Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76693 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76693 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Dad glances up at Pops. “You want to tell him, hon? This is more your story than mine.”
“She was just a kid I knew from the neighborhood I grew up in,” Pops explains, sadness in his voice. “Her family was full of assholes who used to whip up on her. Your grandma would always invite her over to eat supper with us. I kind of thought of her as an annoying little sister, but deep down, I knew she needed the break from those horrible people.”
“We later invited her to our wedding,” Dad cuts in, “but she never showed. The girl really did live a troubled life. Then, one day, she reached out to us to tell us she was pregnant and wouldn’t be able to keep the baby.”
“Except she did keep the baby,” I grumble. “Screwed you over in the process.”
“She was young,” Pops states in her defense. “And scared. Yes, we were hurt by her changing her mind, but we also were realistic from the start. At the time, we weren’t actively looking to adopt, but after things fell through with Jamie, we both realized there was so much love in our hearts. We needed to share that with someone.”
“That someone was you, Two,” Dad croons. “Our perfect, precious baby boy. Still are.”
Something tells me I’ll be forty and my dads will still treat me like their precious baby boy. Something tells me I won’t hate it either.
“I know it would be awkward for you guys to meet her,” I start to say, but Dad cuts me off.
“Honey, no. We really, really want to meet her. Not as some little girl we never adopted but as our son’s girlfriend. The girl our beautiful, funny, smart-as-a-whip son is crazy over. I know we’ve been busy with work and you with school, but please make time to bring her over to dinner one day so we can properly meet her.”
At one point, I wondered what it would be like for Gemma to meet my dads. I imagined heartache and tears. Now, though, I can imagine the four of us having a really good time.
“Yeah, okay. I’ll bring her over. She really wants to meet you guys.”
Dad grins and pulls my head toward his to kiss my forehead. Pops squeezes my shoulder again in an affectionate gesture he’s done my entire life as far back as I can remember.
“I’m sorry I snooped,” I say, coming down from my momentary high. “I should have talked to you about it. Once I tell Tate this is what I’ve been carrying for so long, something tells me he’s going to beat my ass for not telling him sooner so we could talk it out.”
Dad cracks up laughing. “Good. We pay him well to beat your ass.”
A weight tumbles off my shoulders and shatters on the floor around me. Who knew talking about this could feel so good? I’ve been spending years and years bottling it up inside. Releasing it is so…freeing.
Gemma
I’m unbelievably pissed at my mother right now.
She called Two’s dads this morning and tattled.
How could she?
Is she trying to ruin my life—ruin this good, sweet, tender thing between me and Two?
When he texted me this morning to let me know what she’d done, I’d been humiliated and horrified. Luckily, he said his parents were handling it well. Just wanted me to know.
If I weren’t terrified of getting abducted by some creeper, I’d take a drive far away from this house just to calm my mind and get away from Mom. Instead, I do the next best thing. I go next door to visit Willa and my little buddy Bane.
“Knock-knock,” I chirp as I enter my brother and sister-in-law’s house.
Bane babbles from somewhere within the home. I follow the sounds of my nephew’s adorable little voice to find him in his room in his bed, clearly just having awoken from a nap. His parents’ bedroom door is closed.
Ew.
They’re probably making more babies.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got him,” I say to the baby monitor, knowing they can hear me. “Keep doing your thing, big bro.”
I hear laughing from their bedroom, which makes me grin. Bane’s blue eyes sparkle with delight when he sees me.
“There’s my Baney-boo,” I croon as I scoop him into my arms. “Did you miss me?”
He continues making cheerful, loud sounds that warm my heart while I snuggle him to me. With Bane, I can almost forget I’m angry at Mom. Almost.
At least over here, I don’t have to see her. Mom doesn’t exactly come over to Callum’s that often. I mean, she tried to ruin his life too…
Guilt assaults me. I know that’s unfair. Mom had her own terrible struggles when she was younger and vilifying her won’t help the situation. I just need a break from her.
I feel Bane’s diaper and decide he needs changing. I’m no expert at this job, but I can do a better job than all my brothers combined. Bane’s only peed on me once. After I change him, I pick him back up and carry him into the living room to wait for Willa to stop being bred by my brother.