Epilogue
Magnus
“Someone’s here, Pop-pop,” Matty said at the sound of the doorbell ringing. He wriggled out of the shirt I’d just started trying to get over his head and began running towards the front door.
“Matty, don’t open it,” I called as I climbed to my feet and hurried after him, his shirt still in my hand. It was only eight o’ clock at night, but since it was pitch dark outside, I wasn’t about to let him answer the door on his own.
“It’s Dante,” Matty said as he peeked through the long window next to the door.
My stomach automatically did the uncomfortable flip it always did when I heard the man’s name, but I ignored it and steeled myself as I reached for the doorknob.
I was still pissed about the sight I’d walked in on in the guest bathroom after the wedding ceremony the day before.
I ignored the voice that reminded me that pissed wasn’t all I’d felt at the sight of Dante with his dick shoved down some guy’s throat.
Dante was leaning negligently against the doorframe, his mouth pulled into a slight smirk as his eyes settled on me. “Hey, Pop-pop,” he said .
Irritation went through me, but I ignored it and reacted exactly the way I knew Dante would hate.
By not reacting at all.
Dante’s eyes narrowed just slightly at my lack of comment and I saw the grin on his mouth thin just a little.
“Dante,” Matty said excitedly and Dante ripped his eyes from me and dropped to his knees and embraced the little boy, mindful of the central line on Matty’s chest. While Matty and the rest of us had gotten used to the two cannulas that protruded from his small body, I couldn’t wait for the damn things to be removed.
It would be proof that my grandson was well on his way to a complete recovery and I wouldn’t have to face the fear of losing him on a daily basis.
But for now, he still needed regular rounds of medications and the central line was the most effective way to administer them.
“I brought you something,” Dante said and he produced a package wrapped in newspaper. “Merry Christmas, Matty,” he offered as he handed the present over.
Matty’s eyes went wide and he quickly looked up at me. “Can I open it, Pop-pop?”
I nodded and then held the door open wider for Dante when he looked at me questioningly.
I may not like the man much, but he’d been kind to Matty in the months he’d been protecting him.
My thoughts drifted to the day before when Storm had accidentally knocked Matty down during the wedding ceremony.
I hadn’t known what to expect when Dante had helped Matty to his feet and then whispered something to him that’d had the crestfallen boy doing a one-eighty and smiling happily despite the upsetting event.
Dante followed Matty into the living room and sat down next to him on the couch to help him unwrap the present where there was just a little too much tape. Matty’s eyes went wide when he saw the doll. “It’s Magneto!” he cried out excitedly.
“I heard you really wanted him to add to your collection,” Dante said.
Matty nodded. “Thank you!” he said as he threw his arms around Dante before ripping into the plastic to try and work the doll free. Dante took it from him and began opening it so Matty wouldn’t hurt himself on the tough plastic.
“Why’d you want him?” Dante asked as he worked. “Isn’t Magneto the bad guy?”
“Nah,” Matty said as he tugged at some loose tape on the box. “He’s really a good guy, but sometimes he just does bad things.”
I watched in surprise as Dante paused in what he was doing. It took him several long seconds to focus again and when he shot me a quick glance, I didn’t see any of the usual cocky arrogance I’d come to accept as part of the man’s genetic makeup.
Dante increased his efforts to get the doll loose from its housing and then he was handing it to Matty.
“Thank you,” Matty said happily and he gave Dante another hug.
“You’re welcome,” Dante whispered and I saw him drop his mouth to the top of Matty’s head like he was going to kiss him. A look of pain shimmered in his gaze just before he closed his eyes and just held on to Matty for a moment.
The whole thing lasted no more than ten seconds, but it left me feeling shaky, though I wasn’t sure why.
Dante pulled back from Matty and studied him for a moment before his eyes shifted to me.
I saw the moment a curtain fell into place and Dante’s solemn expression morphed into the ‘I don’t give a shit about anything’ one that I hated.
“Have a good time at Disney World,” Dante offered to Matty as he stood. Matty merely nodded, too enraptured with his new toy to do much else.
“See you soon, Pop-pop,” Dante said to me in a low drawl before turning and walking out of the house. I cursed myself for allowing the man to have me second guessing myself for even a moment.
Dante Thorne was an asshole, through and through.
And I was stuck with him for the next few weeks or for however long it took to close one last chapter in my life before embarking on a new journey.
“Okay, Matty, bed time,” I said as I sat down next to him and put his pajama top on him. He took my hand in his and led me to his bedroom. I’d already pulled his covers aside so he climbed into bed, the Magneto doll still in his hand.
Once I had him settled under the covers, I reached for the two books he’d selected for me to read to him.
“Pop-pop, can I tell you a secret?”
“Of course you can,” I responded as I put the books on the bed and gave him my full attention. He’d finally started to put on some weight in the month that he’d been out of the hospital and I could see the slightest shadow of hair growth on his head.
“I’m going to marry Leo someday.”
I smiled at that. “You are?” I asked.
Matty nodded.
“Does he want to marry you?”
Another nod and then Matty was sitting up. “We talked about it. He’s my best friend like Daddy is Papa’s best friend. And I’m his.”
“Okay, is that the only reason?”
Matty shook his head. “He doesn’t like broccoli and I don’t like peas.” Before I could even try to decode the odd statement, Matty said, “He’ll eat my peas and I’ll eat his broccoli.”
“Ah, I see,” I said. “What else?”
“We both think our daddies kiss too much so we’re not gonna.”
I chuckled. “Those sound like really good reasons to get married,” I responded. “But maybe wait a few years just to be sure.”
“Pop-pop, are you gonna get married?”
“Maybe,” I hedged. No reason to tell him there was no chance in hell that would ever happen. I’d been there and I’d definitely done that.
Never again.
“You could marry Dante.”
I stilled at that, unsure of what to say. “Why do you think me and Dante should get married?” I asked. I wasn’t particularly keen on explaining to Matty the facts of life, including that unlike most of the men in his life, his grandfather wasn’t interested in members of his own sex.
A flash of heat went through me when I remembered the sight of Dante’s hand resting on the head of the guy who’d been blowing him.
Fuck .
“Because Dante is alone and you’re alone,” Matty stated as he toyed with his doll. “If you get married, you won’t be alone anymore. Like Papa and Daddy were alone before they met.”
“Your daddy had you,” I reminded him, more to get him off the topic of me and the dark-eyed man who even now was burrowed a little too far under my skin for my liking.
“But he was still sad all the time,” Matty said softly and then he was sitting up. He dropped his doll into his lap and then put his tiny hands on my cheeks. “Like you, Pop-pop.”
I felt my chest tighten. My grandson was just too damn perceptive.
“I’ll think about it,” I said, now very eager to end the discussion.
Matty held onto me for a moment and then he was wrapping his arms around my neck. “I’m going to miss you, Pop-pop,” he whispered.
I held his body against mine and swallowed down the emotion that suddenly was making it hard to talk. “I’m gonna miss you too, buddy.”
“You’re gonna come back, right?”
I nodded against him. Early on when I’d first met Hawke and Tate and had been reunited with the little boy I’d thought had been lost to me forever, I hadn’t been certain that I’d want to give up my life in Texas, but it had taken just a few days in Matty’s presence to know that my life was with him, no matter what I was giving up to make that happen.
“I’m coming back,” I assured him and then I was getting him settled back under the covers. I grabbed one of the books before Matty could start spouting off the benefits of a relationship between me and his very irritating bodyguard and flipped it open.
“Pop-pop,” Matty whispered.
“Yeah,” I said.
“Will you tell me about my Mama?”
I sucked in a breath at that because it was the first time Matty had even mentioned his mother.
Pain radiated out through all my limbs and for a second I actually wondered if I was having a heart attack.
I managed to compose myself and wiped at the tears I could feel gathering at the corners of my eyes.
“When I come back, I’ll tell you all about her. Deal?” I asked.
Matty nodded. He was quiet for a moment before saying, “Did she love me, Pop-pop?”
“She did, buddy,” I said.
“As much as you do?”
I bit into my lip hard and nodded. “Yep, just as much as I do.”
Matty smiled. “That’s a lot.”
I laughed and wiped at my eyes again. “Yeah it is.”
We both fell silent, but I didn’t realize I’d gotten lost in my thoughts until Matty gently touched the book I was holding open in my hands. “Read the story, Pop-pop.”
I nodded and began reading.
Anything to keep my mind off the daughter who would never get to see her son grow up.
And the man who knew how to push all my buttons and then some.
The End
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