“Aw, how sweet. Babies,” Charlie’s mum coos.
“You’ve done it now, Derrick. Mom has baby fever and is desperate for grandbabies,” Everly warns me.
“I want to be a young grandma.” She pouts. “Derrick, do you want kids?”
“I’d love kids. I’m known as Uncle Derrick to all my friends’ babies. I’m constantly surrounded by them, I babysit frequently. My life is crazy busy right now so I don’t know how a baby wouldfit into it, but I went to an agency recently to talk about my options.”
Charlie’s mum stares at me.Have I said too much?Damn champagne giving me loose lips. Panic begins to work its way up my spine.
“You did?” she asks hopefully.
“Um, yes.”
“That is so exciting. What did they say?” she asks enthusiastically.
“It’s something Derrick and I have been discussing, together,” Charlie explains as he grabs my hand from under the table and places it above.
“You have?” she asks.
“You’ve done it. Mom is going to be baby shopping now,” Everly teases.
Charlie brings my fingers to his lips. “We have.”
My stomach is doing loop-the-loops at how he’s just bravely declared that to his mum.
“I bet your parents must be excited over the prospect of being grandparents too,” she asks me. Charlie’s hand squeezes mine in reassurance.
“Unfortunately, I don’t have a relationship with my parents.” Charlie’s mum’s face falls. “As soon as I was eighteen, I left home and haven’t seen them since. I sort of grew up in a cult, you could say. As far as I know, they are still living in the bush with the other disciples.”
“Oh, Derrick, I am so sorry. You should be so proud of what you have accomplished without them.” She smiles.
“I couldn’t have done it without Sienna. She found me at my lowest point. Her parents took me in as if I were their own, same as Vanessa’s. Then we met Stacey, and her family were the same. Then I met the Dirty Texas parents, and they welcomed me with open arms. I don’t feel like I’m missing them.”
I shouldn’t be this happy.
It feels illegal. Dangerous. Like the universe is going to realize I stole someone else’s life and come snatch it back.
But Charlie’s mum hugged me like I belonged.
Everly gossiped with me like we were already siblings.
Charlie never stopped touching me under the table.
It was … perfect.
Too perfect.
Charlie’s mum calls for her driver, and they head back to the hotel they’re staying at before Charlie’s dad arrives tomorrow. We’re walking out of the restaurant when Charlie leans in, his lips brushing my ear. “I’m proud of you.”
I blink. “For what?”
“For being yourself. For telling your story. For letting them see you.”
I swallow around the sudden lump in my throat. “I didn’t scare your mum off?”
He snorts. “She’s ready to adopt you. She’s already planning your Christmas pajamas.”
“Oh God.”
