“Baby, you look… incredible!” he murmured, smiling appreciatively as Luna grinned and twirled to give him the full view. She was wearing a short, forest-green dress, light and summery, and almost the same shade as her marvellous eyes. Her long hair had been brushed until it shone with an almost metallic sheen, a brilliant coppery splash against the green of her dress, setting it off perfectly. Her long, smooth legs were clad in nude stockings, and once again she was wearing black platform stilettos, displaying her slim, elegant, endless legs to their best advantage.
“Why thank you, young sir!” she simpered modestly, falsely, fluttering her eyelashes coquettishly, and giving him a twirl so he could once again get a good look at all of her. She grinned wickedly at his expression, sashaying up to him to wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him even as she ground lightly against him. Joey slipped his arms around her to pull her closer, feeling her grin against his lips as he did so.
“Uh-uh, no you don’t!” she grinned, “you get started on that and we’ll never leave the house!”
Joey smiled, still not releasing her.
“I’m sure Aunt Kat won’t mind if we’re a little late; with you dressed like that, how can I…!” he whispered, gently squeezing and massaging her hips though her dress, his mischievous grin matching her own .
“No! Down, boy, heel, heel!” she commanded, wriggling out of his grasp with a giggle and dodging his reaching hands.
“Come on, baby, show-time!” she smiled, picking little Joe out of his play-pen and holding him against herself as protection against any more of Joey’s advances.
Joey grinned in defeat, and bowed her into the car, watching fondly as she buckled the little boy securely into his safety seat, then sank back luxuriously into the deep, soft leather upholstery.
“Let’s go, Blondie!” she grinned, squirming and giggling as Joey reached out to squeeze her knee.
*
The drive to Morgan Hill was uneventful, and when Joey pulled into Frank and Kat’s drive, he saw Robbie’s Mercedes already parked there, along with Steve’s Dodge Crew Cab, and Gramma Rosie’s frumpy old Lebaron, so he knew the family was already there. As Luna busied herself unhooking Joe and collecting his baby things, Joey looked up and grinned as Frank stuck his head out of the door and grinned at him.
“Gang’s all here Joey, just waiting on you!” he called out, a big grin splitting his face, and then freezing, his eyes wide as Luna backed out of the car and turned to face him.
“Baby, this is my Uncle Frank!” grinned Joey. Luna looked curiously at Frank, her gaze flicking between him and Joey, and smiled as she held out her hand. Frank took it, but it seemed to Joey he had something on his mind. His momentary distraction passed, and he seemed to be his usual self after just a moment, but Joey could tell there was something bothering him as he ushered them through to the back of the house.
Luna was so wrapped up in Joe that she didn’t seem to be aware of the sudden undercurrent, baby-talking and rubbing noses with Joe and watching him squirm and giggle. It was only when someone dropped a plate that her head snapped round, her eyes fixing on Moira and Morag, Kat’s twin daughters. The three girls stared at each other, a frozen tableau, as all conversation died away. Luna was astounded; the two redheaded teenagers were almost the image of her! The same bright, coppery hair, only theirs were a mass of long curls, not straight and glossy like hers, the same vivid green eyes, the same milk-pale skin, the same fine, classic features.
“Joey…” she murmured, frozen in place, her arms tightening around the small body in her arms as she looked from face to face. The two girls also looked just as shocked, their eyes flicking from her to each other, to her again. Luna nearly collapsed in shock, her knees trying to buckle when two older women, one obviously the girls’ mother, and one older also stepped into her field of view, their expressions equally as shocked; they were almost mirror images of her, too.
“Joey, what’s going on?” she moaned, starting to panic, her heart thudding so loud everyone in the room must have heard it. Joey heard the panic in her voice and held her close, his own expression as shocked as hers; he was stunned that he hadn’t seen the resemblance sooner; Luna looked enough like the twins to be their big sister. How could he have been so blind? For the first time in his life, Joey was completely speechless. He, too, wanted to ask the same question: what the hell was going on here? The younger of the two women stepped closer, and Luna shrank back against him with a low whine of panic as this stranger with her face approached her.
“Who are you people?” she whispered, “Why do you all … what are you, is this some kind of…?” she trailed off as the older woman smiled gently at her.
“Please, calm down, it’s all going to be OK, you’re among friends. Please, both of you, come with me; Joey, tell her, everything’s going to be fine!”
Joey, still slightly glassy-eyed, could only nod.
“Aunt Kat, please, what’s going on?” he husked, and Kat Novak shook her head slightly, telling him ‘not here’ as she took him by the arm, piloting both of them into the den and away from the shocked silence in the formal sitting room. Luna took a seat where Kat indicated, still too spooked to say a word, only jigging the little boy in her arms as he squirmed restlessly, picking-up on her disquiet.
“Joey, I think I know what’s going on here; much as it stretches my credibility, there’s only one possible explanation. Luna, your mom was Jo-Jo Hollister, wasn’t she, not Laurie?”
Luna nodded, still not seeing where this was going, or why it mattered who her mom was.
“It’s my fault,” sighed Kat, rubbing her temples distractedly, “I should have questioned Sally a little further. I was just so happy when she told us Joey’d found someone, when she said it was Jonah Hollister’s niece, I just assumed it was Laurie’s daughter she was talking about; she’d already had a little girl when I left Springfield who’d have been about Joey’s age…”
She looked sadly, compassionately, at Luna.
“Luna, did your mom ever mention your father, say who he was, a hint, maybe, anything like that?”
Luna shook her head, wondering at the question, who her never-mentioned father was, and what it had to do with all these people who looked so like her.
Kat sighed again, fixing her gaze on Luna.
“The reason I asked is, before I left Springfield, I met up with Jo-Jo. It was the last time I ever saw her. She told me she was pregnant, and who the father was, and that she was going to leave Springfield, that she needed to get away from him. Baby, I don’t know how to tell you this, so I’m just going to tell you; your daddy was Steve Dolan, that other lady out there is his mom, your grandmother; Robbie is Steve’s son; he’s your big brother, honey…”
She paused to let Luna take it all in, sensing her panic and confusion as her words sank in. Kat took her unresisting hand, twining her fingers gently with Luna’s, holding hands with her.
“My father was Michael Moran. He and your grandmother Rosie were brother and sister, which means Steve Dolan was my cousin, and you are as well; the Moran blood is in you, it bred true in you, just like it did in my girls; I know this is a lot to take in, but you’re my family too, Luna, you’re among family, and we’ll help you get through this.”
Luna’s head was spinning; she was Steve Dolan’s daughter? She was that… man’s daughter? Holy fucking Christ, no wonder Mom had kept shut about who her daddy was. Now she had a whole bunch of strangers for family, a grandmother, too; how was she supposed to deal with this? She became aware of Joey’s arm around her, holding her protectively as her mind ran over and over what she’d just been told. A thought occurred to her, and she glanced sharply at him, noting, almost in passing, the look of shock, and… something else, on his face.
“Did you know about this? About all this… this?” she asked him, her voice sharp with suspicion, but the look he gave her was one of honest bewilderment; that, and something else, something she couldn’t sense, which was unusual for her.
“No baby, I swear! It never even crossed my mind how much you look like Aunt Kat and the twins; I thought you looked familiar when I first met you, but I wasn’t thinking too straight then, I just thought I was maybe remembering your mom from when I was a kid, honest!”
Luna looked searchingly at him, and slowly nodded, seeing no hint of a lie, only his puzzlement, and that… something else, something to do with her. Joey stirred from his shocked study of her face as Kat tapped him gently on the arm.
“The rest, Joey, you have to…”
Joey nodded, and handed her his car remote access fob.
“Aunt Kat, ask the girls to go across town, get some pizza, anything, they can’t be here, not for this, please?”
Caitlin nodded in agreement, and opened the door to the den, calling Moira over. Joey heard the girls squeal, knowing how thrilled they’d be to be seen driving and posing in his Bentley, and Kat led them both out to the family room again, where Frank, Roisian, and Robbie and Casey waited.
Luna looked at him in trepidation, unconsciously holding Joe closer; she could sense there was more to come, and she was unsure if she could take it. When the girls clattered out, and the muted throb of the Bentley’s engine sounded, Kat opened the door wide, and ushered them out into the circle of family waiting for them. Luna scanned each face minutely, especially that of… her grandmother? The handsome older woman was almost the spitting image of Caitlin, just a few years down the line, and Luna realized she was, indeed, in the presence of family, unsettling as that was.