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“ZiaAnna texted me this morning.”
“Yeah? What did she want?” Excellent, a change of subject. This was very much to be encouraged. Yay forZiaAnna.
“They’re doing a big purge at home and have a few things they thought would be good to donate.”
“Nice.”
“Yes.”
I glanced at her, because she seemed to be expecting me to say something. “Do they want me to come and collect it or something?”
“Well, it was just that Ellen and Lucy are doing that charity collection and there might be things in there they could use.”
“Oh, okay. I can swing by and check it out, if you want to let her know.”
“Great. She’ll be happy with that.”
“Good.” Silence fell, which was slightly unnerving because a) my mom was like me, i.e., hardly ever quiet and b) I could feel her eyes on me again. “What’s upset you,tesorrucia?”
Everything, Mama. And nothing.“Nothing. I’m not upset.” I pushed my hair back from my forehead with the back of my flour-coated hand, huffing out a breath of frustration when it fell down again the exact same way a nanosecond later. Mom’s stool scraped on the floor and I heard her move across the kitchen, but didn’t dare look at her, in case my true feelings showed in my eyes.
“Here.” Mom came up beside me, gently pulled my hair back and tied a scarf around my head, tucking the stray curl underneath so it wouldn’t annoy me anymore. She kissed my cheek gently and said, “Ti amo,Allegra.”
I had to swallow hard around the lump in my throat. “I love you too,Mama.”
She went back to her stool without another word, and I loved her for that. For just leaving me be.
CHAPTER12
Gabe
“Do you want me to open it?” Jake reached for the white envelope that was just about…maybe…to change the course of my life. It sat on my dining table between us. For such a small thing, it was taking up a huge amount of space in my head, sucking the air from my lungs to the extent that I was actually on the verge of panicking.
“No, I can do it.”
“Well then, do you wanna hurry the fuck up, please? It’s not every day a guy gets a nephew out of the blue and the suspense is killing me.”
He was right. This wasn’t exclusively about me and my feelings about having a Jesse-shaped bombshell dropped on me. Thanks, Jake, that was the push I needed. “Okay. I’m doing it.” Taking a deep breath, then another to be sure, I picked up the envelope and opened it with only the slightest tremor in my hands. Just a plain piece of 8-and-a-half by 11 paper, nothing dramatic. Unfolding it, I lay it on the table, flattening it with my hands. My eyes scanned the document, looking for the information I needed. There were a lot of numbers, stuff about loci, alleles, and sequencing that didn’t mean shit to me. Just cut to the chase, guys.
CHILD – Jesse Davis.
Alleged FATHER – Gabe Walker.
Probability of Paternity – 99.9999998%.
“Fuck.”
“Tell me.”
I scrubbed my hand over my face, picked up the sheet and read out loud. “Based on testing results obtained from analyses of the DNA loci listed, the probability of paternity is well over ninety nine percent.” I stared at my brother, surprised at the shock I felt. Hadn’t I said airily that any test would come back positive?
“Congrats, Dad.” Jake reached across the table and squeezed my arm, giving me a little shake. “So… What are you gonna do now?”
“Clean out the spare room, I guess.”
“Thought you would have done that already.”
I shrugged. “Didn’t want to jinx it, maybe.”
