Page 75 of The Homecoming

Autumn reached the crib and checked Danny’s diaper, noticing he required a change. She could feel Daniel behind her, staring over her shoulder down at the baby as she cleaned him. He was face-to-face with his own eyes. At least now she didn’t have to find a way to tell him, the truth had come out.

“I have a question,” he whispered.

Autumn had had more than enough of people asking who Danny’s father was. “Ask me if he’s yours,” she said in baby talk while looking down at the upset baby, “and I’ll shoot your balls off.”

He took a step back, remaining silent.

She lifted Danny from the crib and sat in the rocking chair. As she rocked him, Daniel stood still, gaze affixed on them. Once Danny settled and began to drift off, he walked out of the room.

Autumn found Daniel on the couch, leaning forward with his head in his hands in the partial darkness. The only illumination was the small amount brought by the hall light.

“I live behind two locked, monitored fences. How did you get in here?”

He slid his hands down his face to cover his mouth before looking at her. His eyes showed his exhaustion, but nothing else. His guard was up.

She nodded. “Right, right, you’re a badass, I forgot.” Why she provoked him, she had no idea, other than the fact that she was still peeved he’d broken into her house. “Did you forget how to use a phone?” He darted up, and she almost took a step back. He threw his hands in the air and crossed the room to her front door, flinging it open as he marched outside. She followed out of sheer curiosity.

“Go on and say what you want to,” she said as he paced back and forth in the yard. She wanted him to yell at her, to scream, to jump up and down and get angry with her for what she’d done to him. He deserved his say.

To Autumn’s surprise, he stopped and stared. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I really didn’t even know if you wanted a baby. It was easier than finding out that you didn’t want anything to do with us.”

He looked into her eyes. “What did you think would happen when I came back?”

“I’d tell you, explain myself, and let you know that you can be as involved as you want to; there’s no pressure.”

His face hardened. “Jesus Christ, Autumn.” On the move again, he would wear out a path in the grass if he kept the stride up. He began to yell like she’d wanted—in Spanish. It was like she’d accidentally hit the button on the remote, changing the spoken language on the TV, but she didn’t know how to switch it back. She had no idea what he was saying, but from the tone, she surmised it was an angry rant peppered with choice words. What she told him was notstrictlytrue, but she wanted to avoid the conversation about Jason for as long as possible.

“So, the whole damn town knows but me.” He’d reverted to English.

“His name is Daniel, so probably. But I haven’t gone around announcing it.”

“My mom?” he asked.

Autumn scrunched her face and looked away.

“Great, two women in my life kept me in the dark.”

“To be fair, she didn’t know until I was seven months and she’d said it wasn’t her place to tell you…. How did you find me?”

“My mom told me you moved out here….” He stilled and shook his head. “Never did I think you would be one to hurt me, Autumn.”

Ouch.Yeah, she was definitely the asshole here.

He stomped off down the gravel road without another word. Inside, Autumn grabbed her cell phone and called Weasel. At three a.m., he answered on the second ring. “Yo.”

“Dan’s back. He broke into my house. I nearly shot him with an arrow. He found out about Danny, yelled at me in Spanish, and then left.”

Weasel sighed. “I’m on it.”

***

The following morning, Autumn tried to drink her coffee while simultaneously shoveling spoonfuls of applesauce and rice cereal into Danny’s mouth. She couldn’t work the spoon fast enough to suit him. Brandon sat across from her at the table; she’d texted him at sunup. She didn’t know where Dan had gone and she hadn’t heard anything from Weasel. Unable to go back to sleep after Dan left, she would need all the coffee she could get. Then, without a knock, Daniel walked right through the front door in a black t-shirt and a well-worn pair of jeans, his scruffy beard looking haywire. He may not have slept in weeks.

“Look, I meant it when I told you I loved you and wanted to come back to be with you. I asked you to marry me last summer, so of course I’d want you and our baby. I can’t believe you would ever even think—”

“He asked you to marry him?” Brandon asked, staring at her dumbfoundedly.

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