She glances back sharply to where Eddie stands in his black jeans and leather jacket. “Eddie, here you are, shacked up and engaged to my daughter. What do you have to say for yourself?”
“Mom, I love him,” I tell her. It’s very simple and easy in my mind. “He loves me.”
“Janet,” Eddie says clearly, saying her name with a level of respect that I haven’t heard much from him. “I will never let anything or anyone hurt her. I’ll always keep her safe.”
“I believe you,” my mom says, nodding. She squints at him with bright green eyes. “You always looked out for us, even after I told you to leave us alone. Don’t think I didn’t realize that money in the mailbox every year was from you, Eddie.”
Is Eddie actually blushing? I want to reach forward and touch his cheek, but I resist.
“You did that?” I ask him. I had no idea that he sent us money. “You never said.”
He shrugs, and his arm comes around my waist, warm and familiar to me.
“You can live here,” Eddie says suddenly. “If we get a house in the country. You and Stevie can be close to Mrs. Maxine and to his school, and we can have him in the summer and the fall. If you want, I mean. That would solve the problem easily.”
“Hmm,” my mom says, and I can see she’s clearly impressed by him. “I don’t remember you being so smart, Eddie. I guess I underestimated you, didn’t I?”
“He’s a good man,” I tell my mother, though I suspect she already knows. “He’s been good to us, and he’s the reason I’m not working for scraps anymore, Mom.”
My mom blinks, her face crumpling. “I hate that you had to in the first place.”
“I know, but I got by,” I tell her, nodding. I grab her hand. “Stevie is happy.”
“Are you happy, my love?” she whispers, bringing a hand up to cup my cheek. “Can you truly say that you’re happy now? That this is the life you want?”
“I can’t think of a better life or a better man for me, Mom,” I admit, my eyes burning. I can’t believe I get to have Eddie, Stevie,andmy mom in my life now.
“Hey!” Robin skids to the door, holding a piñata in her hands. “When are we gonna bust this baby open? Mama needs some sugar in her system.”
“It’s just for the kids, Rob,” Eddie says, rolling his eyes good-naturedly. “Not you.”
“Yes, of course, it is,” Riley agrees from where she stands behind Robin. “But I’m getting married in a month, and that means I have first dibs on the candy in the piñata.”
“Making up your own rules is against the rules,” Allison calls from the other room.
“He has to have a hammer around here somewhere,” Riley says as they leave.
“Nice to meet you there, Mrs. Henderson!” Robin calls from a distance. “You're really pretty! Sorry I kind of dated your estranged husband for a whole three months!”
My mom looks at me, snorting out a laugh. “Well, at least you won’t ever be bored.”And isn’t that the understatement of the year, I think happily.
EPILOGUE
SIX MONTHS LATER
Eddie
My hands seem to fumble with the buttons of my suit jacket without my permission. I have never been so nervous about anything in my entire life.
For what must actually be the hundredth time, as I make sure yet again that everything is perfect, I smooth a hand over my long hair.
Maybe I should have cut it.
But no, Kathleen has always liked my long hair. And my leather jacket. And my rings. Too bad that sort of outfit isn’t allowed at weddings. Is it too late to change? A hand that smells of lavender comes across, quickly moving my hand away from my suit jacket and brushing off where I had just smoothed my hand down.
“It’s fine,” Robin assures me, uncharacteristically loving as she offers me a warm smile. Of course, my sisters have always loved me, but they usually show their love through sarcasm and pushing my buttons. But that’s the way younger siblings are.
“You look perfect, big brother,” she says, knocking her forehead gently against mine. “Kat will be completely over the moon when she sees how you look in there.”