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I wasn’t proud that I’d done exactly that and taken my leave as quickly as I could. Fact was, I had nothing to offer except arms that weren’t yet tired if Quincy’s were, but she’d insisted she was fine and happy to do whatever she needed to do to calm the baby.
Since I hadn’t had a chance to eat before leaving home, I drove straight to Henry’s now, thankful it would again be during the after-lunch lull. Henry’s was legitimately one of the best places to eat in town, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to other reasons for choosing it.
I parked as close to the door as I could get, got the car seat out with relative ease—noting Juniper had fallen asleep during the three-block drive—grabbed the diaper bag, and went inside. I told the hostess I was there to see Seth, and she showed me back to my half-brother’s office.
The room was an afterthought, maybe a former storage room behind the bar, with a desk and space for two chairs and not much else. Humble as hell, just like I’d always found him to be, at least until he’d decided I was of questionable character because I hadn’t immediately told any of the Henrys about our ties. I could understand it wasn’t easy news to hear, but how else did he think I could’ve realistically handled it?
“Hey,” I said from the doorway when he didn’t look up.
He set down his pen and eyed me. “Knox.” He didn’t bother standing. “Come on in.” He noticed the car seat and leaned over the desk to look at Juniper when I set it on the other chair. “Still have your sidekick, huh?”
“Or my daughter. One of the two,” I said quietly.
“That’s gotta be a mind fuck,” he said. If I wasn’t mistaken, there was empathy in his tone.
“That’s an apt description. The possibility, even if it’s vague, that I could be a father… You can’t imagine.”
Seth sat back down, looking shaken. “Actually I can.”
“You have a kid?”
He looked at the ceiling for a second, as if making a decision, then lowered his gaze, still avoiding mine. “I got a woman pregnant years ago, when I was in grad school. She swore it was mine even once I found out she was married the whole time we were together.”
“Shit.”
“It gets worse. The husband found out and took his own life. In the aftermath, she lost the baby.”
“Jesus. That’s terrible.”
“Apt description.”
“I’m sorry, man.”
He nodded once. “I’ve worked through it. And that was different. I never met my baby. Never had the chance to fall in love with it.”
“Remains to be seen if this one is mine. We’ll know more next week sometime. I wanted to thank you for helping me research yesterday. I was in such a panic my brain locked up.”
“Glad I could help.” He leaned his elbows on the desk. “I talked to my dad last night— Hell.Ourdad, I guess. He made some good points.”
“About?”
“You. He pointed out you didn’t have any good options once you found out the truth. He said I needed to put myself in your shoes.”
I waited for more as he went silent.
Finally he looked me in the eye. “Sorry I was a suspicious asshole. I don’t really think you’re after anything from us. It’s not like we’re well-off.”
I nodded, letting out my relief in an audible breath. “Thanks. Apology accepted. Frankly you do have something I want.”
He stiffened, and his eyes narrowed.
“Family,” I said before he could jump to too many wrong conclusions. “That’s what I want. What I don’t have. You guys have a damn good one. I only hope I can someday be included.”
“Give us time,” he said. “It’s a lot to swallow. Let us get to know you. Process things.”
I nodded. I’d had months to let it sink in, plus the advantage of knowing about our ties from the first day I’d met them. “That’s fair.” I glanced over at Juniper, who was still asleep. “On a different topic, since test results won’t be available until next week, I’ll have her with me for a few days minimum.”
His brows went up. “Are you going to be able to handle that?”
