It Takes a Family. Victoria Pade

whether he liked it or not, he said, “Do you want me to go with you?”

      The offer surprised her.

      “Would you do that?”

      Not happily—if the somber expression on his handsome face was any indication.

      But after another moment, he said, “Yeah, I’d do that.”

      “It would really help not to have to go alone,” she said, meaning it and appreciating any support when she was feeling so unsure of herself.

      “I’ll call first. Not all of them live in the house anymore, but I’ll make sure they get everyone to be there for this.”

      “Thank you,” Karis said with a full measure of her gratitude in her voice.

      And while the other Pratts might not have a soft spot for their father, and certainly couldn’t have one for Lea, either, a soft spot in Karis’s heart began to open up at that moment.

      For LukeWalker, for the kindness he was showing her.

      Even if that kindness was reluctant.

      It was late that afternoon before all the Pratts could gather at the house up the street to see Karis.

      The snow had stopped falling before dawn and the sun had remained shining through the day, melting what had accumulated on the streets and sidewalks but leaving a white blanket on the grassy areas. The temperature was comfortable, so Karis bundled up Amy and carried the baby with her as she and Luke walked to meet with her half siblings.

      Karis didn’t say anything along the way. She was too nervous. But she was still glad to have the big man by her side.

      He rang the doorbell when they reached the house and held the screen for her when the door was answered by a large man who was dressed in the same police uniform Luke had had on the night before.

      “Hey, Cam,” Luke greeted him.

      “Luke,” the other man responded, stepping aside for Karis and Luke to come in but never taking his eyes off Karis. Eyes that were every bit as suspicious of her as Luke’s had been, and no more welcoming.

      “This is Karis. Karis, this is Cam.”

      “Hi,” Karis said, thinking that in all of the awkward situations she’d found herself in recently, this had to be the worst.

      “And is this Amy?” Cam Pratt asked.

      Karis hadn’t thought about the fact that this man and the rest of her half siblings already knew Amy from the five weeks after her birth, but that question and the familiarity in his voice brought it home for her.

      “That’s Amy,” Luke confirmed when Karis was slow in answering.

      Cam nodded, taking a concentrated look at the infant but not making any overtures toward her.

      “We’re all in the living room,” he said, leading the way from the vast Victorian-style entry that boasted a pedestal table in the center and a wide staircase rising from just beyond it to curve to the second level.

      Luke waited for Karis to follow Cam, bringing up the rear.

      The living room was large and, because it was furnished in a country motif, it lacked the formality of the entry. It was warm and welcoming, unlike the faces of the other people in the room.

      “Hi,” Karis said quietly to everyone.

      “Sit down,” one of the two women invited, pointing to the vacant love seat at a right angle to the couch.

      Karis did, sitting only on the edge of the cushion and placing Amy on her lap.

      It didn’t seem that she should take Amy’s coat completely off as if they were going to stay for a leisurely visit, but it was too warm to keep the baby bundled up. So Karis smoothed the hood back, fluffed Amy’s reddish-brown cap of curls and unzipped the coat, leaving it open but on.

      “Is this Amy?” the other woman on the couch asked, echoing her brother’s question.

      “It is.” Karis answered without hesitation this time.

      She had the sense that had this been fourteen months ago the woman would have tried to hold Amy or play with her. But as it was, everyone kept their distance.

      Luke had remained standing beside the love seat rather than sit with Karis and Amy so he made the introductions from there.

      “You met Cam at the door,” he began, addressing Karis. “That’s Mara, Neily and Scott on the sofa—”

      “I’m Mara,” said the woman who had asked about Amy. “This is Neily,” she added with a glance at the woman who had invited Karis to sit.

      Karis said another, “Hi.”

      “Boone and Jon are by the fireplace,” Luke continued. “Taylor is in the chair. Boone, Taylor and Jon are the triplets—in case you didn’t notice that they look almost exactly alike.”

      Karis nodded.

      “And this is Karis,” Luke finished unnecessarily.

      No one seemed to know what to say, and Karis wasn’t sure whether to merely blurt out what she’d come to tell them or try to find some way to ease into it.

      It was Cam who broke the silence before she’d decided. “What can we do for you?”

      Clearly they were all leery of her and her motives for being there, so Karis opted for getting to the point.

      “I’m afraid I have some bad news.”

      As she said that, she wondered for the first time if they would consider the news bad. Maybe they wouldn’t.

      “I needed to tell you all that Dad…”

      She stalled. Somehow referring to him like that seemed proprietary and she was afraid his first family would take offense.

      “That your dad…”

      But he was her father, too, so that was weird.

      “Well, your dad and mine…”

      No, that wasn’t good, either…

      “It’s okay,” Luke said in a calming voice. “Just tell them.”

      Grateful to him once more—this time for the steadying influence—Karis swallowed and took his advice. “There was an explosion in Denver six weeks ago. Dad…and Lea…were killed.”

      The response of the other Pratts varied, but none were too overt. Some eyebrows rose. Some mouths gaped slightly. Some faces paled. No one appeared unaffected or as if they were glad to hear it, but there weren’t any tears, either.

      Again, after a few moments of silent shock, it was Cam who spoke. “What happened?”

      Karis took a measured breath and said, “Lea had done something that caused a lot of problems for a lot of people—”

      “Isn’t that hard to believe,” Boone, one of the triplets, said sarcastically under his breath.

      His tone made Karis even more uncomfortable, but she didn’t show it. She recognized that he had a right to think badly of Lea and thought that maybe she should let them know she was aware of her sister’s misdeeds.

      “Luke told me this morning what Lea did the day she left here, so I know none of you think much of her—”

      Once more, Karis paused to consider what she was going to say. She didn’t want any of the people in the room to think worse of her sister than they already did. In fact, it suddenly seemed important for them to understand Lea, if only a little.

      So rather than rushing into telling them more about the explosion that had taken lives, she said, “I’m sorry for what Lea did to you. I know that probably doesn’t mean much but if you really knew Lea, you’d know how truly messed up she was. She had drug problems from