Forgiven 2 of 4

Chapter 38

Annie sat opposite Adam's father and stepmother she felt awkward with them and wasn't sure what to say or if she should say anything at all.

"So, Annie, how old are you?" Amy asked her, as she fed Harper.

Annie wished Adam and Kim would come back in the house, the longer they stayed outside the more she worried, "I'm almost 18"

"How did you find out where Adam lived?" Bob questioned her, he watched as Anthony took to her immediately.

"My mother had his address in some of her papers, I guess she hired a private investigator or something" she helped Anthony build a tower with some blocks "I know I should have called him first, but I thought he would hang up on me"

"Son of a bitch" Adam kicked at the railing, "what am I supposed to tell her? 'Sorry kid, the guy you thought was your dad isn't, but don't worry he's an asshole anyway', this is typical of my mother" he slumped against the house, "I don't know what to tell her"

Kim went to his side, "we don't tell her anything tonight, tell her you left a message with her father and we figure everything else out later. Let's introduce her to Trey and Lexi, maybe she'll have a good time" she took his hand and lead him inside.

Annie stood up as soon as they walked in "what did he say?"

"I left a voicemail" Adam told her, she sat back down when Anthony tugged on her hand, "seems you have a friend"

Annie smiled, "I guess so"

"Daddy, you like her right? Because her daddy don't, and daddies are supposed to like their kids, right?" Anthony asked obviously confused, "you like me when I'm good and bad, and you like Harper too, but she isn't bad yet"

Adam joined them on the floor, moving slowly still. "That's how it should be bud, but sometimes dads make mistakes" he watched his sister as she stared at the blocks in Anthony's hands "but that's never the kid's fault, that's the dads fault"

Kim joined the group outside, "what's going on?"

"Al's retiring, and Roman's moving upstairs" Erin told her "what about you, how's it going inside?" She pointed towards the house "a little family reunion?"

Kim grabbed a beer, "she's staying the night, Adam talked to her father. Who promptly told Adam that he wasn't her father, basically said it wasn't his problem" she took a long pull from the bottle "Adam doesn't know what to tell the kid"

Jay approached them, "babe, you ready to go. I'm shot" he slurred his words a bit, "plus, I'm a little drunk"

Erin laughed, "a little,Jay?"

"Okay, maybe a bit more than a little, Kim tell Ruzek I may have broken his basketball hoop" he grabbed Erin's hand "let's go before he comes out"

"I have no idea what's he's talking about Kim" Erin threw her hand up as Jay pulled her away, "call me in the morning, let me know how it goes"

"Jay the only basketball hoop we have is Anthony's" she told them.

"That's the one I broke" Jay whispered "Ruzek will be pissed"

"Annie this is my nephew Trey, and my friend's daughter Lexi" Adam said as he took her outside "you two this is my sister, be nice to her"

He started to leave, "thanks Adam" Annie called out, she sat down with Lexi and Trey, "well, this is kind of awkward"

"Not really" Trey said, "my family is pretty screwed up too. You see my father is the reason my aunt Kim, was kidnapped a while back and then my dad was killed by the same guy and eventually they shot Adam"

"Wow" was only Annie could say "yea, well my mom who is also Adam's mom stole Harper from the hospital"

"Listen Uncle Adam is cool. Not in the he will let us drink before we are 21 cool, but he doesn't blame us for what our parents do" Trey told her "he's not mad at you for what your mom did, neither is my Aunt Kim"

"Dad, can I talk to you for a minute" Adam asked when he went back inside, he needed to vent about his mother. "It's about my mother, if that's okay"

"Son, you can talk about your mother with me" he reassured him.

"So, Annie's father claims he's not her father" Adam blurted out as he plopped on the couch.

"What?" Bob asked, "what did he say?"

"Pretty much what I just told you, says she cheated on him and lied about Annie's paternity, he doesn't want anything to do with her"

Bob got up from the couch and covered his mouth with his hand "that bitch, she lied to me"

Adam nearly spit out the beer he had just sipped, "what the hell does that mean?"

"I think Annie is mine" Bob said softly.

---NOTE----

Eh, not sure about some parts of this, totally aggravated by Wattpad today, so this is definitely not the best it can be. I'm iffy on 'drunk Jay', I still plan on more Linstead in this.

As always, thanks for reading.

-Kristi