Unexpected Odds (Unexpected Arrivals #5)

by Kaylee Ryan

  “Who’s that?” One of the adorable little boys points at me. He looks to be close to Kendrix’s age.

  “This is my friend Delaney.”

  “Hi.” The little guy waves up at me. “You’re really pretty.”

  I blush. That’s what my life has come to. I blush when a child pays me a compliment. “Thank you.” I crouch down to get to his level. “What’s your name?”

  “Knox Alexander Beckett. That’s my sister. Her names Everly.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Knox.” I hold out my hand and, like the little man he presents himself to be, he doesn’t hesitate to put his in mine and shake.

  “That’s Everly.” Kent points to two girls, who appear to be not much younger than Knox. “The one on the right is Everly, and Finley is on the left. These little monsters,” he says, tickling the two little boys who look just alike and are sitting in his lap, “are Ben and Beck.”

  “And this little angel?” I ask, waving to a little girl who looks not much more than a year old.

  “This is Daisy.”

  “Hi, Daisy.” I hold my hand out to her, and hesitantly, she steps toward me. She looks over at Kent and he smiles at her and she changes course and tumbles into him and the twins.

  “Come here, you.” He grabs her and blows on her belly, making her laugh. The boys rush off and Daisy cuddles up in Kent’s lap, content to stay where she is.

  “They’re all adorable.”

  “We have one more. Ryder is three months, so he can’t toddle after me like the others, and then Tyler and Reagan are expecting number three—they have the twins—in a few months.” I nod, taking it all in, and trying to memorize that the twins are Tyler and Reagan’s. “She’ll have lots of cousins. Lots of family to support her.” Kent’s voice is soft, almost reverent when he speaks of Kendrix.

  “I’m not going to remember all of this.”

  He grins. “You’ll catch on in no time. Come on. I want you to meet the wives and the guys officially, of course.”

  “Officially? Have I not already met them?”

  “Yeah, but that was as Delaney, a girl from my past. The one that got away.”

  “As opposed to?”

  He smirks and shrugs, lacing his fingers through mine and pulling me further into the house.

  “There he is.” Tyler smiles as we enter the kitchen.

  “Hey.” Kent waves to the group. “Everyone, I’d like for you to meet Delaney.”

  Before I know what’s happening, the women in the room rush to me, all of them taking turns giving me a hug and welcoming me. “I’m Mara,” the last one says. “I know you’re not going to remember all of us, but that one’s mine.” She points to Seth. “Welcome. What would you like to drink?” she asks.

  “Uh, just water is fine. Thank you.” She nods, and before she can turn to retrieve a water, Seth is there handing it to her, making her laugh. “Thank you,” I tell them both.

  “All right, boys, now that all the ladies are here, we’re going to chat. Pizza will be here in fifteen.” Mara grins. She takes hold of my hand and pulls me behind her to the living room. “I cheated,” she says when we’re all seated.

  “Pfft,” another one speaks up. “It’s food, and the kids will love it. No one ever said family dinners had to be homemade.”

  “Exactly,” another woman agrees before turning to me. “Ridge is mine.” She smiles. “Kendall.” She goes on to tell me her kids, and then each of the women takes a turn doing the same.

  “I’m sorry if I don’t remember all of this,” I tell them.

  Mara waves her hand in the air. “You’ll get it. There’s a lot of us, and as the newest member of this brood, I can tell you it can be a lot to take in.” She gives me a kind smile that has me relaxing even further into the couch.

  “Your home is beautiful,” one of them says. I think her name was Reagan.

  “Thank you.”

  “When we were kids, we would always call it the castle.” She laughs. “I can’t imagine living there.”

  “I can’t either,” I confess. They give me an odd look, and I realize Kent really hasn’t told them much about me. About us. “I was in a car accident a few years ago. I lost my memory.” Their reactions range from gasping to hands covering their mouths, and whispers of sympathy. “When I woke up, I didn’t know anyone. But within a couple of months, I had most of my memory back, as far as we can tell, except for anything beyond my high school graduation, which is when we moved here.” I see the confusion in their eyes and I’m sure they’re only holding back because we just met. “I don’t remember Kenton,” I say softly. “He remembers me. He has a picture of us on his phone. We looked happy.”

  “I can’t imagine how that must be for you.” Mara reaches over and gently squeezes my arm, giving me a kind smile.

  “I have a daughter,” I tell them. “She’s going to be five in March.” I don’t look or make eye contact with any of them while I pull my phone out of my back pocket and scroll to a picture of Kendrix. I hand it to Mara.

  “Oh my God,” she says breathily.

  “Can we see?” another asks. I think her name is Dawn.

  I nod, and they each pass the phone around. All of them have the same reaction. When I finally have my phone back in my hands, I take another look at my baby girl. I miss her so much. I can’t wait to wrap my arms around her tomorrow. Locking the screen, I place my phone back in my pocket and look up at them. Four sets of eyes are watching me closely. “Say it.” I smile, fighting back my anxiety.

  “She looks just like him,” all four of them say at the same time.

  Emotion builds inside me. I don’t want to break down in front of these women who I just met, but everything comes crashing in around me, and I can’t seem to stop it. I suck in a breath, trying to ward off the tears, but I lose the battle as they slide over my cheeks.

  “We’re going down in the basement!” Mara yells into the kitchen. She stands and offers me her hand. I take it, standing as well. The other three are suddenly there, surrounding me. Together, the five of us make our way downstairs. “They won’t let the kids down here,” Mara explains. “They also won’t come down here. Not for a while. They’ll assume we’re in the craft room.” She points to a door down the hall. “Sit.” She guides our group to the huge sectional couch.

  “Reagan, Ridge’s sister,” one of the women speaks and waves with a smile. “I know you don’t know us, Delaney, but I promise you we’re on your team. You can tell us anything and we’ll keep that shit locked tight.” She grins.

  “Kendall.” Another smiles. “Ridge’s wife.” Without me having to tell them, they know it’s a lot for me to take on. Maybe it’s because they now know I lost my memory and they think I need it. Regardless, I appreciate it. And I think I’ve got them all down, at least for tonight. “You can talk to us. In fact, what’s your number?” She pulls her cell out, and I rattle off my digits. “I’ll text it to everyone, and we’ll send you ours. If you need us for anything, don’t hesitate.” The others in the group murmur their agreement and my heart swells.

  “I’m glad he has you. Kenton,” I clarify. “I don’t remember my time with him, but I’m glad he has this support system.”

  “What about you?”

  I blow out a breath. “Well, my mother told me when I woke up, before I could remember anyone or anything, that the father of my child told me to take care of it. That he didn’t want me. She assured me he wasn’t worth my time or memories. She had me convinced that the reason I didn’t remember those few years is because of him. That he wasn’t a good guy and that my daughter and I were better off without him.”

  “Holy shit,” Dawn says, and quickly smacks her hand over her mouth, making me laugh.

  “Right? So, I come here after she begs me not to. My dad left the Nottingham Estate to me in his will. He passed about a year ago.” They speak their condolences, and I move on. I tell them the entire story about Mom not wanting me to come here. How she had me thinkin
g that Tennessee was the state of the mean people—or the devil is more like what she wanted me to believe. I lay it all out on the table for them.

  “Wow,” Kendall says, sitting back against the couch and crossing her arms over her chest. “I don’t know that I have words for that. She couldn’t have been talking about Kent. He’s one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet.”

  “Yeah, he seems to be.” I go on to tell them about the day he first saw me and his reaction to me not knowing him, and then every detail since. “I didn’t realize I needed this, to talk about this until tonight,” I tell them. “Thank you for listening.”

  “Of course.” This from Mara.

  “What’s her name? Your daughter?” Reagan asks.

  I don’t even try to hide my smile. “Kendrix.” I wait, letting it sink in. “My mother hated it. Still hates it to this day. She didn’t speak to me for days after she was born.”

  “She knew.” Kendall points her finger at me. “That’s dirty.”

  I nod. “It’s hard for me, but just in a few days of being with Kent, talking to him, I believe him. I see him in my dreams. I have for years. It’s always the same thing, he’s reaching out for me to come with him. I wake up before I can take his hand. The same dream over and over and over again.”

  “Aw,” Dawn says. She presses her hands to her chest. “It’s like a real-life fairy tale.”

  “I haven’t talked to my mother about all of this yet. She and Kendrix fly in tomorrow. I wanted to ask her face-to-face. I need to see her reaction when I ask her all of this.”

  “What can we do?” Kendall asks.

  My heart swells. I’m so happy Kent has these amazing women surrounding him. Supporting him. And if what my heart feels is right, my daughter too. I don’t know what that means for me, but right now, they’re in my corner as well, and it brings tears to my eyes. “Nothing. You’ve done so much by listening. This is all such a huge mess.”

  “What about Kendrix? She’s coming with your mother, right?” Kendall asks.

  “She is. I can’t wait to see her. It’s only been five days, but I miss her so much.”

  “How about a play date?” Kendall offers.

  “Definitely,” Mara chimes in. “Finley would love that.”

  “The boys too.” Reagan nods.

  “Daisy loves her cousins,” Dawn adds.

  “This way, she doesn’t have to be there in case things get heated. I assume you don’t want her with Kent, at least not just the two of them. Not until she knows him.”

  “We’re getting a paternity test. Just for the concrete proof since I can’t remember,” I say sadly.

  “Right. And even though your heart tells you what he’s saying is true, even though you can see him in her when you look at them, you’re a momma. We have to keep our babies safe, even from heartbreak.” Mara smiles kindly.

  “I know you don’t know us,” Reagan tells me. “But we’re good people. You can trust us with her.”

  “I can feel that. I know that sounds crazy, but you’ve all been so welcoming. I can’t thank you enough for that.”

  “Okay, so how about you bring her here tomorrow? Or I can come and pick her up?” Mara offers.

  “Thank you. Let me think about it. Maybe see how things go. My mother is not the yelling type. She’s more the silent treatment, but I can’t promise that I won’t lose my cool. That’s not me, but she lied to me. She denied my little girl her daddy. I don’t remember him, but in the short time I’ve spent with him this week, I know without a doubt he would have been there.”

  “He wouldn’t have missed a single second of it.” Reagan smiles, wiping at her eyes.

  “Well, you have our numbers, or you will,” Dawn says, pulling her phone out of her pocket. Her fingers fly across the screen, and I feel my back pocket vibrate. This happens three more times as all of them send me a message.

  “I appreciate you all. Thank you. I hope I don’t need it, but I would like to get the kids together. Let them play. That way, if the need does arise, Kendrix will feel more comfortable. However, my little girl doesn’t really know a stranger. It doesn’t surprise me that she’s taken so well to him and his friends.”

  “She’s going to fit right in with this brood.”

  “Babe,” a deep male voice calls down the steps. “Pizza’s here.”

  “Let’s go eat.”

  Upstairs, the kids are all sitting at two small kids’ tables. Kendrix has the same Little Tykes table in her room. That’s where we have our tea parties. They’re munching away on pizza, which is cut up into small pieces, with sippy cups in front of them. There is a napkin tucked under each plate that none of them are using, which makes me smile. The daddies dote on their kids. They’re involved, and it makes me miss my own father. He was hands-on every step of the way. I am the epitome of a daddy’s little girl.

  The adults are gathered around the huge dining room table. We each take our seats and Kent immediately leans in close.

  “You doing okay?”

  “Yes.” I smile at him. His concern touches me. With every interaction, he cements my gut feeling that he’s a good guy. The kind who tells the truth. I wish I could say that my mother falls into that category, but unfortunately, that’s not possible. I’m dreading this confrontation with her, but I push that out of my mind and just enjoy the night.

  “Well, since everyone’s here, we have something to say,” Mark says and looks at Dawn and smiles. The one look says so much. You can see it in his eyes that she’s his entire world. “We’re having a baby.” He never takes his eyes off his wife.

  Cheers, murmurs of congratulations, and hugs are passed around. “It’s really early.” Dawn smiles. “We were going to keep it to just us until we were past the first trimester, but this guy”—she points to Mark, who has his arm around her where they sit side by side at the table—“he couldn’t hold it in any longer.”

  “I’m so excited. Our babies will be close together,” Reagan says.

  “Baby,” Tyler chimes in, “one baby,” making us all laugh.

  “Right. It’s been confirmed. Only one this time.” Reagan grins up at her husband.

  A pang of jealousy hits me. I missed this. All of it. I didn’t get to celebrate and share that connection. Life isn’t fair, and I understand that, but I still wish things could have been different. I wish that I would have had moments like these.

  “Next time,” Kent whispers in my ear. I turn to look at him, raising my eyebrows in question. “I hate that we missed all this, Laney. But we can’t change the past, but the future, that’s ours.” He kisses my cheek and turns back to the table.

  My heart races as I look around to see if anyone heard him, but then I realize that even if they did, it doesn’t matter. We’re adults. Our life is our own, and it’s what we make of it. That’s not something I’ve practiced in my adult life, at least not the parts I can remember. I’ve always let my mother lead, and the more time I spend with this amazing man at my side, and his friends, I realize the error of my ways. I was so lost, depressed, and I let her run my life. That stops now.

  The future is ours.

  Chapter 10

  Kent

  I didn’t sleep. I tossed and turned all night long. Today’s the day I get to meet my daughter. I get to set my eyes on her in the flesh, and I’m nervous as hell. What if she doesn’t like me? She’s not going to know I’m her father, not until we get the results back, and I get it. I understand the need that Delaney has to have concrete proof since she doesn’t have her memories. I get it. I fucking hate it, but I get it. So I have to wait, and I hate waiting.

  Throwing the covers off, I climb out of bed and head to the shower. As the hot water rains down on me, I think about Delaney and Kendrix. About what it would be like to wake up with Delaney in my arms and to get hugs from my daughter when she’s sleepy and wants to cuddle. Having breakfast together, bedtime stories… all of it. I can’t shut it off. I can’t stop thinking about all the time we m
issed, and all the time I have to make up for.

  Wiping the steam from the mirror, I take a long hard look at the man staring back at me. I’ve never been ashamed of my ink, or the life I’ve chosen to live, but what if my choices are the reason they decide I’m not what they want? I know I get judged for my ink. While the guys all have tattoos as well, I took mine to an all-new level. It became somewhat of an addiction after I lost Delaney. I don’t know why, but it did and it’s where we are. I’ve never regretted any of them, but what if she’s afraid of me? What if my daughter is scared of me, from the choices I’ve made in my life? I can’t handle that. Talking to her on the phone she seemed fine. However, face-to-face, up close and personal, I know I can be intimidating. I never want to be that to her. Not my little girl.

  Bowing my head, I blow out a breath and reach for my toothbrush. I don’t look in the mirror again. I can’t. The worry is enough to choke me, and I feel as though I could suffocate in this bathroom. Once finished, I toss my toothbrush back into the holder, rinse out my mouth, wipe it with a towel, and shut off the light. I’m nervous enough I don’t need to let my doubts and worries cloud my mind. I need to be clear-headed when I meet her.

  Fuck.

  I’m meeting my daughter.

  Twenty minutes later, I’m pulling into the shop. Mara smiles wide, and so does Seth. “She told you,” I say, shaking my head.

  “Yes!” Mara squeals. “You get to see her today, right? Kendrix? She’s coming today?” she says, practically bouncing with excitement.

  “Yeah, they’ll be here this afternoon.” My eyes flash to Seth. “She fill you in?”

  He nods. “You should have told us.”

  “I know. It was a lot to wrap my head around. I wasn’t keeping it from you.”

  “Look, Kent, I get it. Putting yourself out there, that shit’s scary.”

  “Not anymore,” I interrupt him. “I’m not scared of telling you how I feel about her. I’m nervous as hell to meet my daughter.” Before I can go on, Ridge, Mark, and Tyler walk in, and I can tell that their wives have all filled them in as well. “Like I said, I’m not scared to admit what she means to me, what she’s always meant to me. I’m nervous as hell to be meeting my daughter.”