Pregnant By The Panther

Diesel nodded and turned stiffly leading the way as if he were back in the Navy.

“He’s in shock,” Sonya said to Andrew who nodded.

“So am I,” he said. “He looks just like me,” he smiled the n followed Diesel.

“Right,” said Keith rubbing his hands together, “Where’s the food at?”

Sonya guided him to the refreshment table excited for Diesel but also to get to know his half-brother.

Chapter Seven

Knowing Me, Knowing You

There was a cheese platter on the coffee table, a cooler full of beer and chips and dip. Diesel had to admit that Sonya had thought of everything. He was still reeling. He hadn’t expected this, to be honest he hadn’t expected anything. His birthdays had always been quiet affairs, his mother giving him a quarter to splurge on candy. There had never been a party, hardly a cake; one time Diesel had blown a candle off a doughnut.

And now he was at a birthday party in his honor meeting his father; two things his mother hadn’t deemed necessary for his life.

Diesel waited for Andrew to take a seat before he sat down himself and got up immediately after reaching for two beers. But did Andrew drink? Diesel held up a beer and Andrew nodded. Diesel handed him the cold bottle, his hands brushing Andrews briefly.

“Hoe’s your mother?” Andrew finally asked after they had sat in silence nursing their beers for about ten minutes.

“She didn’t keep in touch,” Diesel shrugged. “I wasn’t welcome after…” he trailed off.

“The Shift,” Andrew nodded. “I wasn’t either.”

They lapsed in to another silence, questions teeming in their heads that they couldn’t begin to articulate.

“I didn’t know about you,” Andrew said suddenly. “You need to understand that. If I had known about you heaven and earth couldn’t have kept me away.”

Diesel felt his throat constrict with emotion. All his life he had wondered whether he had really been abandoned by his father like Martha had said or if he had been driven away and doubt had always won; why would his father love him when his mother had such a difficult time doing it?

But here he was, in the flesh, saying things Diesel had given up hope of ever hearing.

“She’d told me you’d left,” Diesel said clearing his throat. “That you didn’t want to be part of our family. She never told me your name so I never made the effort to find you.”

“I can understand that,” Andrew nodded. “Martha was; she was a difficult woman. She saw the world differently from how we did.”

“I find it hard to forgive her,” Diesel said honestly.

“You don’t have to,” Andrew said, “but you owe her the curtesy of understanding who she was. She was born in to a devout Catholic family, all fire and brimstone. Her father wasn’t averse to taking his belt to his children if he felt they were disobedient. She didn’t know what a parents love could be like to give it to you.”

Diesel nodded.

“So you live in Poughkeepsie?”

“Yup,” Andrew said settling in to the sofa. “I have a general store there. My wife Sarah runs a Meal on Wheels for the elderly in our area. My son Brandon is a teacher and helps look after the store after school; he had a daughter six months ago, Hailey. Keith just graduated from college and he’s looking for his vocation, whatever that means.”

Diesel laughed. He had always heard stories like this of other families: sibling rivalries and so many personalities you grew up with, like a branch on a tree sprouting a host of leaves. It felt anything but lonely. And now Diesel had that too, a family, siblings he could mention fondly in conversation.

“What about you,” Andrew said, “Sonya told me you Sheriff around here.”

“Yes,” Diesel said. “Before this I was in the Navy for fifteen years.”

“I was in the army,” Andrew grinned, “Served in Vietnam.”

“Afghanistan and Iraq,” Diesel said with a taught smile. “Did they know you were…”

“A Shifter? Hell, yes,” Andrew said. “They made me use it too. It was still new to them back then, Shifters and their abilities and they distrusted us but they didn’t mind using us in battle.”