a quick shower and then the sun came out with a vengeance.”
“With Dad and Gramps supervising, I imagine.”
“Of course.” Brian closed the binder he’d been flipping through, and stowed it under the counter. There wasn’t any sense in even pretending to work anymore. “How’s the writing going?”
“I’d rather talk about the septic system. Or things you’ve skimmed out of the pool. Or almost anything else.”
