He nodded, thoughtful, cutting another piece of his steak.
“But, until they passed, you guys saw them frequently?” His gaze popped up to me from under his thick lashes. I nodded.
“As frequently as we could. Flights to Ireland weren’t exactly expensive, it was just needing the time off from jobs. We spent whole summers in Ireland. It used to be all of us, then it was just Eddie and I, when we got old enough.”
“And Eddie, is your adopted brother?” His voice was firm, like he was confirming all the different pieces of my crazy family puzzle. I nodded, smiling again.
“How did that work out?”
“Well,” I said, taking a sip of my wine, “It’s not my story to tell, but I also know Eddie doesn’t mind me sharing.” Cash nodded, sitting back from his almost empty plate, listening to every word.
“We all grew up together. Emilia, Eddie, and I. And we’d known for a while that Eddie was probably gay, that he was growing up in an incredibly religious and homophobic household. He was bullied constantly, by his siblings, the kids at school, and his parents never did anything. They would just take him home, tell him he needed to be a man, learn to fight back. They were super religious, so when he finally came out at sixteen, telling them that he was gay and had a boyfriend, they kicked him out. His mother fainted, his father quite literally kicked him out of the house. They tossed his clothes out into the front yard, and said that he was‘welcome back when you give up that life of sin’. He came to my house, everything he could grab off the front lawn, everything of importance to him. He walked there. His brother took his keys, saying their parents bought the car. It was in their names.”
“I’m guessing your parents were made?”
“Livid! My parents called them and demanded answers. They’d already heard everything from Eddie, but they wanted to hear their side too. My parents had always thought of Eddie as their son, and my father…he fights for family.” Cash nodded.
“They like to joke we’re the only set of twins born a few days apart.” He smiled at me, dabbing his mouth, openly staring at mine. I licked my lips and pulled my bottom lip through my teeth, a nervous habit that I couldn’t seem to shake. He was making this so incredibly hard. Purposely. “So, um,” I cleared my throat and took another sip of wine.
Was it hot in here?
“So, my folks helped him get emancipated, they reported it to the police, the courts, CPS. They moved him in with us. They helped him get a job and came up with a rental agreement that would be acceptable in the eyes of the law. He paid my parents three hundred dollars a month to live with us.” I could see it happening as his face hardened at the thought that my parents forced a minor to pay for a roof over his head. I held my hand up to let him know I wasn’t finished.
“The agreement they came up with said he was to pay into an account that had all three of their names on it. In the two years he lived with us, he’d paid my parents a little over seven grand while he lived with us, and became a brother and a son. On our graduation day, my parents gave him the checks, account paperwork, and the balance in the account for him. They had kept it so he had something to his name that was his. They also surprised him by paying for his college. He was a sobbing mess by that point. He then gave my parents a gift we’d been working on. Our birthdays were still a month away, so we were seventeen when we graduated.”
He nodded, smiling with a look of something in his eyes. What it was, I didn’t know, but I loved the look of it.
“He asked my parents to adopt him. He,” I could feel the tears, trying to come, “He handed them the papers, and when they looked up at him confused, he just said,‘If they can leave me for who I am, and you guys have always loved me as I am, that’s means you’ve always been my parents, my sister, my family. This just makes it official’.” I smiled at the memory, tears in my eyes at how sweet it was. “Mam’s eyes were watering and even Pa had tears ready to break free. They got up and wrapped him in a hug. Pa pulled me into the hug too. My parents and I had known that we’d always been family, but the moment he asked them cemented it. Pa promised to get his solicitor on it first thing.”
“I see why Eddie’s so protective over you and Emilia now.” He smirked, pulling me out of my memory, and leaning on the table on his forearms like he was hanging off every word of my story.
“He’s always been like that! It really ramped up after he met my grandparents though. When we went to visit them, we were, I don’t know, like ten? We were visiting for the summer, and they said he was their grandson. It was the first summer he’d come with me. Then they went and proved it again, just how much of his family we were, when they paid for his med school. They paid for mine, too, but I know Eddie had been concerned about his schooling. He was insistent on paying them back but—”
“They do what your parents did?” He asked, and I smiled, “They did, didn’t they?!”
I smiled and nodded. He paid attention to everything. I couldn’t stop the blush that kissed my cheeks.
“Can I take you somewhere else? Just one more place? Please.” He asked, sliding his fingers along mine. I nodded. Anything to spend more time talking to this man.
He’s…so easy to talk to. Like breathing.
And that terrifies me.
Chapter Twenty-Seven:
Cash’s POV
We spent the rest of the night having fun together. I took her to a comedy show where I knew a few of the comedians personally. They called me out and gave me shit about going on a real date with a girl til I stood up and announced to the whole place.
“It’s forever!” The smug smile on my face, and confidence with which I told everyone, seemed to have got their attention. They got wide-eyed and gave her some more truth about who Iusedto be. The guy they said would be the ‘forever bachelor’. Never had a serious girlfriend at almost forty, but she giggled, and looked at me, squeezing my hand. They told her about the free tickets I’d give to the single mothers, joking I was funding their social lives or something stupid, I just smiled at her, laughing along with their jokes and jabs.
I was an open book for her.
Anything she wanted or needed, I’d be happy to give it or tell it to her. She wanted a partner. I knew the sentiment, because that was what I wanted also. I didn’t want someone to do the laundry or grocery shopping and cooking or raise kids. If she wanted them. I’d help her around the house, like I should. I would help cook dinners some nights. I’ll always be hands on with any kids we have.
Again, if she wants them. But I could already picture her stomach swollen with my baby and it was doing things to my pants I did not need her seeing on the first date. I watched her as she smiled and laughed along to the show once they moved on from me.
I’d be happy with her.Just her.She would be my family. She made me smile. She made me feel like I could see a future, one with her and three kids, all for me. One I could only hope for in my younger years.
