I watched Sean, saw his eyes go misty, and then he handed the thing to Teague to go join in the hug. Teague crowed when he saw it. “Hell yeah! You’re a Mulligan now!”
Teague passed it on to Charlie, which I now guessed was Oak’s license, and Charlie cradled it in reverently his hands. “Just Oak now?”
It took a few minutes before Oak could answer, being swallowed in hugs as he was. When he managed to extricate himself from his uncle’s embrace, he nodded, that blush still present. “Oakley Young was…someone else. Oak Mulligan is who I am, and who I want to be.”
More congratulations went around, and I got distracted having to explain to Marlie and Tristan what exactly was going on. Harper understood it well enough. Regan scraped their chair back as they stood, hustling toward the dessert table, muttering something about how they wished they would have known so they could have made a proper celebratory dessert. It took a while for the new chaos to die down but once I got the kids settled with Uncle Charlie and Aunt Regan, eating their desserts, I looked around.
I was filled with absolute joy, knowing that this was our family by choice. People like the Mulligans were rare, at least in my life. But they’d taken us in with open arms, claiming us as our own. Charlie was that connection point, but now the Caldwells and the Mulligans, as well as Dana and Nic, were thoroughlyenmeshed in love and support. As I took it all in, my heart was simply brimming over.
And that’s when I noticed Oak was absent.
I made a circuit, just to make sure I wasn’t missing him somehow. But he definitely wasn’t in the dining room, which was a large enough space, but was only filled with fifteen people. He wasn’t in the kitchen either. I checked to make sure the children were still good, and then I moseyed out of the dining room and into the lobby, carefully side stepping the mistletoe that hung there.
I didn’t see him in the lobby either, and was beginning to wonder if he’d escaped back to his cabin. But then I heard the tiniest noise. At first I thought it was Salem, who I knew was in his office crate as there was enough chaos without the little void demon running around. But then I realized it was murmured words, which I knew couldn’t be the cat.
As I neared the office, I saw the top of Oak’s head through the window. He was sitting on the floor, Salem’s crate door was open, and the cat was purring on Oak’s lap. I rapped gently on the window, not wanting to startle him, but Oak jumped anyway. Using the tips of my fingers, I was able to crack the sliding glass open a bit.
“You all right?”
“Sure.”
Liar.I didn’t have to know him well to know that was a baldfaced lie. I contemplated letting him have it though, knowing it wasn’t my place to push or intrude. But I couldn’t just let it go. Something in his eyes called to me, and I had to make sure he was okay.
“Can I come in?”
Oak stared at me for a second, then shrugged one shoulder and dropped his gaze to the cat. I took that as permission enough and opened the office door, squeezing through the gapand closing it quickly behind me. Salem looked content enough where he was, but I wouldn’t put it past him to try to sneak out. And there was far too much open food for the kitten to be wandering around.
I nearly tripped over Steve, who did little more than lift his massive head before laying down again with a sigh. He was up against the side of the crate, and his movement drew Salem’s attention. The kitten stood, stretched, and then hopped off to pounce on the dog. Steve didn’t even stir.
“Overwhelmed?”
Oak glanced at me from the corner of his eye, then started picking at the frayed cuff of his jeans. It looked like they were baggy on purpose, and the cuffs had drag wear on them. “I’m fine.”
Again, I almost accused him of lying. But instead I decided to just go with the fact that we both knew it wasn’t the truth. I grabbed Charlie’s chair, slid it over so I still kept a respectable distance between us, and sat.
“What can I do to help?”
“Nothing.” The petulance in his tone was a little irritating, but I had to remind myself he was only twenty-one and had a lot going on, especially in the past few years.
“Hey.” I waited until he looked up at me before continuing. “I’m a good listener. No judgment. Maybe I can help.”
It took him a few minutes, but he didn’t drop his gaze, and finally he sighed like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. “I love everyone in that room. To the moon and back. Hell, I changed my name because I wanted theirs instead of the one I was born with.”
I was starting to get an idea of what this was about. “I know. They do, too.”
“But my parents are shitheads, and I miss my brothers and sisters. Even fucking Rudy, the little snitch.” There was a worldof pain in those words, and it was all I could do not to reach out and pull him into my arms, hugging him for all I was worth to try to soothe that. He chuckled, but it lacked all mirth. “You know something about shitty parents, huh?”
“Yeah.” I slid a little closer, unable to stop myself, the wheels making it easy.
“It’s weird,” Oak continued, sounding like he was mostly talking to himself. “I’m super happy about my life now. But I’m also super sad.”
Somehow I’d gotten close enough to nudge him with my foot. I wasn’t sure how that happened. “Beauty of complex human emotions.”
Oak snorted. “Uncle Teague said something like that to me before.”
“Yeah, well. I guess he has his moments.” I smiled at that. I liked Charlie’s boyfriend, and I couldn’t wait to get to know him better. I had a feeling he was Charlie’s true love, and Teague wouldn’t be going anywhere for a long while. If ever. “For what it's worth, I’m sorry your parents treated you like they did. And I’m happy you’re here now, kid.”
Oak snapped his head up, his eyes blazing. “I’m not a kid.”
