CHILD OF MINE by Karen Grey

Author:Karen Grey [Grey, Karen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781737038320
Publisher: HOME COOKED BOOKS

Chapter 12

“Daytime Close-up: Melanie Benson (Jeanie on Ryan’s Wish) makes a very welcome return after taking time off to spend time with her brand-new baby. She says she’ll miss snuggles with the little one, but she’s glad to be back on the set.” Soap Chat, July 1989

HENRY

Last night, after a discussion that was testier than I’d hoped but more positive than I expected, we decided that the bookstore was the safest place to meet Lilah, so I’m supposed to meet them there this evening, which can’t get here fast enough. I’ve been useless at work all day. For one, my relationship with my own dad keeps haunting me—the good and the bad, the ideal and the not-so-ideal. I’ve put him and my mom on a pedestal, but there must be a reason why I don’t feel like I belong in my family. My dad did have a kind of a “my way or the highway” attitude, and he had a temper, too. At least with us boys. Jill had him wrapped around her little finger.

Not only has my brain been mired in memories, I’ve found myself staring at the Boomerang kids, wondering about their relationships with their fathers. Wondering if I’ll measure up. At least Lilah’s not a baby that I’d probably drop or hold wrong or make cry. Or a toddler that I’d lose patience with. Or a preschooler because, as experience has shown, we do not get along.

At least I’m no longer terrifying to Tara, because when she caught me staring, she came right up to me and said, “Stop being creepy, old man!” When I didn’t respond, still lost in thought, she punched me so hard in the bicep it made me yelp.

That got me laughing. And, oddly, made me feel better. And got me focused enough that I was able to get through the day’s shot list without any more gawking.

Now though, I’m literally shaking in my boots as I join Bella and Lilah in a little nook at the back of the quiet bookstore. As I sit like a prisoner waiting for a jury’s verdict, heart pounding heavily in my chest, Bella tells Lilah that my name is Henry, that we work together, but that we also knew each other from New York.

“You remember I told you that I lived in New York before you were born?”

Lilah nods, her expression more serious than any I’ve seen cross my twin’s face. “On 96th Street and Riverside.”

“Right,” Bella says, wiping her hands on the sides of her shorts. It makes me feel better to know that she’s nervous too. “So, I met Henry there. We only knew each other for a short time, but when a baby really wants to be born, that’s all you need.”

When we talked about what to say, I suggested we add, “If you’re not careful,” because I certainly don’t want my daughter knocked up by some teenage horndog. But Bella insisted that Lilah shouldn’t feel like an accident.

Right now, I don’t think it’s clear to Lilah that we are talking about her.

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