Chapter 17 #2
“You and May?”
“I just went out to dinner with May. She’s nice. But you know, I have a thing for your mom.”
Everybody laughed louder as I shook my head, blushing.
“Of course you like Mom. She’s the best,” Luke said, as if that was everything in the world, and went back to his tortilla.
“Well then,” Austin said, clearing his throat even though he was still laughing. “I still want to meet him. I know that my cousin Liam, Lake’s father, can handle it, but since she lives near us, I feel a sense of responsibility for my generation.”
“I’m sure Lake can handle everything on her own,” Sierra said, admonishing her husband. “But if we happen to invite her over for dinner just because, maybe with a few of the nieces, she can bring her boyfriend. Then we can meet him and interrogate him.”
“I’m going to have to take notes on how you think,” I said with a laugh.
“Before you know it, your kids are asking to go to school dances, go on dates, to drive. Then it’s college, starting their own business, and bringing home a lovely woman that we adore, along with her amazing son.” Sierra winked, and I blushed even harder as Leif let out a sigh.
“Subtle, Mom.”
“You know I try.”
“Speaking of dates, we saw Sebastian and Marley out at the Connolly Brewery for dinner yesterday.”
I turned to the twins, frowning. “Marley is Sebastian’s girlfriend, right?” I asked.
“Yep, and I keep waiting for him to propose already,” Jamie said, that teenage winsome note in her voice.
“They’re too young to get married,” Sierra said before she stiffened. “Great, now I sound like an uppity mother from a TV show. But they are only eighteen.”
“Sebastian’s nearly nineteen,” Leif corrected.
“And they do love each other. I just still think of them as babies. And that’s on me.” She narrowed her eyes at the twins. “You two are fifteen. So don’t even start thinking about it.”
“I’m just saying they’re adorable,” Jamie said.
“Don’t worry. I’m looking to get married once I’m old, like thirty.” Gideon grinned as he said it, and Leif rolled his eyes.
“You’re lucky there’s a kid here.”
“You are lucky that I’m here,” Luke said as he beamed, and I cackled, the rest joining me.
By the time we cleaned up and headed out to the porch for the evening, Leif cleared his throat and whispered something to Jamie. She gave him an odd look and then nodded before holding out her hand.
“Hey, Luke, do you want to see our playroom? It’s changed over the years, but there might be a couple of toys to show you.”
Gideon stepped right up as if the twins had mind-reading abilities. “Yeah, come on, kiddo.”
Luke looked at me and I nodded, knowing why Leif wanted Luke out of the room along with his youngest siblings.
The three walked away, and Austin gave us a worried look before clearing his throat. “What is it that you want to tell us that you didn’t want little ears around for?” he asked, his voice soft.
Colin, I noticed, had been allowed to stay, but considering he was an adult, that made sense. Sierra slid her hand into Austin’s while I did the same to Leif’s.
“I have to tell you something, and you’re going to get mad, but let me get through it.”
I squeezed his hand again, and Leif let out a breath before explaining the entire situation about Roger.
As expected, Austin growled and threw his hands in the air. “Why the hell didn’t you tell us?”
“Austin, let him finish,” Sierra put in, even as she glared at her son. “Once you’re finished, then we can yell at you.”
“Damn straight,” Colin added.
Leif ran his hand through his hair and went through every detail, sparing no feelings, and even mentioned how he had broken up with me for those few short minutes.
Colin reached out and smacked the back of Leif’s head, but nobody admonished him for it.
Instead, they continued to listen to Leif.
When he finished, I hugged him tightly and moved back so Sierra could hold her son.
Colin began to rant, repeatedly going over what happened and asking questions.
Leif answered systematically, and I knew this was hard for him.
Then Austin spoke, and everyone quieted. “All this time. All this fucking time, Leif. You never told me. I don’t know why.”
Because Sierra was holding her son, Colin came up to me and hugged me tightly. It was as if I was part of the family already, and tears slid down my cheeks. I looked over and saw Sierra was crying, too.
Austin sighed. “I wish you would’ve told me all those years ago about everything that happened to you. I thought I knew, I thought you would have told me, but you didn’t. We’re going to have to work through that, but the thing is…we’re family, Leif.”
“I know that, Dad, I promise you. I’m sorry.”
“We’re a family, meaning we’re going to handle this together.
I know you thought you had to handle this on your own because you’re the oldest and because you feel like everybody is trying to lean on you.
We talked about this. We’ve all got you.
People younger than you, older than you, all of us.
So, we’re going to deal with this as a family.
” Austin Montgomery looked at me then, his eyes directly on mine.
“And that means you too, Brooke. You and Luke. We’re all a family in this.
So we will protect each other, and we will keep that man out of our lives.
Just like we should’ve done all those years ago.
Come here, son,” Austin growled as he moved forward and opened his arms. Leif went straight into them, as did Sierra.
Colin tugged on me, and suddenly the five of us were hugging, laughing, and crying.
In that moment, I knew I truly loved Leif. His family loved him so much that while they were angry that he had hidden this, they loved him more than that anger. They cared for him and wanted to keep him safe. And they wanted to keep my son safe.
I had fallen in love with Leif Montgomery.
And I was truly scared I could lose him if we didn’t protect him.
But right then and there, I let the Montgomerys hold me, and I imagined what it would mean to have a family like this.
And what it could mean if this was truly mine.