Page 60 of His Bittersweet Regret

“I’m sure this is a bit of a delicate situation, but the twins are here and wanted to know if it was okay for them to come up and meet your son.”

My face flushed with heat as I thought about what Opal’s reaction might be to the twins’ presence in the hospital. “I don’t know if that would be a good idea.”

“Austin is their nephew. They deserve to meet him, same as Ryker,” she insisted.

“Really, Mom? You don’t see a difference? Ryker, has always worshiped Opal, and was there for her when none of the rest of our family was. The twins have always taunted her and tried to break us up, but you think they deserve the same consideration?”

“They messed up. If she can forgive you…”

“She hasn’t forgiven me anything,” I shouted at her before I pulled my anger back. “The only reason I’m here is because I’m that baby’s father and she can’t really shut me out.” I choked out an awful sound then that was half laugh, half sob. “She tried to get me thrown out of the delivery room after we walked into the awkward situation with Gabby. She would have succeeded too, if things hadn’t moved so fast that the nurse didn’t have a chance to do her bidding.”

“I can’t stand the strife in our family right now.”

“I get it, Mom. I think we’re all strung a little tight right now. It’s a shitty situation and one of my own making, no matter the shit the twins did. I made my own decisions, but this isn’t even about me leaving Opal. They have been awful to her for years. Years, Mom. She’s not going to want them up here.”

“Then bring the baby out in the hall so she doesn’t have to see them.”

“Do you hear yourself? Do you know what will happen if I go against her wishes, take her son, and introduce him to two of the three people she hates most in this world?”

“They’re your brothers!” My mom yelled at me.

“And they made their bed with Opal. Now, they get to lie in it. I can’t live with my family because of what I did. They can’t meet my son because of what they did. When she changes her mind on that, then it will happen.”

My mom turned her back on me. It hurt to see her shoulders shaking, but then she surprised me and stomped back into the room and faced down Opal.

“It’s not right that our whole family can’t meet the baby!” It wasn’t quite a shout, but there was enough passion in my mom’s voice that Ryker stepped between her and Opal, ready to protect the mother of my child from our own mom. If it was possible, my respect for my little brother grew by leaps and bounds that day.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Opal said as she shifted our son to her shoulder and started patting his back.

“The twins are here, and you won’t let them come meet their nephew,” my mother accused.

Opal’s eyebrows shifted upward at a high arc toward her hairline. “I wasn’t even aware they were here,” she tossed back to my mother in a deceptively quiet voice. I was sure it was just to keep an even tone so as not to startle our boy.

“Well,” Mom huffed. “They deserve to meet him.”

Opal sighed at length, waited for our son to release the gas that built up, and then cradled him in her arms again to feed him the rest of the bottle he was rooting around for. Only once he latched onto the thing like a ravenous little monster, did she look back up to where my mother stood.

“They don’t deserve a thing from me. Let’s get that straight right now. Those two have only ever tried to take my happiness from me. They succeeded. So, don’t you dare come in here and get an attitude with me on the day my son was born, a day that should have been the happiest of my life. It’s because of your sons that this day is clouded in misery for me.” My mom started to speak, with her chest puffed up, ready for a fight. Opal cut her off.

“I never said they couldn’t come meet their nephew. I wouldn’t take any of my son’s family from him. He’s going to need every one of y’all in his life at some point. Hopefully, he’s smart enough to know the twins are morons when it counts.”

Ryker chuckled at that and stepped back a little, realizing the threat was no longer there as my mother deflated a bit.

“Kathy,” Opal called as my mother went to move to the door to go get the twins.

“Hmm?” Mom turned back to Opal with tears hanging in her eyes.

“What you’re doing here, it’s going to cause damage between us that won’t be easy to repair. Those boys have tortured me for years. Your insistence, your venom toward me when I didn’t deserve it, it all boils down to me losing any respect that I once held for you. It breaks the trust that I placed in you years ago.”

Mom gasped, her hand rising to cover her mouth to hold in the emotion trying to escape. “I’m sorry.” She told Opal and then she left.

The twins never did come up after that.

25

Opal

It had been two weeks since I was able to bring my son home from the hospital. Marsh hadn’t pushed for an overnight visit with him yet, at least not away from me. He made use of Bethany’s air mattress a few times since then. I couldn’t say anything bad about the visits either. He was helpful and let me get some sleep, taking the nighttime feedings for Austin without complaint.

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