straight to bed.”
Ella could feel her face flushing at her mother’s insinuation. She knew this wasn’t the kind of conversation to have in front of a child and she couldn’t believe her mother was being so tactless. Turning to Declan she flashed him a strained smile and asked, “Do you think you and Evan could watch television in the bedroom for a few minutes? I need to discuss something with my mother.”
Declan hesitated, obviously torn between leaving her to face the lion and running like hell to make his escape. He shot her mother a look of distaste before nodding and taking Evan’s hand. “Come on big guy; let’s go see if Bugs Bunny is on. Ellie needs some privacy.”
In typical Evan fashion, he gave his father a pitying look saying, “Bugs Bunny doesn’t come on on Sunday. What’s
She heard Declan saying, “It’s privacy and it means Ellie wants us to go to the bedroom.”
Ella waited until she heard the door shut behind them before turning back to her mother. “Mom, this has gotten absurd. I’m too old for you to be barging into my house unannounced and embarrassing me in front of my guests.”
“Your guests,” her mother sputtered, “Do you mean the man you are fornicating with? And who is that child? Don’t tell me he is married with a family. Good grief, Ella, where have your morals gone?”
Ella was momentarily distracted from her mother’s running diatribe by the spectacle of her sister making choking motions behind her back. My God, her sister really had gone off the deep end. What was up with her? “Mom, enough already. First, I’m pretty sure no one actually says fornicate anymore and, second, Declan is not married. That is his son Evan.”
Her mother interrupted her explanation with an exasperated, “Of course, I should have known. He has a child out of wedlock.”
“Whoa, alert the media!” Crystal added.
Voicing the exact same thing she had been wondering, her mother turned to Crystal and said, “What in the world is wrong with you lately? I swear, you have gotten as bad as your sister. I’m going to have a talk with Bill about your behavior, young lady.”
Crystal rolled her eyes. “Bill isn’t my father and I’m pretty much finished with listening to him nag me.”
Apparently, this argument with Crystal had been going on for some time because even though their mother looked disgusted, she didn’t look surprised. “We’ll address this later.”
“Now, Ella, I had to leave right after church because I couldn’t stand any more embarrassing questions about why you never come. I’m not leaving until you agree to meet us there next Sunday.”
A refusal was on the tip of her tongue until she had an idea. “Sure, Mom, I’ll come, but only if Declan comes with me.”
“Wha . . . what! I just don’t think that’s appropriate. I mean, people will ask questions.”
“Why would they ask questions, Mom? I’m old enough to have a boyfriend. I’d also like to bring Evan. He is Declan’s son.”
“Ella! Are you trying to ruin our name? First, you want to bring a strange man with you and now you want to bring along his child? You know what people will think!”
“No, I really don’t, Mom. Why don’t you enlighten me.”
“Why, they’ll assume that the child is yours.”
“And why is that horrible?”
Next came a statement from her mother that was a complete shock to her and even Crystal looked stunned. “Well, if you insist on this, maybe I can explain it to a few people ahead of Sunday. I’ll just tell Joanne that you and Declan were married quietly last year and have adopted an older child. They would understand since you felt it was your Christian duty.”
“Oh brother,” Crystal moaned, “you have officially lost it, Mommy dear.”
“Mom, do you even hear yourself? You’re harassing me about not going to church, yet you want me to lie to everyone there? Doesn’t that go against everything that church is supposed to represent?”
Her mother had the grace to flush guiltily before snapping, “Your father and I are well known and respected in our community. We have a reputation to uphold. You should be more sensitive to our feelings instead of trying to make things worse.”
Ella felt like her head was about to explode. If this continued, she was going to say something unforgiveable to her mother so she decided the only course of action left was to get rid of her. “Mom, I have company that I have neglected for too long. Tell Daddy I said hello.”
“Are you asking me to leave?”
Crystal stepped over and opened the door. “I think that’s our cue, let’s go, Mom. I’ve got an appointment for a tattoo at three.”
Ella didn’t think it was possible to distract her mother when she was irate with one of her daughters, but that one statement did it. Her mother’s voice raised in disbelief as Crystal ushered her toward the door. She gave a quick thumbs-up to Ella saying, “You owe me big time,” before shutting the door behind them.
With the closing of the door, Ella sagged back against the couch and muttered one of Declan’s favorite lines, “What the fuck?”
Chapter Seventeen
Let me get this straight, Ava said, “You’ve got a kid now and a girlfriend?”
Beside her, Declan’s friend, Mac, chuckled, “Yeah, I’m still having troubling processing the girlfriend part. The kid thing freaks me out.”
Always the most serious one of the group, Brant pinched the bridge of his nose. “When were you planning on telling your family about this? I had to hear it from Gray? He was pretty horrified when he figured out that I didn’t know.”
Of course, Declan should have known when he opened the door to find the three of them standing there that no good could come from it. He was just glad that Ella was staying with Beth tonight while Nick was out of town. They would have been on her like stink on shit. “Was I supposed to Facebook message you or something? Maybe a memo? Give me a break, it’s not like I’ve known that long and we aren’t exactly the type of family from a Norman Rockwell painting.”
“Declan,” Ava snapped, “can we skip all the sarcastic humor and get to what is going on?”
He bit back a reply knowing Mac would probably kick his ass if he hurt Ava. Talk about a complicated relationship. Mac had been in love with his sister for as long as he could remember. He thought at one time back when they were teenagers that eventually Ava would finally admit that she felt the same way. Unfortunately, some bastard had taken her innocence in the most heinous way possible and now it was a toss-up as to which sibling was the most fucked up. Mac had taken care of her that night, as he always had, and he knew that even though his friend was no monk, Ava would always be it for him.
“I recently found out that I have a six-year-old son. His mother and I had a one-night stand when I was in town one weekend. We recently ran into each other at Danvers. Apparently, she is a friend of Claire’s. I would appreciate you all holding your ‘I told you so,’ if you can manage it.”
“Shit, Dec,” Brant groaned, “I thought you said you were always careful.”
“Well, obviously I had more alcohol than sense that night.”
“How do you know you can trust what this woman says?” Mac asked.
“We’ve already had a paternity test. Evan is my child.”
Brant ran a hand through his hair looking even more stressed. “Does he know, the boy?”
“Yeah, he’s pretty cool with everything. He spent the night with Ella and me over the weekend.”
Looking incredulous, Ava said, “You’re really serious about this woman, aren’t you?”
Declan squirmed, feeling more uncomfortable about this topic of conversation than he had about Evan. “Yeah, I am. She’s different for me. Hell, she’d probably be different for anyone. But don’t start freaking out. I still don’t do the long-term commitment thing with women.”
“She’s beautiful,” Mac offered. “I’ve seen her around the office when I’ve visited.”
