Page 2 of The Summer We Kept Secrets (The Destin Diaries #4)

While he loved the use of the corporate “we” in this regard, he wasn’t a fan of fighting. “Well, a stable, loving family is definitely part of our arsenal. That’s what Atlas—and Jonah—need the most. Routine. Stability. Faith.”

Kate gave him a look, one he knew well—practical, skeptical, wildly logical. “And DNA tests along with a shark of a lawyer.”

He met her gaze with one just as direct. “I assure you, I’ll do whatever is necessary for Jonah to keep his son.”

She nodded and eased back. “I have to get the kids off to the airport with Vivien. When Tessa and Lacey leave, you’re on your own with two nearly eighty-year-old women, an infant, and one very shaky young man. Can you handle it?”

He just smiled. “What do you think?”

“I think…” She stood on her tiptoes and stole a kiss, her glasses plopping down on her nose when she backed up. “That you’re the best-looking grandfather I’ve ever known.”

He eased the glasses up to her eyes. “Long walks on the beach at sunset could be in your future, gorgeous.”

“Mom! We have to leave soon!”

At the sound of her daughter’s voice, Kate slipped out of his arms. “I have to go,” she whispered.

Eli followed her into the house, reluctantly letting the intimate exchange come to an end.

There would be more loving moments this summer with Kate, he knew. Just not as many as he’d hoped.

After saying goodbye to Matt and Emma, Eli armed himself with a fresh cup of coffee made the way Jonah liked it, and a bottle Vivien had prepared, then headed down to the lowest level of the three-story beach house.

When he’d designed what they called the Summer House, this was supposed to be where a family would congregate in a great room, flanked by two bedrooms, and a large bath, all leading out to the pool and boardwalk to the beach.

But now, it would be…what had Kate called it? Baby Central, reserved for Jonah and Atlas. Maybe he could add a small kitchen down here and they could really make it a home. There was certainly enough space and…

His thoughts trailed off as he reached the bottom of the stairs and heard…was that Jonah singing?

“You are my sunshine…my ray of sunshine. Those aren’t the words, but you get the point…”

Smiling at the butchered lyrics and the love behind it, he walked into Jonah’s room to find him lying on the bed with a tiny bundle next to him, so small he couldn’t see a baby in the blankets.

“I bring baby breakfast and dad coffee,” Eli said softly, interrupting the singing.

“Now that’s a ray of sunshine,” Jonah replied, very slowly rising, holding one hand on the baby. “Can I get up? I don’t want him to roll off the bed.”

“Pretty sure he can’t roll,” Eli said as he put the coffee cup on the nightstand. “Can I feed him?”

“Oh, yeah. Please do.” Jonah blinked groggily, looking a thousand times better than he had when he’d arrived. “I slept for the first time in a month. I know this little guy didn’t make it through the night.”

“He did okay,” Eli said, tipping his head toward the great room. “I took the sofa out there and did the midnight and two o’clock. Aunt Vivien came down and we switched places; she got him at five. And then he slept. Now, you come to your grandpa, little man.”

“We can’t keep up that schedule,” Jonah said.

“We’ll get a baby monitor and rotate a schedule.” Eli gingerly lifted the tiny baby who was starting to feel familiar. “Remember me?”

Atlas opened his mouth and cried softly as Eli settled him in his arms, then mewed and turned his little bald head, making sucking sounds.

“He’s rooting,” Jonah said. “That’s what they call looking for mom’s breast.”

Sitting on the bed, Eli nestled him closer and eased the bottle’s nipple to Atlas’s lips.

“Sorry, young man. This will have to do.” Instinct took over, making Eli brush his fingertip along Atlas’s cheek, somehow knowing—remembering—that it would make him suckle.

“He hadn’t been doing so well breastfeeding anyway,” Jonah said, dropping into the room’s only chair with his coffee.

“We’d started giving him some formula to augment.

” He took a sip and dropped his head back with a grunt of satisfaction as it hit.

“Dad, thank you seems…basic. But let me say it anyway.”

“For the night feedings?” Eli looked up from the tiny face. “It was fun.”

“For taking me in.” Jonah smiled for the first time in—well, maybe since he got there. “Both of us, really. Tough days ahead.”

“There’s an army of people who want to help,” Eli said. “Please let us.”

The smile grew. “There are more people in this house than when I left. And furniture down here—it was nothing but an air mattress when I was a resident.”

“Jo Ellen was down here for a while, so Vivien furnished the room for her. But now she and Maggie are moving into the apartment you and I built over the garage. It’s finished.”

Jonah nodded, his sleepy eyes clearing with each ounce of caffeine. “Yeah, I picked up through the chatter that they’re pals again. Artie wasn’t the devil incarnate after all?”

Eli laughed softly, and as he got into the bottle groove with Atlas, he relayed the whole story that they’d learned just the day before.

“So your dad and Uncle Artie basically took down a Southern mob to protect their families?” Jonah asked when Eli finished.

“Pretty much. And that was why my mother and her best friend were separated for thirty years, so the two of them have a lot to catch up on. Now that they know the truth, they’re just like they used to be—two peas in a pod.”

“Moving into the apartment we built,” Jonah mused. “Cute. I’m happy for Grandma Maggie. I know she can be difficult, but, man, did you see how she rose to the occasion last night? So protective.”

“We all are,” Eli said, snuggling his grandson. Now, he understood how and why his notoriously formidable mother turned a little mushy when it came to any of her grandchildren. “No one’s taking this baby,” he said.

Jonah snorted, the sound pure doubt.

“We won’t let that happen, son,” Eli said simply.

“Oh, it’ll happen. Remember, I’m curs?—”

“Stop it,” Eli said, his sharp tone making the tiny baby startle. “Sorry,” he whispered to Atlas. “But your father is wrong on so many levels, it hurts. He is not cursed.”

Jonah finished the coffee, then put the cup down, closing his eyes.

“If not, then why did this happen, Dad? Why did she have to go get diapers when she was so tired? I told her if she’d give me just half an hour to finish making dinner—of course I put cooking above her needs, because I’m a fat jerk like that—but she insisted we only had one left in the apartment, and she wanted to get out.

I knew she was exhausted. I knew I should have gone. I knew…things happen to mothers.”

“Jonah.” Eli’s voice was stern, but not sharp this time. “You cannot blame yourself any more than I could blame myself for allowing your mom to get on a private plane.”

Jonah winced. “She got on the plane for her job .”

“It was Carly’s job to get diapers—a parent’s job. Bad things happen.”

“I thought you believed in God and He’s supposed to be so stinkin’ good.”

“He is good,” Eli insisted. “But that doesn’t mean bad things won’t happen. It means that the bad thing should be the time when you lean on Him and get closer to Him.”

Jonah rolled his eyes. “Whatever. The bottom line is I’m the dad and I should have gotten diapers and if I had, Atlas would have two parents.”

Eli let out a sigh. “Grief tells lies, Jonah. Don’t listen.”

For a long time, neither of them spoke. Instead, Eli let little Atlas finish the bottle and pulled it out of his mouth, easing him up to rub his back for a burp.

“You’re pretty good at that, old man,” Jonah said softly.

“I’m not old and I had two kids.” Atlas bubbled up a little and out came…spit-up on Eli’s T-shirt. “Whoa. Thanks, buddy.”

“Bet Meredith never did that,” Jonah teased. “Miss Perfect probably never spit up in her life. And if she did, she took your shirt and did the laundry.” He blew out a breath. “Speaking of my flawless, disciplined, and successful sibling—does she know?”

Eli nodded, not wanting to push back on the low-key antagonism that Jonah always felt toward his younger sister. “I called her last night, and she is very worried. She loves you more than you can imagine.”

Jonah looked suitably chastised. “Well, she’s safe in the knowledge that she’s still the architect superstar kid who never went astray, while I am the unemployed, cursed single father.”

Eli’s eyes shuttered. “Please don’t say that, Jonah. You’re about to start a fantastic culinary program and you are not cursed. You’re just scared.”

“Ya think?” Jonah choked. “Petrified is more like it. I’m terrified of Carly’s parents and I’m sure I don’t have a clue how to raise a child . And don’t get me started on culinary school. How can I do all this, Dad? Maybe I should let them take Atlas.”

Eli tightened his grip on the tiny body in his hands, the very words unthinkable to him. “First of all, no one knows how to raise a child. It’s hit or miss, mistake after mistake, followed by failure and sleepless nights.”

“Sounds fun.”

“Actually, it is the most fun you’ll ever have,” Eli replied. “Second, they’re Atlas’s grandparents. I have no doubt they want what’s best for him, and that is you, his father.”

“Dad, I’m?—”

“And third ,” he powered on, refusing to let Jonah argue with that, “you’ll go to culinary school as planned. A million parents have gotten degrees and not very many of them had a house full of family all willing and able to help with the baby.”

The speech made Jonah sink into the chair a little. “Yeah,” he begrudgingly agreed. “I just wish I knew more than one song, but that Sunshine thing is all I remember Mom singing to me.”

That made Eli smile. “You’ll learn songs and tricks and patience and everything you need to know. We’re here for you, every minute.”

“I guess,” he said. “But Carly’s parents?—”

“Are not taking this child,” Eli insisted, punctuating that with a kiss on the baby’s head, then looked up. “What are they like, anyway? What are we dealing with?”

“I don’t know them that well,” he admitted. “They live in Northern California. Carly has a sister, too, but she wasn’t that close to her.”

“You’ve met them all, I take it?”

He nodded, looking straight ahead, as though remembering.

“They came to see us for a couple days after Atlas was born,” he said.

“It was cool, I guess. We were fine. I mean, they probably didn’t think I was some kind of catch, but they thought culinary school was interesting.

Then…” His voice faded and his whole expression changed… and crumbled.

“I assume they came again after the accident,” Eli said gently.

He managed a nod. “It was so sad, man. Obviously, they were out of their minds with grief. The sister, her name’s Rori, came, too. They all wanted to pack up Atlas and take him.”

Eli sucked in a breath. “Three on one? How did you manage to not let them?”

“I told them I would call the cops. There was…kind of a scene. It was bad.” His voice cracked.

“I’m sorry, Jonah.”

He swallowed and dug for composure. “Anyway, they finally left and said they’d be back with a lawyer and court orders and blah blah blah .

The minute they were gone, I packed what I could, and hightailed it to the airport, and here I am.

The runaway unemployed father who kidnapped their grandchild. ”

Eli made a face, realizing it was a truly bad situation. “You didn’t kidnap him. He’s your son. They’ve never questioned that , have they?”

“No, no. Carly and I were solid before she got pregnant, and for most of her pregnancy. I was here for a couple of months when she booted me out because I didn’t have a job.” He gave a humorless smile. “That was the last problem of mine you solved. Do you sense a pattern here?”

“I sense parenthood,” he said simply. “Parents help their kids out of binds no matter their age or how bad the bind. Have you called them to tell them Atlas is safe and sound?”

“I texted Rori and told her I took the baby to my family and he was fine. She never answered, but she saw the text.”

“Can you reach her parents? What are their names?”

“Gary and Sally Danes,” he said. “Gary’s a tech dude with some computer company. Sally…I don’t know. Investments? Law? Something lofty. But, yeah, I have all the phone numbers.” He made a face. “The cops brought me Carly’s phone after the accident, and I kept it. Was that wrong?”

“It was smart,” Eli said. “Was Carly close to her family?”

He shrugged. “On and off. Her mom wanted her to get an advanced degree—I think she has one—but Carly wanted to stick with hospitality. Honestly? She might have talked to her mother more when she was pregnant and after I left.”

“Are they nice people?” Eli asked. “I mean, could they be reasonable?”

“They’re…grieving people,” he said. “Broken, destroyed, and all they have left of their daughter is in your arms.”

Eli’s heart dropped. What would he do in that situation? Fight like a madman to raise this child. But Atlas belonged to Jonah, and they couldn’t take that away.

Eli looked down at the sweet baby who was…red and filling his pants.

“Sure gave him the right name,” Jonah said, pushing up. “He’s got the weight of the world on his shoulders.”

“Actually, it’s in his diaper.”

Jonah managed a laugh as he lifted the bag next to the dresser. “Here, I got it.”

Eli stood and carefully handed the baby to his son. As he did, their gazes locked.

“You can do this, Jonah.”

“The diaper change? I’m a pro now.”

“Fatherhood,” he clarified. “You can do it and do it well. You are not cursed. You are blessed.”

Jonah just smiled, enough doubt in his eyes that Eli knew his words fell on deaf ears. It would take time.

The question was…did they have time before Carly’s family swooped in and attempted to take this child?