Love’s Suicide(74)
Author: Jennifer Foor

Walt walked over to me. It took him a second, but then he pulled me into his arms. “Welcome home, Katy.”

I clung to him, finally realizing that I never should have left. We were a family, after all, and we could have worked through things. “I missed you,” was all I could say. “I missed you so much.”

I was crying so hard that Walt couldn’t let go of me. Brooks finally came up and patted me on the back. “Let’s go up and get settled.”

I pulled away from Walt, feeling a little embarrassed. Then I saw the tears in his own eyes. “We really missed you. Both of you.”

Brooks shook his dad’s hand. “I’m sorry it’s been so long, Dad. We just needed time.”

I felt his hand grabbing mine as we walked up the stairs. When we got to the hallway he stood there for a second. “Yours or mine?”

I shrugged. “Yours?”

We went into his room, which was exactly how he’d left it. I sat down on his bed and watched him kneel in front of me. “How are you doing?”

“They don’t hate me.”

He placed his hands on my knees. “I know you’re freaking out. Close your eyes and breathe, Kat.”

I did as he said and my breathing finally calmed.

“Is it better?”

I nodded. He stood up. “We should probably put B in your room. I bet Dad even has some of those things in the attic so she won’t fall out of bed.”

“How can you be so calm about this?” It was driving me crazy.

“Because they can’t change anything. We’re here and B’s here. It is what it is. It’s also the same reason that I came after you that first night. I couldn’t change what’s happened, but I sure as hell could change the future.”

“You told me that we’d never be together.”

He laughed and shook his head. “I said that so you’d push me away. If you were happy then I wasn’t going to ruin it for you.”

“You’re unbelievable.”

“I’d like to think I’m generous.”

“Not fighting for me is stupid, plain and simple.”

“It’s a good thing I didn’t have to. You came to your senses faster than I thought you would.”

He leaned in and kissed me, so softly that it instantly became more. We went from sitting in front of each other, to him lying on top of me on his bed. My hands were under his shirt running up his warm skin. I wanted him to make all of my worries go away. Finally he pulled away, and laughed. “We need to go downstairs.”

I grabbed him between the legs. “Are you sure?”

Brooks stood up and readjusted himself, so his erection wasn’t as noticeable. I couldn’t stop staring at it and licking my lips. He pointed at me. “Stop it. You can have your way with me later. Right now we need to go downstairs and clear the air. You’re clearly stalling.”

I rolled my eyes and held out my arms for him to pull me to a standing position. When I got up next to him, he brushed my lips with his thumb. I closed my eyes and whispered, “I love you, Brooks.”

He kissed me one more time, passionately. “Not as much as I love you, Kat.”

We changed our clothes since it was no longer chilly outside, and headed downstairs. Walt and Danica were sitting at the table with B. She was propped up with old phone books eating some cut up turkey. They both smiled when we came in. “Grab the mayonnaise when you walk by the refrigerator, will ya?” Walt acted as if no time had passed. I smiled and grabbed it, while Brooks sat down next to B. It was a little awkward sitting there in silence as they thought about what to ask us first.

I knew they’d have one burning question and I was fully prepared to answer it. Rather than have them nervous about asking, I decided to just blurt it out. “She’s Brooks’ daughter. When I found out I was pregnant I had them check on the date of conception several times. I wasn’t with Branch at all the whole month of December. Brooklyn was born September 11th, if you need to check on the math.”

Not only did I shock both Danica and Walt, but Brooks put his hand on my knee and gave me a crazy look. “Now that you know, can we talk about something else?”

For a few seconds the room felt extremely tiny. I felt like the biggest idiot. “Sorry. I know you were going to ask and I also know that Brooks and Branch have identical DNA. Anyone would want to know.”

Danica reached over and smiled. “Katy, we weren’t going to ask.”

I was confused. I’d been engaged to Branch and was claiming that one night with Brooks had gotten me pregnant. Anyone would question that. “I don’t understand. You’d just believe me?”

Walt cut in. “We assumed Branch told you. When he proposed to you, we told him to tell you.”

“Tell her what?” Now Brooks wanted to know.

“Branch can’t have kids. He was born with a tumor on his testicle and they had to go in and cut out part of the tube that sends the se**n into the penis. He’s sterile.”

My mouth dropped. “He knew I wanted children,” I mumbled.

Brooks started laughing uncontrollably. “That bastard. I can’t believe the levels he stooped to keep us apart. You’re telling us that he knew he couldn’t have kids?”

“That’s exactly what we’re telling you, son,” Walt stated.

Brooks grabbed two rolls and dropped one on the plate in front of me. “This day just keeps getting better.”

I kicked him with my foot under the table, as if we were kids again. He was acting inappropriate and he knew it.

“Sorry, we were just worried that you’d think we were lying to keep Branch from B.”

Walt folded his hands. “I’m feeling a bit disturbed myself, Katy. It seems there’s a lot of things that Branch did that we weren’t aware of. If we would have known, we never would have let you accept his proposal.”

Danica cut in. “Of course not. Katy, we knew how Brooks felt about you. I never could understand what made you pick Branch. I mean, I love both of my sons, but they’re very different. I should have said something back then, I suppose.”

I placed both of my hands palms down on the dining room table. “Brooks and I have decided that we’re not going to dwell on what’s already been done. We can’t change any of it.” I looked at Brooks. Aside from his shoving half of a sandwich into his mouth all at one time, he was still smiling. “We just want to move forward, with our daughter and our future.”