Throwing the pillow at me, she frowns. “I fucking know, asshole. I’m going to meet my OB with damp panties. Let’s hope he doesn’t do an internal, I might fucking come.”
I snarl. “Fuck your sister. She’s not going to this appointment. I’m going. He touches you wrong and you’ll be visitin’ me for conjugal.”
Her laughter rings out around me. “Baby. You’ve met my OB. She is a fifty-year-old woman.”
I grumble. “Still.”
“I love you, but go wash your face and greet your children.”
“Why do I need to wash my face?” I lick my beard.
“You gonna kiss your son and daughter’s face with my cum on your lips?”
“Having kids is a pain in my dick sometimes.”
“Go.” She kicks at my chest.
“Jesse received an award at school today for his reading.”
Pride storms through me.
“It’s no big deal, stop talking about it, Blake.”
“It is a big fucking deal,” I combat. “Did they give you a certificate or somethin’?”
He looks at me, pride in his eyes but the nonchalance of a teenage boy dipping his shoulders. “Yeah, but it’s lame.”
“Not to me, it ain’t. Give it.”
Twisting his bag to his front, I watch him unzip the backpack without argument. Pulling the small piece of white card from the depths of the bag, he hands it over.
I can’t stop the smile on my face. My boy is coming leaps and fucking bounds with a solid education. He’s smart, super fucking smart, he just never had anyone invested in him enough to see it.
Moving toward the fridge, I place it front and center, making sure he knows how fucking proud of him I am. Camryn’s arm slides along my waist and I drop a kiss to the crown of her head, refusing to take my eyes off the fridge.
“You crying, Cami?”
I look down at her as she swipes her eyes. “Yes,” she grumbles. “Pregnancy hormones are killing me. Whenever I’m ridiculously happy, my eyes just start leaking.”
Jesse’s smile is coy.
“Blake almost got suspended today.”
“Jesse,” she speaks through her teeth. “We’re celebrating you, not talking about me.”
“What happened?” I ask stonily, turning Camryn and I to look at her.
“Some bitch started talking shit about the fact that my mom was a junkie, so I punched her.”
“Makes sense,” I agree on a nod.
Camryn tsks. “What your dad means to say, is that you can’t go around punching everyone that offends you, honey. Your dad was the one who taught me not to let my self-worth be affected by someone else’s words.”
My daughter shrugs, moving to the muffins that Camryn had made earlier today. “Oh, I didn’t care what she said. My mom was a junkie, she was just annoying me.” She takes a bite. “Plus, she needed to know not to disrespect you by telling everyone I didn’t have a mom.”
The waterworks. Again. “Oh my God.”
“Come ‘ere.” I pull my wife into a hug, smiling at the twins in bewilderment.
Blake comes up behind us, moving into our hug, arms wrapped around the crying pregnant woman in my arms. “Jesse get your ass over here.”
Lips finding her temple, Jesse’s arms cocoon her even more.
“Ain’t you guys just the sweetest.” The rough teasing of Parker’s voice has each of our heads turning.
“I am so in on this hug,” Codi declares, moving toward us at a speed that tells me she’s afraid we’ll break the embrace off before she reaches us. “Parker,” she calls. “You too.”
“I’m good, Sugar. I’m just gonna take a photo so I can threaten Roc’s man-card every time he tries to beat his chest.”
His wife snaps her fingers. “Don’t make me threaten you with things you don’t wanna lose.”
Blake pretends to vomit.
“Jesus, Aunt Codi,” Jesse grumbles.
Still. It works and I grin at my brother in triumph as he steps up behind his wife, arms stretched as wide as they’ll go to surround us. “This is weird.”
“You should be used to it by now,” Camryn, tears having subsided, tells him.
“It’s not weird. It’s family,” Blake hums, squeezing in tighter.
Family.
Codi and Camryn head off a few minutes later, leaving the four of us standing in my kitchen.
“Girls are gonna meet us for a bit when they’re done, we just need to text them and Dominic where to meet us. We’re celebrating this.” I point to Jesse’s award.
Parker, reading over the certificate, smiles big. “Right on, nephew.” He pushes his fist against Jesse’s.
“Can we go see Lila and Mira first?” Blake asks.
“O’course,” I tell them. “Go change. We’ll head out in five.”
They race each other to their bedroom. They’ve finally conceded to a renovation to give one another some privacy. Archer has an architect friend who’s working on the plans as we speak.
“Like this look on you.” Parker’s hand slaps my back.
“What look?” I turn to him.
“Proud dad.”
I bark out a laugh, not willing to deny it. I am a fucking proud dad.
It’s been nearly ten months since Cami and I almost lost everything. Ten months of healing and navigating our way through parenting two teenagers who were used to taking care of themselves.
It’s been tough, but that hasn’t stopped me from taking every day as a blessing. I missed the first sixteen years, so even the tough days, I’m taking them in my stride.
They both jumped at the chance to speak with a therapist. They seem to get a lot out of it, talking out their feelings and thoughts with a stranger. They come back lighter after every session. They’re healing, slowly, but they’re healing.
I no longer have to force myself to take each step forward when I visit Mom and Mira. The wet grass is a welcome mat, a familial spot to place my feet.
The flowers no longer scream death and loss to me. They tell a story of love and how hard it was felt.
The kids get a lot out of coming here. Especially Blake. She’ll talk Mom and Mira’s ear off for an hour, chatting about life and mind-numbing nonsense like reality TV and social media drama. You’d think they were talking back to her. Maybe in Blake’s way they are.
Hands full of white roses, the twins place a large bunch at the headstone of my mother.
I swear I could see them if I looked up. Lila and Mira. Watching the four of us with wide smiles and happiness in their eyes. It’s taken me a long time to come to the realization that Lila never wanted nor needed retribution. She needed this. Love. She wanted Parker and I to find our place in the world, surrounded by a love she could no longer give us.
It was a bloodied and downright scary road at times, but with her watching over us, we finally found it.
We found them.
Rein and Shay. A battle forged in hate and won through something more powerful than any of us could imagine.
Love.
That was all she ever needed, and now she finally has what I’d be fighting for all my life. Peace.