Page 5 of The Unforgiven
“Look, I’m sorry you’re disappointed,” Seth said. “It’s important to know who your parents are, and I can see how it would leave a blank hole in your sense of self, but you’ve come all this way for nothing. I hope you find what you’re searching for.”
“Thank you, Seth, and I appreciate you giving me a sample. I won’t trouble you again unless I have to.”
“No problem. To tell you the truth, you were a welcome diversion. I hate sitting here by my lonesome. I’m an active person by nature. I’m going into the office tomorrow, ready or not. Brett will be thrilled. That boy does nothing but hang out with friends, playing video games and smoking weed. I suppose I can’t blame him, I was no better at his age, except I played the guitar instead of video games. We didn’t have much in the way of electronic entertainment back then. I got an Atari eventually, but the games were primitive and mind-numbingly boring, not like today’s stuff. I play sometimes when Brett’s not around.Assassin’s Creed; now that’s a great game.” He smiled guiltily. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to ramble on. I just don’t enjoy solitude, I guess. I should have thought of that before I cheated on my wife and lost the only woman who was willing to put up with me. Say, would you like to stay for lunch? Dolores makes the best gumbo.”
“Are you supposed to be eating that after your surgery?” Quinn asked, vaguely remembering that gumbo was a spicy Cajun dish.
“No. But I’m not one for bland food. God, I hated the food in England. Come, say you’ll stay. I hate eating alone.”
“Thank you, Seth, but I must get going. It’s been a pleasure meeting you, and I wish you a speedy recovery.”
“Suit yourself. Safe flight back,” he called after Quinn as she walked away.
THREE
Quinn turned up the air-conditioning to high, kicked off her shoes, and flung herself on the bed. She’d had a wasted trip, and Gabe had been right all along. She was chasing shadows. What did it matter who her biological father was? She had a great dad who had loved her since the day she’d come into his life thirty years ago. He would be the one to walk her down the aisle next month when she married Gabe, and he would be the one her child would call “Grandpa,” not some hot-blooded American alpha male who could trace his roots back to the Confederacy and was probably of the opinion that the South should have won the Civil War. They had nothing in common, and for good reason.
Damn you, Sylvia, Quinn thought viciously.Why can’t you just tell me the truth instead of sending me on this wild goose chase? Is there another man in the mix that I don’t know about?
How many more men would she have to accost with her DNA kit? It was embarrassing and frustrating, and it didn’t exactly elevate Sylvia in Quinn’s eyes or lend credence to her story. Perhaps Gabe was right and Sylvia had manipulated the facts to gain Quinn’s forgiveness and understanding. After all, it would be pretty hard to expect sympathy from the daughter she had abandoned if Sylvia admitted to sleeping with half a dozen men around the same time, getting pregnant by one of them, and then dumping her baby in a church pew and walking away without a backward glance.
Quinn wanted to remain angry, but some part of her pitied the woman. Sylvia had been afraid of losing the daughter she’d just found. She was a woman nearing fifty who’d recently lost her husband to cancer and was about to lose her sons. Sylvia had moved to London to be close to Logan, who worked as a nurse at the London Hospital, but Logan had just moved in with his partner, Colin. Jude, whom Quinn had finally met a week before leaving for New Orleans, spent most of his time on tour, playing various clubs and bars across the U.K. with his band. He was excited about having booked their first gig in Dublin, which was sometime inJune and might open doors to other engagements in Ireland. Sylvia was proud of Jude’s ambition and success but was lonely when he was away, since she didn’t have many friends in London.
Quinn folded her arms behind her head and considered her newfound family. The jury was still out on Sylvia, especially after the meeting with Seth Besson, but she liked Logan. He was only a few years younger than Quinn and had a carefree nature that made him easy to talk to. The fact that Quinn already knew his partner and had his approval also bridged the gap between them, making it easier to pursue a relationship. Quinn and Logan had exchanged a few phone calls and texts since meeting a month ago, and she felt a swell of sisterly love toward him. Given time, they could become great friends and establish a life-long bond.
Jude, on the other hand, was a totally different kettle of fish. Quinn supposed it was his artistic nature that made him moody and silent, but she felt a definite spark of resentment when he leveled his blue-eyed gaze at her. Perhaps he was worried that his mother would somehow love him less now that she’d found a child she’d abandoned years ago, but Sylvia fussed over Jude so much that it was difficult to imagine such a scenario for even a moment. Sylvia went on and on about Jude’s upcoming performance in Ireland, and that was the only time Quinn had noticed a spark of excitement or felt any warmth between Jude and Sylvia.
Jude had hardly paid his mother any attention when they finally got together for dinner at Sylvia’s and barely made eye contact with anyone, except Emma, who seemed to amuse him. Both Gabe and Logan tried to engage him in conversation, but Jude replied with monosyllabic answers and gazed at something just beyond everyone’s heads. Quinn noticed him pulling at the sleeves of his jersey, as if afraid someone would see his forearms. He wore a black-and-white kaffiyeh wound about his neck and nearly bit Sylvia’s head off when she asked if he’d like to take it off.
Both Logan and Sylvia tried to compensate for Jude’s silence by making conversation and fussing over Emma, wholapped up the attention. She asked if she might call Logan “Uncle Logan.” He loved the idea, but when Emma turned to Jude with the same request, he simply said, “No thanks, kid. Maybe you can bestow that honor on Colin, since he’s now a member of this family. Should I be referring to you as my brother-in-law?” he asked, pinning Colin with his hostile gaze.
“Colin and I are not married. Yet,” Logan retorted. Colin shifted uncomfortably but didn’t reply, choosing this moment to excuse himself instead.
“You may call me ‘Grandma Sylvia,’” Sylvia chimed in. Quinn hadn’t expected that and wasn’t at all sure she was ready for Sylvia to become a full-fledged grandmother to Emma. After all, Emma wasn’t her biological granddaughter, and it seemed too soon to put a label on their relationship.
“But I already have too many grandmothers,” Emma protested. “I had my gran who died, and now I have Grandma Phoebe and Grandma Susan. Do I have four grandmothers when everyone else has two?” Emma asked, seeking clarification. At four, she couldn’t possibly hope to grasp the complexity of all these relationships, particularly when the adults were still trying to figure them out and find their footing.
“Sweetheart, I only meant that I would like to be your honorary grandma,” Sylvia amended.
“I don’t understand,” Emma said anxiously.
Quinn put an arm around Emma to comfort her. “It’s all right, darling. We’ll figure this all out. When I was little, I had to do a family tree to learn all about my family. Perhaps we can do that for you. Would you like that?”
Emma nodded enthusiastically, but Gabe frowned in Quinn’s direction. Emma was too young to comprehend the connections that made up her current family. A family tree would lead to a lot of awkward questions, such as why Gabe hadn’t been married to her mother or why they’d lived in different countries until Jenna was killed in a car accident that led to Emma coming tolive with her father. Having to explain Quinn’s parentage would be no simpler task, and Quinn knew Gabe didn’t know enough to fill in the blanks for Jenna McAllister, whom he hadn’t seen since the weekend Emma was conceived.
“Perhaps we can wait until you’re a little older,” Gabe suggested. “Then we’ll be able to add your brother or sister to the family tree. Wouldn’t that be fun?”
“Would I get to come first?” Emma demanded. “I’m the oldest.”
“Of course you would be first,” Gabe assured her.
“Well, that’s all right then. We can wait until there’s a baby.”
Sylvia’s face lit up like a lantern. “Are you…?”
“Yes,” Quinn replied, blushing furiously. “It’s early days yet.”
“Congratulations, sis,” Logan exclaimed. “I never thought I’d get to be an uncle, and now I get a gorgeous niece and will have another niece or nephew to spoil. What’ya think, Jude?”
