Short Stack - Lily Morton Page 0,59
asks earnestly. “I’m not touching a person when I talk.” He considers for a second. “Unless I lick them while I do it,” he says in a tone of realisation.
I groan, and Asa bursts into laughter as he comes near, hoisting Billy up by the ankles so he dangles between us, giggling. “No licking people, Billy,” he says clearly. “They don’t like it.”
“I’m very sorry I lacked someone in life to tell me that,” Gabe muses.
“I’m not,” Dylan murmurs.
Gabe gives him a faintly scandalized look. “Not in front of Billy,” he says primly. “Really, Dylan. Show some discretion.”
Billy, who’s been hoisted onto Asa’s shoulders where he’s busily ruining his man bun by digging his fingers in, looks instantly interested. “What’s that, Uncle Gabe?”
Gabe gets that panicked look he has whenever Billy talks to him. As if Bill is a tiny curly-headed unexploded bomb. It never fails to make Dylan and me smile.
I take pity on him. “It means think before you say something, Bill.”
“Like when you said it was fine for me to eat ice cream in bed?”
Everyone breaks into laughter, and I flush. “Yes, just like that. Thank you so much, Bill.”
He grins. “You’re welcome, Pa.” He turns his head and his grin widens. “Grandma.”
My mother is walking towards us. She looks beautiful in a pale-pink dress, her black hair touched with grey coiled on top of her head, and her dark eyes sparkling.
“Bebé,” she says and throws herself into my arms. “You look so handsome.”
I kiss her hair, inhaling her scent of Dune perfume. It’s like olfactory comfort. “You look lovely,” I say. “Is Dad okay?”
She nods and steps back, smiling. “He’s fine. Although he’s a bit cross with the man he’s talking to.” She waves her hand in front of her face. “Phew! We came away and left them to it.” She touches my face and runs her fingers through my curls. “I can’t believe you’re doing this,” she says softly.
“Are you happy?”
She smiles, her face softening and brightening, granting a glimpse of the young girl she once was. “So happy, my Jude,” she whispers. “He’s the most wonderful man. I couldn’t have dreamed up a better man for my baby.”
I glance at Asa and smile. “He surely is. I can’t believe how lucky I am.”
“It’s the same for him,” she says staunchly. “I see him watch you as if he can’t believe he has you.”
As if sensing my thoughts, Asa wanders over with Billy on his shoulders like a tiny king. He kisses my mother’s cheek. “You look wonderful,” he says. “Thank you for taking Billy. It gave us a chance to talk.”
“Did you do your vows?”
He smiles at me. “Yes. We’re ready for the dry, boring ones now.”
She smiles and, rummaging in her bag, she comes out with a small box. She hands it to him, and he opens it carefully. Inside are two roses that are so dark a red they’re almost purple. The scent they give out is heavenly.
“I picked these this morning from the rose bush that Jude’s dad planted on the day I gave birth to Jude,” she says. “They’re for your buttonholes.”
Asa smiles shakily. “They’re so lovely. Thank you.” He pins mine to my buttonhole and bends slightly so I can do the same for him.
“Mama?” she says, and he looks at her enquiringly. “You’re my son-in-law. Do you think you could call me Mama now?”
He bites his lip and nods quickly. I know he’s thinking of his own mother who would be here now if she hadn’t let him walk away and never contacted him again. “I would love that,” he says hoarsely. “Thank you, Mama.”
She hugs him, and it touches my heart to see how gentle my giant is with her. When he stands back, he looks at Dylan. “Have you got the rings?”
Dylan shakes his head, looking mystified. “No, I gave them to Dean.”
As one, the whole party falls silent and turns to stare at him.
“Why?” Asa asks faintly.
“You told me to.”
“I did?” he says slowly.
Dylan nods, looking slightly panicky now. “You said give them to Dean to look after.”
“I said under no circumstances to give them to Dean.”
“Oh,” Dylan says in a tone of realisation. “That makes much more sense when I think about it. The line was rather bad, and I did think it was a bit odd, but then he is your brother.”
Asa turns to Dean who is looking in a rather sultry fashion at a man standing on the steps near us.
I nudge