“Darlin’,” he says softly to her, and she raises her eyebrows at him.
“Okay,” I start, “we might as well get this out of the way before lunch.” I walk over to the couch and sit next to Olivia, who hands me the wine glass. I look over at her and smile. “I might need something stronger after this.” I look at her with tears in my eyes.
I feel the couch beside me shift and look over to see Jacob sitting beside me. “Dad.” I look at him. “You should sit.”
“No,” he says, shaking his head, the worry written all over his face as he takes off his cowboy hat and holds it in his hand.
“Billy,” my mother says softly, going to him with tears running down her face, “you should sit.”
“Is she sick?” he asks my mother, his eyes now filling with tears. “Are you sick?” He looks at me and asks me while I look at Casey, who looks like he’s going to jump out of his skin.
“I’m not sick,” I start and take a deep breath. “Here it goes,” I mumble.
Casey barks out, “What in the hell happened to your hand?” He looks at the bandage around my wrist.
“I got a tattoo,” I tell them. My mother’s mouth falls open, and she sits down on the couch next to my father.
“You got a tattoo?” Casey asks me, shocked. “A tattoo.”
“It’s for life.” Olivia leans to whisper in my ear. “Forever.” She raises her eyebrows.
“I know.” I smile back at her. “It’s the date of my son’s birthday,” I say out loud, and then I look around the room. My father sits there in shock, his cowboy hat falling to the floor. My mother puts her hand in front of her mouth, and Casey folds his hands over his chest, his jaw tight.
“What are you talking about?” Olivia looks at me and grabs my hand in hers. My other hand slips into Jacob’s.
“I was pregnant when I left here,” I say. “I just didn’t know until I was two months along.”
My father now with tears pouring down his face. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I was going to, but every single time I tried, I got scared.” I tell the truth. “There was just so much going on.”
“Where is the baby?” Casey’s tone is tight, and I look down and then at Jacob, who brings me to his chest.
“Sadly, my water broke at twenty-one weeks, and he didn’t make it.” I look over at my father who groans, and my mother gets up and goes over to him. I get up and walk to my purse by the door. Grabbing my wallet, I walk over to them and take out the picture of me and Gabriel. “This is Gabriel.” I hand my mother the picture, and she holds it for my father, who sobs with his hand over his mouth.
Casey walks over and looks at the picture, and he turns and looks at Jacob. “All alone,” he hisses. “She did that shit all by herself.”
“Cowboy.” Olivia gets up and walks to him, grabbing his hand in hers. He looks at her, and something she says settles him, and he just looks at me.
“That’s not fair,” I say. “I didn’t tell him. I told no one. I couldn’t …” I wipe away the tears. “He was my secret, and he was my everything.”
“Kallie,” Olivia says softly, and Casey now puts his arm around her. “I’m so, so sorry that you had to keep this to yourself.”
I blink away the tears. “It was hard not to tell everyone how beautiful he was.” I smile. “But now I get to share him with you all.” I turn to look at Jacob. “We can share him with you now.”
“I love you,” he says, burying his face in my neck, and I feel his tears on my neck.
“I’m a grandfather,” my father says, looking at my mother, who cries her own tears and wipes his away. “You should have told me.”
“I know,” she says softly, “but it wasn’t my story to tell.”
“I want to put his picture up on the wall,” my mother says. “I want his picture on the wall where he belongs with our family.”
“Right after lunch, we can go into town and get frames.” My father pulls her to him.
“Well,” I say, “this was a bit easier than I thought it would be.”
“We haven’t told my mother yet,” Jacob mumbles, and I look at him. “Might as well get it over with.”
“There is no way she is going to Cristine’s house without me,” my mother practically yells. I look over at her and so does Jacob.
“Charlotte,” my father says, and my mother shakes her head.
“No.” I look at her, and she looks back at me. “You aren’t going to her house. If you want, invite her here.”
“What am I missing?” Jacob says, and I look back at my mother, wondering the same thing.
“Nothing.” My mother tries to pretend that there is nothing, but now Casey speaks up.
“If we are sharing everything, might as well share that, Mom.” He looks at her, and I know he knows. When I look at my father, even he avoids my eyes.
“What is going on?” I ask them, angry.
My mother just looks at Jacob. “I’m sorry,” she says. “When you left, your mother came over here.” She sits down, and all eyes are on her. “She was angry that you were suffering and blamed it all on Kallie.” My leg starts to tremble while she continues the story. “Everything was her fault.” My mother points at me. “Well, I told her that we should let you two work out your own things. She said some not nice things, and I’m not repeating them, but—”
I hear a roar come out of Jacob at the same time I look at my mother. “Tell me.”
“No,” she says, shaking her head.
“I want to know,” I say, and my stomach is already in my throat.
“Kallie,” my mother says softly, “it doesn’t matter now.”
I stand and drop Jacob’s hand from mine. “It matters to me.”
My mother looks at Jacob almost for permission, and he just nods at her. “I want you to know that her words were nothing but her being angry.”
“Mom.” I say her name too loud.
“That Jacob obviously didn’t love you or he would have never strayed.” My mother says the words, and although I thought I was ready for it, it cuts me right through the heart. “That if you kept your house in order, this would never have happened.”
“That fucking—” Casey says. Olivia’s hand snaps out, and she blocks his mouth.
“Excuse me,” I say, looking at the floor, the tears making it difficult to see. “I need to …” Walking toward the stairs, I run up them and barely make it to the bathroom before a foot is shoved in right before I can close the door.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” Jacob says. I don’t say anything because his arms go around me, and I sob in his arms. “She is never going to talk to you like that ever.” I can’t say anything. “I swear, Kallie, she won’t.”
Pushing off from him, I leave him standing there, looking at me, as I close the door. “She isn’t the only one who is going to think that or has thought it,” I say, wiping the tears from my face, “and I know I shouldn’t care, and I know it isn’t the truth.”