“I heard that, Mom,” he said from the other room.
“Well, you’re all here, so let’s eat. There’s a few things we need to discuss.” Brooklyn led everyone into the dining room, where they gathered around the small island, dishing various foods onto their plates.
“I can’t thank you enough for all your help, Linda.”
“Oh, Brooklyn, it was the least I could do. Gary and your father took the flowers over to the hospital and placed some at Austin and Skip’s marker.”
“Will Nonnie have a stone like Grandpa’s?” Brystol asked.
“She will,” Bowie spoke up. “We already made the appointment for the sculptor to come out and engrave her name.” This seemed to please his daughter.
Everyone gathered around the table and engaged in small talk. It wasn’t until Linda gasped that they all went silent.
“Brystol, dear, where did you get such an exquisite necklace?” Brystol picked it up and held it between her fingers with her eyes darting between her mom and dad.
Bowie cleared his throat. “Mom, Dad, Bonnie, and David, we have something to tell you.”
“You’re getting married?” Bonnie blurted out excitedly only to sag her shoulders when Brooklyn shook her head. Brooklyn reached for Bowie’s hand and held it. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that he would ask her, and she’d say yes.
“Look, there’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to say it because it’s really my fault, I guess.” Brooklyn inhaled deeply. “Brystol is Bowie’s daughter. There, I said it. She knows, which is why she’s wearing the necklace . . . and you’re all staring at me.”
“How?” Bonnie asked.
Brooklyn opened her mouth to answer but then closed it quickly. Bowie did the same.
“Honey, I think you know how babies are made.” David patted his wife’s hand while Brystol giggled.
“I had a suspicion, so we had a test done.” Bowie spoke nonchalantly, as if having a test done was no big deal. Let alone lying about one. He should be angry, livid. Deep down, Brooklyn was. Years had been lost. A father was denied the right to know his child, grandparents too. All because of what? The unknown bothered Brooklyn greatly. Carly and her deathbed confession had left more holes than answers, and Brooklyn was fairly sure they wouldn’t be hidden in her desk drawers anywhere.
Brooklyn finally studied their family members. The dads, with the exception of Bowie, didn’t seem fazed, but the moms, especially Linda, looked hurt. Brooklyn set her napkin down on the table and asked Linda if they could speak outside.
Linda followed Brooklyn down the steps and into the sand. Both kicking off their shoes. After a few minutes of walking in silence, Brooklyn spoke. “Carly knew, but we’re not telling Brystol. The morning after she collapsed, she told me, and I found the DNA report in her room.”
They stopped and looked at each other. “When did you tell Bowie?”
“Shortly after I read the report. I came down here to think, to process the last fifteen years of mistakes I’ve made, and he found me. I told him. If I had known or even suspected that Brystol was his daughter, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
Linda smiled softly. “My son has missed a lot of time.”
“So has Brystol, as well as you and Gary.”
Linda placed her arm in the crook of Brooklyn’s and turned her toward the house. “Death has a funny and odd way of bringing people closer and ripping their hearts out at the same time.”
“Believe me, I know. If Carly hadn’t asked me to come, I don’t know if we would’ve ever found out.”
“That thought scares me.”
“Me too.” They climbed up the stairs to find everyone in the backyard starting up a game of cornhole. Bowie and Brystol were on the same team, and they were about to go against the grandpas. Linda and Brooklyn sat next to Bonnie at the picnic table.
“This could get ugly,” Brooklyn surmised.
“I have a feeling the old men are going down,” Linda added, but Bonnie wasn’t in agreement.
“Oh, I don’t know. David joined a league, and he’s been playing a lot. They have competitions weekly, and he’s quite fond of the game.”
“You know, I wish I was the person who decided to take our kindergarten beanbag-toss game and turn it into this phenomenon. I’m always missing the mark.” Brooklyn sighed.
Both moms bumped their shoulders with hers, and Bonnie said, “You’ve hit the jackpot right there and there.” She pointed at Bowie and then Brystol.
She watched them for a moment, at opposite ends of the game boards. Maybe she was imagining things, but she was certain she could see a connection between them. It was like they were already in sync, father and daughter. She knew, deep in her heart, that they were going to forge an incredible bond moving forward.
EPILOGUE
The morning sun had cast the sky in the most vibrant colors. Red, orange, pink, and a hint of yellow. Brooklyn sat in the adirondack chair, sipping her coffee and watching the boats head out for the day. The crew of the Austin Woods still waved every time they passed by. At first, it bothered Brooklyn; however, after meeting a couple of the crew members at the Whale Spout one night, she understood why they did it. For them, what had started out as paying homage to the boat’s namesake and making sure that Carly knew they were thinking about her and Austin every time they went out had turned into superstition. Brooklyn knew she would never ask them to stop.