she filled up my phone with messages. She went back to the apartment and looked for me, but I wasn't there. She tried to contact me at Mom and Dad’s. I didn't respond."
"Bullshit. If she’d wanted to reach you, all she had to do was contact any of us. You made us promise not to contact her, but if she'd tried to find you, we would have made it happen."
"She did try. Mom told her I'd call if I wanted to talk to her. I was so messed up from the wreck and from my own anger and hurt, I didn't call her. I wish I had."
"Why did it take her two months to try again? What was suddenly so important?"
Brody reached into his shirt pocket and retrieved the photo. "He was." He extended the photo.
Brie took the picture. She gasped softly, and her hand went to her mouth. Her eyes filled with tears, and she glanced at him. "You have a son?"
"Gage. He's ten. I'm going to meet him Saturday, and if all goes well, I'm going to bring him and Amber to the house on Sunday. I need your help, Brie. You have to help Amber and Gage to feel welcome. Mom doesn't know yet."
"Oh God. I'm an aunt? You're a father?"
"Yes." He smiled at her elation.
"Okay, well he is definitely going to take the focus off me and my man-less existence. Thank you in advance for that." She chuckled and once again stared at the picture. "He's adorable. Did Amber ever get married?"
"No. She's a single mom. She, Gage, and her sister live together in the little house in Parkside."
"Damn, a DEA agent and a single mom? I bet she's changed, too, hasn't she?" His sister stared at him and then smiled. "She isn't going to need my help with Mom. If she's grown up enough to raise this little boy and be a professional law enforcement agent, she's strong enough to be her own woman, but I'll be there to support all of you." She sighed and shook her head. "You had no idea?"
"No. She told me Sunday."
"Are you happy?"
"Wow, happy? Yeah, that's in the mix. I'm so out of my depth here. I was shocked, then pissed at her for keeping him from me, then scared, like terrified scared. How do you talk to a ten-year-old?"
"The same way you talk to anyone else. Look, you don't have to be everything all at once. Be yourself, get to know your son and grow into the relationship. You're dating, you know. You'll both put on your best fronts and then as time slips by, he'll see you for who you really are, and you'll see him that way, too. The important thing is you'll always be connected. You're his dad."
A smile split his face. "Damn, you've been hanging around Tara too much."
"Hey, I'll have you know I don't need my best friend to clue me in on this one. Besides, Tara McBride has fallen for Carter. I hardly ever see her anymore."
"Carter Fiske is a good detective and a hell of a guy."
"Ha, McBride and King brother approved, huh? Did you do the macho face off you've done with all my boyfriends?"
"It needed to be done."
"You guys are so full of yourselves. The McBride and King women are capable of picking partners without your help." She lifted her glass to her lips, smiling behind the rim of the glass.
"Is that why Mom and Sharon are fixing you up?"
"Don't be a dick, Brody. Hey... Sunday, the call you got, the one that pissed you off, was it Amber?"
"Yeah."
She studied the photo for a moment before she asked, "What did Dad say about all of this?
He glanced at her. "Why would you assume Dad knows?"
"Because you tell him everything, and don't try to deny it." She pointed the picture at him as she spoke.
"He's concerned, and elated, and pissed that I asked him not to tell Mom. As far as I know, he hasn't let it slip."
"You're going to spring this little guy on Mom?" Brie cocked her head.
"Well, yeah, I was planning on showing up with them."
"No. That would be bad." She shook her head back and forth and her eyes rounded.
"Why?"
"Mom needs time to prep for this. She'll need to spin out of control for a while, and when she's past the initial shock, you can bring them by."
"So, I'll talk to her Saturday night after I meet him, and I'm sure they'll be coming with me