My very own chair? What an odd thing to get emotional over. I’d never even met Moon’s parents before tonight, yet they were ready to permanently add me to their dinner table. “I won’t mind, either. I don’t really even need a chair if it’s too much hassle.”
Star glared at me from across the table, shaking her head. “You’re getting a chair, Emerson. Just let it happen, okay?”
Crescent raised his fork in the air. “What if they break up? Then we’d have to get rid of it.”
“Crescent Miller! Don’t talk like that,” Dad scolded him. “You’d be changing your tune if your brother or sister said that about you and Elio.”
He raised his hands up, looking down at the plate in front of him. “It was just a joke. If Emerson is going to be a part of this family, he’s going to have to get used to it.”
Moon groaned, rubbing his temple. “I literally hate you guys. Any time I’ve ever said I loved you was a lie.”
Star frowned. “Aw, that’s so sad. We hate you, too. But we’re all stuck with each other, so you don’t have a choice but to keep faking it.”
I hoped they knew just how much he truly loved all of them. I’d seen the aftermath of the lengths he’d go to keep them safe. Moon would kill for his siblings. He’d suffer for them just to make sure they never had to. I was sure he’d sell his soul if it meant they could live their lives without wanting for anything at all.
Mom turned her head toward me, ignoring the others as they bickered back and forth. “Emerson, please ignore our children. Despite what they say, their lives were written in the stars with each other since before they were born.”
“Is that where their names came from?”
She set her fork down, letting it clatter against her plate as a big grin took over her face. “Sort of.” She grabbed Dad’s hand, holding it on top of the table. “We’d been trying for years before we found out we were pregnant with Moon. I wanted to be a mom so badly. So, so badly. We’d actually decided to stop trying and were looking into fostering and adopting instead. I told Bob here that we were always meant to care for children—whetherthey were our own biologically didn’t matter. It was what we wanted to do. It was our calling in this lifetime.
“The next night, after that decision and our big talk, I had a dream. In that dream, it was a full moon, and Bob and I were out in the fields behind the house. The moon had come down and spoken to me. She didn’t have a face or a mouth, but she spoke to me through my heart. Every beat was a new word. She told me to look within myself, then look to the sky, for in the stars, in the moon, and in the sun, we would feel complete. After she said that, a new heartbeat started—one that wasn’t in my chest, but in my womb. I woke up, went straight to the bathroom, took a pregnancy test, and we had our first positive.”
Everyone at the table had fallen silent as she told her story. Elio looked particularly intrigued. “Wait, the sun? You never told us about the sun part. You always just said the moon spoke to you in a dream.”
She nodded. “Yes, my little ray of sun. After I had Crescent and Star, I expected to get pregnant again, but I never did. But then my little crescent moon came home talking about this big ball of energy named Elio, whose eyes shone like the sun, and I knew. I knew you were the sun we were missing. I never questioned or doubted that you’d become a part of our family.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“I never mentioned it. Every time I thought about doing so, I felt a disturbance in my chakras. I think, my son, that you were always meant to leave us and find your way back. Besides, what’s a sun without his moon?” She turned, pointing at me. “What’s darkness without its light?” She pointed to Star. “What’s a star without its constellation? We were all written in the universe before the universe began. It spoke to me, I listened, and it brought me all of you.”
Holy fuck. She was right. Meeting Moon felt like a part of me had finally formed, and the world suddenly made sense. Likewe’d been written together since the beginning of time, even if we didn’t know it. Even if we’d had to wait thirty and forty-three years.
How many times had the universe tried to speak to me, but I had simply ignored it? How many times had there been signs, yet I’d completely missed them? How long had I known there was a part of me missing before I met Moon and felt that part of me reach out for more? More, more, more. Moon was more, Moon was everything, and Moon had been my forever since the day we met.
The empty spots in my heart grew six times over, just enough to fit each one of the Millers into them. The hole right in the center closed, overwritten by the undeniable love I had for the new family I’d been accepted into. For the first time since my mom and dad died, when my heart beat, it didn’t strain. It didn’t try to suck in air through the massive, gaping wound that was in it, because there wasn’t one. My heartbeat was strong—strong enough I could hear it louder than the ringing in my ears. And the most curious part about it all? I didn’t mind the ringing at that moment. I didn’t mind it one bit.
Night had fallenin the Miller house, which meant all the incense was finally put out, the scent lingering throughout. The hallway leading to everyone’s bedrooms was so interesting. There were decorations and picture frames, including a metal piece with a moon, star, and sun that hung just before the bedrooms began.
Right before that, though, was the blue jay painting Elio had done for Mom. It was fucking gorgeous, the attention to detailwith every single brush stroke absolutely mind-blowing. “Your brother is fucking talented, Moon.”
He grinned as he stared at it. “Isn’t he? I’m so proud of him.”
“I know you are. You’re all so talented and smart. I don’t think we had those kinds of genes in my family.”
Moon rolled his eyes, ever my little brat. “You’re very smart and very talented, Daddy.”
I pulled him close to me. “Oh, am I? What am I talented at, hm?”
“Making me come, for one. Making me feel loved and cared for, for two. And making sure my heart isn’t ever too heavy for three. You’re good at a lot of things.”
I snorted, pressing my lips to his forehead. “Baby, I hate to break it to you, but that’s the bare minimum for loving someone.”
He shrugged. “Well, then you’re good at showing me new things. Now, come on, I have something I want to show you.”
Following him down the hall, I looked around, taking in everything else. Incense waseverywhere. Like every surface had a stick, ready to ignite at any moment. I was almost concerned about it, but I didn’t have much of a chance to think about it before Moon brought me into his bedroom.
The room was nice, but quite bare. There was barely any personality in it, with little to no decorations. It was like he had never even existed in it. After a moment, Moon turned the light off, only a portion of his namesake peeking through the curtain, serving as our light.
