Chapter 46
Michael
Ibite the inside of my lip as I stare up at the looming Victorian house.
In all the years I’ve been coming to Adalaide’s, it’s never felt this daunting to walk inside. I’ve been pushing this conversation off for as long as I could, but it’s past time to settle it once and for all.
With a long exhale, I step up onto the porch and open the front door. The house is still, and if I didn’t know he was here, I’d have thought it was empty.
Closing the front door behind me, I call out, “Zane!”
Hesitant footsteps come down the stairs at the back of the house. Shock has Zane freezing at the entrance to the kitchen.
“Mi–Michael,” he stutters. I have a feeling he just stopped himself from saying my childhood nickname. There’s something about that effort that allows me to relax.
Ever since Zane outed himself as my half brother, he’s never once pushed me to talk to him. He made it clear to Adalaide that he doesn’t want to make me feel as if I owe him anything. Our shared past is marred by darkness, and being around Zane only seems to bring those memories to the surface.
At the same time, looking at him with his straight black hair that’s sticking up everywhere as it always did and his warm hazel eyes, I’m also reminded of all of the good memories we have together.
“I wanted to invite you to guys’ night,” I finally say.
Zane’s eyebrows shoot up to his hairline. “You want me to come?”
“Just because I need time to work through my trauma doesn’t mean you’re not part of this family, Zane.
To be honest, I’m not struggling with anything you did.
It’s the reminder of my childhood that’s hard.
It’s taken a lot of time and effort to soften those memories.
I’m still working to set them aside so they don’t disrupt my daily life. ”
“And I’m a walking, talking reminder of how shitty your childhood was,” he says.
I cant my head. “Unfortunately, yes. I am working on it though. I would like to get to know you, and you deserve to be a part of this family. These people saved me in more ways than one. I have no doubt they’ll do the same for you.
I want you to participate in things even when I’m going to be there.
Plus, my therapist has told me that the more time we spend together, the easier it will be. ”
“Are you sure? I don’t want you to feel like I’m trying to take your family. That’s never what I intended. Honestly, when I reached out to Addie, I expected to be back in Greensboro with a job by now.”
“Let me guess, Hope and Levi have given you every reason to stay.”
Zane laughs. “Oh, yeah. They’ve made it very clear that I would be an idiot to leave. Hope’s actually trying to convince me to help them out when Eliza has her baby.”
“That’s not a bad idea.”
Zane’s eyes bug out. “Me, help with flowers? You saw how terrible I was the last time I helped out.”
I snort. It took Zane a significant amount of time to figure out how to tie the ribbon into a decent bow for the centerpiece vases. “You’ll get the hang of it. Maybe you could focus on their social media stuff.”
Vulnerability flashes in his eyes as he bites his lip.
He looks exactly as he did when he was little.
“I’ve actually been thinking about going to the police academy.
Much to my disagreement, Hope and Levi won’t let me pay for anything, so I think I could afford to go.
If I worked at the flower shop, I’d make enough money to commute to Greensboro. ”
“And being a police officer is what you want?”
His nod is decisive. “Even if I can’t get a job in town, I’m sure I could find one in Greensboro.”
“Then we’ll do what’s necessary to get you into the academy.”
Zane’s beaming smile makes me smile in return. I flick my head toward the front door. “Come on, let’s go.”
Zane follows me back down the hallway, and he grabs his wallet and keys from the table by the door. We get into my truck and head over to Donna’s, where the guys have all met up.
Every couple of months, instead of doing a family barbecue, we have girls’ and guys’ nights. Most of the time, we don’t last very long apart, and we end up crashing whatever the girls are doing.
When I was a teenager, I always thought my parents were a bunch of saps. How could they not go longer than an hour or two without their partners? Now that I have Addie waiting for me, I understand a whole lot better.
“Is Addie doing okay after everything?” Zane asks.
“She’s doing even better than I expected, but she still struggles with flashbacks.”
Telling the family about Addie being assaulted went about as you’d expect.
Ryan was the only person who saw through our made-up story immediately.
He knows us both too well to believe the lie, and in the end, Addie told him that he truly wouldn’t want to know the details.
He trusted that we were telling him all the important parts.
The rest of the family bought it without any issue. They were all appalled at Ronnie’s behavior and glad that it had a swift resolution.
The police informed us that both Ronnie and Samantha agreed to plead guilty to receive lesser sentences. Samantha was charged with accessory after the fact in exchange for three years in prison. Apparently, she could’ve gotten up to six since she helped Ronnie commit a felony.
Ronnie was charged with second-degree kidnapping—instead of first-degree—and a misdemeanor assault charge. They also tacked on a few others for impersonation, and she ultimately was sentenced to a total of seven years in prison to be served consecutively.
They’ll both be eligible for parole and will likely get out before the end of their sentences, but the prosecutor made it seem like they were completely regretful of their actions.
I’m not convinced they feel bad about what they did. Samantha might, but I’d bet Ronnie is more upset about the consequences than her actions. Addie told me it doesn’t matter in the end, as long as they serve some time for the choices they made.
I’m so proud of how she’s handled the whole situation.
She’s been working with my trauma therapist to help her deal with the memories. We’ve also seen the therapist together to ensure our relationship isn’t hindered by our traumas. It’s helped more than I expected it to.
Pulling into the parking lot of Donna’s, I manage to find a spot right away. I thought it might be awkward, walking in with Zane, but it’s oddly natural. Maybe the distance and time to process have done more than I thought.
Opening the door, we walk into a wall of noise.
Donna’s Bar is the only place to get a good drink on the weekends, so half the town is probably here tonight.
I see Dad and Uncle Cooper across the room, as well as Carson, Ryan, Uncle Levi, and Teddy. They threw several tables together to fit all of us. It seems almost the whole crew came to hang out.
Uncle Cooper greets Zane when we get up to the table. “Welcome to your first guys’ night.”
Zane smiles shyly. “Happy to be here.”
We settle into the last two open chairs. I’m next to Carson while Zane sits next to Teddy.
The conversation continues where it left off when we arrived.
“We’re going to have to hire more people,” Dad says.
Cooper nods in agreement. “I know. The tourist season is stretching us way too thin. But what will we do when winter comes around? We won’t need all the extra hands anymore.”
“Are you talking about hiring more deputies for the summer season?” I ask.
Dad answers, “Yeah, we were run ragged this season.”
He’s right. This was the worst tourist season by far. I raise an eyebrow at Zane. His pleased smile is enough to tell me that, however this goes, it’s all going to work out in the end.
“So, you guys crash the girls’ night every time?” Zane asks as we walk into Cooper and Quinn’s house.
“Yep. The girls like to bet on how long we’ll be. The guys vary it up every time, but for the most part, we make it about two hours on average.”
Zane laughs. “Your family is weird.”
I nod at that as we thunder down the steps to the basement.
“Damn it, Quinn,” Aunt Natalie curses. “How are you always right?”
Aunt Quinn’s lighthearted laugh is her only response.
Natalie keeps pushing. “Do you cheat? Does Cooper text you the plan or something?”
Quinn scoffs. “Lord, no. That man is too big a rule follower to cheat.”
“Hey, now,” Cooper defends as he places his palms on Quinn’s shoulders. “I’d help you win if you asked. Those bets have paid for a lot of fun toys for us.”
The way he says toys makes Lottie and Caroline groan. “Oh, gross.”
“Hey, I was talking about kitchen gadgets for your mom,” Cooper replies. “I don’t know what your dirty mind is thinking about.” He ruins the retort by winking at Aunt Quinn.
“So you are cheating!” Aunt Natalie points at Cooper and Quinn as if she foiled their plan.
“No, we are not cheating,” Quinn rebukes.
I move across the room to where Adalaide is sitting on the couch. It’s a ginormous sectional that can hold a ton of people comfortably. Addie scooches over enough to give me space to sit between her and the armrest of the couch.
“How’s your night been?” I ask.
“Perfect. I won forty bucks in poker, and now I’m letting everybody else get a chance to win.”
I bark out a laugh. “That’s my girl.”
Addie cuddles up to me. “I love being your girl.”
“Oh, do you?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“How would you feel about being my girl forever?”
Addie scoffs. “You know I’ll be yours until the day I die.”
“Yes, I do know that. I meant more in the official sense.” I dig into my pocket and pull out the ring box I’ve been carrying around for weeks. Trying to figure out the perfect time and place to propose has been daunting. I hadn’t thought anything would be good enough until this moment.
Tonight, I have every single thing a man like me could ever want. With Addie by my side and my family standing behind us, I couldn’t think of a better time.
Addie gasps when I open the ring box. Nestled in the velvet is an oval-shaped diamond with diamonds surrounding the outside, making it look like a flower.
Because I’d made a promise, I told Ryan I wanted to ask Addie to marry me. He went with me to Greensboro one day to help me pick it out. Based on her response, I think we did a pretty good job.
“Are you serious, Michael? You want me to marry you?”
“Dead serious. I want to be your husband for the rest of my life. Will you marry me?”
“Hell, yeah, I will!” she hollers.
It gets the attention of our families.
“You’re getting married?” Caroline screeches. She races over to the couch and tackles Adalaide onto her back. The two of them fall into a fit of giggles, while the rest of the family shouts out their congratulations.
I hug my mom really tight because without her, I never would have made it this far in life. Without her showing me what love truly looked like, I wouldn’t have been able to love Addie the way she deserves.
When I pull back, she’s got tears in her eyes. She swipes them away as she says, “I am so proud of you.”
Adalaide finally gets herself untangled from Caroline’s grip, and she comes over to wrap her arms around my waist. I hold her close as our family oohs and aahs over her ring.
I stand there, soaking in the love that’s surrounded me since I was little. It took me too long to feel worthy of this love.
But I finally figured out that beneath my scars, there’s a heart willing to love and be loved until it stops beating.