Page 105 of Find Me in California

“Chris? Your husband? Why would he—?” She stops, and Lea’s gaze darts over Julia’s shoulder as the tumblers fall into place.Click-click-click.“Who’s my father?”

“I am.” The voice comes from behind her. Julia pivots to find a man dressed in suit pants and a buttoned shirt, the sleeves rolled up his forearms, a blazer draped over an arm. He must have come in through the garage. Darn stealthy electric vehicles. She hadn’t heard his arrival. She’d hoped to be gone before he got home. She wasn’t sure she could handle meeting Lea’s entire family at once. But this man, the blank spot on her birth certificate, is her father.

Lea must have a grasp of what she’s thinking because she says, “Your grandmother didn’t know. I never told her. She wouldn’t have believed he’d turned himself around either.”

“Lea didn’t tell me about you until you were ten or eleven, after we’d sobered up.” The edge of his mouth tilts upward, and his gaze darts to his wife. “Kit texted me.”

“I thought he would,” Lea says.

Chris sits next to Lea and drapes his arm over her shoulders, pulls her to his side. He kisses her cheek. “I came as soon as I heard,” he says, quietly.

Realizing how unsteady her legs are, Julia slowly sits back down. She stares at them.Her parents.Those two boys upstairs are her full brothers.

“I don’t understand.” She hears the shock in her voice. Mama Rose kept this from her, and she almost took it to her grave. Julia wonders if she would have shown up here if Mama Rose hadn’t planted seeds of doubt about Lea.

“I’ll get you some water.” Lea is quick to her feet and heads into the kitchen.

Chris leans forward, knees spread, forearms on his thighs. “I listened to most of what Lea said to you from out there. I’m sorry this iscoming as a shock. We knew it would. What we didn’t know is if we’d ever get the chance to explain.”

“Why?”

“That’s a loaded question.” Lea returns with a glass of water and puts it in Julia’s hand. Julia drains half the glass and sets it on the table, worried that she’ll spill the rest. She clasps her hands, squeezing them on her lap to control the tremors circulating through her arms.

“One she deserves an answer to,” Chris says. “We wanted to fight for you; we almost did. Lea convinced me otherwise.”

Lea touches his arm. “We agreed, together,” she says, making a point. “I already disrupted your life by giving you up. Going to court to get our rights back would have disrupted your life further. Your grandmother gave you a wonderful life. She raised you beautifully. She did for you what I never gave her the chance to do with me. After I tried to see you when you were thirteen and your grandmother wouldn’t let me, I realized she was right. By that time, you were hers. We figured you were already thirteen. In five more years, you’d be a legal adult. If you wanted us in your life, you would reach out. If you didn’t—and it seemed you didn’t—we’d have to be all right with that. I didn’t give you a choice when you were three. The choice had to be yours this time.”

“Did you know Mama Rose was sick?”

Lea shares a glance with Chris, and she nods. “Eight years ago, she came to tell me. She explained everything had been arranged, that she knew where she wanted to be when it became too much for you to care for her, and she insisted that she had enough financially.”

“She didn’t have enough. I had to volunteer—” Julia covers her mouth to stop herself. “Nothing I say will change the fact that you weren’t there, that you didn’t help.”

“She didn’t want my help. She’d come to say goodbye to me. Had I known you were struggling ...” Lea shakes her head. Chris folds her hand between his.

“You didn’t know,” he whispers to Lea. She cups her free hand over his.

Jealousy burns inside Julia. How many times did she wish she had someone to hold her hand?

Lea sniffles and lifts her chin. “I shouldn’t have listened to her. I should have helped. I’m sorry I didn’t.”

Julia closes her eyes and takes a moment. “I’m not sure I would have welcomed it,” she tells her mother truthfully. She stands, unsure how much more she wants to hear.

Chris and Lea stand with her. “Please don’t leave yet.” There is a note of desperation in her mother’s voice.

“Lea,” Chris softly speaks, a suggestion, Julia is aware, not to push her.

Julia digs out her keys. “I need time—”

“Can we come down now?” Kit hollers from upstairs.

“Not yet,” Chris answers, but it’s too late. Two sets of bare feet come bounding down the stairs. Kit and Nico land on the bottom step with big eyes and nervous smiles. Her brothers look almost identical, but Nico is noticeably older.

“Is she staying for dinner, Mom?” he asks.

Lea glances nervously at her. “We haven’t had the chance to ask her.”

“I’m not sure—” Chris starts before Kit interrupts.

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