Brenden sighed and explained everything to his mother and sisters, starting from the first time he and Stephen met. He’d left out all the juicier details for his mother’s sake, but knew he would get a call from his sisters later. He ended his story with finding out about baby number two. The three women were speechless, which was surprising to him. They reminded him of a bunch of cackling hens whenever they heard a juicy story.
“You need to figure things out, Brenden, before you try to make a commitment to anyone or anything,” his mother told him, and he noted that was the second or third time he’d heard that in the past few weeks.
“Am I that indecisive that people keep telling me that I need to figure things out?”
“I wouldn’t say indecisive,” his sister Marisol said. “More black and white. It’s either your way, or nothing at all. There’s no gray area where you’re concerned.”
Both his mother and other sister nodded, and Brenden shook his head disagreeing with them.
“I would love to meet my grandchild; I won’t push you. But when you are ready, I would like to meet them both.”
He looked at his sisters who were staring at him. He was waiting to hear them call him out on his shit, they never held back when putting him in his place. “You know, I’ve been thinking about this for a while now,” Carmella started. “And I don’t know how you will take what I’m about to say, big bro. I don’t think you loved Kathie as much…”
“What are you trying to say?” Brenden interjected. “Of course, I loved her.”
“No, I think Carmella is right,” Marisol added. “I believe you liked the idea of her. A spouse and kids. You were looking for that perfect person to give you that perfect family.”
“That’s not true,” Brenden argued.
Carmella sighed and leaned forward, taking his hands. “Listen, big bro, you hate having even the slightest amount of drama in your life, hell I don’t know one person who does. But Kathie wasn’t the one for you. We knew it then, and we tried to tell you, but you wouldn’t listen. I haven’t met this person yet, but if he has you this twisted up, I can assume how stupid you acted when he told you about the kids.”
“What I feel for Stephen is not the same as what I felt for Kathie.”
“No, it’s not,” Carmella told him.
“That’s because for the first time you’re truly in love with Stephen, and Kathie you weren’t,” Marisol repeated. “Look, I know you were hurt when she cheated on you. And I can only assume the reason you divorced her was she bruised your manly ego more than anything else.”
Leave it to my sisters to tell me what they think, without a buffer for my feelings.
“Can you honestly say if Kathie walks back into your life right now with the same situation as this Stephen that you would take her back?” Carmella asked.
Brenden was ready to say yes, but couldn’t set his mouth to say the word. “Shit,” was all that came out, he was waiting for his mother to chastise him.
“Our point exactly,” Carmella said with a smug expression on her face.
“No need to look so damn smug,” he muttered.
“Like Mamma said, you will need to figure out what you want. But if I were you, I wouldn’t let him get away without giving it a chance first.” Brenden nodded and remained quiet as the surrounding conversation changed to other topics. He was thinking about what his sisters had said to him. They might not believe it, but he loved Kathie at one point. Maybe his feelings for Stephen were much stronger than he had thought.
Later that day Brenden parked in the spot marked for visitors and got off his bike, stowing his helmet and pocketing his keys. He opened the door and stepped into the room looking for Stephen, who was not there or had probably showed up early. The waiting room was empty except for the receptionist.
He walked over to the young woman at the check-in desk. “Hi, can I help you?”
“Ah, yeah, I was wondering if Stephen Young showed up yet?”
She looked at him with a critical eye. “Are you a member of the family? Because if you’re not, I cannot give you any information.”
Brenden understood that. “Yeah, sort of, I’m the father of the baby.”
It seemed she still didn’t trust him, and that irritated him. He was about to say something when he heard Stephen speak up behind him. “It’s okay, Cindy, he’s with me.”
She smiled for the first time since Brenden walked up to the desk. “Hi, Mr. Young, how are you feeling today?” She got up and handed him a clipboard. “You know the drill. I will let the doctor know you’re here.”
Stephen took the clipboard and sat down. Brenden followed, feeling out of place. Stephen quickly filled out the form and rested the paperwork on the chair beside him.
A few minutes later, Cindy called Stephen’s name. “Mr. Young, come on back and I will get your vitals.”
Stephen got up, and Brenden went to do the same but was stopped with a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll be back in a few, this won’t take long.” Stephen walked over to Cindy and handed her the clipboard then walked into the back of the room. True to his word, he was only gone for a total of five minutes. He sat back down beside Brenden.
