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I didn’t let anything defeat me.
Nothing at all, certainly not a baby.
I knew exactly what I had to do and I picked up the phone to call my best friend first. “Terry. Family dinner tonight, Sadie’s room. Tell Kat.”
There was a beat of silence before Terry answered. “Uh, okay. Everything all right?”
“I’m not sure. The Beck problem is solved, but we’ll talk about it tonight. Over dinner.”
“Got it. See you tonight.”
I nodded; eyes still glued to that damned envelope. “See you.”
“If you need to talk, Jas, I’m here.”
“I know. Thanks.” After ending the call with Terry, I called Virgil to make sure he and Maisie were at dinner tonight. My last call, my hardest call was to my youngest brother. “Calvin.”
“Jasper.” His tone was short and bland, not angry or sullen, which was a big fucking step up. “What’s up?”
“We’re doing Sunday dinner tonight. At the hospital with Sadie.”
A long silence passed, and I was sure Cal was looking for an excuse not to show up, but that was bullshit. “Sunday dinner?”
“Yep. Bring Ava Rose. We don’t need a sitter tonight.” The little girl was the first in the next generation of Ashby’s, and for now, she would take her place in the spotlight.
“You sure?”
“I am. We’re moving forward. Right?”
“Yeah, we are,” he sighed, and I could almost picture Cal running a hand over his face. “Thanks, Jas.”
“See you tonight.” The envelope stared back at me, mocking me. I snatched the damn thing off my desk, shoved it in a pocket, and headed out to check on the businesses.
“Look who finally showed up.” Kat smiled up at me the moment I entered Sadie’s hospital room. “Calls for dinner, sends all this amazing food, and shows up late. Typical Jasper.”
“Business never sleeps,” I reminded her and shrugged off my jacket, envelope still in my pocket. Still taunting me as a fucking coward for not tearing it open to find out the truth.
You already know the truth, asshole. Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t. Nothing was certain until I opened that envelope.
Terry stood. “Everything all right?”
Nothing was all right, not even a little fucking bit, but I nodded and took a seat beside Cal. “Yeah. Nothing to worry about, anyway.” It was the usual business bullshit, and I had taken care of it, so there was no point in bringing it up. “Let’s eat.”
“Best thing you’ve said all day,” Maisie growled and reached for the large platter of fried chicken.
Note to self. Put an end to this family backbiting. Time for us to start having each other’s backs.
She bit into it with a growl before she realized everyone was watching her. “What?”
Kat laughed. “Anything you want to tell us, Maisie?”
She pulled back, lips greasy from the big bite of chicken. “No. Why?”
Kat opened her mouth to say something, and Terry stuck a biscuit in her mouth to shut her up.
“No reason,” she mumbled around the biscuit.
“Don’t tell Ma,” Virgil began as he piled three thighs on his plate, along with a mountain of mashed potatoes and green beans, not to mention two biscuits, “but this is the best Sunday dinner we’ve had in a long damn time.”
I knew what he meant. The food was always delicious, but Sadie tended to prefer dishes with a distinctly Irish flair. We ate a lot of the same foods on the Midnight Mass menu, but it didn’t feel right to eat our normal menu while Sadie couldn’t sit at the head of the table as we ate.
“Can’t go wrong with fried chicken,” was my only response.
“Damn straight.” Terry flashed a smile as he shoved a drumstick in his mouth.
It was nice, this unorthodox family dinner. It was strange, all of us sitting around a plastic table inside a private hospital room, talking and laughing. It was almost like old times. Almost.
Cal stood abruptly, Ava Rose dangling from his hands, aimed right in my direction. “Here. Take her.”
I frowned. “Take her where?”
Cal rolled his eyes with a groan and shoved the kicking little girl on my lap. “Take her and hold her so I can go to the bathroom.”
I blinked and stared at the cute redhead with big green eyes and a dimple in her chin. “Hold her?”
“She’s fine how she is,” he insisted and pushed his chair back. “Just don’t let her take too big a bite and help her drink.”
My brows dipped into a frown. “How long is it gonna take you to piss?” I looked around the table, at all the eyes staring at me, and then to Cal’s now abandoned spot. “Where is her food?”
“She can eat off your plate, Jas. She doesn’t have cooties.”
Shit. I didn’t know shit about babies. Ava was my niece. I loved her, would do anything to protect her, even let Cal live after what he did, but hold her? Feed her? Those were not skills I possessed. “Just hurry the fuck up.”
