Chapter 19 #2
Way more than you would ever know. But don’t worry, I’m forcing you to come with me, so you can’t escape a family event.
Flynn
And look at that, Kyler’s joined the group chat along with Emily. We have now reached everyone.
Aston
Except the person that has lived in Cage Lake the longest.
Me
I’m looking at the group chat now. Stop freaking out. I’ll see you tonight. Don’t know why we need to have an entire conversation before we’ll all be together for the first time in months. Just saying.
Flynn
It’s a miracle!
James
He’s alive!
Kyler
Oh good. They can make fun of you now.
Emily
Don’t worry, I will always make fun of you.
Isabella
I’m going to text Scarlett with more of a list, okay?
Me
Okay. Not quite sure why you needed to tell me you’re going to text her.
Dorian
It’s a girl thing.
The group chat continued to explode, so I muted it like the good brother that I was.
While we didn’t have to have these family dinners anymore, it was nice to at least continue part of them. I didn’t know why the entire group was going to be there tonight, but I honestly didn’t mind.
That really was growth.
Though as soon as they annoyed me, I would probably get grumpy and leave. That would mean I would leave Scarlett behind however, so maybe I’d be forced to stay. Well then.
I shook my head and got back to work.
By the time my alarm went off that told me I needed to get ready for dinner, I felt good about the painting in front of me, and had even texted my agent back.
With a sigh, I walked back to the house, showered, and smiled as Scarlett walked into the house.
“Oh good. You’re ready to go. And I see Ranger has been keeping you company.”
I looked down at the nearly one-year-old stray cat we had found in the woods a couple of weeks ago, and shrugged.
“He’s okay.”
Ranger looked up at me and meowed. He then shook slightly, lifted his leg, and began a stretch that I wasn’t even sure Scarlett could do.
“You love that cat. You know it.”
“I think he needs a friend,” I said with a shrug.
“I mean, he stays in the house all day, and we won’t let him go outside because there are predators out there, and he doesn’t really like the studio because I have to carry him over there.
Maybe I can build something so he can just have a little cat walkway the whole time. ”
Scarlett put her hands over her mouth, eyes wide.
“What?”
“You’re going to build a cat walkway just for the baby?” she asked as she lifted Ranger into her arms.
The orange tabby purred and rubbed his head under her chin, and I narrowed my gaze at the cat.
He didn’t let me pet him like that.
“What? I don’t want him to be alone. That’s why I wasn’t going to get a pet in the first place.”
“The cat distribution system made sure we got this one. But you’re right. He does need a friend. Would you like that, Ranger? Another cat? Or maybe a dog?”
“No, another cat. And a boy cat. This way they can be friends, and you don’t have to deal with dominance things that you do when a female cat enters the house. And we don’t know if he’s going to get along with dogs, and I don’t want to have that be an issue right away.”
Scarlett just blinked at me.
“What now?” I asked.
“You’ve done research on this. You know things. I’m just so confused.”
“What? Ranger’s a family member now. A Cage.”
“A Blair Cage,” she corrected.
“Whatever. I’m just not going to screw up this cat’s life. Right, Ranger?”
Ranger yawned, showing me his teeth.
“Okay, we’ll find him a brother. A little Cage brother. Who knew?”
“Okay, enough with that,” I said with a laugh, before I kissed Scarlett hard on the mouth, rubbed Ranger’s chin, and went to get ready for the day.
After leaving Ranger with his dinner, water, and a new toy, we headed to Aston’s lake house.
There were far too many cars parked around the area, and I knew Aston was already thinking about a way to make this work for the long term, but I would leave it up to him. I didn’t have the space for that many Cages, so I didn’t have to worry about it. At least that’s what I told myself.
As soon as we walked inside, everybody said their hellos, and Scarlett was immediately enveloped into the family.
I leaned down, lifted Hazel onto my hip, and grinned.
“Hello there, Hazel.”
She smiled and rubbed my beard with her tiny little hand. “Hi, Uncle Hudson.”
When Violet pulled at my jeans, I leaned down and lifted her onto my other hip before making my way into the living room.
I ignored Blakely taking a photo of me holding the girls, but only because she had to be hormonal considering she was ready to pop any day now.
“Where’s your mama?” I asked, searching for Sophia.
As if I’d conjured her, Sophia came around the corner and grinned. “Hello there. I see you’ve attacked your uncle.”
The girls hugged me tightly, babbling about something, and I just shook my head.
“They let me pick them up, unlike Ranger.”
“That cat will let you pick him up one day,” she teased as she brushed Violet’s hair from her face.
“Maybe. We’ll see. Where’s Cale?” I asked, searching for my brother-in-law.
“Oh, work trip.” She said it with a shrug, and I frowned, but forced myself to blank my face since the girls were in my arms.
When Hazel was plucked from my arms and tossed around the room in her Uncle Kyler’s embrace, I didn’t scowl. He didn’t get to see the girls as often as I did. And considering I didn’t live nearby, that was saying something.
Everybody milled about, looking happy, as if we had done this countless times before. Maybe we had, just not in this sense.
I knew this wasn’t what my father had envisioned when he had forced this upon us. He had expected us to fail. There was no doubt about that, but he had been wrong.
I set Violet down, and she ran over to Theo, who picked her up and continued his conversation with Emily.
There was a bountiful amount of food and drinks around the house, and the volume increased with each laugh and joke.
As Scarlett wrapped her arm around my waist, continuing her conversation with Phoebe, I took a sip of the beer offered by Flynn.
I hadn’t expected this type of family, this type of future, had never thought I deserved it.
And now I was never going to let go. Scarlett and I had fought for each other, and come out scarred, and yet whole at the same time.
She was my everything, and my family was just the same.
We had community projects to attend to, and countless other small things that were required of a Cage, but I was no longer running from it.
I would do what I had to in order to keep my family safe, and to keep us together.
And as I placed an absent kiss on the top of Scarlett’s head, and she smiled up at me before continuing her conversation, I knew I would fight to hell and back to keep Scarlett in my life.
She had been my obsession, my desire, and my enemy.
And now she was just mine.
Forever.