Page 154 of Embracing the Change

“Holy shit, I have uncles too?”

“Yes.”

“Please tell me these ones aren’t fuckwads,” Judge begged.

Jamie felt a lightness in his chest at Judge’s reaction to all of this. He’d been avoiding it for a long time, not wanting to besmirch his mother’s memory, not wanting any drama, but definitely wanting AJ firmly over the barrel before he pulled the final plug.

But fuck, it was good to finally have it out there.

“I’ve looked into all of them, and they’re good, decent, hardworking men. They own a ranch they all work not far from Oakbilly. The sons are both married, one to his high school sweetheart. The younger one to a woman he met twenty years ago, and they’ve been together since. You also have cousins. Three boys and a girl. They’re younger even than Dru, but they seem like good kids.”

“Jesus, this is a lot,” Judge muttered.

Jamie’s stomach twisted. “Too much?” he asked.

“No, Dad. I think it’s awesome. I should have known you weren’t of his blood. You don’t look like him. And you don’t act like any of them. Have you reached out to these folks?”

“I’m going to do it after I get the ranch.”

“Can I ask why you’re waiting?”

Good question.

“Dad?” Judge pushed.

“I keep trying to think how I would feel if the product of a relationship with a woman from my past, even a woman I cared about deeply, approached me decades later.”

“I know how you’d feel,” Judge stated instantly. “You’d be shocked, but, as long as they didn’t show up to milk you for money, you’d love it.”

His son was correct.

However…

“Not every man would, Judge,” he cautioned. “And he’s been with his wife for forty-five years. She might not like it that much either.”

“I hear you,” Judge said quietly. “But if he loved Grandma…and Dad, you’re no slouch. You’ve made an amazing life for yourself, and you’re a great guy. I think this man will be super freaking happy to know you’re his. And if his wife loves him, she’ll only dig that he has more family to add to their own.”

Fuck, he hoped so.

Jamie moved them on. “So…first step. Telling you. I’ll tell Dru soon. Once we know Chet isn’t going to bother her. And then I’ll figure out when I’ll reach out to this man.”

“What’s his name?”

“Morgan Rawlins.”

“Holy fuck,” Judge whispered.

That made Jamie smile, because he knew why Judge said that.

“Mom told Pop that she gave me my middle name after her side of the family, the Morgans,” Jamie told his son something he already knew. “Her journal refutes that. She named me after my father. Which means, I inadvertently gave you your middle name after my father.”

He could hear the smile in Judge’s, “Shit, AJ is gonna lose his mind.”

AJ was going to lose his mind.

There was a knock on the door, then Nico stuck his head in.

“Damn, sorry, I thought you might be done,” he said.

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