Page 87 of Ashes to Ash’s

“He’s in his room,” Ash said, jabbing his finger at those phones again. “I feel as creeped out by these as I do when old Sharpie shows up.”

Gray winced, shushing his son. “Don’t let him hear you call him that.”

Okay, weird. Even Gray was afraid of the man he’d apparently known for decades, and trusted with our safety.

Something distracted Ash’s parents then, and Wilma sighed, as both dads hurriedly left their seats and disappeared.

“Everything okay, mum?” Now Ash was worried, his fingers suddenly gripping mine in a tight, biting grasp.

She sighed, her head shifting as she looked away from the phone at whatever was causing the yelling we could now hear.

“I think the boys are arguing again. My god. I don’t know what’s up with them. They’re twins, so shouldn’t they get on better than this?” Whoa. I caught Ash’s gaze and he shrugged, but I could see the worry on his face.

“I hope they’re okay,” I said, as Ash spoke too.

“Mum, call us if you need help with them. We have a nice room we can lock them in.”

She tutted at him as she reached out to pick up the phone.

“It might come to that yet, but damn, I hope not. Speak to you soon, boys. Love you both.”

The call ended a second later, and I sat back in the seat, my jaw slack with shock. Wilma just said she loves us both. Both. That meant she loved me. It left me silent, stunned. She didn’t mean it, right? It’s just something people say.

“Cal?”

I was up and heading for the kitchen, for a beer, a coffee, something. I needed a distraction instead of dwelling on what was probably just a friendly goodbye, rather than a declaration of motherly love.

“What’s going on, babe?” Ash caught up with me, and spun me back against the tall fridge freezer, slamming me against it. “Stop running and talk to me.”

I swallowed hard, surprised to find myself choked up at the prospect of something that may have just been nothing more than a reflex. Love. Did I even deserve their love? Who was I to them? The man who had their son raped. Maybe that’s all I’d ever be to them.

“No. Don’t do that. Whatever’s going on, don’t do it.”

“She… she said love.”

Ash grinned. “I thought you’d learned that my family loves deeply, and accepts each of us as we are.”

“What I did to you…”

His gaze darkened for a moment, and a light shudder ran through him.

“We don’t talk about that. It’s done. She’s dead. We’ve moved on. My family have accepted you, Cal. Get used to it. I mean, hell, they accepted Ethan, didn’t they?”

I sighed, wrapping my hands around Ash’s shoulders, gripping him tightly, like I needed him to ground me.

“I’m…” I let out a slow breath, trying again, “I’m worth loving?”

Ash leaned his forehead against mine, cupping my face as he nodded against me.

“So worth it, babe. You always were.”

I’d doubted it, doubted myself, doubted everything about me that didn’t fit into that box my parents wanted to keep me in. It was time to push all of that aside, and embrace who I’d become. No religion, no hate, no denying anything. Ash was showing me that I was more than I’d been before, that I would always be more, to him.

“Always, Ash?”

He grinned, pressing his lips against mine.

“From now until we tear up hell together, babe, and forever after. Our love is beyond eternal. It’s infinite. It’s us.”

THE END