Page 55 of Home Town Advantage (Fourth Quarter Fever #1)

The doctor’s eyebrows pinch in confusion, and she looks to Maddie for confirmation. Maddie nods. “She’s right. He’s not.”

The doctor asks, “Ooookay. Who’s her biological father? ”

It’s silent again. Now it’s Jane McCaffrey’s turn to let out a sob. I’m so confused. Why isn’t everyone pointing at Vance?

In the wake of not one single person answering, I do. Nodding my head toward Vance, I say, “He is.”

Vance’s shoulders fall. In a low, sad voice, he admits, “I’m not. I’ve never wished more that I was than in this moment, but I’m not.” He turns to my family and whispers, “I’m so sorry.”

I exchange glances with my mother. She looks as flabbergasted as I feel. The McCaffreys don’t appear surprised in the least. They knew.

The doctor looks around in confusion. “Who is the biological father?”

For a brief moment, I wonder if it’s Finn. I can see in my parents’ hopeful faces that they do too. I know it’s not logical, the timeline doesn’t work, but I can’t help that I wish for it. If we could have one piece of him left in this universe, we’d happily take it.

Maddie crosses her arms. With a fair amount of shame in her voice, she says, “I don’t know his name. I never did. He was a stranger. He doesn’t even know about Francesa. I wasn’t able to track him down.”

I audibly gasp. My mother faints. Dad and I catch her just before she hits the ground.

It feels like mayhem ensues. There are a million voices talking and shouting, but I can’t hear any of them.

I feel like I’m floating above this bizarre scene, questioning everything I’ve thought to be true for the past six years.

At some point, the doctor lets out a loud whistle, and everyone goes silent.

“Folks, I appreciate that emotions are high, but we have a little girl with O-positive blood in desperate need of a transfusion to survive. Does anyone here have either O-positive or O-negative blood? She can take either. We’ve completely drained our supply of both. She needs it to survive. Right away.”

My father raises his hand. “I have O-negative. Take mine.”

The doctor nods and motions for my father to follow her. He kisses my cheek before he goes and instructs, “Look after your mother.”

I’m wordless. Unable to answer. Unable to move a single part of my body. I sit on the chair with my mother’s head in my lap as she’s sprawled across four chairs. She’s stirring a little, but I don’t know if she’s awake yet. I can’t seem to comprehend anything. I think I’m in shock.

Vance answers for me. “I’ll take care of them, Frank. Go. They’ll be fine. Thank you for doing this.”

I hear Vance talking to the hospital staff about finding some juice for my mother. He returns a few minutes later with juice in hand.

Vance and a hospital worker help my mother sit up. I guess she’s awake. Jane assists her as she manages to drink most of the bottle of orange juice and comes back to life. I still can’t seem to move an inch or utter a word.

Vance sits in the chair next to mine and then pulls me to sit across his lap. He takes my face in his hands. “Sulley, are you okay? You look pale.”

I swear I try to talk, but no words come out of my mouth. He presses his forehead to mine. “You’re scaring me.” He softly kisses my lips. “Come back to me, baby.”

It must be the word baby that snaps me out of my stupor. I say the only things that come to mind “Why? Why did you lie? I don’t understand. All this time. We thought…we were wrong.” My voice escalates. “Why, Vance? Why?” I’m getting hysterical.

His thumbs gently rub over my face, wiping away tears I didn’t realize had fallen. “I’ll tell you everything, I promise. Can we please just get through this? Once I know Francesca will be okay, we’ll sit down and talk. All of us.”

I want to yell and thrash. Haven’t I waited long enough for the truth? But I don’t. There’s still a little girl whose life is on the line, and that’s more important than my need for answers.

I nod, still in so much shock over what’s happened .

He pulls my head to the crook of his neck and caresses me over and over while kissing my head.

I don’t know how long we sit there. I just know that the hand of his arm around me moves up and down my hip and thigh, and his other hand continues to caress my head and face while his lips pepper them with kisses.

It’s not friendly. It’s intimate, and he doesn’t seem to care that we have an audience in the room.

I eventually turn my head, realizing I need to check on my mother, but she and Jane are sitting there watching my interaction with Vance with huge, hopeful smiles on their faces.

After about thirty more minutes, my father reemerges with a bandage on his arm and hands full of crackers and a bottle of orange juice.

He, too, takes in my proximity to Vance and his hands moving uninhibited all over my body.

Vance is completely unaware that we’re garnering attention, lost in another universe right now.

It outwardly appears as though he’s providing me comfort when, in reality, I think he needs to hold me for his own benefit, so I let it happen.

I’ll answer the inevitable bevy of questions I’ll be getting later.

The doctor walks back through the doors a little while later to say that Francesca’s body is accepting the blood, and it’s looking good. How ironic that Francesca now has O’Shea blood flowing through her body.

The doctor offers for Maddie and Curtis to see Francesca in the recovery room.

Maddie takes a deep breath before walking over toward our group. She first looks at my father. “Thank you, Frank. I’ll never be able to repay the kindness you’ve shown my daughter.”

My father nods. “She’s an innocent little girl. Any decent person would have done the same.”

Maddie turns her attention to Vance. “Do you want to come back with us?”

“I do,” he answers .

Maddie looks like she’s been through the ringer. I’m sure she has. Her pretty face is marred by hours of crying. Her eyes are red, and there are bags under them. She’s suffering. I can see it. I’m sure Vance can too.

When he stands, he looks like he wants to say more but fortunately thinks better of it. At the end of the day, she’s a mother scared shitless for her daughter.

Recognizing his demeanor, she holds up her hands. “I know. You don’t need to say it. You were right. She never should have been on that thing. It certainly won’t happen again.”

I’m not sure why it surprises me that they would talk about everyday things like that, but it does. I often have a hard time imagining Vance and Maddie interacting, mostly because he never cared for her when she was with Finn. I’m not sure I ever once saw him have a conversation with her.

When he disappears with Curtis and Maddie, I’m immediately accosted by Jane and my mother. Neither can contain her grin.

I roll my eyes. “Will you two gossips cut it out. You both practically have hearts in your eyes.”

They giggle before my mother happily announces to both of our parents that she woke me up this morning with her call and Vance was with me. The insinuation is more than clear. My poor father is covering his ears while Michael McCaffrey chuckles.

I sigh. “Yes, we’ve been spending time together. It’s casual. Stop making it more than it is.”

My mother grins. “For how long?”

I bite my lip. It really has been a long time.

“Since the snowstorm,” Michael announces.

I cross my arms and scowl at him. “Thanks, Michael.”

He smirks. “You’re welcome, sweetie.”

Jane grabs my mother’s hand. “We’re going to share grandbabies, and they’re going to be gorgeous.”

My mother shrieks in glee.

I pinch the bridge of my nose. For fuck’s sake. Now they’ve got us having babies.