Suzy took pity on her and said, “Honey, don’t you ever talk to your friends? Declan appears to be the father of your girl Julie’s baby.”
Claire fell back against her seat in shock. “Shit, I knew something was going on there, but I never suspected that. Things were really weird when we ran into him in the hallway at Danvers. I even mentioned it to Jason. I just figured they had . . . um, well known each other or something.” Claire let her sentence trail off, shooting Ella a quick, “Sorry.”
Ella did her best to look like she wasn’t bothered by the whole conversation. “It’s okay. It’s been a bit of a surprise for sure. I guess they had a one-night thing years ago when he was home for a weekend and then she had no way to find him when she found out she was pregnant. They will do a paternity test, but I would be shocked if it doesn’t confirm that Declan is the father. Evan looks so much like him.”
Surprised, Claire asked, “You’ve already met Evan?”
“Yeah, we met up with them at McDonald’s. Julie told him that we were friends of hers.”
Suzy, being surprisingly gentle, asked quietly, “How do you feel about all this?”
Not for the first time, Ella thought how lucky she was to be a part of such a great group of ladies. She loved that she didn’t have to pretend with them. “I’m trying to be okay with everything. Declan having a child is a surprise, but I can handle it. I don’t mean this in a bad way toward your friend, Claire, but the thing I’m having the hardest time with is having to share him with another woman.”
Claire squeezed her hand, “I completely understand. Julie is my friend, but so are you. If it makes you feel any better, I know she’s engaged so I don’t think she would ever look to Declan for anything romantic.”
“I’d feel a little better about that if she hadn’t been at his place last night when I got there.”
“Doing what?” Suzy demanded.
Shaking her head in shame, Ella said, “I completely embarrassed myself in front of her. When he opened the door, I jumped on him and said some, er . . . things that I hope she didn’t hear. I got out of there as fast as I could.”
Suzy turned to Claire, “Please tell me your friend isn’t a nut like Reva.” Ella knew from Beth that Gray had briefly dated Reva before they got together and that she had tried to trick Gray into believing that the baby she was carrying was his. Luckily, she had suffered an attack of conscience and confessed before she had completely ruined the relationship between Gray and Suzy. Ella could only imagine that some of this was hitting close to home for her.
“No, I’m sure she isn’t. Wow, I still can hardly process all of this.”
“Declan did show up at my place shortly after that. He said that she was upset over a fight with her fiancé. He told her that he wasn’t happy about being put in that position and I guess that was it. I just don’t get why she would go over there in the first place. I mean I know they had sex once, but she hardly even knows him.”
Beth walked out with her dress and asked, “Hardly knows who?”
The next several minutes were spent filling Beth in and letting her process her shock.
“Now that everyone knows, give me your honest opinion. Should I be worried about this?”
When there was nothing but awkward silence for a few moments, Suzy sighed and said, “Babe, I’m not going to sugarcoat this for you. I’d be on my guard. I’m not saying there’s anything to be worried about, but until you are certain that this Julie doesn’t want to play happy family with your man, I would keep my eyes open.”
Claire, looking even more pained, nodded hesitantly. “I would never say anything bad about a friend, because I truly don’t think Julie would intentionally try to come between you and Declan, but sometimes things can get confused. If it makes you feel any better, when they met at Danvers, I didn’t detect any type of spark between them. There seemed to be some recognition factor, but nothing sexual. The fact that he took you to meet his son for the first time says a lot about your place in his life.”
“I agree,” Beth chimed in, “That’s huge for a guy.” Just then her phone rang. Smiling at the display she said, “Speaking of guys, here is mine now.” Clicking the button to answer with a, “Hey babe,” she rolled her eyes as she listened for a moment. “Yes, Dad, I’m well aware of how swollen my feet are.”
“Oh barf,” Suzy shuddered, “I really wish she wouldn’t call Nick, ‘dad.’ Talk about a bad mental image.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Beth laughed as she finally hung up. “I can’t help it if the man nags me all the time. I did promise him to come home and put my feet up. If someone will roll me back up, I’ll be on my way.”
Ella was surprised to see a brief look of sadness cross Suzy’s face as she helped Beth to her feet. The look was so fleeting; she had to wonder if she had imagined it. Maybe like her, everyone had their own stuff that they were dealing with. Even someone as no-nonsense as Suzy could still have an off day.