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Chapter Twenty-Eight
Lettingthe girl’s conversation flow around them, Sera realized she had no idea what Harrison was thinking. She was so used to the constant hum of noise, but he wasn’t. And she was sure he wasn’t thrilled that the conversation always turned to things that the younger girls shouldn’t hear about.
Maybe he would buy that they were not normally like this, but he had seen them at the party weeks ago, and they had acted the same way. Lucy and Buzz were discussing men they may or may not have gotten busy with separately, and Harper was telling Maby about the week’s event schedule. Emma was sulking that Harrison was there, and Agatha was staring intently at Sera.
Sera gave her daughter a half-smile and a nod at the silent question floating between them. Harrison becoming a part of the girls’ lives would change Agatha’s the most; she had been a second mother to them since they were born. Even though Emma didn’t need her as much anymore, they were still closer than the rest of the kids.
Agatha’s dark eyes drifted to Violet and back to Sera again. Would her daughters lose the special bond that they had formed the moment Violet had been born now that Violet’s father would be in the picture?
Agatha had been her only child to be in the delivery room with her that day, and she had also named the tiny baby. It was a name that hadn’t even been on Sera’s radar—she had decided months earlier on Ella. That day had bonded them together as more than just mother and daughter if that was even possible.
Each knew the others’ secrets better than anyone else, but Sera had felt Agatha was drifting more and more these last few months. Not that she hadn’t been able to find her footing since graduating from high school. For years, she had been nearly out of control, partying and getting into trouble. Then that had all stopped, and she did a one-eighty and didn’t leave the house unless she was working. Sera hoped that adding Harrison to the mix didn’t send the younger woman further into herself.
Pushing her plate away, Agatha leaned back and smiled at Sera, reassuring her that she was okay with this. Whatever this was.
“Cliff is at the Grog. Who’s in?” Lucy said, looking at her phone longer than necessary to read such a short text.
“I am, even if it is Cliff.” Harper got up, and so did Buzz.
Lucy followed as they put their dishes in the dishwasher.
“I’m out. I can’t stand Cliff,” Maby said from the table.
“You would love him if you just got to know him,” her twin said.
“I’ll still pass,” she replied but got up anyway.
“Me too. I have to work at midnight. I just want to get some drawing in before I have to go.” Agatha followed the rest in cleaning up after herself.
“I would go, but I know I’m not invited.” Emma got up with a dramatic sigh.
“I’d invite you, Em, but mama bear pretends you are all innocent. I was getting served there when I was your age.” Buzz gave her little sister a side hug.
“You were seventeen, and Lucy served you. Not a real waitress.” Sera pointed out.
“I was a real waitress!” Lucy took offense.
“I’ll watch a movie with you, Em,” Maby said as the group headed into another room, some for the TV and some for the door or stairs.
The room was quiet when the front door slammed shut in the distance. It was just the three of them, alone. Sera had no idea what to say to him. She knew that throwing him in the middle of all the girls was going to be a lot, but he knew what he was getting into when he stayed for the meal. She just wished the girls would have toned down their conversation, just this once. And it was made worse when Violet got up and wandered into the living room, leaving her alone with Harrison, who was just a chair away from her and not saying anything.
“Should I question whether any of what was said was true or not? Or just accept that they don’t lie?” Harrison pushed his empty plate away from him.
“It’s mostly true, I’m sure. No need to lie.” She got up and took Violet’s and her plate to the dishwasher.
“They weren’t trying to impress me?” He followed suit because she wasn’t cleaning up after him. She wasn’t his mother.
“I don’t really think anything they said would impress anyone.”
Grabbing her around the waist, he pinned her to the cabinets. Pressing his body to hers, he said, “Everything they said impressed me. Two of your kids own their own business, one has a master’s degree, one is a reporter for the biggest paper in town, and one is an artist that you had a silent conversation about me with. You are a fucking amazing woman. I can’t wait to see how my kids turn out.”
“I didn’t do anything but let them be themselves. I am not my mother.”
“Thank god, because she’s a bitch.” He kissed her forehead.
“She is. I was never good enough for her, or Father. I never wanted any of my kids to feel like that. I guided them; I didn’t tell them.”
“It worked. Now tell me about your unusual marriage.”
