So far, Chris was doing just great. Thriving even, with the outpouring of love and acceptance that my family was showering on him.
It was as if he’d always been a member of our family, and it made me feel a contentment that I’d never achieved before.
“Yeah, Chloe did a great job with him.”
“I’m not going to lie, son, it’s going to be strange having her here, knowing what she kept from all of us for the last twelve years … The opportunity to have that boy in our lives, but I’ve talked to your mother and she promised to be on her best behavior.”
“Thanks, Dad,” I replied with an easy smile. We had discussed Chloe and her decisions since I found out that Chris was my son and I’d broken the news to my parents.
At first they’d been furious, my mom wanting to hop on a plane and go give Chloe a piece of her mind, but after relaying the conversations I’d had with her, and her reasons for keeping quiet, they’d calmed down quite a bit.
Meeting Christopher though, and seeing what they’d missed out on in the flesh, had gotten my mother a little riled up again. But if anyone could calm her down and make her see reason, it was my father.
“Look what the cat dragged in,” Dillon called as he walked out of the house, his cousin trailing behind him.
“Rena,” my father called in greeting as he unfolded from his chair. “Come here, my talented girl.”
Serena crossed and went immediately into my dad’s open arms.
“Uncle Zeke, I’ve missed you,” Serena said, offering me a smile. “Hey, Gabe.”
“Hey, Rena,” I replied, reaching out to tug on her long brown locks, causing her to stick her tongue out at me.
“Don’t tease your cousin,” my father warned me, for probably the billionth time in my life.
“She’s not my only package,” Dillon said, then pointed to the house. “I found them outside of the airport trying to find a cab.”
I followed his finger to the big bay window where I could see Zoey, Chloe, and Jasmine inside talking with my mother.
My heart jump-started and the tension I hadn’t realized I’d been holding inside unraveled at the sight of her.
Here. In my childhood home. Talking to my mother.
“Shit, I’d better get in there.” The fact that my mother was in there hit home. Jasmine wouldn’t be any sort of buffer, if Annabeth Lewis thought her only son had been wronged.
I could hear my father and Dillon chuckling as I hurried into the house and Serena’s call of, “Good luck.”
Too happy, excited, and relieved when I saw her to do anything but hold her, I ignored everyone else in the family room and went to Zoey. Her eyes hit mine just as I reached her and gathered her against me. Zoey’s arms came around my neck and her head hit my chest, then we just held on.
“You came,” I muttered into her hair, my hands caressing her back.
Zoey leaned back and I looked down into her upturned face. There was a tightening in my chest that threatened to choke me as her hands came to rest on my cheeks and she righted my world. “I love you.”
I could breathe again as happy laughter fled me and I lifted her to spin us around.
“I love you too!”
Then, oblivious to the fact that there were other people in the room, I crushed my mouth to hers and tried to convey every emotion that was warring inside of me to her.
The sound of someone clearing their throat had me lifting my head, and I turned Zoey with a huge grin and said, “Mom, this is Zoey. Zoey, this is my mother, Annabeth.”
“It’s lovely to meet you,” Zoey said softly, her voice full of embarrassment.
I finally looked up from our moment to see my mother standing there, arms crossed, eyes on us. She didn’t look as happy as I felt, and I thought, Oh shit.
“Mom,” I began, but stopped when she gave me the look that had successfully shut me up since I was old enough to talk.
“Zoey,” my mother said with a tilt of her head. “As my son’s guests, you and your sister are welcome in my home …and I’ll reserve judgment until I’ve gotten to know you both better. But I have to admit, the two of you coming into his life, even with the addition of my delightful grandson, has brought up some concerns that I’ll need answered.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Zoey answered softly, her nerves causing her voice to shake.
I realized Chloe was standing there, regret and fear at my mother’s words clear on her face. I placed a hand on her shoulder and said, “Thanks for doing this, Chloe. It really means a lot. Christopher’s doing great. He’s outside playing basketball, if you want to go see him.”
Chloe gave me a grateful smile, and Jasmine said, “I’ll take her,” then they both left the room.
“Mom, I need to steal Zoey away for a minute.”
“Of course, Gabe, I’ll just go get freshened up.”
Taking Zoey’s hand, I led her up the stairs and into the room I’d stayed in the night before, eager for a chance to get to speak with her alone before we got lost in the madness that was my family.
We both sat on the edge of the bed, facing each other, and I was happy to see that although my mom had obviously freaked her out a little bit, Zoey was more like the woman from camp than the one I saw in North Carolina.
“I’m sorry about my mom,” I said, so happy that she’d decided we were worth fighting for, and hoping she wasn’t ready to bolt at the first sign of adversity. “She’s protective, but she’ll come around, I swear.”
Zoey nodded and attempted a smile, but didn’t really pull it off.
Needing to know that she’d come here ready to talk things through, I asked, “Are you okay with Chloe being here? And Christopher?”
Zoey placed her hand on my knee and finally smiled.
“I’ve done a lot of thinking over the last few days. So much, in fact, that if I was never alone again with my thoughts, it would be too soon. I was driving myself crazy. All of the what ifs, and worrying what other people would think ... What the media will say when they get a hold of our story … But I realized, none of it matters. You matter and I matter. What we think, what we feel, that’s all I need to focus on.”
“It makes me so happy to hear you say that,” I admitted, and it really did, but I needed to know it all. “Not to start anything, but I think we need to lay everything out now. I don’t want issues to resurface later because we didn’t discuss them.”
Zoey nodded, so I continued, “The stuff with Chloe … I want to have a good relationship with her. I plan to communicate with her often, about visitation and vacations, everything to do with Chris. Are you going to be all right with that?”
“Yes.”
“Stuff like this, holidays and stuff, I want to be able to invite her along. It’s been just her and Christopher for so long, and I want him to be able to spend holidays with my family, but I don’t want her to feel like I’m taking him away and leave her all alone …so I’ll always give her the option to come along, for both of their sakes. Can you deal with that?”
“I think what I wasn’t taking into consideration before is that she is my sister … not just the mother of your child. Any other relationship that I was in, if I fell in love and married someone else, I’d want him to include my sister and Chris in our family traditions… birthdays, holidays… and that’s what you’re doing.”
Her words gave me hope, but I still had questions.
“And Christopher. The fact that he’d be your nephew/stepson … you said that was an issue for you.”
“I would never not date a man because he had a son, and if it got serious, I’d need to build a relationship with him. The kid could be a delinquent, a brat, or just flat out hate me … the possible areas of conflict are too many to name, but with Chris … well, we already love each other. And I’ve had the privilege of knowing him since he was born, and we already have a wonderful relationship. I’ll always be his Aunt Z, and that’s perfect for me.”
I brought my hands up to cup her face and asked one las
t time, “You’re sure about all of this?”
“Absolutely,” she said, her hands coming to hold my wrists. “I promise you, Gabe, I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t sure.”
Chapter Forty ~ Zoey
When Gabe asked if I wanted to get out and explore downtown Cherry Springs, I’d jumped at the chance. Not just because his mom had freaked me out, although she did, but because I wanted to see the place he’d been telling me about, the place where he’d grown up.
That’s why we were walking hand in hand down Main Street, my head swiveling as I tried to take it all in.
Seriously quaint, the street was lined with colorful awnings and pretty, old-school signage. There was even a town square with a gazebo, and a small pond with benches looking over the water.
As I took it all in I squealed, “Oh! This looks just like the town in Gilmore Girls.”
Gabe’s head turned to me, confusion on his face.
“What?”
“You know,” I urged with a hand squeeze. “Rory and Lorelei …single mom who works in an inn while raising her super-smart teenaged daughter.”
“No,” Gabe answered emphatically. “That sounds like something I would never want to watch.”
I laughed at his dry tone.
“Well, the town they live in looks just like this one. And they have festivals for everything. Does Cherry Springs have festivals?”
Gabe’s lips twitched and he replied, “I wouldn’t say we have festivals for everything, but we do have parades and fairs to celebrate holidays. The Fourth of July, Halloween, Easter … you get the idea.”
Excited at the prospect of going to a festival like that, something I’d never done, had me hopping next to him.
“Oh, can we go to one?”
Gabe chuckled at my exuberance and said, “Yeah, babe, we can go to one.”
“Awesome! Do they have barn dances?”
“What?”
“You know, a barn decorated with twinkling lights, bales of hay set up as seats, a bluegrass band playing … maybe a banjo?”
“Uh, no … No barn dances.”
“Oh, that’s kind of disappointing.”
Gabe tugged lightly on my hand and we started walking again. He pointed out Reardon’s office, the General Store, and his parents’ bar.
“With the bar, the law office, and the sporting goods store, Cherry Springs has a lot of businesses with Lewis in the title.”
“Yes.”
“Do you guys, like, run the town?”
“What, like the mob?”
That made me giggle.
“No, I just mean, when people hear your name, they know who you guys are. You’re kind of a big deal here.”
Gabe shrugged, and I could tell I’d embarrassed him, so I couldn’t help teasing him some more.
“Maybe they’ll rename the town. You know, like Lewis Town, or Lewis Springs … oh, or, Cherry Lewis. You know, like Jerry Lewis, but with Cherry.”
It started with a sharp belly laugh, then Gabe’s face lit up and he started really letting go.
“You’re nuts,” he said between breaths, and I just smiled up at him, happy to have this part of our relationship back.
But now it was even better.
“I love you,” I said, stepping up to give him a kiss.
“Let’s get a drink,” he suggested against my lips.
“Okay,” I said, and he led me into his family bar.
As my eyes tried to adjust to the low lights of the room, I looked around, instantly falling in love. Deep, rich wood surfaces, low music in the background, loud enough to hear it was classic rock, but soft enough so you could have a conversation with the people you were drinking with. The decorum was just how Gabe had described it, half biker bar, half sports bar, and a hundred percent welcoming.
My eyes caught his mother’s behind the bar, and I watched as she took in our clasped hands, then the traces of laughter that were still on Gabe’s face, and I swore, I saw her soften toward me a little. She may not trust me yet, but it was obvious that she loved her son like crazy, so I had every confidence that she’d come around, just like Gabe said.
“I’m gonna go say hi to Dad in the back, you wanna come?”
“No, that’s okay, I’ll meet you at the bar,” I said, indicating the empty stools next to Reardon.
“Grab me a beer?”
“You got it,” I replied, then lifted my chin so he could kiss me.
He didn’t disappoint, and when he walked away, he left me a little dazzled.
Once I had my wits about me, I bellied up to the bar and asked Reardon, “Did Chloe come?”
“No,” he replied, turning his face toward mine. “I asked, but I could tell she was feeling out of place. She stayed back with Chris.”
“That’s too bad, but I know she’s been anxious about getting some time with him. Things are still a little strained between them.”
“He’s a good kid, just needs time.”
“Yeah, he is … and I feel bad for her, even though I understand where Chris is coming from. We were all pretty mad at her.”
“What about your folks?” This was asked by Annabeth as she sauntered over to us.
“My folks?”
“Yeah, did she keep the fact that Gabe was Chris’s father from them too?”
I swallowed, knowing that Annabeth deserved answers to her questions, but feeling guilty for talking about my sister behind her back.
“She didn’t tell any of us.”
“How do they feel about that?”
“Well, Mrs. Lewis, my parents aren’t like you and your husband. They’re a little more … distant. They are more concerned about each other than anything Chloe and I do. When she told them, they didn’t have much of a reaction. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really make a difference to them, since it doesn’t affect them.”
“Seriously?” Annabeth asked, her face full of shock, and I felt the need to defend my parents.
“It’s not that they don’t love us … and Christopher … they’re just a little careless, that’s all.”
“Careless? I can’t imagine not worrying about my child and wondering why they felt the need to keep such a thing a secret.”
“Well, Mrs. Lewis…”
“Annabeth.”
“Annabeth,” I amended. “Not to be rude, but I think your questions involving Chloe, Chris, and Gabe, should be answered by them. I’m not really comfortable speaking for my sister. And since I found out the same time Gabe did, I don’t know much more than him, but I do know my sister. And I can promise you, Annabeth, that everything she’s done in her life has been for her son. I know she feels bad for keeping her secret, but I’m certain she did what she felt was right at the time.”
Annabeth gave me a small smile and placed her hand over mine at the bar.
“I can appreciate that, honey. Now what can I get for you?”
“Can I have a red wine? Oh, and Gabe wants a beer, but he didn’t say what kind.”
“I know what he likes.”
“Of course.”
When she went off to get our drinks, I turned to Reardon and said, “She can be pretty intimidating.”
“You have no idea,” he replied wryly, then added, “But you did right, standing up for your sister. There’s nothing as important to Aunt Annabeth as family, and she’ll respect that you want to protect yours.”
I turned my attention fully to Reardon, taking in his well-styled blond hair and strong face.
“How come you’re not in a relationship, Reardon? A tall, strong Viking like yourself, you must be beating off the ladies.”
Reardon let out a sharp laugh and asked, “Viking?”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought when I first met you. I thought you looked like a Viking and Gabe looked like Superman. It was like winning the hot guy lottery.”
He fully laughed at that, and when Annabeth set down my wine, I said “Thanks,” then took a sip.
“I’m no Viking. Vikings are
ruthless, dangerous criminals. I’m just a nice guy lawyer living in a small town. I’ve had girlfriends, but ultimately, either they don’t want to settle in Cherry Springs and live the small-town life, they run when they find out I’m a lawyer, or I get the ‘you’re a nice guy, but…’ talk.”
“Really? I can’t believe that. A hot lawyer who’s a nice guy? You don’t find those everywhere. You just haven’t met the right girl yet.”
“Maybe I need to get a motorcycle?” he said thoughtfully, causing me to laugh.
“Did you just say my cousin’s a hot lawyer?” Gabe asked, his arms coming around me.
“Yeah, bro, looks like she finally realized she picked the wrong guy,” Reardon said jokingly.
“In your dreams,” Gabe responded, then reached over me to pick up his beer.
“You’re not lying,” Reardon responded softly.
“She’s out there,” I said confidently. “You just haven’t met her yet.”
“I thought I had,” he replied, looking off into the distance, caught in a memory. “Turned out I was wrong.”
Chapter Forty-One ~ Gabe
I thought having Zoey in my town, meeting my parents and seeing where I grew up, was going to be the pinnacle of this visit home for me. I was wrong. It was having Zoey in my house.
After having a drink at the bar, we’d left Reardon there to nurse his beer, then went back to my parents to pick up Chloe and Chris and bring them back to my house, where we’d be staying for the rest of the trip.
Chris had gone up to his room to break in the new Xbox One and face time his friends, and Chloe had disappeared into the guest room to lay down, the excitement of the day so far obviously weighing on her.
That left me and Zoey to fend for ourselves, which I had to admit, didn’t bother me in the slightest.
I was showing her around my four-bedroom, ranch-style home on five acres. It was a lot of house for one man, but when I’d found it for sale I’d snatched it up and had it renovated. My family used it for parties and such, and I loved knowing it was there and ready for me to start a family.
Now, having them all here with me, I knew what that looked like, and I really liked it.