"Careful there, kiddo," I shout back, unable to keep the pride from my voice. It might terrify me to see the risks he takes, but it’s all part of his development.
When I turn back to Delaney, she's watching Dash too, the smile she has in place is brighter than ever. There's nothing but pure joy and love for my son.
"Come here," I say, reaching for her hand. She takes it, her fingers lacing with mine in a way that feels like they were made to fit there. "Are we good?"
"We're good," she confirms, squeezing my hand. "I'm sorry. Blame it on the hormones."
I lean down and press my lips to hers, tasting the sweetness of her that I can't seem to get enough of. When we pull apart, Dash's bike comes to a screeching halt right beside us.
"Eww, kissing," he shouts, but there's a hint of a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
"You'll understand one day," I tell him, ruffling his hair.
"I'm hungry," he announces, dropping his bike on the ground. "Can I have my mac and brocowee now?"
Delaney laughs, the sound warming something inside me that I didn't realize was cold. With the shit that happened earlier in the day, I needed to hear her laughing, see my son being himself, and know they are both mine. Megan didn't get him and she never will. I'll see to that.
"Yeah, kiddo, let's get inside and make you something to eat for lunch."
"Dash asleep?" Delaney asks, turning down the volume of the TV. She sets the remote down, keeping her eyes on me.
"Yeah," I grunt and join her on the couch. "He passed out in the middle of reading a dinosaur book. Guess he had enough excitement for the day."
"I suppose he did," she agrees, leaning into me.
After lunch, the three of us spent the rest of the day outside. Dash played on his bike. I worked in the yard. Delaney helped as much as I let her. All in all, the day turned from a nightmare to a good one.
"Can I ask you something?" As much as I love having her lean against me and us spending time like this, relaxing, there's something I gotta know.
"What's that?" she asks, leaning her head back, eyes coming to mine.
"You don't talk about your brother and dad, other than the time you mentioned losing them. Why?" I know it’s not an easy question to be asking, but to know her is also to know them.
Delaney sucks in a breath and closes her eyes, curling herself deeper into me, fingers digging into my shirt.
"It's not easy talking about them. My dad, he'd been the best dad, doing everything he could to raise the three of us even before my mom left. I hated losing him. Davis was another story altogether. When we lost him, we lost the center of our family. He kept us together in so many ways. He was the glue that kept us all close."
"How so?" I want to understand everything about her. The way she thinks. The way she feels the loss of those that aren’t here anymore.
"Before I went away to school, he demanded we always have dinner together; him, Dustin, and me every Monday. While I was at school, we made up for it by doing a few nights at a time when I was home on break. He called me every day to check in. No matter how busy he could be." She gives me a soft smile and keeps going. "When I was a little girl, no more than five or six, my mom was already gone. I don't remember her, not anymore. But I was mad at the world, it didn't help that I'd been forced to go to his baseball game. I wanted to play at home. Anyway, that day, I was on the playground, said the wrong thing, not understanding the meaning behind the word, and ended up getting jumped. Davis was playing second base, saw it, and ran over, jumping the fence to get to me. The rest of his teammates and the other team followed him."
"What did he do?"
Delaney lets out a small laugh and snuggles into me. "Got me out of there. Ended up in a heated argument with the other kids’ parents until Dad forced his way through the crowd. One of the baseball moms cleaned me up, and after that time, I became the little bat girl for the team. I wasn't allowed on the playground again. Not unless one of my brothers was there. To make up for it, they made it so I had my own uniform to match theirs." She closes her eyes and lets out a sigh. "God, I miss him. He was always there. No matter what was happening."
"There's nothing wrong with missing him." I press a kiss to the top of her head and lean my cheek against her hair.
"Losing a sibling isn't easy," she whispers.
"No, it's not." I agree. "I don't know what I'd do if I lost Lexy."
"People say it will get easier, but it never does. You learn to live with the loss instead."
"I think that goes for anyone. I still feel the ache of losing both my folks." And I did. So much of our lives they're missing out on. They never got to know their grandson, nor will they see the newest additions to come. They hadn't been able to see Lexy finish out school.
"It couldn't have been easy to lose them either."
"You're right, it wasn't. I had to come to terms with the fact that they'd never know their grandson or see Lexy and me turn out to be the adults we've become."
