Chapter 5 - Dinner With Four Missing Chairs
If you've never watched a formal family dinner reorganize itself around four unexpected eight-year-olds, I'd honestly recommend it. Within ten minutes, Charlotte's carefully planned seating chart was completely useless. Four extra chairs appeared from somewhere. New place settings materialized. Colton found the Christmas crackers beside each plate and immediately started negotiating for everyone else's share.
Miles discovered Harold's antique model plane collection on a side table. Dean complimented Charlotte's tree at considerable, sincere length. Owen stayed close beside me the whole time, watching everything.
Grant sat across from us, barely touching his plate. His relatives kept glancing between him and the boys. Finally his aunt, Patricia, set her fork down with a decisive clink. "Well. Someone here needs to actually say something."
"Patricia," Charlotte warned.
"What? We have four children sitting at this table that nobody here knew existed an hour ago."
Colton leaned toward Dean. "I like her already."
I nearly choked on my water. Patricia looked straight at me. "Vanessa. Did Grant know?"
The whole table went still. I answered carefully, picking each word. "He knew I was pregnant, before our divorce was final."
Every eye at that table shifted to Grant. Harold spoke first. "You told all of us she made it up."
Grant's jaw tightened. "I believed she had."
"You believed?"
"I was told the pregnancy came up after the marriage was already over. That she wanted me to come back."
"That is not what happened," I said.
Grant finally looked at me. "You called me. Repeatedly."
"To ask you to come to one appointment."
"You already knew I was leaving."
"I knew you'd already stopped listening."
The table went painfully quiet. I could feel my sons quietly absorbing every word of it, so I ended it right there. "This isn't helping any of them."
I turned to the boys. "Why don't you all go check out the game room downstairs?"
Harold stood up fast. "Still down there, exactly as it always was."
Miles brightened instantly. "Foosball?"
"Yes."
"Pool table too?"
"Yes."
"Sir, you have my full attention."
May you like
Harold smiled despite himself and led them off. Charlotte followed close behind, insisting someone needed to show them where she hid the good cookies.
That left Grant, Danielle, and me alone at the table. Nobody said anything for a long moment.
