Bex took a deep breath. She could do this. She could do freaking anything. “Well, you know how Lian and Dawn both have mummies and daddies?”
“Yeah, but I just have a mummy.”
Bex cringed. She’d drummed that message into her daughter hard over the years. How badly was the truth going to mess her up?
God, she was a terrible mother. She looked at the ceiling and wished there was an instruction manual to guide her through this situation.
“That’s not completely true, baby.”
A shadow passed over Izzy’s face, and she stopped fidgeting. “What?”
“Wesley is your father.” Her voice was raspy and she swallowed, fighting the hot tears burning the back of her throat and eyes. Single mothers didn’t cry. They got shit done. “He and I used to be a couple. Like Lian and Dawn’s parents.” Bex got up and went around to Izzy, squatting to look her in the eye. “Your father wants to meet you; isn’t that nice?”
Izzy’s teeth sank into her lip and she shook her head vehemently. Her thin arms wrapped around her waist like she needed comfort. Bex ached to hug her, but they needed to have this conversation first.
“You don’t want to meet your dad?”
“He’s not my dad!” she cried, eyes shining with wetness and her chest rising and falling rapidly, the way it always did right before she broke down. “I don’t have a dad. I have you and Nana and Grandpa.” Her lips pressed together, then she added, “And Michael.”
Bex latched onto that last part. “Wesley is Michael’s brother. That means Michael is your uncle. Don’t you want Michael to be your uncle?”
“Yeah.” Her arms loosened, and she rocked back and forth. “Can I call him ‘Uncle Michael’?”
“You’ll have to ask him that, sweetie.”
“Will he be there today?”
Bex studied Izzy’s face, wondering what was going on behind her eyes. “No, it will be just us and Wesley.”
Izzy chewed on her lip. “I don’t wanna go.”
How could she turn this around? “It’ll be at the beach.”
Izzy’s eyes lit up. “The beach?”
Bex grinned. Her daughter loved the water. “Yep. Maybe Tee will be nearby with his dogs.”
Even more than the beach, Izzy loved Pixie, Tione’s Chihuahua.
“Okay,” Izzy said. “But I’m not talking to that man.”
Bex sighed. It was the best she could hope for.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The dayof reckoning had finally arrived.
Michael sat at the table, drank his second cup of coffee, and watched Wesley pace a pattern on the carpet of his dining room floor. His brother was a wreck. He’d changed outfits twice, drunk even more coffee than Michael, and run his fingers through his hair so many times that it stood on end. If Wesley was like this, Bex must be worse. Michael wished he could be there to support her, but he’d promised to let them handle it themselves.
They’ll be fine.
He had a hard time convincing himself of that when he was responsible for this entire situation. It felt wrong for him not to be there at its culmination. Besides, what if Wesley made a move on Bex and he wasn’t there to stop it?
“What if Izzy hates me?” Wesley asked, pausing his pacing. “What if I’m not what she expects?”
Michael tried to think of a diplomatic response, but settled for the truth. “I doubt she has any expectations one way or the other. Frankly, I don’t know if she’s ever wondered about you at all.”
Wesley scoffed. “Every little girl thinks about her dad.”