Growing Love

20

We all gathered for dinner, like we do every night since moving everyone in.  Val and the girls demand that the men not enter the kitchen while they cook. We have people who clean the house everyday, but they decided to do the cooking on their own. Not that any of us really mind. Those three can give any chef a run for their money.

"That one was mine!" Not this again. I took a pea, and hit Freddy on the forehead with it.

"Hey!" He dropped the dinner roll, allowing Jenny to snatch it back. Freddy looked at me like I stabbed him in the heart. "I thought you loved me?!" Everyone laughed at his over dramatic self. Which only made him fake cry even more.

"Everyone?" We turned to look at James, who as usual now, was sitting next to Mickey. Only this time Mickey looked more nerves than normal. "I was talking with Mickey, and he wanted go get to know you all a little better. So he wanted to know if he could ask all of you some questions?"

"Well if someone knew how to share, he would have gotten to know us a lot sooner." He stuck his tongue out at Izzy. Those two started acting like brother and sisters now too. Seeing as how James will be her baby's godfather. "Just teasing. Go ahead sweety, ask away." It took some time, since Mickey was stuttering more from being nerves. But everyone seemed genuinely happy to wait.

He learned about Izzy, and how she traveled to Italy to explore new things, but she moved back home after she missed it. He also learned how she and Freddy met and started dating. Turns out Freddy asked her out during a date to a carnival, and he asked on the Ferris wheel. When she said yes, he rocked the cart from jumping with excitement, almost resulting in them dying. Thankfully the worker stopped the ride and gave the cart time to stop moving.

"J-j-jenny?"

"You are just too cute!" She got up and hugged him. He was stunned at first, but hugged her back and laughed as she hugged tighter. "You are too cute for my loser of a brother. But anyway, go on." She ignored the glare from James, and looked at Mickey with big wondering eyes.

"H-h-how di-di-did you a-a-and ma-ma-Marcus meet?" She looked to Marcus, and all her crazy vanished. Instead, her features softened, and it was like looking at a completely different person. This was a woman in love, and you could see Marcus felt the same.

She told him about meeting him in when he stopped by her school. He was older than her, but they didn't care. She said she was shocked when she learned he was actually a girl, but she didn't mind. It wasn't the gender she loved, but the person. She supported his transition, and stayed by his side. Marcus also explained that it was when he heard voice that sealed his love for her. Not many know it, but Jenny sings. And she has a really pretty singing voice too. She was actually in the churh choir before she cussed one day in church, and got kicked out.

He learned about Alastor and Val, and he had the same look on his face we did when he heard about Val. He made everyone laugh when he said she looked and acted every bit the princess she was. That earned him a kiss from Val, causing him to blush more. Gay, straight, transgender, no one can resist a kiss from Val.

"You are just too adorable for words." She patted his head, and sat back next to Alastor. Alastor told him about his past too. How he also came from money, but he didn't like how it changed some of his family. He started his own company, and branched away from his family's. He didn't want money to be the reason his family wanted him. That's why he feels blessed that no one here really cares about it. Everyone here works for their own money. We don't just expect to have it. In my case, I don't anymore.

"I-i-i wa-wa-want to w-w-work too!" He seemed so determined, we couldn't say no. Dad and Alastor offered him a simple job the company, but only once his legs didn't keep shacking when he walks. "D-d-deal!"

The questions continued after that, and it was fun learning about everyone. We all got to learn more about each other thanks to this. He heard about the past me and Ethan had, and he said he couldn't believe it. He said he sees so much love between us, he couldn't picture anything breaking it. I looked to my angel and he looked at me. So much has happened in such a short time. But looking at him here, his smile. It's almost like a distant memory.

"It was hard. And there were times I failed to stay by his side." Ethan squeezed my hand. "But losing him was the biggest wake up call. I needed to be stronger, and have more faith in us. I love this man too much to lose him, and our son." I kissed him, and we both kissed Nick, who was sitting between us in his high chair.

"Um. D-d-dad?" I saw the wide smile on the old man's face. He loved them calling him that?

"Yes son?" Can his smile get any wider? I swear his face is about to split in two!

"I-i-I'm s-s-scared to a-a-ask." He took a deep breath, and looked only at our dad. "W-w-were is o-o-our m-m-mom?" That was a surprise. It shocked all of us, since we weren't expecting that. Looking back on it, we never did tell him about what happened to my mom. Honestly. I have yet to really tell Ethan. It's still a sensitive topic for me. One that I know I still need to work on.

I looked to my dad, expecting to see sadness on his face. But instead, I saw a small smile. He was looking at his wedding band. He has never taken it off, not once since as far back as I could remember. He simply played with the ring, and smiled as if he could see mom inside of it. He looked up to Mickey, and gave him a small smile. He quickly looked at everyone, before his eyes stopped on me. He nodded, and I knew what it meant. A few years back, we promised never to talk about mom until we were ready. He wanted to wait until both of us were in a good place to talk about it. I guess this is his way of saying he is. Now my only question is. Am I?