Page 5 of It Runs in the Family

When I pulled onto Granny’s land, I was thankful the only car parked in front of her house was her beat-up, red pickup truck. I didn’t feel up to dealing with my aunts or cousins.

I spent a moment parked next to her truck, soaking in the familiar sense of protection I always felt the moment I stepped foot on her land. Granny was like home base in the hundreds of games of freeze tag I’d played with my cousins—safe.

No one could touch me here.

Granny appeared at the screen door before I’d gotten the crying baby out of the back of the car. She wasn’t a tall woman, but her attitude gave her plenty of presence. She’d had snow white hair as long I’d known her, and while she was small, she was one of the strongest people I knew. And one of the crankiest.

“When did you have a baby?” she shouted, the door propped open by her bony shoulder.

“It’s JJ,” I said, hauling the seat out and then grabbing the diaper bag. I hoped to God Rita had packed bottles for him.

Her brow furrowed. “Who?”

Rolling my eyes, I said, “Rita’s baby.”

She swatted my arm as I passed her in the doorway. “Don’t you be rollin’ your eyes at me, girl.”

“You don’t even know your own great-grandchild,” I teased as I passed through the living room to the kitchen and set the car seat on the table. JJ had worked himself into a frenzy, waving his arms and legs as he screamed at the top of his lungs.

“Rita,” Granny said in disgust as she walked up behind me. “That makes sense. Stands to reason she’d squeak out a screamer.”

Shaking my head, I bit my tongue as I dug through the bag, relieved to see a bottle with powdered formula. I added warm water from the sink faucet and shook it up, then unclasped the straps of the car seat and pulled him out.

“Why are you cartin’ Rita’s baby around? She tired of it already?”

“She needs some sleep, so I offered to take him for the afternoon.”

She snorted. “You sure she’s gonna be there when you take him back?”

I froze for a moment. It was a legit concern. My own mother had driven off into the sunset enough times, even before she’d left for good, for me to know such things happened.

I could only hope the maternal instinct I’d had a tiny glimpse of earlier popped up again and would ensure she was home when I returned. That and the fact she would probably sleep for twelve hours straight. Which meant I’d get to deal with John Jacob.

I should have done a better job of thinking this through.

Cradling JJ in my left arm, I pulled a kitchen chair out from the table and turned it to face my grandmother as I sat down and held up the bottle. JJ thrashed and screamed, refusing to take it.

“Why’d you bring him here?” my grandmother shouted over his cries, her voice rising a full octave at the end of her sentence.

“I thought you’d like to spend some time with him.” The baby continued wailing and shaking his head, pressing his lips tightly together.

“I’ve had my share of screamin’ kids,” she sniped as she walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out a pitcher of lemonade. “And then my fool kids made me raise half of theirs.”

She wasn’t exaggerating. Over half of us had lived with her for some period of time, me included when I was little.

“No one’s askin’ you to raise him, Granny. I just came by for a visit.”

She filled two glasses with ice, then poured the lemonade. “I might not be raisin’ him, but you just might be…”

JJ finally gave up and started sucking on the bottle with big, noisy gulps.

“Seems like I should find a partner before I jump into motherhood,” I teased.

She rolled her eyes. “Like that stops anyone these days.” She leaned closer, her gaze narrowing on me. “Besides, when was the last time you had a boyfriend?”

I made a face. “Two years ago.”

It had ended badly. Badly enough that I’d temporarily given up on dating, only I’d never put an end date on “temporary.”