“I agree,” Beth chimed in, “That’s huge for a guy.” Just then her phone rang. Smiling at the display she said, “Speaking of guys, here is mine now.” Clicking the button to answer with a, “Hey babe,” she rolled her eyes as she listened for a moment. “Yes, Dad, I’m well aware of how swollen my feet are.”

“Oh barf,” Suzy shuddered, “I really wish she wouldn’t call Nick, ‘dad.’ Talk about a bad mental image.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Beth laughed as she finally hung up. “I can’t help it if the man nags me all the time. I did promise him to come home and put my feet up. If someone will roll me back up, I’ll be on my way.”

Ella was surprised to see a brief look of sadness cross Suzy’s face as she helped Beth to her feet. The look was so fleeting; she had to wonder if she had imagined it. Maybe like her, everyone had their own stuff that they were dealing with. Even someone as no-nonsense as Suzy could still have an off day.

***

The next few weeks passed in a blur. In addition to her regular responsibilities at work, she was also helping Beth and Suzy organize the Danvers Christmas party. Just as she had expected, the results of the paternity tests had proved that Declan was Evan’s father. Julie and Declan had told him at McDonald’s since, apparently, that is where everyone takes their kids when they want to share big news without freaking them out. Ella hadn’t been invited along on that trip, but she thought it was probably something that needed to be done without an extra person along. Declan had said that Evan took it well and his only question had been, “Does this mean we will play cars together a lot now?”

Declan had asked her to go with him to take Evan to the zoo tomorrow. It was their first outing without Julie along and she knew that he was nervous about going alone. Today though, she had convinced him to help her paint her kitchen and so far, thanks to her dropping her paint brush twice, they were both splattered from head to foot. She placed the blame solely on Declan. How was she supposed to concentrate with him wearing low-slung jeans and no shirt?

When his phone buzzed in his pocket, he cradled it against one ear while continuing to paint with the other. “Julie, I don’t know. He doesn’t know me that well. Aren’t kids afraid to sleep away from home? How does he feel about this? Give me a minute and I’ll call you back.” He put down the paintbrush and gave her a grimace. “Ellie . . . I need some help.”

“She wants you to babysit Evan doesn’t she?”

“Yeah, but it’s not that simple. You know that she and Graham are still having problems so she wants me to take Evan overnight so they can have some time alone.”

So far she didn’t see a problem, so she didn’t understand why he was looking at her with a beseeching look in his eyes. “And that’s okay with you, right?”

“I don’t mind, but I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. Do you . . . could we stay here with you or could you stay with us? I know it’s not fair to ask you and I promise I don’t expect you to babysit, but I don’t know what to do if he freaks out or something.”

Ella smiled thinking she had never seen Evan and his father look more alike than at that moment. She walked over to him and put her hand on his broad chest, loving the feel of his warm skin. “Of course you guys can stay with me. If Evan freaks out, we are probably both screwed, but I’m here for moral support. I’ll clean up and run to the store for some supplies. Why don’t you call her back and give her my address so she can drop him off.”

Declan nuzzled her under her chin, which made her shiver in response. Would there ever be a time when she didn’t ignite just from a simple look or touch from him? She had been tormenting him by painting in a long T-shirt with nothing underneath and the breath left her body when he whipped it up over her head. “She can wait, I can’t.” When he took her nipple into his mouth, sucking it until her knees gave way, she didn’t even notice the ends of her hair trailing into the paint tray behind her.

***

“You look like a skunk, Ellie.”

Ella looked up from the strange text she had just received from her sister. She could see Declan smothering a laugh at his son’s innocent statement.

Patting Evan on the head, she said, “Thanks, kid. I got a little too close to a man with a paintbrush.”

Declan circled behind her placing a kiss on her head as he passed. “I promise we’ll get you some paint thinner or something before work tomorrow.” Suddenly he froze, “Who’s got a key to your place, babe?” The answer to that question had them both cringing as the door opened and her mother and Crystal stood on the threshold. She heard Declan’s quiet, “Fuck me,” beside her and hoped that her mother and Evan hadn’t.

Crystal’s text saying, “Incoming, run!” made a lot more sense now. Her sister looked over at her shaking her head and said, “I tried to warn you.” It looked like the new and fairly normal Crystal was still in residence. She didn’t know what to make of it, but she hoped it would continue. The old Crystal was a disturbing clone of their mother and, frankly, a little scary.

“Ella Marie! It’s wonderful to see you alive because I fully expected to see your dead body when I opened that door.”

She heard Crystal say, “Wait for it, wait for it.”

“Mom, what are you talking about?” Ella asked.

“Well, I had to assume that you were dead since you haven’t answered or returned any of my calls in the last week.”

“Bam!” Crystal yelled, earning a glare from their mother.

She turned to where both Declan and Evan were watching the scene unfold with varying levels of fascination and knew there would be no help there. “Um, Mom, it has just been very busy at work. I meant to call you back, but I’ve been so tired, by the time I make it home that I just go straight to bed.”

Her mother cut her eyes to Declan in clear disapproval before replying, “Yes, I’m quite aware of why you go straight to bed.”

Ella could feel her face flushing at her mother’s insinuation. She knew this wasn’t the kind of conversation to have in front of a child and she couldn’t believe her mother was being so tactless. Turning to Declan she flashed him a strained smile and asked, “Do you think you and Evan could watch television in the bedroom for a few minutes? I need to discuss something with my mother.”

Declan hesitated, obviously torn between leaving her to face the lion and running like hell to make his escape. He shot her mother a look of distaste before nodding and taking Evan’s hand. “Come on big guy; let’s go see if Bugs Bunny is on. Ellie needs some privacy.”

In typical Evan fashion, he gave his father a pitying look saying, “Bugs Bunny doesn’t come on on Sunday. What’s priv-cy?”

She heard Declan saying, “It’s privacy and it means Ellie wants us to go to the bedroom.”

Ella waited until she heard the door shut behind them before turning back to her mother. “Mom, this has gotten absurd. I’m too old for you to be barging into my house unannounced and embarrassing me in front of my guests.”

“Your guests,” her mother sputtered, “Do you mean the man you are fornicating with? And who is that child? Don’t tell me he is married with a family. Good grief, Ella, where have your morals gone?”

Ella was momentarily distracted from her mother’s running diatribe by the spectacle of her sister making choking motions behind her back. My God, her sister really had gone off the deep end. What was up with her? “Mom, enough already. First, I’m pretty sure no one actually says fornicate anymore and, second, Declan is not married. That is his son Evan.”

Her mother interrupted her explanation with an exasperated, “Of course, I should have known. He has a child out of wedlock.”

“Whoa, alert the media!” Crystal added.

Voicing the exact same thing she had been wondering, her mother turned to Crystal and said, “What in the world is wrong with you lately? I swear, you have gotten as bad as your sister. I’m going to have a talk with Bill about your behavior, young lady.”

Crystal rolled her eyes. “Bill isn’t my father and I’m pretty much finished with listening to him nag me.”

Apparently, this argument with Crystal had been going on for some time because even though their mother looked disgusted, she didn’t look surprised. “We’ll address this later.”

“Now, Ella, I had to leave right after church because I couldn’t stand any more embarrassing questions about why you never come. I’m not leaving until you agree to meet us there next Sunday.”

A refusal was on the tip of her tongue until she had an idea. “Sure, Mom, I’ll come, but only if Declan comes with me.”

“Wha . . . what! I just don’t think that’s appropriate. I mean, people will ask questions.”

“Why would they ask questions, Mom? I’m old enough to have a boyfriend. I’d also like to bring Evan. He is Declan’s son.”

“Ella! Are you trying to ruin our name? First, you want to bring a strange man with you and now you want to bring along his child? You know what people will think!”

“No, I really don’t, Mom. Why don’t you enlighten me.”

“Why, they’ll assume that the child is yours.”

“And why is that horrible?”

Next came a statement from her mother that was a complete shock to her and even Crystal looked stunned. “Well, if you insist on this, maybe I can explain it to a few people ahead of Sunday. I’ll just tell Joanne that you and Declan were married quietly last year and have adopted an older child. They would understand since you felt it was your Christian duty.”

“Oh brother,” Crystal moaned, “you have officially lost it, Mommy dear.”

“Mom, do you even hear yourself? You’re harassing me about not going to church, yet you want me to lie to everyone there? Doesn’t that go against everything that church is supposed to represent?”

Her mother had the grace to flush guiltily before snapping, “Your father and I are well known and respected in our community. We have a reputation to uphold. You should be more sensitive to our feelings instead of trying to make things worse.”

Ella felt like her head was about to explode. If this continued, she was going to say something unforgiveable to her mother so she decided the only course of action left was to get rid of her. “Mom, I have company that I have neglected for too long. Tell Daddy I said hello.”

“Are you asking me to leave?”

Crystal stepped over and opened the door. “I think that’s our cue, let’s go, Mom. I’ve got an appointment for a tattoo at three.”

Ella didn’t think it was possible to distract her mother when she was irate with one of her daughters, but that one statement did it. Her mother’s voice raised in disbelief as Crystal ushered her toward the door. She gave a quick thumbs-up to Ella saying, “You owe me big time,” before shutting the door behind them.

With the closing of the door, Ella sagged back against the couch and muttered one of Declan’s favorite lines, “What the fuck?”

Chapter Seventeen

Let me get this straight, Ava said, “You’ve got a kid now and a girlfriend?”

Beside her, Declan’s friend, Mac, chuckled, “Yeah, I’m still having troubling processing the girlfriend part. The kid thing freaks me out.”

Always the most serious one of the group, Brant pinched the bridge of his nose. “When were you planning on telling your family about this? I had to hear it from Gray? He was pretty horrified when he figured out that I didn’t know.”

Of course, Declan should have known when he opened the door to find the three of them standing there that no good could come from it. He was just glad that Ella was staying with Beth tonight while Nick was out of town. They would have been on her like stink on shit. “Was I supposed to Facebook message you or something? Maybe a memo? Give me a break, it’s not like I’ve known that long and we aren’t exactly the type of family from a Norman Rockwell painting.”

“Declan,” Ava snapped, “can we skip all the sarcastic humor and get to what is going on?”

He bit back a reply knowing Mac would probably kick his ass if he hurt Ava. Talk about a complicated relationship. Mac had been in love with his sister for as long as he could remember. He thought at one time back when they were teenagers that eventually Ava would finally admit that she felt the same way. Unfortunately, some bastard had taken her innocence in the most heinous way possible and now it was a toss-up as to which sibling was the most fucked up. Mac had taken care of her that night, as he always had, and he knew that even though his friend was no monk, Ava would always be it for him.

“I recently found out that I have a six-year-old son. His mother and I had a one-night stand when I was in town one weekend. We recently ran into each other at Danvers. Apparently, she is a friend of Claire’s. I would appreciate you all holding your ‘I told you so,’ if you can manage it.”