Page 124 of Thick as Thieves
Walking down the corridor, I step into an alcove that looks out over some gardens. Out of the way of prying eyes, I close my eyes and let my tears fall. I hear soft footfalls coming nearer, and they stop in front of me. His scent, so like Evie’s.
James.
If anyone would notice my movements, it would be my son. He watches everything.
Without a word, he steps into my personal space, putting his arms around me. Still saying nothing, he just holds me. My son. My nineteen-year-old son. I can smell his mother on him, he’s been hugging her.
I’m not sure how long he holds me but eventually he kisses my head. “He’s fine, Dad, he’d not leave us.” I can feel him shaking his head. “He knows I’d send him a text barrage wherever he went.” I feel him smile.
He pauses, then starts quietly, “Remember that day on the beach, when Mum and I smoked you two on a motorbike?” I nod while listening intently. “When he said he’d never seen a more beautiful sight.”
I do. I nod, thinking back to that sunset. How I wanted Evie to stay and make love to me on the beach. But she wouldn’t. I had to share her even then. And I’m glad I did.
“He told me as we walked up the headland, that it was us he was talking about. How much he loved me, Mum, and you. He told me then he wanted to be my dad. I told him he already was.” His voice breaks a bit at the end, so choked with emotion.
He pulls back and looks at me, tears in his eyes. “He’s always been here for us, for you. I saw all the messages he sent Mum after France, and when she went loco and hoofed you all out of our lives for a bit. I saw them, how much love he put into them, how much thought, his whole heart. He told me how Mum saved his life ‘in a graveyard’.” He’s shaking his head. “How she used to get him to take her home at dawn from your house. They’d go up to Broadridge and watch the dawn, how he described every leaf on the trees. How the mist would sit at just above the ground level and rise up to tree level as the temperature rose. The colours of the sun as it came over the hill at the back of the valley. He recalled everything. I knew then he would not let you both go, that you would not let him go. You belong together, Dad. You, Xander, and Mum, all of you. You always did.”
60
Kellen
I pullmyself together and gently push backwards from James. “I love you James. I thank my lucky stars every damn day that I went to the wrong pub.”
I kiss his cheek and hug him back to me. “I love your mother more than life itself. Same with the man lying in that bed.” I grin at him. “I’ve loved them both my whole life. The fact we were apart, well, it was just semantics. Let’s go back in. I need to see him, see them.”
With a deep breath, I gather my scattered emotions back together. We walk down the corridor side by side, James peeling off into the waiting room as I push the door into Xander’s room.
Tarron stands at Xan’s head on one side of the bed, Evie on the other. His attention is on Evie, but he turns to look at me when I walk in. I’m hit with the blue of his eyes, how they feel like home, and they soften around the sides. His smile is the one he has for Evie and I. The one only we see. It makes the laugh lines on his face more pronounced.
Tarron kisses his son on the forehead and moves past me, touching my shoulder as he leaves the room, silently passing on his love and giving us time and space.
“You left.” Xander’s voice is low and virtually a whisper. He half lifts his hand to me, his eyes never leaving mine.
I take his hand, feeling the calluses on his fingers. His palm is warm and dry. “I know. I’m sorry, I was overwhelmed. I needed a minute.” I touch his face, moving the hair from his forehead.
Evie has moved around the bed to my side. She takes my other hand, and we’re all connected. Once again, she’s completed us.
I lean forward and kiss his lips gently, letting my lips linger on his. “I was so fucking scared. I’m so sorry I never listened to you. About Isobel. I thought I had it under control. Thought I had sidelined her enough. Kept her away enough.” I choke out the words, reconciling how my lack of judgement nearly cost me so dear.
“There’s no one to blame. She’s sick, Kell,” Evie says with sadness. “You couldn’t have known, none of us did. Even Jude, and he spent a lot of time with her.”
I turn and kiss her gently on the lips, then shake my head. They’ve always given me a pass. Had my back at every turn. Talked me down. Forgiven me.
“I love you, Xan. And once I found out about the baby, and Evie revealed you knew and just hadn’t gotten around to telling me, I knew in my heart you wouldn’t leave us. I knew you would fight with everything you had.”
I pull Evie in front of me. Cupping my hands over her stomach. “This little girl loves you. I love you, and Evie loves you.” I kiss her hair and hang onto his hand for grim death. “All our boys love you, and I even think Evie’s brothers may love you. Although they’ll never admit it.”
He grins at that, looking more like his old self. “I’ve seen her. The baby.” He whispers his words, looking from Evie to me. “She loves you, she loves us. She was so beautiful. Dark hair like mine, and blue eyes like my dad.”
Evie gasps out, as if he’s pulled out all of her breath. Tears start to roll down her face.
“I’ve never loved anyone else,” he continues, “just you two. All of the good memories that make up my life have you two in them.” He flops back onto his pillows. “You are my family, you are my life. You’ve given me everything I could ever ask for. The boys and now this baby. I don’t want us apart ever again. We won’t ever not discuss things ever again. I’ve never lied to you Kell, ever. Evie, I promise you I will never lie to you, by omission or otherwise. And I want this relationship as official as I can get it, so you both had better hurry up and marry me.”
I gasp, and Evie starts to sob in earnest. He lifts his hands to her face. “Take me home to Scotland, and my dad can marry us on clan land. We don’t have to bother with anything legal, we can handfast for the rest of our lives. I want you both for the rest of my life. I want our family for the rest of my life. God, I love you both.”
EPILOGUE
Xander
