"River I thought I gave you the talk like five years ago what happened?" He groaned, "Come on Violette we were both thinking it and I happened to think he would make a um....decent parent."
"She's not pregnant, papa." River retorted, "But I won't speak for her, I don't know are you?"
"Oh God no I'm not!" I laughed flusteredly, "Thank yousomuch for your concern!"
"I wanted to talk to you about Jace." River said breaking the ice, and turning the attention away from me thankfully, “More specifically about Jace and I."
"Aww honey are you still having a tough time dealing with his passing, we're here for you, always you know that," Violette said warmly,
"Let the boy finish." His dad refuted,
"I- um- I- well he-" River muttered and I held his hand in support and he shut his eyes and took a deep breath before attempting to speak again, "He and I were closer than you think."
"What are you trying to say?" Violette asked, her expression turning serious,
"I'm trying to say that we were together." River clarified but it was still clear that his parents were beyond clueless,
"Together as in...." Violette asked once more,
"Together in all the ways, people that love each other are maman," River concluded and her eyes filled with tears and she took a deep breath,
"I'm sorry maman I-" he began but she stood up and pulled him into her arms lovingly,
"Don't be sorry mijo, don't youeverbe sorry. I love you so much and I love that you found love with him." She cried and she was standing on her tiptoes to reach his height, "You're so brave for being able to tell us this, it couldn't have been easy for you."
"It wasn't, believe me." He stated looking at me over her shoulder and mouthing the wordsthank you.
"Sebastiàn get up right now and congratulate your son on having the courage to come out to us today!" she gestured with a frown then proceeded to go back and hug him anyways, "this is the best Christmas present I could've ever gotten."
"Would it be wrong if I said that I already knew?" His dad commented and Violette shot him a warning glare, "But congratulations, I'm so proud of you River."
So this is what unconditional love and acceptance looked like, this is what fifteen-year-old me needed more than anything and she never got it. I wondered how different my life would've been if I grew up with parents like Violette and Sebastiàn, how different I would be. But then I realized that I wouldn't know the things I know now, I wouldn't treasure the love I have for him the way I did, and I wouldn't know what it means to struggle.
So maybe I didn't want it easy.
We spent the rest of the evening eating a lovely dinner prepared by his parents because they insisted that the chefs go home for Christmas and that it was tradition to cook for themselves for the holidays. I hated to admit it but I never felt so welcome and so at home, even back in Jacksonville with my own family.
I hated that it was starting to feel like home.
Once dinner was over we made our way back to the living room to open all the gifts, I watched them open all their gifts for each other and I thought about how my family never did this either. River and I had picked up a bunch of baby clothes from the mall yesterday and gift-wrapped them for his mom and she was currently fangirling over them.
"Thank you so much for the clothes." She smiled, "We would've gotten you a thing or two too if we knew you were tagging along."
"No problem, and it's okay really," I assured her, "Just being able to spend time with a kind family during the holidays is a gift within itself."
They got River a fair number of gifts, paint pots, and blank canvases, and Violette impulsively handed him the keys to his dad's new neon green and black Ford mustang as what she called a ‘coming out present’, which he thanked them for but assured them he didn't need.
"Did you really think I forgot about you?" River whispered in my ear handing me a gift as well, wrapped in silver paper, "Merry Christmas, Armani, I'm so grateful to have you in my life too."
I unwrapped the gift and there it was, I couldn't believe it, the first edition copy of treasure island by Robert Louis Stevenson. I only ever held it once but I remembered the texture of the dark green hardcover and old pages, I also remembered how expensive it was.
"I can't possibly accept this-" I flustered,
"Please, Accept it." He insisted and I wrapped my arms around him lovingly, and he placed a kiss on my cheek. "Dead men don't bite,"
He remembered.
"Thank you so much, I got you something too," I recalled reaching into my handbag and handing him a little box.
