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Jeanie bustled about and I found my attention drawn back to her repeatedly. She smiled easily and laughed freely. Her eyes shone with pride whenever she looked at her sons. The kids, all of them, physically leaned into her when she was near them, even Olivia, who was not a huge fan of anyone touching her.
Whenever Bex spoke to her, teased her, or asked her something, she lit up like a lighthouse and Bex was the light on the water reflecting it back to her. If Jeanie ever swung her light my way, I feared I would suck it up like a black hole. At least I was aware of my propensity for blackness and held myself back from asking too much from people.
I watched Jeanie with Calum. Big, gruff, and outspoken like Rhys, she reprimanded him often, but was always smiling once she turned away. Calum’s eyes tracked her; I got the feeling he always knew where she was. Once he caught me watching her at the same time and smiled warmly at me, then called me over to keep him company at the barbecue for a while.
He asked me about my business, about working at the shelter, and about Mara and Olivia. He didn’t ask about my mom, which let me know that he was aware of the state of that relationship.
I so desperately wanted him to like me, but I was unable to pull my mantle of cheer around me. I never could when Barrett was close by. My responses sounded stilted which only fed my discomfort. However, Calum, like Rhys, was a master storyteller and conversationalist, and before long he had me laughing and swapping stories. Before sending me back to the girls he hugged me close to his side.
“It’s going to be a right pleasure, Willa, to have you in the family.”
I blushed and stuttered out a thank you, catching Barrett’s warm gaze on me from across the yard where he was throwing a ball with Cole. That look warmed me to my core. I smiled at him, and Calum’s arm tightened.
I looked up into his face to see that same warm, admiring expression on his face.
“Right glad to have you, Willa. Love the way you look at my boy.”
“Love your boy,” I admitted, the words slipping out without thought.
I wanted to suck them back in immediately. Knowledge was power and I’d just handed him a shedload of it. He only squeezed me lightly, his face soft and happy, and I thought, perhaps, he wouldn’t use my love for Barrett to try to control me. I looked around. None of these people would. How Mara ended up the way she did always astounded me. She was a younger version of Jeanie, actually. That’s how I wanted to be.
I wasn’t sure I had it in me.
Several glasses of wine later, after Calum and Jeanie had retreated to their home, after the kids settled in the spare room with a movie, when my Viking lounged on the couches with Zee and Rhys in the family room, his long legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles, we set up the karaoke machine.
I felt him watching me. I turned to him, noting the amusement mixed with desire and I laughed out loud.
“Barrett!” I grabbed Bex and Mara excitedly. “Barrett can sing! He can sing with us!”
He started shaking his head immediately, and Rhys barked out a laugh. Barrett turned to see both Rhys and Zale grinning at him, quite happy now that they didn’t sing.
“They want to make you part of their girl band,” Zale’s deep, mellow voice teased.
Barrett huffed, looking irritated and sexy AF, but his eyes were laughing when he swung his attention back to me. He gave off that same lighthouse vibe as his mom.
Barrett
The tone of the day was a perfect replica of many past get-togethers, only with the addition of his parents, and the welcome change of Willa being his. Many times, throughout the day, he noted both Willa and Mara watching the festivities, with slightly befuddled smiles on their faces. They often exchanged glances, those dark-humored looks communicating more than words.
It was heartbreaking and it pissed him off.
He didn’t get angry easily. Cruelty to animals and any kind of threat to his family would do it, and anything that touched Willa with less than gentle hands had joined that short list. Not that Bea’s psychological touch was ever gentle. She had screwed with Willa’s self-worth, and Willa’s skewed sense of self-worth was the demon that threatened their future. On their way home she unwittingly confirmed it.
He pulled out of the driveway and onto the road. Willa was sitting beside him, humming with happiness.
He laughed his booming laugh. “You really can’t sing, can you.”
She turned to him, lifting her nose. “What I lack in talent, I make up for with enthusiasm.”
She was not wrong. None of the three of them could hit a note with a bus, but their laughter and obvious love and enjoyment of each other was worth the bleeding eardrums.
All three held microphones hooked up to the machine as they belted out song after song, the obvious favorite being Halestorm’s ‘Here’s to Us’ followed by Fifth Harmony’s ‘That’s my Girl’. They had eclectic taste, in any case.
When they finally started to wind down, helped along by Olivia coming down the stairs to reprimand them for their volume, he and Zale helped Rhys collect the dishes and empty the platters that were still hanging around.
Rhys worked fast.
“Why are you going so fast?” Barrett poked at him.
