Page 77 of Plain Sight

“Completely wedlocked,” I confirm. “Time is a construct.”

“Oh, before I forget—this is my bird, Snowball.” Snowball tweets like he’s waving hello. “He’s just a bird, so he probably won’t outlive me. You’ll have to take care of him if he gets there first. Do not let me down, otherwise I’ll give you hell. Or take you to hell? Just kidding. I’m just kidding. I love you.”

Jameson pats the top of the headstone with a smile on his face and dry eyes. It’s that, more than anything, that makes me think he might really have seen his parents in his dream.

“Have fun,” he says. “I can’t stay. I’m going to a pool party. And I’m probably going to try to untie Lily’s swimsuit so I can see her⁠—”

“You don’t have to untie my swimsuit to see my tits. You can just see them. We’re married.”

“Lily,” he whispers. “My parents might hear you.”

It sounds true.

Gabriel goes next. He brings Elise and Nate and Lydia with him, and they all stand in a semicircle at the headstone. It sounds for all the world like he’s introducing them, too. Gabriel’s definitely crying when they walk away, and Mason stops to give him a long hug.

Mason and Charlotte go last, with Robin.

When Mason holds him close to the headstone, showing him off like the proud dad he is, a bird lands in the branches of the closest tree and sings its little heart out.

It’s quiet when we get back into the SUV to go back to Zeus’s.

Then, his hand in mine, Jameson takes a deep breath. “How hilarious Dad was. All his jokes.”

“Mmm.” From this angle, I can’t see all of Gabriel’s face, but I have the impression of a wavery smile. “How disgustingly in love with each other they were.”

Remy laughs. “How Mom used to come to tuck me in after they let you guys babysit, and she’d say, tell me all the rules your brothers let you break and I’d never tell her anything and then she would say, good for you, Rem. And then she would—” Another, shorter laugh. “She’d say, they’re going to grow up and be good men, and don’t you let them forget.”

“Oh, Remy,” Gabriel says. “You never have.”

The reason I know Jameson’s going to be okay—really, really okay—is that people are in and out of Zeus’s house all the time. That wouldn’t happen if anybody thought he was in danger of having another terrible nightmare episode.

Julien and August show up to take family photos, which we then get roped into and turn out to be as good as the ones from our engagement session.

August spends the better part of one evening’s golden hour taking lifestyle portraits of Daisy and Artemis. It’s kind of incredible, actually. He’s patient and unflappable and knows which signs make them giggle and how to keep their attention. At one point, he stands up tall and covers his eyes with his hand, and I guess that’s a game they’ve played before, because Daisy and Artemis both shriek, and then Daisy runs as fast as her toddler legs can carry her to August, who picks her up in his arms and lets her put her face in his shoulder. Artemis runs for her mom, who swings her around in a circle as Artemis laugh-screams something that I later learn was lights off, lights off and we are all in the dark with a children’s concert playing on a built-in speaker, both of the girls dozing off, before I realize it wasn’t really a game at all—Daisy needed to come inside.

Mason’s right-hand man, Dev Madden, shows up one day when it’s so hot that nobody will countenance doing anything but floating in the pool. I get a floatie decorated like a pink doughnut, and Jameson leans on the side, kicking us around the pool in slow circles. Dev—in trousers and a pressed shirt—tries to talk business with Mason for fifteen full minutes before Mason sends him into the house to get a bathing suit and come swimming.

“But—” Dev says.

“I’ll give you a raise. Come on. Take half a day off. Get in the pool. Relax, Dev.”

Dev can’t argue with this. He goes into the house and comes out a few minutes later, bathing suit-ed and carrying a hard lemonade. Poseidon teases him about it for several minutes, then ends up drinking one of his own.

Well—he drinks about half of it, then drops it on the pool deck and shouts, “You asshole!”

Everyone in the vicinity of the pool turns to see who the asshole is. It’s a guy who’s walked straight through Zeus’s house, already dressed in swim trunks. He’s tall, with dark hair and dark eyes and a sharp, handsome smile. Zeus comes out of the house behind him with an indulgent smile on his face.

“Your friend showed up, Poseidon,” Zeus says.

By the time he’s finished saying his brother’s name, Poseidon has already bodily tackled the mystery guy, and they go flying into the pool. Both of them are laughing when they resurface.

“Holy shit,” Jameson whispers.

“What? Did you see that guy, too?”

“Yes, I saw that guy.” He gives me a look. “Do you think he’s hotter than me?”

I make a face at him. “No. I literally married you. I am your wife.”