“Nothing wrong with The Cure,” Alex said. “Highly underrated by mainstream folks if you ask me.”
“No one did,” Noah said teasingly. “What’s up?”
I was busy loving on my niece to bother with the teasing myself. The reality of what Danica was about to deal with was hitting me hard, and I buried my face in Bella’s curly, silky hair. A baby. She was going to have a baby.
Granted, it wasn’t mine, or hers for that matter, not biologically. But she was going to take care of it as if it were, and if I was still blessed enough to be around her, so would I. I would be able to see the baby grow up and become a full-fledged person. They could maybe be close with Bella and fill our family gatherings with the sound of children playing.
I liked that.
Suddenly, I became aware of my brothers staring at me. I had been bouncing with Bella in my arms, nuzzling her. She seemed happy enough, her tiny, chubby arms curled across her chest and her eyes dozing shut. She had recently been fed, a small trickle of milk draining across her cheek. Occasionally she would sigh in her near-sleep, and it was the sigh of contentment. A feeling of restfulness and relaxation I was sure I hadn’t felt in twenty years.
Or more.
But the stares of my brothers snapped me to attention, and I stopped bouncing. I glanced from person to person and shrugged. They might as well know what was going on. They were likely to tease me until they did, and at least if I took that step, at least they wouldn’t have a secret to poke at me over.
“Alright, everybody,” I said. “I wish Cam was here, but I can give you guys the rundown.”
“Here we go,” Derek said. “Lay it on us.”
“So, Danica,” I began.
“Danica Peters,” Ally said to Noah, “the one who has been inspecting the grapes.” Noah nodded with acknowledgment. As the only brother that didn’t spend all his time on the grounds, he sometimes was out of the loop.
“Yes,” I confirmed. “She and I started kind of seeing each other when she was down here.”
“Seeing each other?” Alex asked.
“Banging,” Derek said.
Noah smacked Derek on the arm, and he shrugged.
“There’s a child present,” Alex said.
“Am I wrong?” Derek asked.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “But it’s more than that. We like each other. Quite a lot. We both thought there was something there when she left to go home, but when she got there, some things got a little complicated.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” Noah quipped.
“Her sister was there waiting on her,” I said. “She’s a ballerina, living in San Francisco. Anyway, she showed up at her sister’s because she had a surprise problem.”
“Surprise,” Ally said, nodding toward Bella, “like surprise, surprise?”
“Yes,” I said, indicating her as well, “a surprise, surprise.”
“Oh,” Derek said.
“Yeah, so, her sister, Jaz, isn’t exactly the mothering type. And she has this career as a ballerina she doesn’t want to give up, and it’s a whole thing, right? Well, Danica, came around to an idea,” I continued.
“She didn’t,” Ally said.
I nodded. “She’s going to be raising the baby as her own. It meant leaving her job and a lot of other changes.”
“Meaning no more banging?” Alex asked.
“Oh, that explains a lot,” Derek said.
“Man, I just thought you were being a dick,” Noah said. “I didn’t know you were like having real feelings and shit.”
I nodded. “But she came back yesterday for the final checkup. It was supposed to be the last time she was on the road. Mostly just to sign off on us, you know? And we had dinner and talked about everything, and she let me in on what was going on. So—” I took a deep breath. “—it looks like we’re going to try to make things work out and do a real relationship. But she’s going to take an office job so she can care for the baby, which might mean a lot of traveling for both of us just to keep the relationship going.”
“She is a freaking saint,” Ally said. “And an amazing sister. Can you imagine?”
“I love you guys,” Noah said, looking around the room at us. “But raise your own damn kids.”
Ally gave him a sour look, but Noah laughed along with the rest of us.
Alex stood and slapped me on the back hard enough to make me take a step forward.
“Well, I’m glad you’re back to your sunny self,” he said. “Seriously, I am happy for you, man. And you know you have our support. If you need someone to cover something for you, just say the word.”
“Thanks,” I said. “Maybe we could hire an assistant?”
My brothers looked between each other and then turned to me in unison and said, “Ask Cameron.”
Laughing, I sat down with my family and looked at the menu that they were staring at, along with the paper on the table with various suggestions.