I see a huge house come into view.
“Holy crap. This is your house?”
“This is the house my brothers and I bought and we all share it.”
“I love how close you are to your siblings.”
“I can’t wait for you to meet the rest of my family. We’re all really close. In fact, they’re already asking to meet you.”
I laugh. “How do they know about me?”
“Well, Ezra was the first to tell them. But earlier today I told them all about you and River.”
“You told them about us?”
He gets out of the car and opens my door, then he gets River out.
“Of course I did. I know this seems fast to you, but everyone in my family has found their person like I found you. And they’ve all known how they felt right from the start. It’s okay if you need time, but I want you to know that I don’t. I know I want to be with you and River. You can both count on me from now on. For anything and everything.”
Is he for real? I don’t know what to say to him. I want to believe him, but how can he know these things after only a few days? And River, if I make the wrong decision, it’s not just me that will be affected by it. My heart is telling me to try, and watching Emerson with River makes my heart happy.
CHAPTER FIVE
Emerson
I can see the hesitation in Sawyer’s eyes as she listens to me. She doesn’t know it yet, but I’m not going to let her go without a fight. I will take it slow if I need to, I don’t want to scare her, but I won’t back down. I take her hand and we head into the house. My mama is the first one to greet us.
“Oh my god, you’re beautiful,” my mama says as she hugs Sawyer. “I’m Élodie. Andyoumust be River.”
River smiles at my mama as he nods.
“I’m tree and a half.” He smiles at her as he holds up three fingers.
“Wow! You’re an old man!” she teases him. He’s giggling at her as I put him down.
My da, brothers and sister come to join us.
“Sawyer, this is my baby sister, Eden. Eden, this is Sawyer and River.”
My sister hugs Sawyer and River.
“Squishing me.” River laughs.
My mama orders dinner and we spend the night playing a few games and watching TV. I knew that Sawyer and River would fit in perfectly.
“Would it be okay if I taught River how to ride a motorcycle?” I ask Sawyer quietly.
“I want him to learn, but I need to save up to get a mini motorcycle.”
I look at her.
“I can get it for him. In fact, we still have the ones that we all learned on. I started riding a little later, I was four. But my brothers and sister started around two.”
“Are you sure? No, I can’t let you do that, I can save up and get him one.”
“I told you, you don’t have to do any of this alone ever again,” I say as I kiss her.
I think I’m going to have to work for this. I can see that Sawyer wants to trust me, but there’s something holding her back. It’s a good thing I’m a patient man.
