Free The Return of Brody McBride by Jennifer Ryan Page A

know Dawn is your daughter with me.” She looked down at the other girl. “Autumn is your daughter with Roxy.” Rain smiled at her worried little face.
    “Dawn and Autumn. Beautiful,” he said, meaning their names and the girls themselves. It hit him hard. He was their father. As time ticked by, the meaning of that took root inside of him. A piece of his heart grew two sizes and came to life. His chest ached, he was so full of emotion.
    “Well, I guess we’ll have to talk with your mom, Autumn.”
    “No! She’s not my mom. God put me in the wrong belly!” Autumn yelled and buried her face in Rain’s stomach. Rain wrapped her up in her arms and stared down at Brody, rolling her eyes and letting out a frustrated sigh.
    “Brody, Autumn is mine. It’s a long story, one we’ll get into another time.” Cocking her head toward the two girls wrapped around her. “I figured you’d be by today for the truck. I just wanted you to meet them.”
    Unsteady, he rose to face her. “But, Rain . . .”
    “Let it be, Brody. Give yourself and them time to adjust.”
    Rain moved away, leaving him feeling lost. Dawn and Autumn stood beside Eli. Owen stood near Rain. He was the outsider here. He had a past he’d come home to face with Rain, but the girls made everything more complicated. He owed Rain more than an apology for leaving.
    She’d given up everything to be a mother to his children. He wasn’t sure why she had Autumn, but it was clear Autumn saw Rain as her one and only mother.
    Eli spoke up, trying to defuse a volatile situation. “Let’s start with a family dinner. Say, six o’clock at Rain’s house?”
    Owen smiled wickedly. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
    Rain rolled her eyes and turned her back on all of them. “Let’s go home, girls. You’ve got homework. I’ve got to cook dinner for six.” She left the garage bay with her head up, shoulders stiff. A little girl on each side of her, tiny hands clasped in hers, she’d never looked more beautiful.

 
    Chapter Six
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    “S HE’S PISSED ,” B RODY said, stunned the girls driving away with Rain belonged to him. His girls. All of them. That’s how Brody thought of them now. He liked that. A lot. Still, the guilt threatened to swallow him whole. It gnawed at his gut and made it hard to breathe.
    “She has every right to be pissed,” Eli said, examining the Buick, checking to see where Rain left off.
    “What about me? Don’t I get to be pissed that I have two daughters no one told me about? Owen?” As overwhelmed as he was right now, his mind grabbed on to the one thing no one had said. “Why the hell didn’t you call me? You had my captain’s number for the last six years. You knew about my being shot, the roadside bomb.”
    “Don’t blame me. You’re the one who slept with two women within days of each other. Normally, I’d high-five you and buy you a beer. But you were reckless and a sonofabitch. You left, never thinking you might have gotten even one of them pregnant.
    “People who hide the way you did, usually have a good reason. We all know why you were hiding. Think about how that made Rain feel. You’d rather disappear than face her.
    “Imagine how she felt when you took off without a word. Then, imagine how she felt when everyone knew she was pregnant with your baby, and there’s Roxy parading around town pregnant as well.”
    “How did anyone know Roxy’s baby was mine to begin with?”
    “Seriously? You know what a conniving bitch Roxy can be. She told everyone the baby was yours. Sure, everyone had their suspicions the baby could belong to any number of men in and around town. But she wouldn’t shut up about it being yours. It’s like she had some sort of grudge against Rain.”
    “She did,” Eli interjected. “Roxy hates Rain.”
    “Why? Between their three-year age difference and their completely opposite lives, why the hell would Roxy care about Rain at all?” Brody had never understood the grudge