Moving closer to me, she placed her hand on my shoulder. “Thank you for convincing me to do this for Aaron. He deserves it.” She pressed a kiss to my lips.
The doorbell rang.
“That’s them. You stay. I’ll go get it, if Carter and Joshua don’t beat me to it.” She started to head off, but then backtracked and pressed a quick kiss to Tyler’s cheek before exiting to get the door.
I stood there for a while, still feeling the grief of our lost son but, with Tyler in my arms, hearing the foot stomps of my other two boys as they rushed down the stairs to meet their cousin, and hearing Aaron’s voice as Deborah greeted them, something inside of me started to feel lighter again.
“Let’s go meet the rest of the family,” I said to Tyler while bouncing him on my hip before leaving the bedroom to head down to the front entranceway.
I had no idea then, that that would be the night that changed everything. The fight which broke out between my brother and I after I discovered that he’d been beating his son. The subsequent car accident that killed both Jason and Jesse. And the days and weeks afterward that saw Deborah and I become Aaron’s official guardians and then adopted parents.
****
Present
Aaron
“You were never a consolation prize, son,” my father stated firmly as he rounded his desk, to stand in front of me while I remained seated. “You were always meant to be our son. Carter, You, Joshua, and Tyler. Our four boys. Just as it was always meant to be.”
Pushing out a breath, I glanced up at the man who raised me. The man I wanted to make proud my whole life. I didn’t give a shit what anyone else thought, so long as I could look him in the eye at the end of the day.
“You never made me feel like a consolation prize.”
“Good. Now let’s get this over with so you can get home to apologize to your wife and grovel so she doesn’t throw your ass out of the house.”
I scowled at my father.
“I taught you that damn expression. It doesn’t frighten me. Listen, I told you these stories tonight to tell you one thing. Your wife loves you. Loves you deeply. But there is one thing you don’t cross her about. Her children. Deborah didn’t speak to me for almost a week after the lake incident with Carter, and when we lost Travis …” He broke off, shaking his head. “I didn’t know if we’d ever find our way back. And then you came to be ours and we had to let our pain go to be there for you because you needed us in ways Carter and Joshua didn’t. Even Tyler, and he wasn’t one yet. We both knew something had happened after that accident. You changed. Some for the better, some for the worse. But it was our love for you that brought us back onto one accord after Travis died. Now, you have to figure out how to get over your fear of losing your wife because she’s pregnant with your fifth child and they both need you. I didn’t raise any fucking cowards.”
He gave me one last look, before pushing off the edge of his desk and moving to the door of his office, holding it open.
I glanced over my shoulder. “You’re kicking me out.”
His nod was instantaneous. “My wife will be home soon and we don’t need you crimping our style. Besides, you need to go figure out how best to grovel to your own wife.”
I narrowed my gaze. “I don’t grovel.”
He chuckled. “You say that now.”
I embraced my father in a hug, something I was still getting used to doing after not liking being touched for years. This, I had learned how to do from my wife. How to be affectionate with others.
I headed out to the awaiting town car, waving the driver off when he went to open the back door for me.
As soon as I closed the door, I heard, “So what are you going to do?”
I glanced to my right, again finding Emma staring at me with those big, brown eyes, questioning.
I didn’t say anything directly to her. Instead, I pressed the button to let the partition window down. “We need to stop at a grocery store before you take me home.”
“Is there any particular store you’d like me to stop at, si—”
“I don’t give a damn which store. As long as it sells those damn Hostess cupcakes,” I grunted before rolling up the partition again.
“You know, you could still work on that attitude of yours.”
I cut my eyes toward Emma.
She shrugged. “One day, maybe. But for now, my work here is done!” she said giddily, clapping her hands.
