Seventeen
Aela
It wasSeamus’s first day of school.
The first day where Declan could officially return to work, and that was because he’d had the all clear.
I was nervous for both of them, but nervous mostly for myself.
The all clear, an empty nest, I knew what that meant.
No way was Declan returning to work today. No way. No how.
This was it.
The start of something that had been brewing for decades.
I licked my lips as I dropped a couple of pancakes on Shay’s plate. He was wearing a uniform that he’d been bitching about since I’d bought it, which looked like something from a private school in the UK. That place Prince William had attended, with a blazer that came complete with a hat of all things.
I’d admit, not to him of course, that he looked like he belonged in a Charles Dickens’ book.
Biting my lip to hold back my smile as I dished out some for Declan too, I caught his eye, saw the gleam of amusement in his gaze and both of us forced our features to freeze because Seamus had more of an ego than he’d like to think he did. He’d get snappy and snippy if we laughed at him, and sure, sometimes he might need that, but on his first day of school? Nope.
That Declan was in agreement boded well for how we meshed together.
I was a ‘don’t sweat the small stuff’ kind of person. Even though I’d been close to him once upon a time, I’d never have thought he was like that too.
It was Friday. Because money talked, we’d managed to get his uniform sorted out by yesterday, and that was why, four days after the tour, he was about to become a Midlands’ boy.
Anyone who was anyone knew about the Midlands’ reputation. It was going to make his name, cement his ties. It would be better if he’d attended from a younger age, but four years was enough to make a good impression, and he was used to being around new people, used to having to make friends.
He’d do his damnedest to fit in because he had a pet project—world domination—but until that happened, he had to adapt to an antiquated uniform.
I cleared my throat as I served myself too, then drizzled maple syrup over my small stack.
Fiddling with my earrings, I asked, “You sure you’re going to be okay driving with Liam?”
Seamus scowled at me. “I’m not four, Mom.”
I hated that he was growing up, even if it was just how the world worked. The first day of his Rhode Island school had involved me driving him there, picking him up, and then heading for a snack afterward.
Over the local coffee milkshake, something called a ‘coffee cabinet’ that I was actually starting to miss, he’d told me about his day, and we’d talked strategy—the kids to avoid, who to befriend.
Maybe it was the Five Pointer in me, but that was how I approached every scenario. Anyone who wasn’t in the life had to be viewed clinically until their stance could be judged. Their weaknesses dissected and their strengths calculated.
I’d passed that onto my kid. For his own safety.
We had traitors in the Five Points, not many, but a few—and they never lived long to tell the tale afterward. That was what I’d taught my son. You didn’t rat, you didn’t let yourself get backed into a corner. You stood strong, stayed close to your friends once you made them, and didn’t trust them at first until they proved themselves.
Of course, I’d befriended Caro… so maybe my judgment wasn’t up to much?
“I know you’re not four,” I murmured, as I worried over how well he’d do today… like he was four. “Doesn’t mean I don’t want to make sure you’re okay.”
“You’d feel pretty crappy if she didn’t give a shit though, wouldn’t you?” Declan inserted smoothly, his eyes lifting from his breakfast to glance at Seamus who scowled at him.
“Mom always gives a—”
“Careful,” I teased. “Can’t be swearing at that fancy ass school.”