I feel like I’m emerging from a haze and I don’t want anything to impact the clarity I’m finally feeling.
“Why didn’t you tell me about them?” She sips from her glass. “They seem wonderful.”
“They’re incredible.” I smile with pride. “Zach is at the top of his class. The kid is a fucking genius. Athena is majoring in business at NYU and Breccan is the star quarterback at his high school. He’s going to land a full scholarship. I know he will.”
She smiles softly. “Did you think I would be less interested in you because of them?”
I reach for her hand. “I’ve never done this, Linny. I’ve never told a woman about them. Only a handful of people in my life know about them.”
“You’re protective of them.”
It’s a statement of fact, not a question. She’s right. I am.
&
nbsp; “They haven’t had it easy,” I explain. “They were raised by their mom, Simone Millett. She did the best she could, but she struggled financially until she met my dad.”
“What about their dad?”
“Dads.” I correct her.
Her hand squeezes mine. “Do you all have different fathers?”
I nod. “They don’t know their fathers. They have no other family. Simone struck a plea deal with prosecutors but it still meant years of prison time. The kids were going to be sent to foster care. I couldn’t let that happen.”
She bites her bottom lip. “You took them in?”
“I had to.” I tap my fingers over my chest. “They would have been separated.”
“That’s an incredibly generous thing to do.” Her gaze scans my face. “Most people wouldn’t do that.”
“I wanted them to have stability.” I look up when a couple walks into the pub. “I needed them to know that they could count on someone to always be there for them. I had to be that person for them.”
“They seem very happy.” Her face brightens with a smile. “You’re a family. I could see that right away.”
I huff out a laugh. “It wasn’t always that way. The boys hated me at first because I’d turned their mother in. Athena was different. She understood, but Breccan and Zach didn’t forgive me for a long time.”
“That had to have been rough.”
I take a sip of soda to swallow past the lump in my throat. “It was hell. I had to get my cousin, Cindy, to step in to help. She moved in with us for almost a year. She still helps out. She stops by my place every day so she can be there when the boys get home from school. They’re old enough to fend for themselves, but I never want them to feel alone.”
“Cindy was with you at the Nova party.” Her brows lift.
“I wanted her to have a night out,” I tell her. “It meant a lot to her to be there.”
“You surprised me tonight.” She pulls my hand up to her face and feathers a kiss over my palm. “I knew you were special, Jeremy, but it’s more than that. You’re a hero.”
“I’m not a hero.” I lean in to kiss her softly. “I’m a guy who is trying to get through this life one day at a fucking time.”
The corners of her eyes well with tears. “Everything changed today.”
“You’ve been through hell.” I wipe a tear from her cheek as it falls. “Let me take you home and get you into bed.”
“You can’t stay with me tonight, can you?”
I kiss her again, harder this time. “I want to, but I know that three people are waiting for me at my place with a million questions about the woman I love.”
“Tell them only good things about me, okay?”