“How’s your mom?” Jay asks gently, resting his head on top of mine.
“Today was good. Glenn got her flowers again.”
“Aww. Flowers all around,” Jay says, lifting his head to kiss me, then Marco. Jay’s own birthday bouquet was delivered this morning.
“They hadbreakfasttogether today,” I smirk.
“OooOoo,” My guys sing in unison and I giggle.
The doorbell chimes over the music, so Jay detangles himself from us as we follow behind him. “It’s a little early still,” he says to himself, swinging open the doors.
“Hi, sweetie. Happy birthday,” Kathleen Bishop smiles as she stands next to her husband.
Jay’s back stiffens. “Mom. Dad. What are you… hi.”
“Can we come in, son?”
“Um, yeah. Okay.” Marco and I exchange a look of uncertainty. I guess it’s happening. “How did you know where we live? Not that I didn't want you to know, but you know, we haven’t spoken since before Christmas.”
We make our way to the front sitting room, where Jay leans his back against the built-in bookshelves, crossing his arms. Holding hands, Marco and I stay silent on the side of him.
“I know,” Kathleen says, fidgeting with her purse. “Marco came to talk to us last week.”
“What?” Jay’s eyes bug out and he jerks his head our way.
Oh god, this better work out the way we hoped.
“He told us how much you’ve been hurting. And we hurt, too, Jay. We miss you so much.”
Bill clears his throat. “Marco made us realize, you weren’t coming after us forhowyou were raised. You just wanted us to join you in your discovery.”
I watch Jay swallow hard, but he says nothing.
“And we’re sorry, sweetie,” his mom adds. “We’re sorry for how we acted that night. And I wish we would have known when you were growing up that you needed this connection to your heritage. At the time, we just thought providing a loving family was enough.”
Jay’s facial expression softens. “And you did that, guys. There’s never been a day in my life I didn’t feel loved and accepted by you and the entire family. But when you stormed out that night, I felt likeIwas the one tearing us apart for needing this support.”
“And it shouldn’t have been like that, son,” Bill says. “It’s our fault for not listening.”
Jay rocks off the wall and throws his arms around his parents as Marco squeezes my hand in glee. “I missed you guys.”
“We missed you too,” Kathleen muffles through Jay’s embrace.
When he lets go, he turns his head to us and lets out a little chuckle. With a menacing grin, he walks over to us. “You two are always plotting behind my back.”
Hugging each other tight, I throw Marco under the bus, “It was Marco’s idea.”
“You agreed with me!” he chuckles.
“You must be Cora,” Bill chimes in as the three of us release one another.
Jay furrows his brow again. “You know her?”
Clearing his throat, Marco says, “I told them about Cora. About the three of us.”
“What?”
“I know, I know.”
