This is always in the favorites album in my phone.
And there was an old photo of four young boys. It had the grainy look of an older print photo that Lisa had taken a picture of with her phone, but Siobhan got the message. Not only were the Kowalski genes so strong that they were basically a stamp on Brian and his brothers, but if Oliver was digitally added, he’d look like he belonged. The resemblance really was uncanny.
Despite the heat in the room, Siobhan was shivering, and after handing his phone back to him, she crossed her arms and tucked her hands under her arms. Part of her wanted to walk out, but she wasn’t sure her legs would support her.
“I didn’t see it until you smiled at him up on the hill,” she said quietly. “He just had a growth spurt and part of it was his face changing and losing some of the baby fat so he looks like a little boy now and I haven’t seen you in a long time and I’ve certainly never seen you smile at me like that, so I just didn’t see it.” She realized she was babbling and forced herself back on track. “I know this is hard for you, but you also need to know that I’m his mother and I’m not conceding a damn thing without a paternity test.”
“Five bucks says my mother’s already got the instructions for how to do that loaded on her phone.”
Siobhan closed her eyes briefly, and then sighed. “Zero chance we keep this between us, I guess.”
“Since half my family knew before I did, no, there’s no chance.”
“Great.”
“My parents accused me of causing the divorce by having an affair with you,” he told her, and the underlying tremor in his voice made it hard for her to swallow.
“I’m sorry this is happening, Brian. Maybe I should go. I know Steph will be devastated, but I’m sure one of her cousins can stand in for me. I think it’s important that there be boundaries until we know for sure, one way or the other.”
He looked at her for a long time, his expression unreadable, before he spoke in a low voice. “No. I don’t want you to go.”
* * *
Brian had no idea what the right thing to do was in this situation, but he was sure of one thing—he didn’t want Oliver to leave the campground. And keeping the boy around meant he had to convince Siobhan to stay.
He’d known this week was going to be tough, but he didn’t think it was going to turn his entire life upside down.
Maybe.There was a chance this was all a strange coincidence and the test results would come back proving his ex-wife had a baby with some guy she’d cheated on him with and then his former sister-in-law had adopted him. He couldn’t let himself get attached, just to have his emotional rug yanked out from under himagain.
It was already too late, though. He knew Oliver was his son as surely as he knew Mike and Lisa were his parents.
“I know we’re all blown away right now,” he said, “but Steph’s getting married and she’s so excited about this wedding. She’d be crushed if you left.”
“I’m sorry it’ll be hard for Steph, but I don’t want to be here.”
Even though he’d spent the last several years nurturing a serious dislike for this woman, Brian tried to put himself in her place. He imagined what it would feel like if he had a child and when he showed up at a campground, an entire family tried to claim that child as their own.
He and his kid would be out of there so fast he’d probably leave a cartoon puff of air behind him and half his tire tread out on Route 3 from peeling out of the campground.
“I understand,” he said. “But look, it’s a long drive. You and Oliver just spent hours in the car. By the time you could pack everything up again and eat, it’ll be late and it feels like an even longer drive when you’re exhausted. At least spend the night and see how you feel tomorrow. I’ll keep my family in line.”
“You have to tell them,” she said quietly. “You can’t let them believe that you and I…you know.”
“I was pretty emphatic about that not being a possibility, but yes. I’ll tell them what we know to be true. You adopted Oliver from Kelly, who was still married to me when he was conceived, and it seems likely—though not certain yet—that she lied to both of us.”
“I don’t want…the family names, you know? Until we know for sure if those are his aunts and uncles and grandparents out there, I don’t think it’s healthy for anybody to go there yet.”
Daddy.
Brian scrubbed his hands over his face, willing his voice to be steady even though his entire body was trembling. “That’s fair. Just as a heads-up, though, my family loves kids in general so they’re going to be all over him, but that would be the case no matter whose kid he is. Some random camper could show up with a toddler and by thetime the parents unhooked the camper, the kid would be sucked into the Kowalski vortex.”
“Okay. But as a heads-up right back at you, if I get uncomfortable, I’m going to take him into the camper and we’ll stay inside until we leave tomorrow.”
“Fair enough. I can send them a text now, so we don’t have to talk about it when we go out there.”
When she nodded, he pulled up the family group chat on his phone. It took him a minute to compose the text message, especially since his hands were trembling slightly and he kept messing up so badly even autocorrect wasn’t sure what he wanted to say.
Kelly is Oliver’s bio mom and the math says he could be mine. Siobhan adopted him, but K lied to her about our situation and she didn’t know. S might stay if we don’t make it awkward. Will do paternity test after wedding. Until we get the results, be chill and focus on the wedding, please. And don’t blow up my phone with replies or I’ll block all of you.
