Page 35 of The B!tch List

“W-what the he—”

“Yep, you already said that son. I think you need to think of something else to say, like why the hell has a sweet little girl been dumped on our doorstep with her favorite doll, her birth certificate and a note that said she’s yours and you need to take care of her.”

My mouth dropped open as I looked at Tia, the blonde-haired cutie who I’d only met a few days ago. As my heartbeat thudded in my ears, I couldn’t take my eyes off her, I couldn’t hear what my mom was saying, except that I knew that she was talking because she was holding my hand and pulling on it, like she always did when she was giving me a lecture which she thought would benefit me.

I took a step toward the couch and held my breath as Tia moved, rubbing a hand against her nose so that it dislodged her pacifier.

“Shit,” Dad hissed. “Please don’t make her cry. She has your damn loudmouth son, let me tell you.”

I turned to him and with a surprise feeling of sadness, I sighed. “She might not be mine.”

“What?” Mom cried and then slapped a hand over her mouth before saying in a much softer voice, “What?”

I ushered them out of the room and into the den across the hallway.

“The note said she was yours,” Mom said, once we’d all held our breaths for a few beats in case our moving rooms had woken Tia.

“Yeah well Mrs. Devonshire will say anything to avoid having to take care of her.”

“You already knew about her?” Dad asked, running a hand over his already messed up hair. “And have you been having an affair with a married woman?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“What then?”

“Well if you let me explain.” I raised my brows. “Can I continue?”

“Yes, honey,” Mom said giving Dad a withering look. “Carry on.”

I took a deep breath. “I went to Wichita to give my DNA.She, who is the kid’s grandma, was supposed to wait until we got the results back.”

“When the hell did you go to Wichita?” Dad looked at Mom. “Did you know he’d gone to Wichita?”

“Of course I did,” she replied, her eyes on me. “I made him a ham and pickle sandwich to eat on the plane. What I didn’t know was that it was to go and find out whether he was a father. I thought he went on business, seeing as he went with Tate.”

“So Tate knows but you didn’t think to tell us?”

“Dad, stop shouting, you’ll wake the baby.” I pushed the door so that it was slightly ajar. “Tate was there as my lawyer and if you must know he told me to tell you.”

“And why didn’t you?” he asked. “Because I’ve got to be honest son, a little heads up would’ve been good.”

“I was waiting to see what the test results came back with, and they’ve been delayed.” I pressed my fingers against my temples where a dull ache was building. “I didn’t think she’d dump Tia on the doorstep.”

“Her name is Tia.” Mom got a dreamy look in her eyes and placed a hand against her chest. “What a beautiful name.”

“Don’t get all starry eyed, Mom,” I warned. “She might not be mine.”

“What about her mother?” Dad asked.

I sighed. “Remember my girlfriend from college who ran away with the professor.” They both nodded. “Well Tia is hers, but Monique died.”

“Oh my goodness.” Mom flopped down onto the sectional and grabbed my hand. “Honey that’s awful.”

“Aggressive bone cancer. She told me that Professor Ritter was the Tia’s dad, but he’s done a DNA test and he isn’t.”

“She’s yours then?”

“I don’t know Dad. She could be but the dates don’t work out, or at least they wouldn’t, but Monique told her mom that Tia was a month early. Her mom thinks she was lying. You can see Tia is small and petite so it would be easy to get away with it.”

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