Inked Babies: Epilogue to Inked Brotherhood
Page 16
“Then it’s fine with me,” he says. “If she says yes.”
Yeah. That’s the crux of the problem, isn’t it? The hardest task. Asking her. Proposing to her.
Or accepting that maybe I shouldn’t.
***
“Tomorrow,” Asher is saying through the phone that’s precariously perched between my cheek and shoulder as I hurry through the Dane County Regional Airport. “We’re going tomorrow morning, to look for the house in Wausau. Can you make it?”
“I guess.” I’m holding Teo tightly by the hand and his backpack with the other. Miles is trailing behind us, and I turn from time to time to make sure he hasn’t strayed. “I’ll have to see if Tessa can have the kids, or…”
What am I thinking? She’ll probably have to go to work.
I can’t count on her to stay home.
And I shouldn’t expect it.
“Listen, Auds and Megan have already said they could babysit,” Asher says. “You could bring your brothers over.”
“That works.” At least I hope Miles won’t mind. I keep leaving them right and left to study and work, and now to investigate this story with Zane.
What these kids need is parents. A steady, normal family, not a busy fucker like me whose idea of a gentle touch is fucking his girlfriend into the kitchen counter and marking her neck with his teeth.
Shit.
“Dylan, you there?” Asher’s tinny voice in my ear jerks me back to the present.
“Yeah.”
“Tomorrow. We leave at ten. Hey, did you look into that guy’s name like you said you would?”
“Yup. Found some matches. I’ll need Zane to take a look.”
“We can do it after we come back. Bring your laptop.”
“Sir, yessir.”
“Asshole.” Asher snorts and disconnects.
I almost drop the phone when I spot her. Managing just barely to grab it with the hand holding Teo’s bag, I shove it into my back pocket and head her way.
“Tess!”
My chest expands at the sight of her, her blond hair caught up in a ponytail, her shirt and dress pants wrinkled, her small, bright face. She’ll never stop making my heart pound. No matter what goes down next, she’s the only girl I’ve ever loved.
Then she spots us and her eyes go round. “Dyl!” She hurries toward us, smiling, and I can’t get to her fast enough. “Teo! Miles. What a nice surprise!”
I finally reach her and wrap an arm around her, lifting her up slightly just to hear her squeal.
She doesn’t disappoint. I kiss her soundly on the lips, and then let her go so she can hug my brothers. Teo kisses her cheeks, while Miles is quiet.
He accepts the hug, though, and returns it, and a light flush colors his cheeks when he pulls back.
“Why are you here?” She tucks a loose strand of pale hair behind her ear. “I didn’t know you were coming.”
“When I can, I’ll always come get you,” I tell her, and her eyes widen again, as if there’s an extra layer of meaning in my words.
And she’s right. There is. I knew it the moment I spoke them.
Her smile turns softer, her gaze brighter. “Do you have any idea how much I love you, Dylan Hayes?”
My heart booms. “Show me?”
She leans in to kiss me, her mouth opening, her tongue touching mine, and the world grows hazy around us as desire bolts into me.
“Ew…” Teo tugs on my hand, breaking the spell.
“Gross.” Miles is shaking his head, still blushing and looking embarrassed to be seen with us.
Fuck. Combined with what Teo said about hearing us having sex through the bedroom door, and my thoughts about being a shitty parent to them, Miles’ embarrassment hits me like a fist of ice in the stomach.
But then Tessa laughs and ruffles his hair, and the tension breaks. “Kissing is nice,” she informs Miles who’s now scowling. “Soon enough you’ll be kissing girls, too. Or have you started already?”
Miles looks away, his cheeks crimson, and I gape at him.
“You have? Miles…”
“What?” Defensive. “You do it. What’s wrong with it?”
He’s twelve. He’s my ward, my younger brother, he’s too young… Or is he?
“Come off it, Dyl.” Tess swats at my arm, her eyes twinkling. “You’ll make him feel bad about it, and for what? He’s discovering girls. It’s normal.”
“I’m not…” Miles huffs. “Not discovering them.”
“Noticing them,” Tessa corrects herself, and he nods.
God, she’s good at this. At this parenting thing. At figuring out the boys, what they need, what they want. Miles is smiling, a faint thing but there, and Teo is pulling his hand from mine in order to grab hers. He looks up at her with adoration.
She makes the circle complete. She gives us everything we need.
Not gonna destroy that by asking for more.
***
“I can look after the boys tomorrow,” she tells me later. “So you can go with the guys to check that house.”
It’s afternoon, the sunrays slanting through the living room windows. Teo is watching cartoons on TV, and Miles is in his room, reading.
Or so he claims. I wonder if I should check his phone, see what he’s doing on there.
“You’re not going in to work tomorrow?” I frown as her words sink in. I’m sitting on the carpet, my back to the side of the sofa, downloading the last files from Truthfinder to show Zane tomorrow, and I crane my neck to get a look at her. “Tess?”
“Screw that.”
She comes to kneel beside me, and I put the laptop down. “What do you mean?”
“This is important. Also I haven’t spent time with the kids lately, or… or you.”
I blink. “But your job—”
“I told Mason I won’t have time to travel so much anymore.”
My mouth is open, but no sound comes from my throat. I grip her wrist, drag her closer, swallow hard and try again. “Why not?”
“Told you. I want, I need time with you and the kids. I miss you. I want to be there for you. With you.”
Is my mind playing tricks? Am I reading too much into her words, hearing what I want to hear?
“You love your job, Tess.”
“But I love you more.”
I grin, can’t help it. “I knew it.”
“What, you doubted me?”
I shake my head, my grin twisting. “Maybe.”
“God, Dyl…” She slides her hand over my chest, blue eyes a bit too bright. “I’m sorry. I thought you needed some space anyway, and then Mason kept adding tasks to my job, and I was excited about it… but never more excited than being with you.”
“Shush!” Teo’s voice comes from over our heads, startling us. He’s leaning over the armrest of the couch, a scowl on his small face. “I’m watching TV.”
I snicker. “Okay, buddy. Calm down.”
Tess laughs outright.
“So…” I keep my voice low, just to humor Teo. “Why did you think I needed space?”
That bothers me.
“Because.” She shrugs and burrows into me. I lift my arm, and she snuggles against my side, warm and soft and smelling like a cupcake. “You have so much resting on your shoulders. You don’t need a clingy girlfriend, too.”
I frown. “And if I do?”
She looks up at me. “You do?”
“I need you, Tess.” I squeeze her closer. “Every day and every night. But not if I’ll be in the way of your dreams. I don’t want you to drop a job you love and stay home, or find some job you hate just to be closer. I miss you, too. Fuck, you have no idea how much I miss you when you’re not here, but I’d never be the reason you’re unhappy.”
“I wouldn’t be.” She lifts up a little to kiss my jaw, a feathery touch of her lips, her warm breath. “I couldn’t be. Not when I have you and the boys.”
I exhale. Asking her to marry me is on the fucking tip of my tongue. She’s saying a
ll the right things, all the things I’ve wanted her to say this past year—so should I?
“You and I are not like our friends,” she says. “We have the boys, and each other. We don’t need anything more. I swear I’m happy like this.”
I shut my mouth again.
She’s happy like this. She doesn’t want a change. I drop a kiss on her sweet-smelling hair and close my eyes.
If that’s enough for her, then it’s enough for me, too, and that’s that.
Chapter Nineteen
Tessa
The boys and I end up going over to Erin’s place, where Audrey and Megan have already arrived. Dakota will be by later, apparently, and right now the apartment is a big playground with toys strewn everywhere and babies in various stages of sleep and alertness.
“You can sit with us, if you’d prefer,” I tell Miles while an excited Teo runs to play with Jax and Scott. “With the adults.”
He shoots me a grateful look but hides it quickly under an attempt at disdain. “It’ll all be girl talk. I’ll just read.”
“What are you reading?” I glance at his smartphone, but he puts it away quickly. “Ebooks? Do you have an app for that?”
“Yeah…”
“What kind of books?”
“Uh… thrillers.”
He’s not a good liar. I lift a brow at him. “I won’t tell Dylan if you tell me.”
“Of course you will.”
Damn, he’s right. “Is it a big secret?”
“No. Just… stuff.”
Okay. I wonder if I should let it go or worry. “It’s not porn, is it? Or anything else that’s weird and violent?”
He laughs. “No, it’s not.”
“Okay, buddy. I’ll trust you, but eventually I hope you’ll trust me enough to tell me.”
He nods and turns away. I watch his slim form as he wanders to a corner and slides down to sit on the floor, his back to the wall, pulling out his phone.
Sigh.
He’s growing up so fast. He’s a sweet kid. I’ll never be his mom, but I hope we can be good friends. He likes me, I think. Generally he seems to trust me.
Fingers crossed that won’t change.
“Cute kids, Dylan’s brothers,” Erin says, holding up Isabella who’s just drunk her fill of milk and now needs to burp.
“Good kids, too,” I say fondly. “Oooh, gimme the baby!”
Erin smiles and passes me her daughter. I put her to my shoulder and lightly pat her small back to get her to burp. “You’re an expert now when it comes to babies.”
“I’ve had lots of practice,” I reply, “with Audrey’s and now yours.”
“How about you guys? Getting hitched? Caught the baby bug or not yet?
“Not yet,” I lie.
To be honest, the baby bug has bitten me, pretty badly. It’s a fever, getting worse by the day, burning whenever I look at Dylan’s brothers, or my friends’ babies. While I was away on my last trip, it was all I could think about.
The doorbell rings, and Dakota comes in with baby Emmanuel. He’s such a cutie. I trade Isabella for him, as she starts getting sleepy, and cradle him in my arms.
Awww God. “How is baby boy today?” I croon, and Dakota snickers. I look up at her as she takes a seat across from me. “You okay, girl?”
She nods. “The guys have left to check out the house in Wausau, and Zane…” She swallows hard. “I’m not sure. He’s confused, too, I think. He was starting to believe it had all been in his mind, and if it turns out it wasn’t…”
Her words hang in the air between us, leaving a trail of ice.
“He’ll be fine.” Audrey slings an arm over Dakota’s slim shoulders and hugs her. “You’ll see. Both of you will be fine. Give it time. Whether it was all in his mind or not, these bad times won’t last forever.”
“Not sure how much longer either of us can take it,” Dakota mutters, melting into Audrey’s arms, then pulling away.
“You’re both much stronger than you think. And we’re here.”
“Yes, we are.” I kiss Emmanuel’s silky, soft cheek and coo at him. He gives me a startled look. “And so is this handsome man here.”
He starts rubbing a tiny pink fist in his eyes, so I give him back to her. She holds him and he stares back at her, quiet.
“Zane had some pretty bad nightmares last night,” she says softly. “He was screaming. Woke us both up.” She strokes the baby’s hair. “I had to go and calm him down. He said he was remembering more stuff.”
Audrey shoots me a worried glance.
“Did he say what he remembered?” Megan asks. Baby Zane, or Zay as Dylan and Tyler now call him, is asleep in her arms, a small fist by his head.
So many cute babies…
“There was this boy, Tyrell. He says he’d almost forgotten all about him, as he hadn’t been at the foster house very long when he just vanished one day. The foster father said the boy had gone back to his biological family, but the other kids staying at the house said Tyrell had no family.”
“Asher said something about that,” Audrey says. “About that boy. Seems he was more important to Zane than he originally thought?”
Dakota sucks her lower lip into her mouth, releases it again. “I don’t know. They weren’t friends, from what I gather, but the boy… he was hurt.”
“Hurt, how?”
“His back. Zane says he saw it once, in the bathroom they all shared. Welts, and round burn marks.” Her blue eyes are wide. “And then he vanished, and that’s when… when the guy started to hurt Zane. That’s what he said.” She lifts a hand to her mouth, her eyes shimmering. “Oh God…”
That boy is important, I can feel it. Zane can feel it, if he dreams about him. “Any idea what the boy’s surname was?”
“He tried to remember. I asked him that, too.” Dakota shakes her head. “He wasn’t making much sense, to be honest. He said something about it being weird.”
“Weird?”
“Yeah. That’s what he said.”
“A weird surname. Foreign, maybe? Like, I don’t know… Chinese?”
“He never said this Tyrell was Chinese. Wouldn’t he know?”
“He said he had dark hair, like him,” I say.
I shiver. Goosebumps spread on my skin. What am I missing? And why do I have this stone in the pit of my stomach when I think about this?
Because Zane’s memories are godawful, I remind myself. Scary as hell. That’s why. I don’t need more reasons to feel terrified for him. Uncovering the details will be like shooting ourselves repeatedly in the chest with jagged bullets.
Maybe this is just a taste of what it feels like to him.
***
“You girls all ready for the double wedding?” I ask as we head out to the nearby park for the kids to play in the small playground. “The gowns are lovely, but have you made up your minds on the place, the party, the music?”
“Pretty much,” Megan says, smiling, pushing the stroller in front of her, the sun on her face. “Audrey took over and made most of the decisions, thank God. I think it will be fun, after the stress of organizing it is over.”
“I bet. I’m so happy for you, guys.” I walk quietly for a moment, watching Miles run after Jax and Teo, making snarling noises. I think he’s supposed to be a zombie. “We’ll dance the night away.”
Erin is holding her baby in her arms, wrapped in a white blanket. “If we’re able to stay awake long enough to dance, that is. Hopefully the babies will sleep through the night.”
“I didn’t think about that when Rafe proposed.” Megan snickers. “I was pregnant, and I was so emotional I cried for like an hour after he did. He almost took it back, he thought I was upset.”
Audrey laughs. Scott is sprawled in his stroller, fast asleep, and she strokes the dark hair from his face. “And how did Rafe propose? I’m curious.”
“Yes, do tell,” Dakota chimes in, glancing up from where she’s straightening the blanket over Emmanuel in his sky-blue stroller.
“He did the sweetest thing…” Megan starts, then stops again.
We’ve slowed down, all of us looking at her.
“It was so funny. I had completely freaked out when I found out we were expecting, and it took me days to calm down. He was amazing.” Megan shakes her head, biting her lip. “He held me, promised me it would all turn out okay. That it would be great. And then… Then, one morning he went to get us donuts for breakfast, and when he got back he handed me a gift.”
“So what was in it?” I’m almost dancing with excitement. Holy crap. “Was it a ring?”
“No, it was an onesie.” At my surprised look, she laughs. “A white onesie, and on it was written in black, ‘Marry the Daddy?’ I melted.”
“And the ring?”
“He had it in his pocket. What about Zane?” She turns to Dakota. “You never told us how it happened. One day we’re being told there would be a wedding and that was it.”
“It was a fun wedding,” Dakota says, and a shadow of sadness passes over her face.
“Hey, girl.” Erin nudges her. “Everything will turn out okay in the end, you’ll see.”
She nods. Plasters on a bright smile. “I wasn’t pregnant when he proposed, though by the time of the wedding, well…” She blushes. “Anyway, we’d talked about it a few times before. Getting married. Having kids. And then one evening he came home and showed me a new ink he’d gotten on his chest. Over the dragon there. It was a heart, and it had my name over it, and below… below he said he’d ink the names of our kids. And he asked if we could start making a family.”
Gosh. I have tears in my eyes.
“That’s beautiful,” Erin whispers.
“How did Tyler propose to you?” Megan shoots her a bright, star-filled look, and I find myself waiting for the reply, breathless.
God, this is like being hooked on a TV series. Like the Gilmore Girls, or something. I almost feel it, the giddiness, the childish joy of having that happen to you.
I’ve never been the kind of girl to plan my future wedding, design my wedding gown and decide on names for my children—but my Barbie dolls did get married all the time. Not to brag but they had some damn amazing weddings.