“Wise man,” Vanessa says.“I tend to agree with her most of the time anyway, at least, to her face.”
I laugh.
“But even if she weren’t here, I’d say it’s a bloody brilliant idea,” Cillian says.“You’re going to be an amazing mother.Any bio-mom would be very wise to choose you for her baby.”
It hits me then that it’s exactly what adoption is—someone has to choose you to ensure the happiness of the child they aren’t keeping.That’s a lot of trust.“They couldn’t choose a better mother.”I smile.“I’m happy for you.”And mad at Richard, but that’s a different issue entirely.
We eat dessert to celebrate her news, and then we open gifts, and we generally have an amazing night.Cillian’s just leaving when I realize that Mason never showed.We didn’t really need the cheeseball, but after Cillian’s gone and the kids are in bed, I’m royally miffed to have to drive over to his place to pick up the puppy for tomorrow morning.
Freaking jerk.
If he got drunk and passed out, I’m going to kill him.
But when I reach his place, he’s not alone.There’s another car in the drive.I reallyaman idiot.How did this not occur to me?I jog up to the door, half-mortified I’m going to have to interrupt whateverthisis, when I realize the front door isn’t even closed fully.
He’s arguing with someone, and I can hear it.
I freeze when I realize I know that voice.
It’s my former best friend Tiffany.
“—course the boys are yours.I can’t even believe you’re asking that.You had to have known they were yours.As if myhusbandcould have fathered them.”
“Tiffany, you have alifein Austin.You have a home, and now you’re free to do what you want.”
“Are you saying you don’t want me here, that you don’t want be close to your boys?”
I shift so I can see through the crack in the door.I have to widen it, just a bit, but I can see them, backlit by the kitchen lights.
“Can you keep your voice down?”Mason hisses.“You’re going to wake them up, and imagine how they’ll feel if they hear your wild accusations?”
“What’s next, Mason?”she shrieks.“Do you know how hard it was for me to get here,eight months pregnant?” She wraps her hands around a very large belly.“But now that my useless husband is finally dead, I’m free, and you aren’t getting out of everything this time.”
I’ve become so distracted that I nearly fall over when I feel something warm on my foot.The stupid puppy Cillian bought has crept away from the anger and yelling, and now he’s peed on my foot.I can’t blame him, really.I’m at least as upset as he is.
I crouch down and pick him up, and then, like the coward I am, I sneak back out to my car.It shouldn’t surprise me to hear that Mason’s the father of Tiffany’s boys, but somehow, it does.I’m literally shaking as I drive back to my place.
The math isn’t hard to do.
Eight months pregnant means Mason fathered that child...while I was here in Ireland, maybe even the day I saw them together.That child is going to be my kids’ half-sibling, just like Tiffany’s boys.And judging from her words earlier, she’s not about to drag Mason back home.
I think she’s moving here.
My Irish escape is starting to feel like some kind of terrible Irish prison, and even though today was one of the happiest I’ve had in a long time, I sit down in the kitchen with a fuzzy puppy on my lap, and I bawl my eyes out.
28
Vanessa
Growing up without siblings felt hard to me.
When I found Samantha and Natalie, it felt like my family was finally complete.I was about eleven when my parents dragged me to a family reunion for people I’d never met.It was my dad’s extended family, and they lived in Ohio, and it was cool there in the mornings, even in the summer.The part of that family reunion I remember the best was the three-legged race.
Mom tied my leg to a cousin I barely knew, explaining that we were close to the same size, so we’d be a good team and might win.When we practiced walking, the bandana around my ankle and the other one around my knee hurt, and the little girl, whose name I’ve since forgotten, didn’t seem to like it much either.After the race started, we quickly fell behind, and I had to watch as bigger and much more connected teams flew toward the finish line.Their legs seemed to move as though they were all connected, their inside legs shifting together, and the outside legs moving at the same time.
Our legs wobbled, and when I started too soon, I yanked on her leg.When she took off early, she tore on mine.It was frustrating all around.I’ve decided that while you’re dating someone else who has children, especially children who aren’t even the same age, it’s a bit like a three-legged race, trying to sync your families.
When my children were quite young, Jason and I used to wake up at the crack of dawn on Christmas Day, but now all of us sleep in until eight in the morning before opening gifts.Jack’s kids are still in the up-before-sunrise stage.So when we talked about Christmas morning, and he expressed an interest in opening gifts together, suggesting we meet at six a.m., I laughed.
