Billy nodded again and both he and Mitch moved.
I went to the couch. Mitch arrived first and handed me my glass. Then he tilted his head to the couch. I sat. Mitch took a tug off his beer, put it on the coffee table then sat next to me but he left a couple of feet of space between us. Billy came around the couch while I took a sip of my wine and he stopped, appearing uncertain.
Mitch wasn’t.
“Sit here, Bud, between Mara and me.”
Billy’s shoulders shifted strangely then he walked to us and sat in the small space between Mitch and me. Instantly, I turned my body into his, crossed my legs and took his hand in my free one.
Billy’s head dropped and he looked at our hands. I gave his a squeeze and his eyes lifted to mine. That was when I gave him a small smile.
He didn’t return it. He was worried, my sweet Billy.
Mitch lifted both his legs, deposited his boots on my coffee table but he did this at a slight angle effectively boxing Billy in.
No.
Cocooning him in a physical nest of care and family.
God. Seriously. I loved Mitch Lawson. I loved him anyway but I loved him enough that when he was cocooning Billy with me in a nest of safety, I wasn’t going to give him stick for putting his boots on my new coffee table.
Billy’s eyes went to Mitch’s legs.
He didn’t miss it either, then again, Billy rarely missed anything.
“Right, look at me, Bud,” Mitch ordered gently. Billy’s head came up and his neck twisted so he could give Mitch his eyes. Mitch didn’t delay. “There’s some things you need to know. The most important of those things is that I’ve fallen in love with Mara.”
My lips parted and I was pretty sure my eyes bugged out.
Well, this wasn’t where I expected him to go. I didn’t mind it. I just didn’t expect it.
At all.
Mitch kept talking.
“She feels the same for me.”
I blinked then looked down to see Billy’s head had swung toward me. I closed my mouth so I could use it to smile and squeezed his hand again.
Mitch kept going and Billy looked back at him.
“The man who gets Mara gets you and Billie. I’m that man. What you gotta get is, while fallin’ in love with Mara, I fell in love with you and your sister. Straight up, Bud, no lie. The feelings I feel for Mara are hers, the feelings I feel for Billie are hers and the feelings I feel for you are yours. You all have my love, not collectively, individually. Do you understand me?”
“I…” Billy whispered, then finished softly, “no.”
Mitch nodded. “Right. What I mean is, I didn’t fall in love with you all as a whole. I fell in love with each of you because of who you are. I don’t care about you because you come with Mara. I care about you because you’re a good kid. You’re smart. You’re loyal. And you love and look out for your sister and Mara. I know grown men who do not have a character as fine as yours. Those are the reasons I love you. There are different reasons I love Billie. And there are different reasons I love Mara. Today, what we had together was good. But the feelings I feel for you aren’t feelings I have to have in order to have Mara. They’re feelings you earned. Now, you with me?”
“I think so,” Billy replied quietly and I gave his hand another squeeze.
Mitch continued.
“Okay, you’re with me on that, I’ll explain this. You’ve got my love, so do Billie and Mara. Billie loves all of us. Mara loves all of us and, my guess is, you do too. We have that so that makes us a family.”
I felt tears sting my eyes as I watched Billy swallow and wet shimmer in his.
Mitch wasn’t done.
“Life goes like I hope, you’ll be dancin’ with Mara at your wedding and your sister will be dancing with me at hers.”