Southern Sunshine by Natasha Madison

Chapter 26

Hazel

"Momma." I hear Sofia calling me, and I look over at her. “What happened to Uncle Reed?"

"What do you mean?" I ask and turn to look down at the eggs I’m making her for breakfast. I got a text from Reed this morning at seven, telling me he was on his way to his parents’ house. I’m trying not to freak out about the whole thing, knowing as soon as he’s done, he’s going to come over here and we will tell Sofia.

"He comes for breakfast,” she says, not looking up from her coloring pages. "Is he sick?"

"No," I say, placing her eggs on the plate with her two pieces of toast. “He was probably busy this morning." I put the plate down and grab my cup of coffee, knowing I’m too nervous to even bother eating. "Do you like Uncle Reed?" I ask, bringing the cup to my mouth. I watch her nod her head. A sigh of relief comes out of me when I hear a soft knock on the door. I put my cup down and almost fly to the door.

He stands there with his head down, and my stomach sinks, thinking that they refuse to accept Sofia. The fear fills my body, turning my body cold. He looks up, and I can see he’s been crying. “Hey," I say softly, my eyes searching his for the answers but coming up empty. "You okay?"

“Yeah." He nods, and I walk out of the door, going to him and hugging him. Getting on my tippy-toes, I put my arms around his shoulders. He bends just a bit, and his arms wrap around my waist. "It’s okay," he whispers in my ear, and I lean back, my arms still around him. “Better than okay."

A tear falls on my arm, and I realize it’s from me. Reed’s hand comes up. “No tears,” he says. “Not today."

"Um," I say, letting go of his shoulders. “There will be tears." I’m not even going to pretend I’ll be strong enough for this. “But they will be happy tears and not sad tears."

He smirks at me, and my hand itches to come up and trace it with my finger. “I can do that."

"Uncle Reed." I feel Sofia next to me as she pushes me to the side to stand between us. “Momma didn’t make you eggs."

He laughs, bending and taking her in his arms. “That’s okay. I’m not hungry," he says, and I notice he’s wearing shorts instead of jeans.

"Do you want coffee?" I ask over my shoulder when I walk back into the house, and he follows me. "Do you want to do this right now?" I ask, and he nods his head. My heart fills in my throat as he looks at Sofia. I ignore the way my stomach just lurched, walking over to the couch.

Reed puts down Sofia. “Come and sit for a minute." I pat the seat next to me, and she walks over to me and sits down.

"Come on, Uncle Reed," Sofia says, patting the seat next to her. He walks over, but instead of sitting next to her, he squats down in front of her.

"So remember a long time ago," I start talking. “When you asked me if you had a dad?"

I look at her to see if she remembers that morning the week after she started school when she asked me if she had a dad. She caught me off guard, and it took me a couple of minutes to answer her.

"You said he went away." She tells me my words. “But he loved me."

"I did,” I say, the tears dripping off my chin. My hand goes out to hold hers. “Well …"

Reed’s hand covers ours, and he speaks now for the first time. “I’m your dad," Reed says, and I look over at him and then back at Sofia.

"Why didn’t you come for me?" she asks him and tilts her head to the side. “You didn’t want me?" I gasp, bringing my hand to my mouth.

"I want you more than anything in the world,” he says. “More than you love Caramel and tractors."

"But you didn’t come to see me," she says, and I wonder if we did it at a good time. But when is it a good time to tell your child who their father is? She looks at him, not sure of anything.

"He wanted to come see you,” I say. “But he was far away, and he couldn’t get to you."

"The minute I could come to see you, I came,” he says to her. “And I’m not going away anymore," he says. “Not now, not ever. I’ll be here every single day."

"For breakfast?" she asks, and he nods. “And dinner."

He looks at me. “As long as Momma doesn’t mind cooking for me."

"Momma." She looks at me. “Will you make food for Uncle Reed?"

"Of course,” I say, and she looks back at Reed.

"Can we go see Caramel?" she asks him, and he nods his head.

“Yes,” he says. “But, um, first, my momma and my dad want to come and meet you." My eyes open wide. “They should be here soon."

I jump up now and look down at my outfit. "I have to change." I look at Sofia. “We have to change."

Sofia must think it’s a game because she starts to laugh as if it’s a joke. “Let’s go." I grab her hand and pick her up to move faster. "All we have are farm clothes." I look over at Reed, who has his hands on his hips.

"Well, they just got here, so …” He smiles, and I hear the sound of a door close.

"Oh my God,” I say, my nerves getting the better of me. “Oh my God." I put Sofia down. “I didn’t even brush my hair." I look at him, the bile in my stomach slowly rising, and I put my hand to it. "I think I’m going to be sick."

Reed walks to me now. “It’s going to be fine,” he says, trying to reassure me, but we didn’t even talk about how they reacted to the news.

I don’t have a chance to say anything because the knock on the door fills the room. "I don’t even have fresh baked cookies," I whisper to Reed. The two big tears are ready to run over my eyelids.

He puts his hand on my face. "I promise you," he whispers, “it’s going to be okay."

The knock comes again, and this time, Sofia pushes away from us and walks to the door. "Is it a killer?" she asks, and I close my eyes and roll my lips.

"No," I hear Casey say. “It’s just Casey and Olivia."

Sofia turns back to look at us. “It’s not a killer."

"I don’t even know where she heard that word," I mumble under my breath as the door opens, and I see Casey standing there with Olivia beside him.

"Hi," Sofia says. “I know you,” she says to Casey. “You said shit." She points at him, and Olivia gasps out and hits his arm.

"It was an accident, and I said I was sorry," he tells Olivia and then looks at Sofia. “Can we come in?"

"Okay," Sofia says, moving away from the door. “Momma didn’t bake cookies." She tells them what I just said. “And Uncle Daddy Reed is my daddy," she informs them, and I close my eyes.

"And this," Reed says, going down beside her, “is my mom and dad. Your grandma and grandpa."

Olivia kneels in front of her now. “You are the most beautiful girl in the world,” she says to her, smiling through her tears. “And you have your daddy’s smile." Then she holds her little hand in hers. “Can I get a little hug?"

"Okay," Sofia says, not understanding anything that is going on. She puts her arms around Olivia, who closes her eyes and cries silently. I put my hand to my own mouth, trying to stop the sobs from coming up. My girl has so much more love than she will ever know. She will never go without it for a minute in her whole life. That, to me, is everything. Reed puts his arm around me, and I turn to cry into his shoulder. “You smell good," Sofia now says. “Momma.” She turns around. “She smells like a princess.”

“That’s because she is one.” I wipe my cheeks with the palm of my hands.

“Can I get into this hug giving?” Casey says, getting down and putting his arms around her waist. "I think we need to get you fitted for some riding gear," he says. She nods her head, and I have to wonder if she even knows what he’s saying.

"Momma, can I get a cookie?" She looks over at me, and I just nod as she hops over to the kitchen, not even interested in what is going on. I am a little thankful for that when I look over and see Olivia stand and come to me. Her eyes fill with tears as she walks over to me. I expect her to be angry for keeping Sofia a secret, and she has every right to be. But I can tell from the way she looks at me that she isn’t angry.

"I don’t even know where to start." Her voice comes out with a quiver. My insides start to shake, and I feel like my teeth are going to clatter. Reed puts his hand on my lower back. “First, I want to say thank you." Her voice cracks. “For giving us Sofia." She wipes away a tear from the corner of her eye. “There are no words I can say that will tell you what you mean to us. What you both mean to us." I blink back my tears, and she comes forward to give me the biggest hug. "Thank you for giving me my boy back," she whispers in my ear.

"Shall we sit?" Reed says, and Olivia lets me go.

"Yes,” she says. “I want to get to know my grandbaby,” she says, turning to Casey. “I get to take her shopping."

Reed and Casey both groan. “I’m sorry," Reed says to me. “She is going to go overboard."

"I don’t know what that means." I turn to Reed again, hoping he can fill in the blanks.

"Oh, you will," Casey says, laughing and then stopping in front of me. “You gave us a gift that we can’t ever repay you for,” he says. I can hear the tremble of his voice and see this big man fight back his tears. "This is for you,” he says, handing me the manila envelope.

My hand comes out to grab it, and I look at Reed, who just stares at it. His eyebrows pinch together while I turn the envelope over, flipping open the flap, and pull out the papers. "What is this?" I ask as my eyes scan the papers, not sure what I’m reading. My eyes are so full of tears that everything is blurry.

"That," Casey says, “is the deed to the land and the house."

"I don’t understand?" I say. “Why is my name on here?"

"Well, we wanted you to have something to come home to,” he says, and Olivia just smiles. “You’ll see that all debts have been paid."

I shake my head, the lump in my throat making it hard to breathe. "I …" I start. “I can’t accept this."

"It’s nonnegotiable," Olivia says, standing beside Casey. "We did this," she says, and she can’t come out with the words.

"What my wife is trying to say is,” Casey says with a smile on his face, “welcome back home, Hazel.”