Page 337 of Wicked Brutal

Penny nods through her tears. “He goes.” Tobias looks at X again.

“Every time?”

X cups the back of his head. “Every time.”

“Promise?”

Xander doesn’t hesitate. “On my mommy.”

The entire room breaks. Penny bows her head and cries. Alice turns into Gideon’s chest. Kaiden looks away. Danny’s hand covers his mouth. My eyes close. Even Ryan’s breathing catches beside me.

Tobias goes completely still in Xander’s arms. “You promise on your mommy?”

X’s eyes fill. “Yeah.”

Tobias wraps his arms around his neck. X closes his eyes and holds him tighter. “Okay.” The word is tiny. “I love my mommy.”

“I know.”

“Do you love yours?”

X’s face crumples against Tobias’s hair. "More than anything.”

Tobias cries. X holds him. Doesn’t tell him to stop. Doesn’t tell him it’ll be okay. Just holds him.

After a while Tobias whispers, “I still want her. Right now.”

“Yeah.”

“And our mommies will be together.”

“Yeah, little man.”

Tobias looks over at me. “You come too?”

“Every time you want me.”

“And Ryan?”

Ryan squeezes my hand. “Wouldn’t miss it.”

“Penny?”

“Always.”

Tobias looks around the room. At all of us. Then his face folds again. “What if I forget her? What if I forget what Mommy sounds like?”

“You won’t.”

“But what if I do?”

“We’ll remind you.”

“Who?”

X rubs his back. “Everybody. There’s too many of us.”

Tobias looks at him.