A Baby Affair (Parent Portal 2)
Page 28
Mouth hanging open, Amelia stared at her. “He said that?”
“I know, weird, huh?”
Duane had written a letter of apology to Angeline. And to Amelia, too, shortly after
that horrible day. He’d made a brief mention of being sorry for anything he might have said drunk over the years that could have been hurtful. If he’d been able to remember any of those incidents, he hadn’t said so. The apology had rung hollow to Amelia. His words rang clearly in her mind—and he should know them. Own them. Anything less wasn’t enough.
But she let it be. And he hadn’t said an unkind word to either her or Angie since he quit drinking.
He’d been a jerk drunk, but sober, he’d provided for them, even when they’d been growing up. He’d helped them with homework. Attended some school functions. He hadn’t always understood them. Had often not agreed with them. But he’d tried a lot of the time.
Angie glanced down at the sand and then back up at Amelia. “Why are you seeing him again?”
They weren’t talking about Duane anymore.
“You remember how it felt when we were little and we found out ‘the father’ really wasn’t coming back, like Mom had always said?”
Angie nodded. “And the nights we’d sit up and talk about what he was like. Wondering where he was... And if he had red hair like mine,” Angie said, a note of bitterness in her tone. They knew now that he did because Angie had asked, but he hadn’t cared a bit to know that Angie had his hair.
“But more, think of how horrible it felt those times we got ourselves scared that he wasn’t coming back because of us. That he’d abandoned us, not Mom. Do you remember?”
The question was completely rhetorical. Angie nodded, anyway. “But this is different,” she said. “The baby will know that a father didn’t leave him or her.”
“I know, but I also know that I always wondered, since I am like Mom—I wondered what ‘the father’ was like. To know if I had some of his good qualities that were equally compelling...”
“We’re all a combination of the genes that created us,” she said, hoping so strongly that her sister could understand. “If we can give this baby a fuller sense of self...”
Her sister’s hazel gaze pinned hers. She put her heart into that shared silent communication. Her heart and a promise, too. “He wants to get married and have his own family, Angie. He doesn’t want ours. But he’s a man who spends his life trying to save lives. A man who’s watching the boy he’d raised fall into a bad way. He’s only asking to look out for my baby’s health and happiness. The very same things we want for it. He doesn’t want to be part of our lives. To spend time with the baby or attend functions. He isn’t asking to be considered at any decision times. He only wants to be present enough to ease the way if he can while he lives his own life, with his own family.”
Her sister didn’t look away, and Amelia took a deep breath. “He wants to meet you, Ang. He knows that you’re the baby’s legal guardian if anything were to happen to me, and he just wants to reassure you that he’s not going to get in our way.”
“You told him about me?”
“Of course I did. You’re a large part of the plan here, especially when it comes to security for this little one.”
Concern shone from every nuance of Angie’s presence.
“When are you going to see him again?”
“This afternoon.” Only to exercise. Her sister wasn’t going to believe that, though.
“This afternoon? As in Saturday night and Sunday afternoon? Two dates in the same weekend?” She looked away, stopped talking as she heard her voice rise. When she turned back, her tone was still shaky, but laced with kindness. “You’re scaring me.”
“You’re scaring yourself,” Amelia had to point out, able to remain calm because she knew the truth. “You’re imagining what you fear coming true, rather than hearing truth in what I’m telling you.”
“But what if you’re lying to yourself, Mel?”
Angie knew how to hit at her biggest fear, of course. And seemed to have a penchant for doing so—something she’d like to mention, but didn’t.
“I’m not.”
Angie nodded again, but Amelia knew her sister wasn’t convinced.
Not yet.
But she would be.
Time would tell.