Patricia Johns - His Unexpected Family

“She looks like her mother.”

“I thought so, too....” Emily blinked back the tears that misted her eyes. “I thought you might want to see her, Uncle Hank.”

“Thanks.”

“Why don’t you come by later?” Emily asked. “You come hold her anytime you feel like it.”

He nodded slowly, then swallowed hard. “I didn’t even know...”

“Did anyone?” Emily asked.

“I don’t think so. Why didn’t she tell us?”

Emily just shook her head. That was the million-dollar question.

“Well, the little one is here, and she’ll be much loved.” The lines in the older man’s face deepened as he looked down into Cora’s tiny face. “I wish June could have seen her.”

Emily felt her eyes brim with tears at the catch in his voice. “Are you going to be all right, Uncle Hank?”

“Oh—” he took a deep breath “—I’ll keep on keeping on, I suppose.”

“Cora needs you, too, you know.”

He nodded silently. “I still can’t believe she didn’t tell me. Not even when the baby was born.”

The pain he felt was more than loss; it was betrayal. Jessica had been a loved daughter, the girl who looked nothing like either parent, and more like a fairy left by the door. She was slender and beautiful, hair bright red and eyes deepest green. Her mother had often joked that if she hadn’t given birth to her herself, she wouldn’t have believed that they’d produced her. But the past few years had been hard on the family, and relationships had got strained.

“You were a good dad, Uncle Hank,” Emily said softly.

“But was I?” He turned his grief-stricken eyes onto Emily, and she had no answer for him. Emily hadn’t seen her cousin in several years, either, a small detail that meant little to a cousin but was heartbreaking for a parent.

“Hi, Dad.”

Emily turned to see Steve approaching quickly. He passed Emily without a glance and wrapped his arms around his father’s neck. They held each other for a long moment and Emily looked away, sensing their need for some privacy. She stepped back, not wanting to intrude, but as she did so, Steve released his father and looked toward Emily.

“Hi, Em,” he said. “Good to see you.”

“You, too. I’m sorry about Jessica.”

Steve nodded and gave a sad shrug. “This is the baby?”

He bent down over the car seat in Emily’s hand and looked at the tiny infant for a long, silent moment.

“Hi,” he whispered softly. Cora stirred in her sleep.

“She looks like Jessica, doesn’t she?” Emily asked.

Steve looked up at Emily, his expression unreadable. He pushed himself back to his feet and looked up as his wife and daughters approached. Sara came straight toward Emily and bent down to look into the car seat.

“Hi, Cora,” she whispered. Sara had perfectly straight, dark hair cut in a short bob. She gave Emily a sad smile. “This must be harder on you, Emily,” she said.

Emily wasn’t entirely sure what to say.

“A newborn is a big responsibility,” Sara went on, her voice low and sympathetic. “No sleep, the expense, the change in lifestyle...”

“It’s all right.”

“Well, it is when you have a husband to support you through it all. I can’t imagine doing it alone.”

“I’m handling it.”

“It’s been, what, a week?” Sara smiled wanly. “Trust me. I’ve done this three times. This is the easy part.”

With a smooth smile, Sara turned her attention to her father-in-law, putting her arms around him and crooning out her condolences. Emily took a deep breath. What were her responsibilities here?

“I’m just going to say hello to...” Emily started to edge away from the group, not even bothering to finish her sentence.

“Wait, Em.” It was Steve. He walked toward her, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Can we talk?”

“Sure.” Emily waited till he was at her side, then started walking back toward the rest of the family. Steve matched her pace.

“This can’t be easy for you.”

“That’s what Sara said.”

“Oh, come on, Em. You’re single. Do you ever want to get married? Finding a guy with a baby isn’t going to be easy.”

“Don’t worry yourself over my romantic life,” she retorted. “Look, Steve, I know this is really hard. None of us knew about this baby. Jessica is gone. It’s a hard time on the whole family.”

“No, it’s worse for me.”

“Of course. Jessica was your sister. I didn’t mean to imply—”

“And Cora is my niece. She’s only your—what—second cousin?”

The scent of the approaching rain was getting stronger now, and the wind started to pick up. She shivered and began to walk faster.

“What do you want, Steve?”

“She belongs with me and Sara.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re her closest relatives. You aren’t.”

“Jessica chose me. This wasn’t my idea. She named me Cora’s guardian in her will.”

Steve stopped, and Emily turned to face him. She could hear the low rumble of thunder far off in the distance and tears welled up in her eyes. What did he want from her? Did he expect her to just hand the baby over and walk away?

“You don’t want this.” Steve shook his head slowly, as if disappointed with a small child. “It might seem all romantic and sweet now, but babies are a huge amount of work. What about your career?”

“Let me worry about that, Steve. I’m a grown woman.”

“Fine. But when you change your mind, call me. I’ll come and get her.”

The dripping condescension in his voice was almost more than Emily could bear, and she turned around and walked away, moving toward the grave site. The service would begin soon, and they would all pay their last respects to Jessica Shaw.

When Emily looked back, she saw Sara staring after her with a strange intensity, the wind ruffling her short hair and her little girls standing at her knees. Uncle Hank didn’t seem to be noticing very much in his grief, and he was talking to Emily’s father, both men nodding sadly.

They expected to bring Cora home with them today, she realized with a chill. Did Steve and Sara really think it would be that easy, to simply point out the hard work a baby would be and have her pass Cora off like a piece of luggage? That image of Chief Greg Taylor rose in her mind again, and she knew exactly who she needed to talk to—the one person without a personal interest in this.

“The service is going to start soon.” Emily looked up in relief to see the compassionate face of her mother. “Come on, sweetie.”

Together, they made their way with the rest of the family toward the grave site where the minister was waiting, the pages of his Bible fluttering in the rising wind. It was time to say their goodbyes.

* * *

Rain pelted the sidewalk outside Greg’s office window. The afternoon light turned almost dusky in the rainstorm, and he leaned his elbows on his desk and looked out at the downpour. The plains offered little shelter from a summer storm, and as the clouds gathered, the wind whistled through the buildings. The air smelled of electricity and wet earth, and he inhaled deeply, enjoying the finger of air that wriggled through the crack of the open window. It was an old building, the kind with windows that opened at the top, leaning back on a brass hinge, and today he was thankful for the connection to the outdoors.

It had been a long morning. Before coming into work, he’d dropped by the nursing home to see his mother. The dementia was worse lately. A few months ago she remembered him perfectly and would look up at him with a smile, but this morning she frowned at him in confusion.

“Why are the police here?” she asked. “Is everyone all right?”