Ben (The Sherwood)

“Ben, you’ll be fine. I’ll watch Asia while you work. Just bring her to me before you head to Kentucky. I’ll get a car seat, so you don’t have to switch them out. Jasmine hasn’t taken Asia to the pediatrician yet. You’ll need to make an appointment,” she informed me.

I stared at my mother. Open-mouthed. Concerned that I wasn’t going to remember everything that she was telling me. She might as well be speaking another language. “Couldn’t you do that?” I asked.

I knew then that she wanted to, but she wouldn’t. I sighed. “How do I get a pediatrician?” I asked.

“Jenny and Elijah’s pediatrician saw Asia at the hospital get her name from your sister-in-law and make an appointment.”

So many things to think of. So many things that I didn’t know about being a father. I felt like I was choking on each breath as it left my lungs.

I stared out the window until Mom asked me if I was okay. Hell no, I wasn’t okay, but I couldn’t have my daughter feeling like Jasmine did about her father. I had been trying to work up the courage to see Jasmine and tell her I wanted to be a part of Asia’s life when this happened.

I loved my child. I had from the moment that I held her in my arms at the hospital. I know it took six weeks and a lot of alcohol to come to that conclusion, but I was terrified of what this moment meant to me. What kind of father would I be?

Now, I was going to be solely responsible for this child. Me, by myself. Shit, this wasn’t good. Seth would be no help either.

Chapter 4

Mom pulled in the driveway and parked by Dad’s car. AJ and Heath were here too, I noticed. “Having a coming home party?” I asked.

“Nope. A cleaning party,” she replied. “You couldn’t bring your daughter to this house the way it looked. I told Seth to call your Dad and brothers and have them come help him.”

I climbed out of the front seat. Mom met me at the back door. I unlatched the seat from the base the way that Mom showed me, and l carried Asia up the sidewalk to the front porch. Then I stopped and took a deep breath. “Welcome home, kid.”

Mom chuckled. “Ben, you’re going to be just fine. You’ll see.”

Inside, was spotless. I was shocked at how quickly the four of them had cleaned up the trailer. The place was immaculate. I sat the carrier on the coffee table and Dad leaned over it.

“How’s Grampy’s little girl?” He asked. I glanced down and sure enough Asia’s big, eyes were open. She was looking at us with an oh shit expression that I completely understood.

Dad unbuckled her and lifted her out of the seat. I watched and marveled at how comfortable he was with her. He looked at me with a strange expression on his face. “What?” He asked.

“How do you do that?”

“Do what?” He had no clue what I was asking.

“Just pick her up. Be so at ease?”

Dad burst out laughing, startling Asia. Her lip turned down like she was going to cry. He bounced her and apologized. “Ben, I had seven kids. I wasn’t gone all the time. I did a lot of the night feedings when I got home at three a.m.”

“You did?”

He rolled his eyes at me. Then Heath of all people approached. “Dad, can I hold her?” Knock me over with a feather, I was shocked that Heath wanted to take Asia from Dad. I didn’t often see Heath hold Justin but something about my daughter drew him in.

My brother Heath was a quiet man. He had his demons. He was ex-military. Never married, like the rest of the Hatfield boys. We were an elusive bunch where women were concerned. I don’t think Heath was afraid of commitment. I think Heath was afraid of himself.

He spent ten years in the military as a Marine and received an honorable discharge when he was wounded overseas. My brother came home different. He had a quiet strength before; he came home without his inner peace and none of us knew how to reach him.

He worked at a desk job doing technology shit I had no clue about. He was smart. He worked in Adams County at a hospital about thirty minutes away, closer than the rest of us. He was a year younger than Matt. A surprise to Mom and Dad, almost Irish twins they called them. They were twelve and a half months apart in age.

Heath lived in a creepy cabin in the middle of the woods all by himself. I think he liked being alone or felt safer. I wasn’t sure which. I worried that I would see my brother on the news one night as a mass murderer at the hospital and that disturbed me. He was that close to being unhinged and he was now holding my daughter. That could make a man twitchy if he didn’t know his brother well. I didn’t think he would ever hurt Asia.

Heath became a different person holding my daughter. The vacant man was gone. A peace that had been missing for seven years returned. He clutched my daughter against his chest and kissed her tiny forehead. “Your Uncle Heath is always here for you, little girl,” he informed her. “I’ll protect you.”

I frowned. “Who in Sherwood do you need to protect her from?” I asked.

My brother’s eyes met mine. “Boys like you.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Sounds good to me.”