Chapter 49 Mercer
MERCER
I wondered what was going through Papa’s and Appa’s heads as they saw their old home for the first time in years. Was it fight or flight? Were they mentally placing yellow caution tape around the perimeter?
I wasn’t sure they would come. Braced ourselves for that last-minute Sorry but …message. But we hoped. We wanted to show them what we’d done to transform the house. Especially me, never quite able to shake off the feeling of owing them no matter how many times they made it clear that I was pack.
They were a little more gray. Shoulders a touch more hunched. The lines around their eyes deeper. But their hugs were just as tight and their smiles warm. Always happy to see us, no matter the circumstance. “Have you eaten?” were the first words out of Appa’s mouth, his own brand of love.
“Waiting for you.” I grinned.
Jae ran down the front steps to embrace them. “Hi, Dad times two!”
Appa looked him over. “More tattoos?”
“No, the same number as last time,” he said, a little wounded.
Lucien was getting his own grilling. “Did you really quit your job?” Papa asked when he had trapped him in a handshake.
I bit the side of my cheek to keep from laughing as Lucien floundered in a sea of um s. “Yes, but I’m starting a new venture. With King, another local businessman here.”
“Oh?”
“He’s in ocean conservation. I’m going to consult on his behalf, working with companies to implement more sustainable business practices and improve profitability.”
It all sounded very noble, but Lucien conveniently left out that this was decided after a drunken karaoke night where he and King turned “Part of Your World” into a rousing duet.
His new job also meant he could pick his own hours.
Funnily enough, he chose to work on days that aligned perfectly with Summer’s and my shifts at the bakery and the patisserie.
Summer was so thrilled she spent an hour under his desk congratulating him.
She was currently hanging back on the porch, and I went to her immediately. I wrapped her nerves with my calm and reassurance in the bond until the slight shake of her hand stilled.
It was still hard to believe we were linked forever.
I guided her down the steps. “This is Summer, our omega.” Saying it out loud was akin to a lightning strike. “Summer, this is Papa and Appa.”
“Hello.” She smoothed over her anxiety with a smile. “It’s so lovely to meet you.”
We had gotten all the jokes about completing her trifecta or collecting us like Pokémon out of her system before they arrived. It was the only way she managed that very demure greeting.
Appa returned her sentiment, taking both of her hands in his. Papa, however…
“Are you sure you want to be saddled with these three?” he joked.
“Why? Do you offer refunds?” She clapped her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide. “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what came over me.”
But Papa gave me a look over the top of his glasses.
“Now it makes sense,” he said dryly. “Summer, it’s a pleasure.
We will talk more, over wine, not on a step that hasn’t been sanded properly.
Mercer, what is this?” He slid his leather loafer back and forth across the stoop.
“And are you ever going to let me in and show me the house?”
“Yeah, I will,” I mumbled, reduced to a teenager again.
Lucien issued a warning as he led them inside. “You have to control yourself from telling us everything we should’ve done differently.”
“Why did I come here then?” Papa countered. He was already rapping his knuckles on the clapboard siding, his glasses even farther down the bridge of his nose.
It was actually a relief to have Papa examining our finishes too closely rather than dwelling on being back in this house again.
His roundabout way of showing he wanted the best for us.
That he was okay, and that the worst thing about being back here was seeing our handiwork.
I was soothed by the sound of him arguing with Lucien about the paint we’d chosen.
“You’re selling it to us anyway, so what’s the big deal?”
“It’s the principle, Lucien!”
Jae and Summer went to the kitchen to finish preparing lunch. Appa hung back quietly, his hands clasped behind his back as he took in all the changes. To anyone else, his expression was neutral, curious even. I caught the stiffness of his lips, pressed a little too hard together.
“It’s very different, isn’t it?” he finally said.
“I know it’s not what you expected,” I said, addressing the elephant in the room. “That we’re back in this house, making a home in Starlight Grove again. You don’t have to visit us if it’s too hard.”
Appa wrestled with this, trying to find the right words. “The four of us…we made this house an unhappy place. It was not fair to you boys.”
I wasn’t used to being so candid with Appa. “It was a hard situation. You were hurting, too.”
One shoulder lifted. “Mm. Maybe.” Appa gazed out the window. “Watching you three immediately go your separate ways after we moved…it felt like we had failed at everything it meant to be a family.”
“No, that wasn’t—”
He held up a hand. “You were figuring out your own paths. I know.” The closer he got to his emotions, the quieter his voice became.
“But that’s why this is good, isn’t it? You three went far away and still found each other, here, where it started.
You are choosing this with an open heart. Choosing her .”
I couldn’t speak, hot unshed tears constricting my throat. Summer met me where I was in our bond, suffusing me with comfort.
“And Mercer,” Appa continued, “of course we will visit. I want to get to know my son’s omega. And more than that, you are all happy. What more can a parent want?”