“Don’t try and turn this around on me. I’ve been in the hot seat many times in my day. It’s not my fault you screwed the pooch this time. Between this nonsense and whatever conversation you had that put her off last week, mama isn’t happy.”
“That woman won’t be happy until her six sons turn into sixty grandchildren. I just needed a night to myself, alright?”
“Does this have anything to do with Stacy?” Jackson asked.
Thompson grinned. “Awe, now it makes sense. Walker here is having himself some lady troubles. Now that makes a little more sense.”
“Shut your mouth, Thompson,” I grumbled. “What I’ve got going on is none of your business or mamas. Thank you both for stopping out, but I’d just as soon see you heading out now.”
“Come on now, Walker. You know he’s just joshing you. We aren’t going anywhere until you start talking about what’s on your mind.”
“Since when did we all become a bunch of pansies?” I asked.
“Reckon right around the time we started throwing tantrums and not showing up for business meetings,” Jackson replied.
Thompson leaned back in his chair, propping his feet up on the table in front of us. My jaw clenched. It was obvious they weren’t going to go anywhere until I told them what was going on. The idea of lying to them only briefly flittered through my mind. The Wheeler brothers didn’t lie to each other, no matter what. We had built ourselves on our reputations.
“You remember I hooked up with Stacy back at your wedding?” I asked.
Jackson nodded. “Sure do; you were a touch sore after that too, when you couldn’t get ahold of her. Guess you never did ask Hailey for her number.”
“Well, turns out I should have asked. She’s got a boy named Harrison. He’s my son.”
Thompson gave a low whistle as Jackson sat back in his seat, his face losing color at once. Their combined shock was still nothing like what I’d been grappling with for the last twenty-four hours. My mind was still struggling to come to terms with the news that I was a father. It was only made worse knowing that Stacy wanted nothing to do with me.
“That sure is a good reason to miss family dinner, I supposed,” Jackson said.
“You guys can’t tell mom, at least not yet, okay? I am still trying to reason with Stacy. If ma gets wind of this, she’ll scare her off completely.”
“You think she is a flight risk?” Thompson asked. “Boy, a Wheeler running around the world without a clue who he is. I wouldn’t want to be the one to tell that to mama.”
“Thanks, that’s really great. Do you have anything useful to add, or are you just content being a useless ass?” I asked.
“Now don’t be getting cross with me,” Thompson said. “I’m not the one who got drunk and knocked up some random harlot from a wedding.”
“It wasn’t like that,” I hissed. “Maybe if you’d had anything more than a one-night-stand, you’d get what I was talking about.”
“Both of you, stop it,” Jackson said. “This bickering back and forth isn’t going to solve anything. You know as well as we do, Walker, we won't be able to keep mom in the dark for long, but we will do what we can. What does Stacy have to say about all this?”
I cringed. “I can't say that I handled the news in the best of manners. I may have threatened her a time or two with legal action.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Jackson said.
“Why not?” Asked Thompson. “I’m guessing this woman probably isn’t even sure the kid is yours. You said you just hooked up at the wedding. I think you should get a DNA test done. If it’s yours, then we will handle it. Sounds to me like Stacy is just another woman looking for a free ride.”
“You watch your mouth,” I snapped. “You don’t know the first thing about her.”
“And you do?” Jackson asked. “Don’t get me wrong; it makes me happy that you seem to care about her, but what do we really know about her besides she’s an old college friend of Hailey’s. If you should be telling anyone this, it’s her.”
I shook my head. I didn’t want anyone else to know about Stacy or Harrison unless it was absolutely vital. With each new person that had the information, there was a risk my mother and father would find out. They had good intentions, but their execution was