Chapter Twenty-Nine Rhys #2
Oliver nods, and Liam grasps onto my mom’s hand as they trip forward into the kitchen as she explains how delicious biscuits with chocolate gravy are, despite sounding not-so-appetizing.
Oliver hangs back, just behind me as Mom and Liam step forward, Dad following close behind after I nod at him to go first. I wait for the kid, settling into a slow pace as we all take the long way through the garden and into the house.
My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I check it to see a text from Ro—several crazy, but happy-looking emojis followed by an all-caps text that she would make sure Sadie got rest.
You should make an effort to be here , I’d chided Sadie the first day we spoke. The memory of my words makes me trip in my steps. Oliver looks at me for a moment and the guilt hits harder.
Selfish, entitled asshole.
I can feel it again now, that voice that leaves me alone whenever Sadie’s entire presence mutes it. The dark thing that has lived under my skin ever since the day I hit the ice and woke up to gauze all over my face and my body, struggling to breathe.
The anger only faded, until it was just emptiness, and I missed the anger.
Now, it’s only self-hatred left.
But I’m learning the tools for it. I’m also learning that I might need better tools when it comes to handling Sadie Gray.
“Oliver… is your dad normally like that?” I ask.
He tenses for a moment and avoids my eyes as he nods.
“Your mom?”
It’s hard to talk around the knot in my throat, but I try to clear it, try to keep my wits through this land mine of a conversation.
“Sadie and I had a mom, but she—” He shrugs. “She didn’t want us. So my dad kept us when she left.” There’s a begrudging defensiveness to his tone.
We walk a few more steps up to the door. He stays just outside of the open door, the smell of dough and melting chocolate slowly beginning to permeate the air, and his expression is one of anxiety mixed with fear.
But I’m patient. I’ll be patient with him just like I will be with Sadie.
“Are we staying here long?”
“As long as you want” slips from my mouth before I can think twice.
Oliver nods, though, accepting it. “You should tell Ro. Maybe she can make Sissy get some sleep—she never gets any.”
“Because of your dad?”
I’ve stepped on one of the land mines—his stance turns defensive, eyes sharp.
“She takes good care of us,” he cuts back over his shoulder, like he can’t quite look fully at me as he says it. He’s defensive, sure, but he’s scared. “Sadie—she takes care of me and Liam; and I help. We don’t need anything.”
He steps into the house without pausing, and I know that’s all I’ll get from him for now. He doesn’t trust me yet, not really. But I’m keying into his words— Sadie and I had a mom . Does that mean that Liam’s mom is someone else? Is she in their lives?
Or is Sadie alone?
Oliver hangs back in the kitchen, unsure of what to do, while Liam spends every second looking at my mom, watching her every move and following each command.
I finally get Oliver to sit at one of the barstools. He nervously taps his fingers on the marble, quiet, almost pensive in his guardianship over his younger brother.
Where Liam chats constantly, answering any questions my mom or dad throw at him, Oliver is cautious, observing my family’s routine quietly. My dad grabs a bag of chips from the pantry and a few containers from the fridge, sitting at the counter and placing all the goods between the three of us.
Oliver looks at the food, then to me, before quietly informing my dad that I already gave them food and thanking me again.
“You’re a growing boy, Oliver. Rhys used to clean out the entire pantry in one sitting at your age.”
His hesitancy grows, but there’s a little smile from my father’s words working its way onto his face.
“Are you sure?”
My dad smiles a little sadly and drops his shoulders so his words are quiet enough that I can just make them out.
“I know how hard it can be to accept things when you’ve spent your life working very hard for very little. Saving up and still ending up hungry.”
My chest clenches, and I see Oliver trying to understand how the famous man, someone he’s probably idolized in his own head, was once a hungry child too.
“Yeah.” Oliver swallows lightly, but he continues listening intently.
“But it’s okay. I want you to eat it all. In fact”—he opens the container of buffalo chicken dip—“I want you to try it first, and if you hate it, we have tons more you can try.”
Oliver softens slightly, enough to melt into it when my dad pats his back.
“Okay.”
Hours later, after the sun starts to set and Ro sends me a text for where to drop them off, I load up the car with the boys and a few things I need at the Hockey House and buckle Liam in tight, still a little worried that he isn’t in a car seat.
I drive ten miles under the speed limit just to be safe.
We’re only halfway there when I hear Liam call my name.
“Do you think I was a good helper today?”
I smile and flick my eyes to the rearview mirror. “You were a great helper, bud.”
Liam turns to his brother and lowers his voice just slightly. “I hope I was the best helper today. Then maybe she’ll wanna keep us, Ollie.”
Oliver flips his head, his tone biting as he chews out, “Stop it, Liam. They’re strangers.”
I frown a little at his quick dismissal, but I know he’s defensive and probably uneasy with the turn of events today.
A prick of worry needles me at the two different ways the recap of today will be told to their older sister—Liam in his fairy-tale way, while Oliver might make it sound like we held them hostage.
Liam yawns audibly, slumping back and mumbling, “I think I wish Anna was my mom. I think she’d love me a lot.”
Oliver looks toward me as I pull to a stop at a red light, his cheeks pink from embarrassment or anger, I’m not sure.
“Sadie takes care of us,” he chides his brother. “I told you to stop saying stuff like that.”
There’s a warning in his tone, like this isn’t the first time they’ve talked about whatever this is. It makes my stomach churn, worse when I see a few tears well in Liam’s eyes.
“I don’t want anyone to take us from Sadie.” Liam looks at me, eyes still red and teary. “You’re not gonna make us leave Sadie, right, Rhys?”
It’s the first time the youngest sibling has looked at me like that, wary and suddenly unsure.
It’s a sharp reminder of exactly how shaky their trust is, even Liam’s.
“No.” I check the light again, before turning in my seat to look them both in the eyes. “Never. You and Oliver will always be with Sadie. I’ll make sure of it.”
I’ll just make sure she’s not alone in this ever again.