“I’ve never really paid attention to sports, so I imagined a grubby bar with angry men yelling obscenities at televisions.”
“Only during the playoffs.” Kevin’s laugh echoed through the dining room, and then he slid a napkin across the table. “My friend Paulie—well, and her parents, I guess—they know a lot of well-connected people in Boston.”
Siobhan frowned. “Like the mob?”
“No.” He paused, tilting his head. “I mean,maybe. But in this case, no. She explained your situation to a very close family friend who happens to be a family court judge.”
Siobhan’s skin prickled as she leaned closer to Brian, trying to see the napkin he’d picked up. There was a name and address, along with a date and time, scrawled across it.
“Bring the paternity test results with you to that meeting, and be prepared to answer a lot of custody-type questions and do a lot of talking. Bring a written co-parenting plan. Both of you need to be there, and you can bring your lawyers even though you won’t need them, and she’ll sign off on amending the birth certificate and adoption so you’re both legally Oliver’s parents.”
It sounded too good to be true, and Siobhan took the napkin from Brian. “And she can do that? It’ll be legal?”
“Yes. She’s not doing anything she wouldn’t do eventually, anyway, but it’ll save you a lot of time and money and headaches waiting for hearings and all that.” He shook his head. “Somebody dropped the ball here because Kelly should have had to prove paternity before the adoption because she was legally married to Brian at conception so he was, by default, the presumed father. It’s right there in the dates. Hell, she shouldn’t have been able to put that other guy on the birth certificate without a test. The divorce shouldn’t have been finalized without one. There was a glitch in the system somewhere, and the judge is going to maketheir mistakesright without dragging it out. That’s all.”
“I don’t understand,” Brian said, shaking his head. “Just like that?”
“Just like that, though it’s not really that simple. It’s a favor called in on behalf of family by somebody the judge knows and trusts.”
A tear slipped down Siobhan’s cheek and she thrust it at Brian. “Take this before I accidentally wipe my eyes with it and smear the writing.”
Kevin laughed. “I have a text from Paulie with the info, too. She sent it to me and I’ll forward it, but we just like writing important things on napkins around here.”
“I noticed the framed napkin with lipstick kisses over the bar,” Siobhan said.
“Beth and Lily, back when Lily was tiny,” he said with a smile full of love and nostalgia.
“And my brothers and I wrote the business plan for buying the campground on the back of a Jasper’s napkin,” Brian said.
Kevin snorted. “Playing pretty loose with the wordsbusiness plan.”
“Hey, we own Birch Brook Campground and it’s going pretty okay.”
Kevin laughed and then nodded at Siobhan. “See? That’s the magic of a Jasper’s napkin. Now how about we introduce you to the magic of a Jasper’s burger?”
* * *
“That was amazing,” Siobhan said, pushing her empty plate away. “I can’t believe I ate all of it.”
Brian gestured at his also empty plate. “I know how you feel.”
“I think knowing that everything’s going to be okay—legally, I mean—was this huge weight off and I’m not even worried at all about Oliver because he’s with your parents. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this relaxed.”
“It does feel good. Every time I think about the mess we were in, it drags up a lot of stuff for me and I’m looking forward to being able to close that door forever.” He held up a hand. “No, I won’t say more because she’s your sister, but it’ll feel good to not have to revisit that anger again.”
“No, my relationship with my sister is over. It was never great, but now… I’m angry, too. When I asked for her help to sort this out, she told me it’s my problem. And I’ll never forgive her for what she stole from you and Oliver. Never.”
He reached across the table and laced his fingers through hers. “I’m trying to forgive her.”
“She doesn’t deserve it. Especially from you.”
“Maybe not, but if she’d been honest from the start—whether Kelly stayed in a marriage that made her unhappy or we divorced—you wouldn’t be Oliver’s mom and that’s not a trade-off I’d ever make.”
She sniffled, squeezing his fingers. “I hadn’t thought about it like that.”
“I have, because I don’t want to spend any more of my life being mad at a woman who’s not even part of it anymore. I missed out on Oliver’s baby years, but I have him now and he won’t even remember a time I wasn’t his dad. And you’re his mom.”
His phone buzzed in his pocket and he let go of her hand to pull it out and read the message. “Speaking of moms.”
