Chapter 7
Jér?me
I’ve been home for a day and I already feel lonely. We’ve been video chatting almost non-stop. But it’s just not the same. I want them home with me now. I’ve gotten my stuff from my apartment in the city. i’ll be turning it into a vacation rental, I want to keep it in case any of us want to use it.
“Are you all staying here when your brothers get back tomorrow?” Papa asks me.
“Yes. We’ll stay here with you for a few days so you can meet Renee. But I need to get to Lake Renegade by the end of the week.”
Papa frowns as he sighs. He’s been giving all of us a hard time about this move. I get his frustration, but it’s just tiring. He’s acting like we’re leaving the state.
“You know that we’ll come back to visit, papa. We’re only three hours aways.”
“I’m sorry. I’m just used to you all being here with me. I never really thought you’d leave Sprite Lake.”
I walk over to my papa and hug him.
“You’re not losing us.”
“I want you to know that I have a date tonight.”
I whip my head around to look at my papa. It’s been so long since we lost my mamma. We all know he dated women, but he never brought any home. Not once.
“That’s awesome, papa. Who is she? What does she do?”
“Her name is Tanya Morrow. She’s a school teacher.”
“Where did you meet her?”
“She hit my grocery cart last week while I was shopping.” He chuckles.
I laugh. “That’s one way of meeting someone. Where are you taking her?”
“I’m not sure yet. I told her dinner and a movie. And the theater in Springfield does that dinner and a movie option.”
“That sounds like fun. I hope we get to meet her.”
“I was hoping you’d all want to have dinner before you leave.”
I nod. “They’re all getting in tomorrow, we can definitely do dinner. We don’t leave till the weekend.”
“I’m sorry I’ve been so hard on you three. I just hate the idea that I’ll finally be alone.”
“Papa...you’re never alone. One phone call and we’ll come back to see you.”
“I’m going to still miss all of you. And no matter what I’m always here for all of you.”
I watch my papa leave my room. He’s not usually this mushy with his feelings. I worry because he’s gettin older, but maybe meeting this woman will help him.
“Hey, Minou.” I say as I see Renee’s beautiful face on my phone.
“Hi my love. How are you doing?”
“I miss you. I even miss my brothers.” I laugh as I hear them whooping near her. “Since have all of you on the phone, papa met a woman.”
Suddenly my brothers faces replace Renee’s.
“What the fuck? Have you met her?” Christophe asks.
“Nope. But he made it a point to tell me. Her name is Tanya Morrow and she’s a school teacher. He said she ran into him with her shopping cart last week.”
“Wow. He must really like her if he said something to you.” Jér?me says.
“That’s what I was thinking too. He says he’s taking her to the movies and dinner. And he wants us to meet her when you get back.”
“Holy fuck, seriously? We’ve never met anyone and I know he’s dated women before.” Christophe says. “I’m interested in meeting her though. She must be someone special.”
“I hope she is. Papa deserves to be happy.”
We spend the next hour video chatting, papa even comes to join us for a few minutes. I think his upcoming date is adding to his stress. We’re all excited for him.
Fran?ois
I’m still a little shocked that my papa wants to introduce a woman to us. And after only a couple of weeks. She better not hurt him. No matter how unhappy we are with some of his decisions, I don’t want him to get hurt by a woman. When my mamma was alive, he treated her like a queen. She always came first for him and when she died, it felt like a part of him died with her.
That’s how I feel about Renee. I don’t know if I could handle anything happening to her. My family is everything to me. And now we’re creating a new branch of our family with Renee. We all hope she’s pregnant and if she’s not? We’re doing everything we can to make it happen.
“You all look like your dad.” Renee giggles as we’re packing.
Christophe laughs. “We do. My mamma was always saying that she needed more babies. We all came out with blond hair and blue eyes. Mamma had black hair and green eyes. But we did get her curly hair and we do look like her. Papa used to tease her that his French blood was stronger than her Sicilian blood.”
“Your mamma was beautiful. Jér?me showed me a picture of her. I bet she would’ve been so proud of all of you.”
I kiss Renee. “She would’ve loved you. I wish you could’ve met her.”
“Maybe we can name one of our babies after your mamma.” Renee suggests.
“That would be great.” I say to her as Christophe lays his head in her lap.
“Mamma would’ve loved that.” Christophe says softly.
Because he’s the oldest, he has the most memories of our mamma. He was nine when she died and Fabien and I were eight, Jér?me was seven and Lorenzo and Giovanna were six. She had just dropped all of us off at school and a drunk driver hit her head on. She was ten minutes from our house when it happened. I remember the principal calling my name from the door saying that I had to go with him. That my papa was there to pick us all up. He took us home and we stayed with my grandparents. Back then we didn’t know where he went, later on we found out that he was at the hospital. Our mamma was in a coma for five days. We got to see her before they took her off life support. I still remember that day like it was yesterday and I miss my mamma everyday.
It makes me sad that she knew my papa took Lorenzo and Giovanna from the Mancini’s. I’ll never know how she really felt about it, but I want to believe that she at least tried to get my papa to return them to their family.
Today we head to the airport to head home. I know Renee is nervous for our move. But I also know she’s going to love Sprite Lake and Lake Renegade.
“I’m so nervous.” Renee whispers to me. “And I don’t like women looking at you and Christophe.”
I love when she gets jealous, she scrunches up her face and looks so fucking adorable.
“Stop looking at me like that.” She frowns at me.
Christophe and I laugh.
“Baby, you’re too adorable not to look at.” Christophe says as he kisses her.
I can hear people whispering. Christophe is kissing her and I’m holding her hand. They can all fuck off. I’m so tired of the judgmental stares we get. We’re not hurting anyone. So I make it my mission to stare back at some of them. And mission accomplished. They look away.
The plane ride from Seattle to Springfield is about seven hours with our layover. We’re all excited to show her Sprite Lake. We’ll be here for about a week, then head to Lake Renegade.
Renee
I’m excited and nervous to meet their papa in person. What if he meets me and then decides that I’m not good enough for his sons? That’s one of my fears. Or that the brothers could decide that they really don’t want to share me. Sometimes my fears overwhelm me, I’ve told them how I feel and they’re always reassuring me.
When we’re done getting our luggage, we head to the pick up area to wait for Jér?me. I’m so excited to see him.
“There he is.” Christophe says.
We watch a Black SUV coming closer and stop right in front of us. Jér?me jumps out and picks me up.
“I’ve missed you so damn much.” He says as he kisses me.
Christophe and Fran?ois get our bags into the car. Christophe gets in to drive and Fran?ois gets into the passenger seat. I snuggle in the backseat with Jér?me.
“Papa is excited to meet you.” Jér?me says to me as he holds me. “And we’re meeting Tanya tomorrow night.”
“Have you even seen her yet?” Christophe asks Jér?me.
“No, he took her out last night. I heard him come in around midnight. But he was alone.”
It doesn’t take us long to get to their home. And holy shit it’s a huge house.
“This is where you all grew up? It’s beautiful!”
“Papa built this house for our mamma. Everything was made to her specifications.” Christophe explains to me.
“Will we be able to share a room?” I ask.
“We were thinking that you could stay with any of us you choose. Some nights we can stay in one room too.”
I take a deep breath as we park. I see an older version of my men coming out of the front door. I follow all of them over to him. After they all get a hug, he looks at me.
“Papa, this is our Renee. Renee, this is our papa, Dorian.” Christophe says.
Dorian comes over and hugs me.
“Thank you for making my sons so happy.” He says to me.
I look up at him. “They’re the ones that are making me happy. I never thought I’d find anyone like them. And I’ve been lucky to find three of them.”
Dorian smiles at me. “I got lucky too. My sons are everything to me. No matter what I’ve done, they’re by my side.”
“That’s one of the qualities I love about them. Their loyalty.” I smile at him.
“Well let’s get inside and get you settled. I know you’re all leaving this weekend. But I want you to know this is your home too.”
“Thank you. I really appreciate that.”