“That’s something I need to see your eyes for before I tell you.”
I almost roll them, because that’s such a Sully thing to say. How can he be so familiar and such a stranger at the same time?
But when I give him my attention, I get flustered all over again. Because the Sully staring back at me is the new Sully. The one with a peculiar look in his eyes. He studies my every reaction, marking the hitch in my breath, the audible gulp of my swallow, and the band of red that singes my cheeks.
“Well?” I ask with a nonchalance that’s not at all there. “I’m looking.”
“That you are,” he says mildly. One arm, then the other, lands on either side of my head again. And then he leans forward. Oh God! My breathing quickens.
He’s going to kiss me. I can’t take this. I can’t.
But my lashes drift closed and my fingers find an anchor in his shirt as I nervously wait for him to lower his head again…for a kiss that never comes. When my eyes flutter open, Sullivan’s dance in amusement.
“I think we both know the answer now. Don’t you?”
I gasp in outrage. “You made me think you were going to?—”
“Oh, I am,” he interrupts with a quirky grin before he covers my mouth with his and thoroughly disrupts my senses once more.
When we finally break apart, I tentatively wrap my arms around his waist and rest my head against his strong chest.He’s not my brother. Still my Sully, but not my brother.“What about Momma and Papa? What would we tell them?”
Sully plays with the ends of my hair. “I’ll think of something. And I’ll always take care of you no matter what.”
When I close my eyes, Momma and Papa’s disappointed faces appear. I don’t want to break their hearts, but am I not owed my own happiness? If I even choose to go, that is. There’s so much to think about, and it’s too much to do right now. I tilt my head back until I can see Sully’s beautiful brown and blue eyes. “Please don’t ask me to make a decision yet.”
“I’ll wait.” He presses a lingering kiss to the corner of my mouth. “I’ll wait a little longer.”
Scene 4
Emmaline, Age 18
When Sully and I finally come back inside, Momma and Papa tell us we need to talk. I never would have guessed it would be about me being adopted, too. Not completely like Sully, but Papa wasn’t always my papa. Surprisingly, I take the news better than I thought I would considering how I reacted with Sully’s announcement. Lots of tears, of course, from me, Momma, and Papa as they hug me. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen Sully cry, but he sits beside me in silent support.
There’s a sheen to Papa’s brown eyes as he pulls back to cup my face. “Look at me, Little Bit. I was with your momma when you were born. And the minute you got here and I saw you, this wrinkly, crying baby, I knew you and your momma were meant to be with me. You’ve always been my little girl. Always. And nothing’s ever gonna change that, you hear me?”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I gratefully accept thehandkerchief Sully sneaks into my hand and dab at my swollen eyes. God, so much crying today. At some point, I’m either going to run out of tears or rub my skin raw from all the wiping.
“Because I’d hoped to put everything in my past behind me. The man who…who…” Momma’s pain is heavy in her voice before she swallows it down. “He was a bad, bad man who would never be able to love anyone. Not even an innocent baby. And I only ever wanted you to grow up knowing you were loved.” She looks so sad and miserable that I have to pull her into another hug.
“I did know that,” I whisper into her ear, squeezing her tightly. “I do.” When I pull away, I look between my worried parents. Momma was the same age as me when she met Papa. The man who fathered me must have truly been an evil person for her to clearly still be so affected by it eighteen years later. “Part of me hurts knowing I didn’t have all the truth, but the other part of me understands. You’ve always done what’s best for me. I know the way you love each other and all of us is real.”
“Damn right, it’s for real. You see this finger?” Papa holds up his pointer finger. “You grabbed on to it with your tiny little hand when you were barely a few hours old, but it damn well might have been my heart. And I’ll always remember that moment because I carry it around in my head all the time.”
My bottom lip wobbles as I picture him holding me and singing to me, then I throw my arms around my parents again. “I love you so much. Both of you.” My papa has loved me from the very beginning.
“You were born and raised a Shay, and you always will be.” Papa opens an arm for Sully. “C’mere, son. You need in this hug, too.”
I wince as Sully crowds in, but not because of being squished. He’s a Shay, and I’m a Shay. What would that mean for our future? If there even is one.
As much asI may have wished otherwise, the next few months aren’t at all the same as before. Not so much with learning the truth about my parents, but more so things with Sully.
He was right when he said we couldn’t go back to how it was. Every time we had breakfast or supper, he’d make sure his feet nudged mine under the table. Then he’d give me a crooked little smile that took my breath away. I see him so differently now. Sometimes I find myself watching him do the chores he and I have both done probably a million times, but now I notice the way his shirt strains across his back when he lifts something heavy. Then I get to see every single one of those strong muscles for myself when he takes his shirt off to wipe his sweat away.
Talking with him isn’t the same, either, because his eyes will catch on my mouth and darken as if reliving our kisses, and then I get all flustered because it makes me think of it, too. But that was nothing compared to last week when he came up behind me in the kitchen.
One moment I was all by myself, stretched out on tiptoe trying to reach a glass in the cupboard. Then, from seemingly nowhere, Sully’s arms were bracketing me and his lower half was pressed to my backside. “Let me get that for you, darlin’,” he’d said in a low, husky murmur against my ear that had me shivering and doing all within my power not to press back against him. I think I might have even felthis lips pass over my hair before he stepped back and placed the glass on the countertop.
Other than that small possibility, there hasn’t been any more kissing since our time in the tree, and I’m both torn and relieved.
