Chapter 25 #2
“A celebration of life,” his mother had insisted.
They’d grieved Erin enough. Now that they knew she was at peace, it was time to celebrate her life and the second chance at life Edye had been given too.
So as soon as she was discharged from the hospital, they’d made it happen, Nic leading the effort.
They’d had case wrap-up to handle the past few days as well, but when they weren’t at the station house or the courthouse, Cam had worked on getting his mother resettled at home while Nic had gone into captain mode, Keith his second in command, readying their father’s biggest boat for the occasion.
And a spectacular job they had done. Tables and chairs covered in Erin’s favorite blue dotted the deck, and from wires strung between the masts and rails dangled black-and-white photos of Erin.
Cam had helped his mother pick them out, and Nic had had them reprinted and displayed, a gallery of Erin’s life for family and friends to remember and enjoy.
Erin reading one of their mother’s romance novels, Erin playing the fiddle, Erin double-fisting cream horn pastries, her face a mess.
Guests mingled on deck, looking at the photographs, sharing stories, visiting with his mother, and eating Erin’s favorite foods that Jamie had prepared from Edye’s old recipe cards.
It was exactly the celebration Cam’s mother had wanted, and she laughed far more than she cried from her bench seat along the boat’s stern.
Leaning against the wheelhouse wall, sipping from his bottle of Gravity Belmont Red, Cam tracked his lover’s silver-tinged head, higher than most. Nic circulated among the crowd, checking to make sure all the photos were properly displayed and that everyone had what they needed.
He frequently stopped to check in on Edye, and each time he did, she’d grab his hand and proudly introduce him as Cam’s boyfriend to anyone who was near.
He deserved all the attention. He’d helped make this happen on multiple counts—standing by him, working his legal magic, finding Erin, and pulling this celebration together in only a few days. He was amazing, and Cam was head over heels in love with him, now more than ever.
“I think Mom has a new favorite.” Quinn stepped out of the wheelhouse, a beer bottle in hand.
“You complaining?” Cam said with a nod to the beer.
Smiling, Quinn clinked his bottle against Cam’s. “Not in the least. Your man makes a good brew. Nice catch.”
Nic and Jamie were right. He hadn’t given his parents or siblings enough credit. “Never thought I’d be the best fisherman in the family.”
Quinn chuckled. “I wouldn’t go that far. How did you catch him?”
“I argued with him nonstop until the day he dissed Brady.”
“How the fuck did that lead to you two being together?”
“I kissed him to shut him up.”
Laughing, Quinn playfully punched him. “You should have told us sooner. I feel like an idiot for not having put it together.”
“You left for college when I was eleven. I hadn’t put it together yet either about my bisexuality.”
Tension crept back into Quinn’s tall, muscular frame. “Maybe I should have stayed. Helped you out in that, maybe also kept you out of the chop shop. If I had, maybe—”
“Don’t go there, Q.” Cam threw an arm over his shoulders and hugged him to his side.
“You don’t bear any of the blame for what happened to Erin.
None of us do.” He’d given them the full story last night—how Harper was determined to take Erin that day, even if he had to kill—but shaking twenty years of guilt wasn’t going to come easy for any of them.
“I always felt . . .”
“Let it go, brother.” Cam leaned his head against Quinn’s, temple to temple. “We all have to. It’s over now, and turns out, none of us were to blame. She’s at peace. She’d want the rest of us to be too.”
Quinn was silent a few minutes, then rasped out a hoarse chuckle. “I don’t know, Cameron, maybe you’re the catch.”
“Don’t tell Nic that.” He pulled back, smiling, and Quinn’s gaze drifted back out to the deck.
Cam’s followed to where Nic and Keith stood by his mother.
“Keep an eye on Keith, though, yeah?” Cam said.
“I think he’ll be better now, less angry, but I’m not sure what will fill that place for him.
Hopefully something or someone good, but . . .”
“We’re on it, brother.”
The harbormaster radioed then, letting them know their lane would be clear shortly.
Only the immediate family would remain onboard as they rode out to sea to scatter Erin’s ashes.
There was already an empty casket buried at the cemetery; no one wanted to go through that again.
Returning her to the sea, the lifeblood of their family, was the celebration she deserved.
Quinn went about powering the boat back up while Cam signaled Nic and Keith that it was go time.
Fifteen minutes later, all the guests had disembarked and Cam was passing his best friend around for hugs. Jamie had been invited to stay for the journey out, but already green on the docked boat, he’d declined, not wanting to mar what should be a beautiful moment with his seasickness.
Nic moved to follow him off, and Cam jerked him back by their twined fingers. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“This is for family.”
“And you’re mine.”
Bobby clasped Nic’s other shoulder. “Your words, brother.”
The look that bloomed on Nic’s face—wonder, gratitude, and love—made Cam’s chest ache in a good way. He’d gotten so lucky with the man he loved and his family.
“Besides,” Keith added, “do you really think Mom’s going to let you out of her sight?”
“I have to agree with my boys,” Ken chimed in. “Ride out with us, son.”
Nic’s Adam’s apple bobbed as the normally eloquent prosecutor struggled for words. “I’d be honored.”
That settled, everyone snapped into motion, getting the boat unmoored and into its channel lane.
The ceremony at sea was quieter than the one at the docks but no less joyful, and even a little funny, as Irish wakes tended to be.
Edye read from the book about the old family dog that Erin had written in second grade, each of them adding their own memories and anecdotes.
Then each member of the family, Nic included, tossed a handful of her ashes into the water.
They dissolved in the foam of the ship’s wake, and the seagulls that swooped alongside the boat cawed and rose higher, lifting up each bit of her soul that was set free.
She and his family were finally, truly at peace.
They drifted and told stories, remembering their sister for another hour or so before aiming the boat back to shore. Ken sat with Edye on her bench, surrounded by their grandchildren, while Quinn and Bobby, with their wives and Keith, toasted to the future in the wheelhouse.
Cam went looking for his future, finding Nic standing at the front of the boat. Arms spread along the rail, hair swept back by the breeze and sea mist, he looked at home out here on the sea. Cam, however, wanted to talk to him about making a different sort of home, with him.
Coming up behind him, Cam wound his arms around his waist and rested his chin on Nic’s shoulder. “Quinn wanted to know how I became the best fisherman in the family.”
“I’ve never even seen you catch a fish.”
“He meant catching you.” Cam dropped a kiss behind his ear, and Nic hummed contentedly.
Then spun, bringing them front to front and pinning Cam against the rail, reminding him of the strength and training that lay beneath the suit, or scowl as it were just then. “It sure as fuck wasn’t your taste in sports teams,” he said, flicking Cam’s green Celtics polo in exaggerated disgust.
Cam returned the gesture, flicking the collar of the maroon shirt Nic had borrowed. “Says the man wearing my BC polo.”
He smirked. “We can’t all be perfect.”
Cam grabbed a handful of his shirt and jerked him forward. “Come here, you smug bastard.” Off balance, as Cam intended, Nic stumbled into him and Cam sealed their lips in a rough, hard kiss.
A round of wolf whistles sounded behind them, and they broke apart, grinning.
“Thank you for asking me to come with you,” Nic said.
Letting go of the shirt, Cam smoothed his hands up Nic’s firm chest and around his neck. “You said I’m your family.”
Nic circled his wrists, squeezing. “Last time I’ll ask, I swear, but are you sure you want to risk all this, your old life here and your new one in San Francisco, for me? With all the shit swirling around with Vaughn and my father, I wouldn’t blame—”
Cam leaned forward again, a quick kiss to stop Nic’s careening arguments. He pulled back but stayed close enough to feel Nic’s stuttered breath on his lips. “You risked your life for me. For the peace my family here needed. Now if I want to do the same for the man I love, let me.”
The kiss Nic laid on him then wasn’t quick or chaste, and they won more applause and Edye’s laughing shout of “get a room.”
Cam came up for air, smiling wide. “Come home with me, Dominic.”
Nic’s usual confidence bordering on arrogance vanished, eyes darting from his shoes to their hands and back. He was laid bare before Cam and an audience. “Are you saying the offer still stands?” He swallowed hard, summoning what he could and meeting Cam’s eyes. “To move in with you?”
Cam breathed a sigh of relief, a sigh of pure joy. “There’s no place I’d rather you be.”