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“Two children?” Emily looked over at Harrison in question.
“Well, no, I have seven children. Five from my first marriage, and two that came later.” She shrugged. No need to keep it a secret only to have him bolt later.
“Harrison just said two.” Emily looked at her son as if he had been keeping things from her.
“My five oldest are now adults, so it’s sometimes hard to be their mother. I don’t always try,” she admitted.
“I know what you mean. Once they get older, you have to let go.” Emily tapped her son’s hand as she got up and set a tray of cookies on the table.
“I wish it were that easy. They all still live at home with me. It’s nice to have the babysitters, but sometimes it’s too many women in one house.” Sera chuckled.
“When was I going to meet all these girls?” Harrison asked. He sounded a little miffed at her hiding kids from him again.
“You already have at the engagement party. Everyone but Mabel was there, but Mabel and Lucy are twins and look identical.”
“But they didn’t look they were much younger than you,” Harrison stated.
“I said they were adults,” Sera said.
“She did, Harry,” His mother agreed with her. “How old are they?”
“Let’s see. Bea is twenty-five; we call her Buzz. Agatha is twenty-six, the twins are twenty-eight, and Harper is thirty.”
“And you’re thirty-six,” Harrison pointed out.
“I didn’t say I birthed them, Harrison. I said I raised them. When I married Bradford, Harper was fifteen, and I was nineteen, almost twenty.” She shrugged.
“That must have been hard being so close in age to them. They must have disliked that. Were you and your husband together long?” Emily asked.
“No, we weren’t.” She didn’t like to tell anyone about her marriage.
“Too bad,” Emily said.
“Sera’s fifteen-year-old’s name is Emma,” Harrison pointed out.
“It’s Emmaline Rose, but we call her Emma. My youngest is Violet Bianca.” She stopped herself—these people had no idea who her children were. No need to go into details. Just because she wanted them to know everything about the girls didn’t mean they wanted to know anything.
“Harry said the little one is seven?”
“Yes, she will be eight this fall. I have a spring baby and a fall one. The five big girls are all over the place.”
“Harry was born just after Christmas. I hated that I had to buy him a Christmas and birthday present at the same time,” Emily said as Harrison shook his head at her.
“Mom, we came because I have a question. The paternity test came back,” he edged into the question.
“Harry, if you don’t know by now how babies are made, I have failed you.” She laughed at his horrified expression.
Sera joined in and raised an eyebrow at him as his face turned red. “No, Mrs. Dean,” Sera tried again.
“Oh sweetie, it’s just ‘miss.’ I never married Harrison’s father. Lived in sin, yes, but we never married.”
“Sorry then, Miss Dean.”
“Emily.”
“Emily, the test results show that the woman’s baby is a close relative of Harrison’s. Cousin or half-brother,” Sera said causally in case she was stepping into family drama she wasn’t aware of.
Emily shook her head. “I didn’t have any other kids.”
