“She looks better. The swelling on her face has gone down,” Prez informs me.
I don’t know what triggers it. Whether it’s fear for Aurora or finding out the truth about what my mother did or coming to terms with what my father did. Whether it’s fatigue from worry and emotional exhaustion. Perhaps my brain can’t handle any more information even if it’s good news. Whatever the cause, I break down in racking sobs in front of my two best friends.
Prez squats down in front of me. He and Dustin both wrap their arms around me as I crumble, head in my hands, and lose it.
“Fuck, JD. Hey, it’s going to be okay. Rory is going to be okay. She’s so strong,” Prez’s voice cracks and I hear him break down with me, followed by Dustin.
If anyone were to walk by, they would see three grown men bawling like babies.
I’m able to compose myself after a few minutes, feeling better to have gotten it out of my system.
“We’re such pussies.” Dustin laughs as he wipes his face off on his shirtsleeve.
Prez punches him on the shoulder. “You say it like it’s a bad thing. You forget that babies come out of pussies. Pussies are superheroes. I’d like to see a dick do that.”
Both Dustin and I snort with laughter. “Didn’t Trevor Noah do a comedy skit about that?” I ask, raking a hand through my hair. I need a shower, I realize, getting a whiff of my underarm. I think the hospital has some that visitors can use.
“We’ll need to have a Netflix and chill night once Rory comes home.”
“Wrong connotation, and nobody says that anymore, jackass. Get with the current lingo,” Dustin informs him.
I glare at Prez. “No one is Netflix and chilling with my woman but me.” I rest my bent elbows down on my knees and look at him. Again, I wonder how I never saw the likeness between him and Connor. “I’d like to talk with you about Connor.”
Prez goes from a squatting position to sitting down on the gravel pathway, his legs bent and arms circling his knees. “Alright. I’m assuming this has to do with the test results. Did you get them?”
“What test results? JD, are you sick or something?” Dustin asks me, concerned.
“Connor may not be mine,” I tell him.
Dustin looks from me to Prez when the lightbulb goes off over his head. “Well, I’ll be damned,” he says, then, “Oh, shit,” when he comprehends what that entails.
I nudge Prez’s shoe with my foot. “That’s why I wanted to talk to you, and seeing as Dustin is basically our brother, I thought he should be included in the conversation.”
Prez rubs a hand over his mop of hair. “Yeah. Yeah, he should be a part of this.”
I run my fingers across the scruff on my jaw. “Where do I begin? I guess I’ll start with something Aurora once told me. Well, actually it’s something that Trevor told her, but I think it fits this situation. She said, ‘Sometimes the best families are the ones you create, not the ones you’re born into.’ I don’t know if Aurora has received the official DNA report yet and is holding on to it, or what. But I do know this: I love Connor. He’s my son and always will be. But if he’s also yours, Prez, I want you in his life. Just like Aurora was lucky to have found Trevor and Fallon when she did, Connor would be just as lucky to have us as his dads.”
Prez’s eyebrows raise to his hairline. “Are you talking about co-parenting? I love you man, but I am not marrying you.”
“What? Hell, no. The only person I’m marrying is Aurora.”
Prez breaks out in a grin and Dustin starts chuckling. “Does she know that?”
I grin back. “She should. If not, she will when she notices the ring I’m going to shove on her finger while she’s asleep.”
“Don’t do that to her!” Dustin chastises. “She deserves a proper proposal after putting up with your possessive ass.”
“I plan on giving her the world if she lets me.”
“I couldn’t think of a better mother for Connor,” Prez states, his gaze averted up to the cloudless blue sky.
“He has a mother—Candace. Aurora said something to me the other night that’s really stuck. I will make sure,” —I look at Prez— “wewill make sure that Connor has a connection to Candace. He will know how much she loved him. He will also know that he has us, too.”
“Two dads and two moms,” Dustin surmises. “Don’t forget a kick-butt uncle.” He thumbs himself in the chest.
Prez places his hand on my arm. “JD, you have done a great job with him. I honestly don’t know how I could have done better if our roles were reversed. And yes, if the results come back saying what we think they will, I’ll defer to whatever you need me to do. I’m not going to fight you for custody or anything like that. I think we’ve all seen enough bad shit lately, and there’s no reason to put Connor through something like that. I just want to be a part of his life.”
“You will be. I swear it. We’ll figure things out.”
