Family Ties sequel to Divine Intervention

Chapter 21

The catering hall was filled t capacity, pictures of Paddy filled every corner of the room. Black and red balloons paid homage to Paddy's favorite hockey team.

Kim took a deep breath before walking in, Aidan gripping her hand as if his life depended on it, "Are you okay?" She bent down on one knee, looking him in the eyes.

"It's sad, Adam's sad" he said softly, his brown eyes scanning the room, "you're sad too"

She smiled warmly at him, "it's okay to be sad, we all loved Patrick and we will miss him" she ran a tissue underneath her eyes, "look Tommy is over at the candy table" she pointed at Patrick's little brother, "you should go say hi"

Kim eyed the table, one thing everyone knew about Patrick was his absolute love for candy, he loved it all. They wanted today to be more than a grief and sorrow filled day, Paddy was so much more than that.

He was full of life and even in the midst of the biggest battle of his short life he always wore a smile and was upbeat.

"Okay" Aidan told her taking off toward his friend.

She exhaled, feeling stronger when Adam joined her at her side a fresh bottomed Gavin in his arms, "hey..." Her voice soft as she leaned in to Adam's side, "where's Adam and Dani?"

Adam looked over his shoulder, "Dani is with some girls she knows from school and Adam's hanging out with John" he was proud of his son, he kissed her temple. "Adam's an amazing kid, he's handling this better than I would have at his age"

"I wish he didn't have too" Kim took Gavin from him, "I'm going to go say hi to Elyse. See if I can do anything"

"My son....he loved you" John spoke, he clutched a photo of Patrick in his hands, "he thought you hung the moon"

Adam didn't know how to respond, "I'm sorry.." He began, only for John to interrupt him.

"Don't be Adam, your dad told us everything, we know what you've been dealing with" he placed his hand on Adam's shoulder, "we explained it, well as best we could to Paddy he understood. He was worried about you, Tara really stepped up"

Adam eyes met his, "whaddya mean?"

"She ended up spending a lot of time with him, he really liked her" he smiled, "I actually think he had a crush on her, his first one" and last he thought to himself, just something else his son would never experience.

"She's a good person" it really didn't surprise him that Tara had picked up where he'd left off, "I better get back to my parents"

"Yep." John replied, "I need to check on Tommy anyway, he hasn't left the candy table"

Tara had taken up a spot near the back of the hall, this was the first funeral she'd every attended in her life. She hated that it had to be for a child, one she'd grown to love.

He was such a sweet kid, and when Adam had stopped showing up at the hospital the look on Paddy's face crushed her. She knew she needed to help him, that he needed someone.

She couldn't take her eyes off the large framed picture of Adam and Paddy together. It was at a park, she could only assume it was a picnic of some sort.

Adam skin was a breathtaking shade of caramel and his hair had natural blonde highlights, and Paddy's smile was massive. She ran her fingers over Adam's face and felt the butterflies come alive in her stomach.

A hand falling on her shoulder startled her, she spun around to see who it was.

"I'm sorry" Adam apologized, he knew he startled her.