AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I think the very first time I saw you and Toro together, that was the moment I saw something different in you. You were someone different, and I wanted to get to know that woman.”
Seraphina swallowed.
“That’s the reason I’m here.”
Words had deserted her, so all she could do was listen to Israel. To the yearning she’d never heard from him before.
“I’ve been through too much drama with one mother. I don’t need a repeat. I’m too old for that…” And he sounded older than her, wiser than her. “I’m on some peace shit now, feel me? I want happiness. I’ve got what I need with Reggie. I no longerneeda mother.”
Her eyes burned and she blinked furiously, glancing away. She felt his gaze on her as he said, “I’m too old to need a mother, but I want one. I’m willing to make room in my life for one, for you…” He paused. “Because I believe you want what I want.”
She turned back to him. “I do.”
He studied her for a moment, dark gaze assessing before he nodded. “No machinations, so subterfuge, no bullshit.” He spoke slowly, enunciating each word.
Her lips curved. “No bullshit.” Bit by bit her smile grew wider and wider until her face hurt and she feared she looked more than a little deranged. But her son didn’t flinch away, not even when she touched his arm and squeezed gently. “I’m all out of bullshit,” she confessed. “All I’ve got left is the raw me.”
Something flashed in his eyes. “That’s always preferable.”
But what if he didn’t like who the raw her was? She shushed that voice and cupped her son’s jaw. “I’m happy to have you in my life.” She’d done all she could to force this moment, only to have Toro come in and turn shit upside down. She’d thought Israel was all she needed to make her happy. Only her son. She’d hung all her happiness on having Israel back in her life, and when she’d seen it wasn’t working, she’d spiraled into someone crazy.
All that woo-woo bullshit about happiness coming from within turned out to be spot on.
She hadn’t liked who she’d seen when she’d looked in the mirror—feeling like a failure because of what she’d gone through. She hadn’t been ready for Israel; no wonder he’d wanted nothing to do with her. Hell, she hadn’t been ready for herself. To love herself. To love someone else, be it her son or the man who came into her life intent on making her love him.
Israel smiled at her now and she just wanted to stay in that spot and bask in the warmth of that smile, watching as it lit up his eyes. “Reggie and I are gonna head back to the hotel, but… you want to do breakfast tomorrow? Just you and me?”
She nodded. “I— I would like that, yes.”
He touched her cheek. Just a graze of his knuckles, then he strode off into the house. She followed behind him, hovering as Toro led Israel and Reggie to the door. She thanked them for coming again, got one last smile from Israel and a look from Reggie that appeared a lot like grudging respect, then they were in their car, pulling out of her driveway.
Toro closed the door behind them then faced her, and whatever he saw in her expression, he didn’t speak. Only opened his arms.
Seraphina fell into them and buried her face in his chest.
39
“How are you doing?”Toro waited until Seraphina walked out of the bathroom wrapped in nothing but a towel, a cloud of steam trailing behind her, to ask that question. It’d been over an hour since Israel and Reggie left to go back to their hotel after dinner.
Toro had been a little apprehensive about them being there, for Seraphina’s sake, but it had all turned out great. She hadn’t yet shared the conversation she and Israel had while they were out in the backyard, but Toro didn’t mind. She would or she wouldn’t. Didn’t matter. The minute Israel and Reggie drove away, Seraphina had pretty much collapsed in Toro’s arms and stayed until she got up to take her shower.
Wearing just his underwear, Toro sat on the edge of their bed—the first thing he’d put together when they’d moved into their new home. Seraphina walked over, standing between his parted knees, staring down at him as water dripped off her pretty skin. She touched him, a palm sliding over his head, cupping his nape. He leaned forward, burying his face in the softness of her stomach as she held him. She smelled good, but then again, she always did.
“I’m having breakfast with him tomorrow,” she said softly.
Toro leaned back, peering up at her. “That’s great.” He smiled. “Not what I asked, though. How are you doing?”
She pursed her lips, fingertips tapping gently against the back of his head. “I don’t know.”
Toro touched a hand to her belly, holding it there briefly then moving upward to her heart, stopping there. Her heart beat strong and steady against him. “Does it make you sad or happy?” Loving Seraphina meant asking those questions. It meant he was invested in her happiness, whatever form that took. Israel coming to LA of his own volition and wanting to build a relationship with his mother was monumental for both mother and son.
“Both,” she answered him softly.
“Why?”
“Sad, because I could have had it before. If I’d only recognized then what I do now, that it’s about Israel, not me. And happy, because…” She shrugged. “There’s a chance for us.”
And that was all she’d ever wanted.
