Page 59 of The Bartender's Baby

On-screen, Mom slanted her head, clearly thrown for a loop.

My sister slid her hand around my arm, squeezing it in support.

“Okay. Well…” Mom nodded to herself a few times, what she did when she gathered her thoughts. “I…I am happy if you’re happy. Are you happy?”

“I’m happy,” I murmured, feeling oddly emotional. The last few months had been like the first big hill on a roller coaster, a weightless plunge, and now, we were starting to straighten out, but I still didn’t know what to expect. But this, right here, felt like a big step forward, telling my mother.

Who shocked me when she asked, “Are you sure?”

I wrenched back. “Am I sure I’m happy? Yes, Mom, I’m sure.”

Next to me, Evie made a disgruntled sound.

Mom held her hands over her heart. “I didn’t say that to upset you. I can see you’re getting upset. I don’t want that, okay? I asked because you said your relationship is new, and this isn’tyourbaby, and I don’t want… I’m afraid you’ll get your heart broken. Raising kids is hard, and if there’s nothing tying you to her or the baby, I don’t…” She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head as I gripped my sister’s hand, heat crawling over my skin. “It will be very hard, is all.”

I wasn’t going to yell at my mother.

I wasn’t going to yell at my mother.

I wasnotgoing to yell at my mother.

But I would burn shit down for Tabitha.

“I wouldn’t care if she gave birth to an alien,” I said carefully, overenunciating so there would be no mistaking my meaning. “I am going to take care of Tabby and the baby, no matter what. Do not ask me if I am happy about it. Do not tell me how hard it is going to be. Do not give me advice aboutmyrelationship.”

I didn’t want to shove her own failed marriage in her face, but I also didn’t like to be tested. “Tabby’s not had an easy go of it,and I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure the rest of her life is smooth.”

I hoped she understood my meaning. My relationship with my father was shit, but I would gladly toss the one I had with my mother into the ocean if she did or said anything to disrupt what Tabby and I had.

“And I’m going to tell you this in complete confidence, Mom, but Tabby was really worried about me talking to you. She, of course, would never say this out loud to anyone, would absolutely kill me if she knew I was telling you this…”

Without even knowing what I was going to say, my sister agreed with a quiet laugh and a “Yep.”

“But she doesn’t have any family, and I know she is desperate for one. She wants and needs people around her for support, and she was nervous that you were going to be upset when I told you, because she wants to be included. She wants to be loved, and she was afraid you wouldn’t accept her.”

Both Evie and our mother sniffled, undoubtedly troubled by my words, but I didn’t care. Tabby lived this every day, and if it took them—specifically, my mother—getting a little upset for the point to be made, so be it.

I continued after a deep breath. “I’m telling you that I will always choose her, so please don’t ask me if I’m happy or think you’re going to make me second-guess my decisions because I’m not going to. There was never a choice. It was always her. It will always be her.”

Mom nodded as Evie patted my back, whispering a quiet, “Well said.”

“I understand,” my mother said, blinking her eyes a few times to clear them of their glassiness. “I’m just so surprised, but I’m also very, very proud of you, Nathan.”

“Thank you.”

Then she smiled, mood shifted. “Now, what do you need me to do? I can?—”

“Nothing right now.”

“What about you, Evie?” Mom lifted her cell phone again. “With the wedding and the baby coming this year, we will have so much to do. Two showers! Oh my gosh, what is?—”

“I’ll let you know, Mom,” she said. “We don’t really need a wedding shower because we don’t need anything for the house, so let me talk about it with Dylan. We haven’t even told anyone else I’m pregnant, so?—”

Mom perked up even more. “You didn’t tell your father?”

“Not yet.”

She was the cat who caught the canary. “Well, I am here whenever you need me. You know it’s nothing for me to drive over there. If there’s no traffic, I can get there in an hour and a half.”

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