Room for Just a Little Bit More(13)

“I’m so sorry,” Brody apologized as he watched me flip through the envelopes.

“Hey, stop it. This isn’t your fault.” I kissed his cheek as I continued flipping.

“Yeah, but I was afraid this would happen. As soon as word got out that we were engaged, I worried people would start hounding you. I should have warned you.”

“I can handle some lame brochures. No biggie.”

“Look, that one spelled your name right,” he cheered, “and it doesn’t look like a solicitation.”

He was talking but I couldn’t hear his words past the blood rushing through my ears. That one did spell my name right. It would be pretty ridiculous if it were spelled wrong.

That one was from my dad.



6 - Brody

Kacie was frozen like a statue, staring at the envelope in her hands. I lowered myself, trying to get a better view of her eyes. “Babe?”

She blinked but didn’t respond.

“Kacie?” I asked again, my heart racing as I looked at the envelope.

“Honey, what is it?” Her mom took a couple steps toward us as Fred and the girls turned too.

When Kacie still didn’t answer, I slid the envelope out of her hands and took a closer look. “It’s from Don Jensen?” I read the name out loud and looked up at Sophia. As I said the words, it hit me. Don was Kacie’s dad’s name. We hardly ever talked about him, but I remembered her mentioning it a couple times.

Sophia moved in slow motion. Her hands crept up to her mouth as her eyes widened, staring at her daughter. Fred walked over and put his arm around Sophia’s shoulders, pulling her from her moment of shock. She cleared her throat. “Are you gonna open it?”

Kacie’s eyes moved from her mom’s to mine. “I don’t know. Should I?”

“I can’t answer that for you, baby.” I shrugged.

Reaching for the envelope, she took a big breath and ripped it open. I didn’t want to rush her in case she didn’t feel like reading it out loud, but from what I could see through the thin piece of paper, it wasn’t a very long note. Sophia walked over to the fridge, opened the door, and started moving containers around, clearly trying not to stare at Kacie’s reaction to the letter from her dickhead father, who’d walked out on them fifteen years ago. I’d obviously never met the man and shouldn’t be calling him names, but just knowing that he’d left his wife and daughter was enough of a reason for me. Shit, at this point I’d have a hard time walking away from Lucy and Piper, and they weren’t even biologically mine. Speaking of them…

“Hey, what do ya say the three of us go in the living room and draw pictures of Fred with that tattoo on his head?” I had no idea what that letter said, or what was about to happen in that kitchen, but I felt like maybe the girls and I should go in the other room.

“I’m tired,” Lucy whined.

“Me too.” Piper yawned. “Can we just lie on the couch and watch Frozen?”

“Sure.” I laughed, looking at my watch. “We haven’t seen it in like five hours. You must be having withdrawal. Come on.” Grabbing the bag of pretzels off the island, I led the girls to the family room.

The girls giggled at Olaf, the goofy talking snowman, as I kept my eyes on the kitchen. Kacie handed the letter to Sophia. It didn’t take Sophia long to read it and set it on the island next to her, where Fred leaned in and read it over her shoulder.

“What are you gonna do?” Sophia asked, barely loud enough for me to hear.

Kacie tucked her hair behind her ear and shrugged as Sophia reached out and pulled her in for a hug. The second I heard Kacie sniffle, I slipped out from under the girls and told them I’d be right back. As I walked up behind Kacie, Sophia pursed her lips over her daughter’s shoulder, transferring her to me when I got close enough. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her tight as Sophia grabbed the letter and held it up for me to read.



Kacie,

Read about your engagement in the paper and realized how much I’ve missed out on. I was hoping we could do lunch and catch up. We have so much to talk about.



Love,

Dad

763-555-0616



“It’s not that I don’t want to see him,”—Kacie stood up suddenly, as if someone had asked her a question—“but why now? Why today? I had the best day and this just puts a dark cloud over it.” She sat down at the island and read the letter again.

“So don’t meet up with him. You’re not required to.” I walked behind her and started rubbing her shoulders.

“I know, but I would like to hear what he has to say. I have so many questions. Where’s he been living? How many brothers and sisters do I have? Why did he have to leave me behind in the first place?” Her head snapped up in Sophia’s direction. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like—”

“Honey, you have nothing to apologize for. I made peace with your father walking out years ago.” She cupped Kacie’s damp cheeks in her hands. “If you want to call him, meet up, and start a relationship, you have my blessing. If you want to throw that letter in the garbage and pretend you never got it, you have my blessing on that too. I support anything you decide.”

“I know.” She sniffed, staring down at the counter. “But he is my dad. What if he’s realized he made a colossal mistake and wants to try and fix things?”