Chapter sixty-four
Freya
We walk through the door and I take a deep breath. I don’t want this to feel heavy. I don’t want him to feel like something is about to change without him understanding why.
“Theo,” I say gently.
“Yeah?”
“Come sit with me for a minute.”
He looks at me straight away. Suspicious. “Why?”
I smile slightly. “Because I want to talk to you.”
“Am I in trouble?”
“No,” I say softly. “You’re not in trouble.”
He slides off the chair and walks over, climbing onto the sofa and curling into the corner like he always does. I sit beside him, snuggling him in under my arm.
“You know Rory,” I start.
He nods. “Yeah.”
“He’s umm… becoming a bigger part of our lives.”
He goes quiet. Really quiet. And I feel that shift straight away.
“How do you feel about that?” I ask gently.
He shrugs. “I like him. He’s cool. Especially because he’s Isla’s dad. She’s cool too.”
Relief settles, but I don’t let it end there.
“And you can tell me if you don’t like it.” I add.
“I do,” he says quickly.
I smile slightly. “Okay.”
There’s a pause. “Is Rory your boyfriend? Will they live with us?”
My breath stills for a second. Because there it is. The real question. I reach over, smoothing his hair back gently.
“Yes, he is. And only if we all choose it together,” I say softly.
He frowns. “What does that mean?”
“It means it’s not just my decision,” I explain carefully. “And it’s not just Rory’s either. It’s ours. We all have to feel happy and safe and want the same thing.”
He thinks about that. Properly. “Okay.”
“You can always tell me if something doesn’t feel right,” I add. “Always.”
“I know.”
He leans into me slightly. “I like him,” he says quietly.
“I know you do.”
“And Isla.”
“She’s pretty great.”
He nods. “She’s funny.”
“She is.”
There’s a small silence. “Does that mean Isla is like my sister?”
And everything pauses. Because that’s bigger than anything I’ve said.
And suddenly this isn’t just about me anymore.
It’s about us. I don’t answer straight away.
Because I know I’m not the only one who should.
The tension in that question is broken by a knock at the door.
Theo is already off the sofa before I’ve even properly stood up, his feet hitting the floor with that quick burst of energy he always gets when he’s excited about something, and I follow behind him at a slower pace, my hand instinctively brushing over the bracelet at my wrist as I walk, grounding myself.
Because this isn’t just us anymore. This is them.
Theo reaches the door first, pulling it open without hesitation, and Isla is standing there, her face lighting up the second she sees him, Rory just behind her, one hand resting lightly against the doorframe, his eyes lifting immediately to find mine.
There’s a second where everything else fades slightly.
I give the smallest nod. We’re doing this.
Theo and Isla fall straight back into conversation like they’ve pressed play on something that was only paused, not stopped, their voices filling the hallway as they drift past us and into the house, already halfway into whatever game or story they’d been building earlier.
I close the door behind Rory, and for a moment we just stand there, side by side, listening to the kids in the next room, neither of us rushing to speak.
“This feels big,” I say quietly.
He huffs out a small breath beside me. “Yeah.”
“Bigger than I thought it would.”
“Same.”
There’s a pause. “Are we ready for this?” I ask, not because I don’t think we are, but because I need to hear him say it.
He turns his head slightly toward me. “We don’t have to get it perfect,” he says quietly. “We just have to be honest.”
I nod. That I can do.
We step into the living room together. Theo and Isla are sitting on the floor now, legs crossed, something spread out between them that I don’t quite catch, both of them looking up as we come in, like they’ve been waiting for us without even realising it.
There’s a moment where everything stills slightly.
They both look between us. And I can feel my heart pick up, not in panic, not in fear, but in that strange, fragile way that comes when something matters more than you expected it to.
Theo is the one who breaks it. “So…” he says, looking between me and Rory, his brows pulling together slightly like he’s trying to piece something together in his head. “Does that mean Isla is like my sister?”
The question lands softly. But it carries everything.
I don’t answer straight away. Because I can feel how important it is.
And this isn’t just mine to answer. I glance at Rory who looks back at me with not an ounce of hesitation.
And in that look, there’s no hesitation.
He steps slightly forward, not taking over, not speaking for me, just… standing beside me properly.
“If that’s what you both want,” he says, his voice calm and steady.
Theo turns to Isla. Isla looks back at him.
“Do you want that?” Theo asks.
Isla shrugs slightly, but there’s a small smile tugging at her mouth. “Yeah,” she says. “Do you?”
Theo nods, like it’s the simplest decision in the world. “Yeah.”
I feel Rory’s hand brush lightly against mine like a silent acknowledgement of what just happened.
I look down at Theo and Isla, already back to whatever they were doing, like they’ve accepted something huge without needing to make it complicated.
And it hits me, slowly but surely, that maybe it doesn’t have to be complicated. Maybe it can just be this.