Five of Us at Christmas, But They Only Got Four Cookies novel · Chapter 14 of 24
Chapter 14: What Dorothea Holds
Bryce walked Milo to the school door and came back to the car alone.
"Where to?" he said, to the windshield.
"Sandusky," I said. "There's a motel off the highway. Someone is waiting there who wants to say a few things to you."
He didn't ask who.
He drove forty minutes with the heater off, and at the motel he sat with the engine running until I opened his door.
Emmett's truck was already in the lot.
The room was on the ground floor, with the curtains drawn and a stack of takeout containers on the bureau.
The children's mother sat on the end of the bed in the same thin coat.
She stood up when she saw Bryce, and he stopped in the doorway.
"Hello, Bryce," she said.
"Hello."
Emmett sat in the only chair, with his forearms on his knees.
He looked at his brother and did not get up.
"Sit," the mother said. "All of you. I'm only going to do this once."
I took the edge of the bed beside her.
Bryce stayed on his feet until Emmett said, "Sit down, Bryce," flatly.
He sat on the desk chair by the television.
The mother opened her purse and took out a folded paper gone soft at the creases.
She laid it on the bedspread and smoothed it with two fingers.
"Dorothea gave me this to sign eleven years ago," she said. "The week after I told her I was going back to you, Bryce. I kept my own copy in a shoe box for ten years. I took it out of my sister's house in Tucson on Sunday night."
Emmett leaned forward and read it where it lay.
It was a single typed page with a notary's stamp.
It said that Bryce MacIntosh was the father of the child she carried.
Keep reading free with an account. Start Five of Us at Christmas, But They Only Got Four Cookies from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
← Chapter 13 · All chapters · Chapter 15 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend