Everly’s easy laugh prompts my own. Since arriving here and reuniting with Sonny, my laughter comes easier and I chuckle, but this next part is going to be tough.
I go still, holding my breath until this is over, even though I know it’ll be easier if I let go. “Bran and I looked a lot alike, too. We were called theAdams twinseven though we were several years apart. Our mother said that the difference in our size when we were young was sometimes the only thing that made it so people could tell who was who. The truth was our eyes were different. His were—” I brace the swing, bringing it to a stop. “Kinder. More honest. Honorable.”
As if she knows this story doesn’t have a happy ending, Everly’s hand finds mine and grips it tight.
“I haven’t said his name out loud until tonight. The loss hurts, but so does the disappointment he’d have in me for how I’ve handled things. He was a hero. Air Force pilot. When we were kids, I looked up to him. Still did as an adult, but we were also best friends.” Into the night, I add, “I’m not the man he thought I was and now it’s too late to prove otherwise.”
“If you mean with Sonny?—”
“Exactly. I’ve failed everyone. You included. I heard from my lawyer not long ago and I had to be married to get custody—it had something to do with various state laws.”
“Technically, you didn’t marry me for convenience.”
“But I didn’t tell you that you’re Sonny’s other legal guardian.”
“Wouldn’t I need to sign something or?—?”
“We’re married. The lawyer took care of it. I pay them a lot of money.” I exhale through puffed cheeks. “I’m trying to do the right thing, but it seems like I keep messing up.”
“I appreciate you telling me all this now, and let’s agree that you’ll tell me everything from now on.”
“What about rules one and two?” I ask.
“Forget the rules.”
“It’s hard to forget my mistakes.”
“You know how that Viking rode in on a stallion and rescued me?”
I remember her sketch.
“Grey, you’re not a damsel in distress, but?—”
I interrupt. “Neither were you.”
Everly’s laughter is dark. “I was definitely in distress, both when you and I got married and when Todd tracked me down in Concordia. I could choose to be upset with you for going along with the marriage of convenience and not telling me about Sonny. But we had our rules and made our choices. Ultimately, the choice you made was the courageous one. The right one. You picked Sonny.”
“And I want to pick you, but I can hardly look at myself in the mirror, knowing I turned my back on my family. Shame burns me up.” My explosion in Shonda’s salon comes to mind.
She rearranges herself so she’s looking into my eyes. Searching, determined to find the fire or prove me wrong. “But you didn’t. We’re here now. It’s not too late to make things right. In fact, you are doing just that.”
The swing goes still. The air, too. The crickets are quiet. The lake holds its breath.
Everly fixes me with those sunny green eyes, cracking something open inside of me.
The corners of her lips lift and her eyes soften. “I don’t see the emptiness, darkness, or fire. I see kindness, honesty, strength.”
My lips part to argue, but as usual, words don’t come. Instead, I tip my head left-right, wanting to hold onto the silence, the true peace spreading between us, surrounding me, and inside of me, because Everly sees the real me. Because I let her.
“What happened to Sonny’s mother?” Everly’s question almost disappears into the velvety night.
“She works for a cruise line. The police tracked her down. The lawyer informed her of her parental rights. She forfeited them. Said she didn’t want the responsibility.”
Everly whimpers and her eyes fill with liquid.
“So, Sonny is stuck with me.”
“Doesn’t sound too bad to me.” Everly rests her head against my chest as we resume rocking on the bench swing.
