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Sophie saw the mediator out. But us? We’d gotten what we wanted, so why didn’t it feel like we’d won?
Chapter 59
“Come in, darlings!” Carmen said, opening the door to her house. Evie went rushing in, despite having a gruelling session today at Crowe Corp. We, however, trailed in at a much more circumspect rate. “So, I hear we have good news.”
“Dad’s backing off,” Ben said, then squeezed my shoulders. “Lils is never getting rid of us now.”
My head jerked up at that, meeting his blue eyes, the ones I’d stared into all those years ago and never wanted to look away from.
“I think I’ve waited my whole life to hear you say that,” I said.
“Oh, gag!” I spun around and saw Sophie standing there, wine glass in hand and a shit eating grin on her face. “Now you’re gonna be all ‘oh, alpha, you’re so big and studly…” She fluttered her eyelids dramatically, simpering like a fucking idiot. “Though I guess it was better than the damn moping.”
“I did not mope!” I shouted, grabbing a plastic cup and pegging it at her.
Carmen caught the cup, with the kind of lightning quick mum reflexes I still aimed to develop, and then set it down.
“How many times have I told you girls not to throw things around in the kitchen? And therewasa bit of moping. Some sighing.”
“Did you pine for me, beta?” Ben asked me, obviously warming to the topic and I shot him a glowering look.
“Did you pine for me?” I shot back.
“Yeah.” His smile faded then as he edged closer. “I think I did, and I only just worked out why.”
“Well, I’m pining for a fucking beer,” Damon announced. “Seeing Dad is all the parenting lesson I’ll ever need. ‘What would Dick do?’ I ask myself, and then do the damn opposite.”
“Wise words,” Taylor said, throwing a beer can to him across the living room, much to Carmen’s disgust.
Damon caught it and opened it, taking a big mouthful before tugging me away from his brother and escorting me outside where Evie was talking excitedly to Grace. The omega still looked too pale, but she smiled and listened to my daughter’s stories with rapt attention.
“I thought I’d invite the whole family,” Carmen said to me as she walked out with us. “I didn’t think you’d mind.”
“Too bad if you do,” Sophie said with a smirk. “You know what Mum’s like. Once she gets her claws in you…” She flexed her fingers, pretending to hook them into someone.
“Sophie…”
“Once you’ve been Forrest-ed, there’s no coming back,” Taylor advised. “It’s like becoming part of the mafia.”
“Blood in, blood out,” Sophie said, in an overly dramatic voice.
But before Carmen could muster a retort, the doorbell went. She let out a frustrated little breath before saying, “That must be the pizzas. I’ll be right back. Try not to drag your mother’s name entirely through the mud in my absence.”
I tried to celebrate,to collapse into a chair and accept a drink and just relax. The knife that had been hanging over my head wasn’t there anymore, so why couldn’t I relax? Perhaps because subconsciously I knew it all couldn’t be over that easily. Even as Sophie spoke of her lawyerly prowess in exaggerated tones for the crowd, they walked in. Looking like men on the way to the scaffold. Richard seemed to have collapsed in on himself, taking short steps through Carmen’s house towards us, eyeing the beautiful decor but not really seeing it.
Then there was Logan.
He looked stiffer than I’d seen him lately and his eyes were completely devoid of life. No emotion, no response lay within them. He just dutifully followed his father inside and stopped when Richard did.
“Sophie, you’ve already met Richard, I believe?” Carmen said, the soul of graciousness. “And I think you already know him, Taylor.”
“Yeah,” was all Taylor would say.
“I won’t waste any of your time,” the alpha said in a gruff voice. “Well, not any more of it than I already have.” Evie looked up from where she was talking to Grace, following her grandmother’s eyes to see the man she didn’t realise was her grandfather standing there. “I… I’ve had time to think.”
“This will be good…” Damon muttered, but we all shot him a warning look.
“I thought I was doing the right thing.” Richard snorted at that. “Every parent thinks that until they’re proven wrong.” He darted a glance at me, but not for long. “Hopefully you won’t ever find out you were as wrong as I am.” He seemed to suck himself up then, forcing him to stand tall. “Ever since I was a young lad, it's been impressed upon me the importance of being a Morrison. We’ve held Campbelltown since the place was built and there’s not a lot of packs who could claim that.”
