Clearing his throat, Reed steps up to the island and extends his hand. “Sir.”
“Sir?” Danny drops his arms and looks from me, to Hattie, back to Reed. Understanding washes across his face. He takes Reed’s hand and firmly shakes it, keeping his expression stoic. “How long has this been going on?” He looks over at Hattie. “Did you know about this?”
“Danny, knock it off.” She holds her arms out to me and wraps me into an embrace. Danny laughs quietly behind me, lightening the tension in the room. “You look happy,” she whispers into my hair.
I nod against her. “I am. Very much.”
She leans away, grinning, her dark hair falling past her shoulders, instead of tied back in it’s usual clip. “Well, why don’t you and Reed have a seat? I’m going to go grab something for you. I’ll be right back.”
I take one of the stools, Reed takes the other. Leaning on my elbow, I watch as Danny continuously glares at Reed, his arms crossed tightly over his chest while a deep frown settles in between his eyebrows.
“Really?” Reed speaks first, tilting his head. “You know me, Danny.”
Danny lightly shrugs. “Hey, she’s my niece. I don’t give a shit who you are, or how long I’ve known you. I’m allowed to be protective over her. Deal with it.”
Reed chuckles, holding his hands up in surrender. “All right. Fair enough.”
Hattie’s heels click on the hardwood behind us. She rounds the island and stands next to Danny, holding a piece of paper. Smiling gently, she looks at me.
“Beth, we didn’t want to put this in the note we left for you the other day. We wanted to tell you, face-to-face, and after we got a little bit more information. We always want to be honest with you, darling.’ Having said that, we have known about this since Wednesday, okay?”
I briefly look at Reed, who’s watching me curiously. Turning back to Hattie, I nod. “Okay.”
“Right before Danny got the call about his cousin, I was looking through the shoebox, pulling out pictures, and I found this at the bottom. Did you know your birth certificate was in there?” She slides it across the counter.
Leaning forward, I look down at the document I’ve never seen before, running my finger along the edge of the paper. “No, um, no, I had no idea. I’ve never really looked through the entire box.”
Damn it. Why didn’t I? This was in there the whole time?
Gasping, I stop on a name printed above mine. A name I figured I would never know. “Oh my God,” I whisper.
Hattie’s hand covers mine. “Beth, we found your dad.”
I look up, my breathing erratic. My hands sweating, sticking to the paper. “What? You found him? How?”
My dad. Oh my God. I can’t believe this. I can’t believe I have more family.
Danny steps to the edge of the counter. “I got in touch with a buddy of mine while we were gone. He’s a private investigator. We gave him your dad’s name, said he might be in Kentucky but we weren’t sure. He got back to me late last night.”
“He’s in Tennessee now. We spoke to him on the phone as soon as we got home today.” Hattie smiles, releasing my hand. “He said he would love to talk to you, if you wanted to call him.”
I drop my hands to my lap, staring at the paper in front of me.
He wants to talk to me. My dad, actually wants to know me.
“He’s in Tennessee?” Reed questions through a soft voice.
I look over at him, blinking quickly, almost forgetting who I’ve been sitting next to. His eyes are cast down at the counter, as if he’s not focusing on anything. I shift on my stool and grab his hands.
“Reed, I can get to know my dad. Isn’t this amazing?”
Hattie laughs quietly. “Yes, Reed, he’s in Tennessee. He’s lived there for a while, he said.”
Reed briefly looks at Hattie, then turns his eyes on me. He smiles gently, running his thumb over the top of my hand. “Yeah, it’s amazing. What’s his name?”
“Jon . . . um.” I look back at the paper. “Schilling. I could be Beth Schilling.” I wrinkle my nose, and Hattie giggles. “Maybe not.” I cover my cheeks with my hands, letting out a hurried breath. “Oh my God, this is so crazy.”
My dad, Jon Schilling, wants me to call him.
A stool scrapes along the hardwood. I glance up, watching as Reed gets to his feet.
“Where are you going?”
His lips pinch into a thin line. Blinking heavily, he scratches his head before pushing his stool in. “I really should head over and get started on those stairs for the deck. I’m going to lose daylight soon.” He looks at Danny and Hattie, acknowledging them with a jerk of his head. He bends down and kisses my forehead. “I’ll see you later.”
Reed walks out of the kitchen, heading down the hallway.
I look up at Hattie and Danny. “I’ll be right back.” I rush out of the room and catch him at the front door. “Reed, wait.”
He turns his head, keeping his hand on the knob. “Yeah?”