Maddie wasn’t pleased at all by this news. “Aw, do we have to?”
“Yes,” she replied sternly. “Now, come on.”
Maddie let out one more noise of displeasure before taking one last look at Gage, then turning to head back down the steps.
“We’ll see you again soon, sweetheart,” Mom said. “We just need to get this all taken care of.”
“I’m not something to gettaken care of,” Ashley said with venom.
“Easy, easy,” Dad replied, raising his palms.
It was easy to see that Piper wasn’t going to spend a single second more on what she’d just walked into and that was to say nothing of subjecting her daughter,ourdaughter, to it.
I didn’t blame her one bit.
Piper took Maddie’s hand, glancing over her shoulder at me one last time before she left. The look she gave me was a combination of anger, hurt, and confusion, and it cut me right to the core. To add insult to injury, Mick didn’t want to be a part of the conversation either. He let out a bark before trotting off after Maddie. I opened my mouth to say something as the threesome headed next door but kept it to myself.
Gage cooed as I helplessly watched Piper and Maddie and Mick walk next door.
“Now,” Dad said. “What on earth is going on here?”
“It’s not that complicated,” Ashley replied, a trace of annoyance to her tone. “This is Valentino’s child. His name is Gage. How much simpler do you want me to make this for you?”
I winced, knowing Mom wasn’t going to stand for that kind of talk.
Sure enough, Mom spoke up. “You’renotgoing to talk to my husband that way. For a woman showing up uninvited with a child in your hands, you’re being awfully disrespectful and pushy.”
“I’m being pushy because I want your son to stand up and do the right thing.”
That response chastened Mom. “Val, what’s going on here? Is this woman telling the truth? Do we have another new grandchild in our lives?” Mom was confused, but through it all, a small glimmer of excitement twinkled in her eyes.
“Anothernew grandchild?” Ashley asked.
My gut tightened at the idea of Maddie being brought into this.
I was getting dangerously close to losing my cool.
“Focus on the matter at hand,” I said, my tone low and commanding and tinged with anger.
Thankfully, my tone of voice was enough to get Ashley to calm down for the moment. I took the seconds of silence to remind myself that, no matter how insane this all was, at the center of it was an innocent child, a baby, who was no doubt sensing the confusion and chaos in the air.
Ashley closed her eyes, a tear trickling down her cheek.
“Valentino, I don’t care how in denial you are. This child is your son. I know this isn’t the best way to learn about him, but here he is. I’ve been raising him all on my own for the last six months, going through the pregnancy without any help at all. Now, it’s time for you to step up and make things right. Are you going to do that?”
I said nothing. The eyes of Ashley and my parents were all on me.
“Here.” Ashley stepped over, practically dumping the baby into my arms.
I took him, looking down into his little face. While he was as cute as they came, I still didn’t see the resemblance.
Regardless, it was up to me to figure out how the hell I was going to untangle this mess.
Chapter 27
VALENTINO
“Valentino!” the word came out of Ashley with a snarl. “What are you going to do?”
