Family Love

“You gotta at least have one cat for that,” he said. “Did you talk to him?”

“He said he was coming, for the kids’ sake.”

“Well, that’s good, I guess.” He sighed. “Mama’s full speed ahead, in denial mode. But pla

“How’s Daddy?”

“Working too much. He and Dom fight daily, but I think Dom does it just to give him a feeling of normalcy. We’re pretty sure he and Mama are sleeping in separate rooms. But Lindsay puts up a good front, as you know.”

“I do know.” Guilt over not setting foot in Lucasville for the past twelve months made me dizzy. “They don’t … fight or anything?”

“If they do, it’s when no one else is around. I have this feeling that they don’t. Which in a way is worse.”

“Yeah,” I said, toying with my coffee cup. “I’ll be in on the twenty-third. Don’t tell them. Maybe I can surprise Daddy in a good way. I can’t wait to hold that sweet little girl.”

“Ugh, it’s killing me, I won’t kid you. We’re too old for it.” But I heard the happiness in his voice.

“Liar. If you could, you’d have a litter of ‘em, just like Mama and—” I stopped.

“I’ll see you next week, Angel. Send me your flight info. I’ll pick you up.”

***

“Well, look what the cat dragged in,” Mama said, wiping her floury hands on her apron and accepting my kiss to her cheek when I trooped into the kitchen the following week. “Anton,” she said, her voice neutral. “Your baby girl is here.”

Daddy walked in from the living room, holding a magazine. I gasped at the sight of him. “Daddy, are you sick?” He gathered me close and kissed my hair. He must have lost twenty pounds he couldn’t afford to lose.

“No, Angel. I’m fine.” He let go of me and wandered into the living room again. No admonishing me about helping Mama or asking my mother what she wanted him to do. He sat in his recliner and stared down at the open magazine.

I bit my lip, and then returned to the kitchen. Mama handed me napkins to iron. Cara and Diana both shot me sympathetic looks from their corners, where they were prepping food. I held the pile of Irish white linen fabric, glancing between my parents, my heart thudding.

Christmas day brought snow, kids, and brothers. When Aiden and his family arrived, it was a flurry of strange reunion. He was polite but cool with Mama and his usual loving self with Daddy.

The weird awkwardness saturated everything until Dominic burst in the door alongside his now teenaged, tall, and very handsome son Jace, with a big a

Daddy brought out U of L hats, and everyone put them on, wincing as if they burned. But he was damn proud of Jace, and I knew it.

When the doorbell rang, I ignored it until Mama told me to go answer it. Wiping my hands on a dishtowel, I set the silverware on the expanded dining room table in passing. Everyone got real quiet as while I walked down the steps to the front door. I glanced over my shoulder as I opened it.

“Angel,” a familiar voice said. I turned slowly and came face to face with Cal Morrison, brandishing a huge bouquet of roses and a bottle of wine.

“Mama,” I called out, not taking my eyes from his. “What have you done?”

“Just what’s best for my children,” she sang out from the kitchen.

Dominic reached around me, snagged the flowers and wine, and gave me a push toward him.

Something in me gave way then. All the almost-unbearable tension from the past years, the failure of a marriage, all my rotten, stupid life choices, seemed to lift up and out of me like steam off summer morning grass.

I smiled. Cal opened his arms.

Our holiday di

Cal held my hand tight the whole time. I let him, loving it and him, and fighting an i

Dom played Santa, and when he gave Diana a beautiful diamond ring at the end of the gift frenzy, she burst into uncharacteristic tears. All pretty typical Love family drama, but in a good way. Aiden stayed aloof, but I could tell he was glad to be home, at least for a while.

Mandy was surly, and had been the whole year, according to Rosie. Separating her from her beloved grandma had been brutal for everyone.

Cal helped dry the serving dishes. Mama treated him like family, bossing him around while bragging on him and his job as head of emergency services at the fancy new county hospital.

Once we were done, the wrapping paper all disposed of, the table cleared, kids getting grumpy, and Daddy about to pass out on the couch, Cal grabbed me and pulled me down to the bottom basement. I’d spent plenty of time making out in that space as a teenager, but when he kissed me then, I knew I wouldn’t want another man’s touch or lips but his, ever again.

“Angel,” he gasped when we broke the lip-lock. “Oh God, honey, I have missed you.”

“Take me home, Cal,” I said. “I mean … I’m real sorry about your divorce.”

He thumbed my chin. “It’s all right. She knew I was only half with her the whole time. She found somebody else, and I don’t blame her.”

“Only half with her,” I said.

“And half with you,” he said, smiling before taking my hand and leading me upstairs.

“Go on,” Mama said from her spot in her chair, reading glasses on and a book on her lap.

“But I was staying here,” I protested, knowing I had to do that.

“No, you’re not,” she said, smiling at me.

We rode through the swirling snow to Cal’s tidy house in one of the older neighborhoods. He unlocked the door, pulled me inside, and held me close. “Promise me something,” he said into my hair.

“Anything,” I said, gripping the back of his shirt.

“Never leave me again.”

I nodded, took a half step away, and slipped out of my shoes and dress. He sucked in a breath. But I put my finger to his lips, unbuttoned his shirt, unbuckled and unzipped his trousers, and left everything in a puddle at our feet.

“I love you,” I said, letting my finger trail along his jaw, down his neck and torso. “And you are stuck with me now. I hear I’m a real handful.”

He smiled, scooped me up and took me to his bedroom.

The sound of a ring tone exactly like the one from the kitchen of my childhood jolted us both awake. Cal got up and found his phone in the pocket of the trousers we’d left on the living room floor. I lay still, arm over my eyes, so completely happy I was scared to let myself feel it.

“Okay,” Cal was saying as he walked into the bedroom. “I’ll tell her.” He ended the call and stood in the doorway, his dark eyes serious.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, holding the sheet to my chest. “Spit it out, Calvin. I know I’m not going to be allowed to be this happy without the axe dropping sometime.”

“Your father is moving out of the house,” he said, coming to gather me in his arms. “Antony and Kieran are helping him. He’s all right. But he insisted on it … late last night, I guess. Big blowout fight, or something.”

I pushed away from him and scrambled out of bed, wrapping myself in a quilt. “It’s Love family crap, Cal. And I shouldn’t subject you to it.” I headed out into the living room to find my clothes. “I’m sorry.” Blinded by tears, I stepped into panties and tried to locate my bra.