Page 49 of Endlessly Yours
I’d had this before. Not exactly this, but happiness. I’d had something that made sense. A family. Or at least the start of one. Then she was gone, and I’d told myself that I only needed this. My brothers. Cousins. Their families.
But now…
No. It was way too fucking fast.
But I wasn’t ignoring her anymore.
Or us.
“Now, back to what we were talking about. From what I heard, there was kissing somewhere, and probably more,” Wyatt said with a full mouth of food.
“Wyatt Wilder, what did I say about speaking with your mouth full,” a familiar voice said from behind us, and we all whirled to see our parents walking through the door with a woman I didn’t recognize behind them. I set my fork down and stood up, surprised to see them there but not unhappy.
I loved my parents. They’d helped me figure out the paperwork of death with Amara and had helped me figure out how to get up the next morning. Grief wasn’t new to our family, not with my aunt and uncle passing away or the near misses we’d each had over time. We’d only grown closer over the years, and I knew they were thinking of officially moving away from our childhood home and staying local permanently to be near their grandkids.
But they usually warned us before they showed.
“Mom, I didn’t know you were coming,” Wyatt said as he set his plate on the table and ran to the couple. He picked Mom up around her waist and spun her around.
“Please do not break your mother,” Dad said dryly, as I just shook my head and moved with the others to welcome them.
Taking my turn, I hugged him tightly, oddly relieved to see them. “Nice surprise. Though you both don’t usually like surprises,” I drawled.
“We called Eli earlier to see if there was room for us here so we could surprise you. And now we’re here.”
I raised a brow at my eldest cousin, who just grinned at me. He and his wife were speaking to the stranger my parents had brought, but I moved to my mother and held her closely, letting out a deep breath as I rested my chin on the top of her head. She was a tiny woman, one who I couldn’t believe had raised four rambunctious, and what had to be very annoying, kids. But she fit right underneath my chin and nuzzled into me.
“I’ve missed you, baby boy.” She pulled back, and I noticed a glint in her eyes.
“What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything. However, let me introduce you to Lauren. She works with our realtor, and well, she is a fan of Wilder Wines, so we thought we’d bring her so she didn’t have to drive alone to her meeting.”
Alarm bells shot off in my head, and I narrowed my gaze at my mother before putting a polite smile on for Lauren.
“Nice to meet you,” I said softly, wondering what the blonde woman in front of me had been told.
Lauren gave me a strained smile. “Hi. It’s nice to meet you too.” She looked around the room, her eyes slightly wide. “There are so many of you.”
My mother grinned. “And not all of my brood are here. Well, let me introduce you to the rest, and we’ll come back to Brooks. That way you can get the full circle.”
My mother gave me a look before she pulled Lauren away, and I just glared at my father.
“Really?” I asked, looking at the man who was practically my mirror image. It was nice to know what I would look like one day in a couple of decades. He had a full set of hair, gray at the temples, and was just as muscular as ever. I loved my dad. However, he was just as scheming as my mother when it came to the lives of their children. And their children included my cousins. Because when my aunt and uncle had died, though the cousins had taken care of themselves, my parents had been there to help wherever they could.
“She’s just a nice woman.”
“Are you kidding me?” I growled but did my best not to be loud. I went back to my seat, my father following me.
“We just want you to be happy. And frankly, Lauren was on her way here for a meeting. And your mother waylaid her.”
“And Eli mentioned this was more of a quick meal rather than a business meeting, so we didn’t think it was going to be too big of a problem.”
“Dad,” I whispered. I didn’t know how I was supposed to say that I was taken because I wasn’t even sure what my and Rory’s label was. But there had to be a label for me not wanting to be set up with another woman by my parents.
Lauren seemed to fit right in, though, with the others as she smiled and talked about Wilder Wines and an upcoming corporate sale.
When my mother came to the table, I ignored the questioning glance on Wyatt’s face and glared at the woman who raised me.
