Gage on his feet and face-planted in the grass. Gage dropped on top of him and pounded the ground next to Blay's head. "One, two, three! I pinned you!"
Blay rolled suddenly and buried his fingers in Gage's ribs. The boy's laughter dissolved into hysterical shrieks of laughter. "Mom! Mom! Daaaddd! Help!"
Brody's heart launched the same time he did. He sprinted across the grass and tackled Blay, rolling him off Gage. "Come on, payback time!"
Blay was majorly ticklish, and he held the man down digging his fingers in, showing Gage where to attack.
"Not cool!" Blay laughed while Gage tickled him. "Uncle!" Blay shouted his surrender.
Brody rolled off him and stared up at the blue sky. Gage fell down between them and rolled onto his back. "I like this yard. It’s huge."
"Your grandma and grandpa tore down the fence between the houses before your dad was born." Blay nudged Gage. "That's a long time ago because your old man is older than dirt."
Gage laughed and shook his head. "No one is older than dirt."
"Dessert!"
Brody groaned when Gage popped up at his grandmother's words, using his stomach as a landing place for his elbow.
"Chocolate Trifle!"
Gage was up and over him before he could blink.
"Damn, man, that kid has no give up in him." Blay flopped both arms above his head. His back popped, and he groaned.
"Told you."
Blay snorted. "I thought you were exaggerating."
"Nope."
His brother tipped his head and looked at the picnic area. "He called you Dad."
He nodded. The word made him feel twenty feet tall, though Gage had probably said it without thinking.
"Incoming." Blay rolled up and jogged across the lawn to the picnic table.
"Hey, coming to check if you'd actually died." Amber appeared over him, her ponytail hanging down as she bent over.
"Not yet. Soon." She reached down to help him up, but he tugged her down to the ground.
She laughed and then sat up, cross-legged. "Seems to be going well, huh?"
He rolled to his side, facing her, and not the crowd of people diving into dessert. "Saw you talking with my mother today. You have a good visit?"
Amber gave him a sad smile. "That talk was about twelve years overdue."
"Did it clear the air?" He plucked a blade of grass from the lawn.
She sighed and then shrugged. "It was hard, but we agreed we needed to try again. Next week, if we don't have something going on at work, I'm going to girl's night. The McBrides, the Kings—and me."
"You don't have to go if you don't want to." He’d damn sure have words with his mother and sisters before next weekend, too. He didn't want anyone laying blame on the woman for her actions. They hadn't walked in her shoes; they had no right to judge her.
"No, I want to. I think it would be good for us. The talk today was cathartic. Hard, but cathartic. It cleared the air, although I'd wager she's still hurt by my decisions."
He heard Gage laugh and looked over. The boy sat between his grandma and grandpa with a heaping bowl of chocolate trifle.
Amber chuckled. "He's going to be wired."
"He called me Dad." His whisper was reverent. It was a moment he'd always remember.
"Last night, he asked when he should call you that. I told him when he felt like it. Obviously, on the losing end of a tickle fight was the right time to call in the big guns." Amber plucked a blade of grass and examined it.
"It would seem." He yanked on her pant leg, drawing her eyes to him. "Thank you. For being here and for trying again."
"Trying again?" Her brows furrowed together.
"To get along with my mom. When we were together, I honestly didn't realize you two were having problems." He sat up and crossed his legs, facing her with only a couple inches of grass between their knees.
"Hindsight being twenty-twenty, it was mostly me. I wanted her to like me so much that I tried to be someone I wasn't. I wasn't comfortable around her or your sisters, and because of it, they weren't comfortable around me."
"Why didn't you say anything?" Brody took her hand in his.
She stared at their connection. "I was afraid of losing you." She gave a humorless chuckle. "And that's exactly what happened, but it wasn't because of my relationship with your family, it was because of my past with my family."
Brody squeezed her hand gently. "Did you ever love me?"
Her eyes rose to his. She nodded and whispered, "I've never stopped loving you."