Love's Suicide: Love's Suicide (32 page)

They were still going
to hate me anyway.

The most important thing was B’s safety. As long as we had a home to sleep in until I could figure things out, nothing else mattered. Even if they hated me, they’d love her.

Chapter 42

Pulling up in front of the house that I’d grown up in was bittersweet. My parent’s house next door was for sale again. Brooks got out and stretched before getting B out of the little back
bench seat. Our eyes met before we walked up the sidewalk and he came around to take my hand. “We’re in this together, Kat.”

I was scared to death to see these people and even more concerned about life in general. With so much on my plate I worried if visiting them was even a good idea.

Brooks knocked on the door, and when I heard footsteps coming I began to freak out. I started to back up, but he grabbed my hand and pulled me back at his side.

The door opened and all eyes were on me. I couldn’t see what was
happening, because Danica was already hugging me. “Katy, oh my God. I can’t believe it’s really you.” The tears were a given, and feeling her holding me made my worries all seem to begin to fade away.

Then I heard her gasp. I turned to see her looking at B. She was clinging to the strings of Brooks’ army hoodie and hiding her face.

Danica looked from me and then back to Brooks. He broke the silence. “Mom, I think you should let us in.”

She backed up, while staring at our daughter. Once we got into the foyer, B turned and started looking around. That’s when she knew, without a doubt, that the child was a Valentine. “I’d like you to meet my daughter, Brooklyn.”

The woman broke down, covering her mouth as she began to bawl. Brooks walked up and hugged his mother for the first time. When she pulled away, she just kept looking at her, crying. B swatted at her face. “No cry.”

Danica smiled and dried her eyes. “
Hi. I’m your grandma, Brooklyn.”

“We call
her B, so she doesn’t get confused when she hears my name,” Brooks explained.

Then Danica turned to me. I was a babbling mess, trying to manage the feelings of betraying them and also the lies that we were about to tell. “I’m so sorry,” was all I could come up with.

Then Walt walked into the room. He was looking down at his camera. “Sorry, I just needed to replace the batteries.” He looked up and saw us standing there, two women in tears, a son with a big smile, and a child completely confused.

“Hey, D
ad. Long time no see.”

Brooks took my hand as he watched his dad look at B and then turn to me. Before he could ask, Brooks cleared his throat. “Look, we know we have a lot of explaining to do. Can we get settled for a while first? B needs a fresh diaper and I
know she’s probably starving.”

Danica took over, going into complete parent mode. “
I’ve already made a turkey, and Dad got those sweet rolls you both love.”

Brooks stopped her. “Mom. Breathe. I know it’s a lot to take in, but we’ll be here for a week, so how about we take a breather, go unpack and meet you in the dining room?”

She nodded. “Okay.”

B wanted to get down. She wriggled her way out of his arms and Brooks finally let her
stand. She looked up at Danica and started swinging her body from side to side.

Danica bent down
to her eye level. “Do you want something to drink?”

“Chocate mulk.” I laughed when I heard her respond.

Danica smiled while tears still ran down her cheeks. “Well, okay. Let’s go see if we can find some of that.” She looked up at me. “Is it okay? I can change her, if it helps?”

I handed her the bag. “Sure. Thank you.”

Walt walked over to me. It took him a second, but then he pulled me into his arms. “Welcome home, Katy.”

I clung to him, finally realizing that I never should have left. We were a family, after all, and we could have worked through things. “I missed you,” was all I could say. “I missed you so much.”

I was crying so hard that Walt couldn’t let go of me. Brooks finally came up and patted me on the back. “Let’s go up and get settled.”

I pulled away from Walt, feeling a little
embarrassed. Then I saw the tears in his own eyes. “We really missed you. Both of you.”

Brooks shook his dad’s hand.
“I’m sorry it’s been so long, Dad. We just needed time.”

I felt his hand grabbing mine as we walked up the stairs. When we got to the hallway he stood there for a second. “Yours or mine?”

I shrugged. “Yours?”

We went into his room, which was exactly how he’d left it. I sat down on his bed and watched him kneel in front of me. “How are you doing?”

“They don’t hate me.”

He placed his hands on my knees.
“I know you’re freaking out. Close your eyes and breathe, Kat.”

I did as he said and my breathing finally calmed.

“Is it better?”

I nodded. He stood up. “We should prob
ably put B in your room. I bet Dad even has some of those things in the attic so she won’t fall out of bed.”

“How can you be so calm about this?” It was driving me crazy.

“Because they can’t change anything. We’re here and B’s here. It is what it is. It’s also the same reason that I came after you that first night. I couldn’t change what’s happened, but I sure as hell could change the future.”

“You told me that we’d never be together.”

He laughed and shook his head. “I said that so you’d push me away. If you were happy then I wasn’t going to ruin it for you.”

“You’re unbelievable.”

“I’d like to think I’m generous.”

“Not fighting for me is stupid, plain and simple.”

“It’s a good thing I didn’t have to. You came to your senses faster than I thought you would.”

He leaned in and kissed me, so softly that it instantly became more. We went from sitting in front of each other, to him lying on top of me on his bed. My hands were under his shirt running up his warm skin. I wanted him to make all of my worries go away. Finally he pulled away, and laughed. “We need to go downstairs.”

I grabbed him between the legs. “Are you sure?”

Brooks stood up and readjusted himself, so his erection wasn’t as noticeable. I couldn’t stop staring at it and licking my lips. He pointed at me. “Stop it. You can have yo
ur way with me later. Right now we need to go downstairs and clear the air. You’re clearly stalling.”

I rolled my eyes and held out my arms for him to pull me to a standing position. When I got up next to him, he brushed my lips with his thumb. I close
d my eyes and whispered, “I love you, Brooks.”

He kissed me one more time,
passionately. “Not as much as I love you, Kat.”

We changed our clothes
since it was no longer chilly outside, and headed downstairs. Walt and Danica were sitting at the table with B. She was propped up with old phone books eating some cut up turkey. They both smiled when we came in. “Grab the mayonnaise when you walk by the refrigerator, will ya?” Walt acted as if no time had passed. I smiled and grabbed it, while Brooks sat down next to B. It was a little awkward sitting there in silence as they thought about what to ask us first.

I knew they’d have one burning question and I was fully p
repared to answer it. Rather than have them nervous about asking, I decided to just blurt it out. “She’s Brooks’ daughter. When I found out I was pregnant I had them check on the date of conception several times. I wasn’t with Branch at all the whole month of December. Brooklyn was born September 11
th
, if you need to check on the math.”

Not only
did I shock both Danica and Walt, but Brooks put his hand on my knee and gave me a crazy look. “Now that you know, can we talk about something else?”

For a few seconds the room felt extremely tiny. I felt like the biggest idiot. “Sorry. I know you were going to ask and I also know that Brooks and Branch have identical DNA. Anyone would want to know.”

Danica reached over and smiled. “Katy, we weren’t going to ask.”

I was confused. I’d been engaged to Branch and was claiming that one night with Brooks had gotten me pregnant. Anyone would question that. “I don’t understand. You’d just believe me?”

Walt cut in. “We assumed Branch told you. When he proposed to you, we told him to tell you.”

“Tell her what?” Now Brooks wanted to know.

“Branch can’t have kids. He was born with a tumor on his testicle and they had to go in and cut out part of the tube that sends the semen into the penis. He’s sterile.”

My mouth dropped. “He knew I wanted children,” I mumbled.

Brooks started laughing uncontrollably. “That bastard. I can’t believe the levels he stooped to keep us apart. You’re telling us that he knew he couldn’t have kids?”

“That’s exac
tly what we’re telling you, son,” Walt stated.

Brooks grabbed two rolls and dropped one on the
plate in front of me. “This day just keeps getting better.”

I kicked him with my foot under the table, as if we were kids again. He was acting inappropriate and he knew it.

“Sorry, we were just worried that you’d think we were lying to keep Branch from B.”

Walt folded his hands. “I’m feeling a bit disturbed myself, Katy. It seems there’s a lot of things that Branch did that we weren’t aware of. If we would have known, we never would have let you accept his proposal.”

Danica cut in. “Of course not. Katy, we knew how Brooks felt about you. I never could understand what made you pick Branch. I mean, I love both of my sons, but they’re very different. I should have said something back then, I suppose.”

I placed both of my hands palms down on the
dining room table. “Brooks and I have decided that we’re not going to dwell on what’s already been done. We can’t change any of it.” I looked at Brooks. Aside from his shoving half of a sandwich into his mouth all at one time, he was still smiling. “We just want to move forward, with our daughter and our future.”

B started laughing from across the table. I turned to see the culprit and noticed Brooks showing her his mouth full of food. I hit him with my elbow. He crunched his body up and started coughing and laughing at the same time. B laughed more.

“I can see that some things haven’t changed.” Danica laughed too.

I took a deep breath and look around the table. “How about we start over?”

“Katy, you’re home. As much as I would have loved to be a part of your life for the past two and half years, I understand why you felt like you had to leave. I’m not going to lie. That morning you left was a day I don’t like thinking about, but aside from sending everyone home with their gifts, it wasn’t so bad. Walt and I were worried what would happen when you finally saw Brooks again. My mother used to tell me that absence makes the heart grow fonder. You two grew up in the same house. It wasn’t hard to believe at all.”

“I didn’t want to hurt anyone
. I left because I couldn’t bear to see your faces. I thought you’d hate me.”

“We were angry that we let it go as far as it did. Branch hasn’t always been forthcoming, but he made it a point to shove everything about the two
of you in his brother’s face. We accept blame for allowing it to happen. The fact that you two found each other again, just proves that it’s right.”

Brooks grabbed my leg and squeezed it. I looked at him and saw him winking. “She thinks you were going to make her sleep in the
tree house.”

“We might make you sleep there, but not Katy
, and certainly not little Brooklyn, who’s obviously named after her father.” I could see the love in Danica’s eyes and knew that she’d forgiven me. For the time being, I felt happy.

Sure, I wanted to kick the crap out of Branch and his faulty balls, but I had a
n idea that Brooks was going to handle that for me.

I looked over at my beautiful little girl and finally felt like she’d have the family that I always wanted for her. I could see her coming to visit and celebrating the holidays being spoiled like crazy.

Just knowing that made me feel blessed. I had Brooks to thank for it all. We may have been running from our problems at home, but I’d never felt safer than how I felt at that very moment.

Chapter 43

We spent the entire afternoon catching up. Danica wouldn’t let B get two feet from her. She changed, fed and played with her. Walt took a dozen pictures, making sure to get some of the three of us. I knew they’d be our first family photos together, deeming them priceless.

They
wanted to know all about my time away, in which Brooks filled in the blanks with his cleaned up version, that didn’t include my marriage or the fact that I’d kept him from knowing he had a child. By dinner time, they were done with the questions and only wanted to know when they could come visit. The good thing was that I owned my house. I’d had it built from part of my inheritance money. Once I got my legal issues settled, they could come and visit and have plenty of room.