Page 59 of My Monster, My Choice

The carriage stops and Kenny wants to race to it, but he’s held back by Jaire. Ever protective. I never have to worry about my son with the Adroki.

The two men step down and as they approach, I recognize them easily, even though we’re all older.

“Bobby. Jimmy.” My brothers’ names fall from my lips as I stand, handing Liam to Elex.

They were men when I left, both older than me. But fifteen years has fully matured each of my brothers, bringing hard angles to their faces, sharper lines.

“It’s Robert and James now,” Bobby says with that familiar twinkle in his eye, reaching out for a hug, then passing me to Jimmy.

“Unkel Bob. Unkel Jimminiminy,” Kenny says, and then giggles behind his hand.

I motion to him. “My son, Kenny.”

Kenny waves.

“This is my daughter, Tera.”

Tera also waves, still seated with Jonas in a blanket.

Bobby and Jimmy take the empty chairs on the porch while I sit back down and Elex hands me our blanket-wrapped son.

“This is my youngest son, Liam.” I prop the baby up so they can see his adorable purple face.

“He’s beautiful. They all are,” Jimmy says.

“If you wish to call us Bobby and Jimmy, I guess it’s okay,” Bobby says. “We’ll continue to call you tiny Teena.”

Kenny giggles, sitting on the steps of the front porch. “Becuzza my momma so small and coot?”

Jimmy smiles. “Yeah. She’s always been small and cute. But tough.”

“I had two older brothers to thank for that.”

I introduce everyone else and Elex stands to shake their hands. I don’t miss the way my brothers take in the sight of his tentacles, which they can’t see on the wrapped baby. They might have thought his skin color was a trick of the light.

We’re from one of the smaller towns and I can’t imagine they’ve seen any of the Adroki in person. And this is a test, I guess. I’d like to see if they turned out at all like father.

Bobby clears his throat. “I’m sorry, Teena. I wish we had stood up to father and called you a long time ago before we lost contact. Fifteen years is a long time to go without family. We’d looked for you, you know. But you moved away when you became widowed, and no one had any idea where you’d gone.”

“You did?” My lips quiver with the words because I had no idea.

“Yes, baby girl,” Jimmy says, and the childhood nickname makes me laugh. It’s what I call my own children. “It brought me and Rob—Bobby—so much closer. Because every weekend we got together and researched what could have happened to you. Where you could be. We taught our children stories about the three of us growing up so they would all know their aunt as well as we did.”

I suck in a deep breath and blink my glassy eyes. “I do Sunday dinners too! It’s important to me that we all see each other now. That you get to know my children. My mate. My friends.”

“How—” Jimmy cuts off, confused as he gestures toward Liam.

Apparently, during those weekend researches, they found out about my hysterectomy too. My secret should never have had so much power to rule my life, considering how many people knew about it.

“Tera carried him for me,” I whisper, with a look toward my daughter and a smile between the two of us. “You knew?”

“Not right away.” Bobby’s face is grim. “We thought you married because of your depression over Carlton. Father told us it was a business arrangement with Gary’s friend to keep you occupied...that you would be caretaker for the children. It wasn’t until we wanted to contact you and discovered you’d moved away that we confronted him.”

Jimmy speaks up. “He’d told us you were hospitalized because you’d tried to end your own life. That we had to leave you alone so you wouldn’t attempt suicide again.”

I gasp. “That isn’t true.”

“No, we found out years later that you had complications from an abortion.” Bobby seems to have a hard time saying it. “I’m sorry. We failed you. Father admitted they made you have one.”

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