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“Why here and not Shannon’s morning room?”
“No ceremonial bullshit, Dad,” Jonah calls over, setting cutlery at each place setting. “Just a regular family having breakfast around their kitchen table.”
Michael’s expression changes and his features relax a little. Maybe he’s ready to listen to his children and what they want.
“Mornin’, Dad,” Naomi greets, hugging him.
“Hey Dad,” Grace waves from the counter and continues working on making another pot of coffee.
Michael moves himself from the chair to the head of the table, a table I suspect is usually used by the staff.
“You jokers cooked all this?” he teases, looking at Ash who’s taking off a white apron with pancake batter and other stains on it.
“We sure did. Staff has the morning off. Car?” Ash looks to Carson, “You’ve got the rest of the day off. We’ve got Dad. We’ve got everything.”
Carson smiles. “Very well.”
“Unless you’d like to join us?” Naomi asks. “You’re a non-blood member of this family, after all.”
“I’d be a real family member if Asher would let me set him up on a date with my niece,” Carson quips.
Asher laughs.
“I’d love to join you all,” Carson goes on, “but truthfully, I could use a few hours to run some errands.”
“You don’t have to work today, Car,” Naomi says. “You do so much for us and the last several days have been a lot.”
“The errands are personal, actually.”
“Oh. Okay then. Leave it to a Steele family member to assume absolutely everything is about them, huh?” Naomi laughs at herself.
Carson opens his arms, and she steps into them. He gives her a big hug.
“That’s nice. You give good hugs. Always have,” she says, smiling.
“Where’s Joshua, Naomi?” Michael asks.
Her smile vanishes. “He had something urgent at the hospital, so he took a late flight out.”
She’s upset. It’s all over her face. I’m thinking either she’s upset he’s gone or she’s fibbing about why he’s gone.
“Load up your plates, family,” Jonah orders, bringing a large jug of orange juice over.
Grace brings a bottle of champagne. “Mimosa anyone?”
“Mimosas for everyone and a toast to our beautiful mother,” Ash announces, and Jonah and Grace take turns with the orange juice and champagne, filling all the glasses.
Once all the glasses are full, we all raise them.
“To Shannon,” Michael says, “A true beauty. She loved her family. She did, more than you’ll know. She carried a lot of pain. From her childhood. From her regrets. But she loved her children very much.”
“We know,” Elijah says, sounding a little choked.
“I loved her so much it hurt,” Michael adds. “Never dimmed in forty years. Loved her so much it seems it hurt some or all of you. But… I saw so much strength in all of you that I guess I leaned on you to help me make her happy. I…” He swallows. “I never claimed to be perfect, I’ll never be perfect. I have high expectations of my children. You’ve all been given more blessings than most and I wanted you all to work hard anyway, for you to be solid people, hard workers, to make your mother proud. I wanted to give her a beautiful life, a beautiful family, and I might have failed in some regards, but I know I gave her all of you.”
“We’re pretty awesome,” Grace quips.
Michael smiles. “I want to do better in this next chapter of my life. Be in your lives. All of your lives. I don’t want the loss of your mother to mean you don’t bother. Please. Give me a chance to be in your lives.” He looks directly at Derek. “I promise I’ll try to be more open, more approachable. Is this too much to ask? Have I hurt you all too much?”
