Page 76 of Undeniable

Madelyn looked like she wanted to laugh and slap Kennedy at the same time and she handed Daniela over so carefully, it was like she was transferring an egg to someone she feared would drop it.

We were swarmed then. Madelyn’s parents came rushing out of the house with Teagan, and Grams followed carefully with a walker.

“Steve’s out back already,” Kennedy announced almost breathlessly. “Hope you were in the mood for a little celebration, because when Steve told me today was the day…” Her eyes filled up suddenly and she leaned into Madelyn. “Congratulations, Mama.” Then she leaned over to me and pushed up on her toes, kissing my cheek, just before she punched my shoulder hard. “Good job, Daddy.”

That was a weird word, one I’d certainly never thought I’d be called, and it surprised me to find just how much I liked it.

“Come on.” Kennedy led the way back into the house, everyone trailing back in behind her as Madelyn’s mother fussed about wanting her turn to hold the baby.

I hadn’t spent any time in the vicinity of Mrs. VanBuren since I was in my early twenties, and by the time Steve and I left the Army, the VanBurens had moved to Florida.

Shortly put, she was exhausting. She was drama and energy and a giant, sucking black hole of neediness. She needed all eyes on her, something I’d miraculously forgotten in the last several decades, and the memories came roaring back.

“Kenny’s gonna punch your mother,” I whispered into Madelyn’s ear as we followed the little parade through the house, and I heard an explosion of sound from Steve when Kennedy appeared on the back deck with the baby in her arms. He was definitely his mother’s son, just dialed back to the point he was manageable.

I was about to step through the back door and onto the deck, but Madelyn caught my hand and pulled me back, her eyes big and shiny with joy. When I turned to her she grabbed my face with both hands and absolutely laid one on me, and I meanwow. I’d gotten the idea that Madelyn had a passionate spirit, but the emotion I felt radiating out of her was almost enough to bring me to my knees: joy, hopefulness, love.

Maybe some of that love was for me.

We spent the afternoon with Madelyn’s insane family–my family now, I guessed, and Dad showed up with Hailey later that evening.

Daniela handled being passed around like an appetizer tray like a champ. She was quiet, staring up intently at each new face with eyes dark as cesspools. She blinked slowly at each person getting up in her business, occasionally rewarding us with little smiles, and when she squirmed just a little, Madelyn was at the ready with a warmed bottle, like she’d interpreted the wiggle for what it really meant.

“Never thought I’d see the day.”

I had to look down my shoulder to see Grams leaning on her walker beside me. She reached one hand over as she said it, patting my butt, and I rolled my eyes. She caught me doing it and chuckled. “Forgive an old lady her only joy.”

Something about her told me that had always been her joy in life. I could hardly remember her husband, Madelyn’s grandfather, but I felt sure the woman had put him through his paces–routinely–and had probably been buried with hand prints on his ass.

“You have a new joy now.” I pointed across the yard to where Mrs. VanBuren was hogging Daniela, cooing and crooning loudly as Madelyn looked on with a pained expression.

“I know what you did for them,” the old lady said quietly and I took her arm, leaving the walker in order to guide her to one of the chairs. “That’s something I’d have called a very large sacrifice if I didn’t know better.” She put an arm low on my hips to steady herself and I waited for the handful of ass that never came.

Settling her carefully, I pointed toward the table Steve had spread with food and drinks and she shook her head. “Don’t distract me, boy. I have something to say.”

Uh-oh.

“You’re both idiots,” she huffed suddenly, reaching out to give a sharp slap to the back of my head.

“What?” I tried to keep my voice low.

“Ridiculous.” She muttered the words like she’d just confirmed I had an incurable disease. “I have news for you, young man. If you think you’re doing this to help my granddaughter, you’re wrong. You’ve made a choice to be there for her and the baby and now you’re in it. This wasn’t something temporary.”

“Yeah,” I said slowly. “I knew what I was getting into.”

“Did you really?” Her voice went a little quieter. “I see the way you look at her, Adam. You might have told yourself you did this to solve a problem for her, but you’re dead-gone over my granddaughter.”

News flash, old woman: I have been for decades. Just ask my ex-wife.

“Watch yourself,” she warned quickly. “She’s only loved one thing for a long time now: work. It didn’t give her any sass or backtalk and she was real good at what she did, I know that much even if I didn’t approve of it–not a fitting place for a woman, being in combat.

“It’s going to take her some time to learn how to be tied down in a family way, and she might not be very good at it for a while.”

I nodded slowly. Was this a warning? An insight? A tarot card reading?

“I have no doubt she has feelings for you, Beckman.”

That drew me up a little short. She’d never called me by my last name to my face; I was always “young man,” or “son.”

---