A Family Man At Last by Cynthia Thomason

Author:Cynthia Thomason
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2020-03-09T18:15:54+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

EDWARD WOKE EARLY on Saturday morning even though he knew A.J. would be readying the boats. When he’d talked to Brooke last night, she was delighted to hear the news about the DNA results.

“Oh, Edward, that’s great,” she’d said. “How do you feel about all this?”

“Well...”

“If this still seems like too much, too soon, I understand. But once we’re all together you’ll see how wonderful it’ll be to have each other in our lives.”

He wanted to feel the same excitement she did, and last night, he’d taken a few steps toward accepting his new family, but he’d learned in his life that it was better to wait and see than expect miracles. He’d already had one miracle, and maybe that was more than any person should hope for. At this point, he still didn’t understand what his responsibility would be as a big brother, uncle, brother-in-law. Would he see his new family only on holidays? Would he receive daily phone calls? How intimately did he want to be involved? He’d have to start getting used to the idea that he was one of a group, since the idea was becoming more appealing.

“Cammie and I will see you tomorrow,” Brooke had said cheerfully. “I know. I’m going on and on. I’ll stop now. Sleep well.”

He’d hung up the phone and drawn in a deep breath, suddenly viewing his father’s house as his visitors might. Stuff everywhere. Edward had made progress on clearing out his dad’s collections of...well, everything from newspapers to old toys and books. The kitchen cupboards were still loaded with odd-looking cooking utensils that Edward didn’t even recognize.

He’d taken one metal contraption from the cupboard and remembered his father telling him it was a “potato ricer.”

“Who rices potatoes?” he’d asked last night and decided to add the thing to a donation box. By the time he finally went to bed, he’d made good headway on decluttering his father’s space. It was a long and arduous process, though, because every time Edward stumbled upon an unusual item, it made him remember the judge and wonder why he’d kept it. Obviously, there were aspects of his dad’s life he hadn’t known about. There was the promise to Juan Cortez, for instance.

Funny, he’d never thought of his father as a secretive man, but didn’t everyone have secrets? Some more than others. In Edward’s work environment no one knew of his boyhood struggles, and Edward saw no reason to talk about it. He was fortunate. His life had turned out better than he’d ever hoped for.

Now that it was Saturday morning, Edward was busy picking up, dusting, running the vacuum, making the beds and checking for supplies of clean towels and sheets. He didn’t think his father had ever hosted a party, but today, company was coming, and the place had to be ready.

In the early afternoon an SUV pulled into the marina parking lot. Edward went out on the porch to greet his family. He recognized Jeremy, the ex-football great, whom his sister Brooke was planning to marry.

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