True to You

A Final Song

2019

Matt reached out a hand to steady a swaying Laine. Joe and Barbara were watching her with tremulous smiles, clearly thrilled to see their granddaughter but unsure of her response or of their welcome.

He frowned at Brian, realising for the first time that this meeting with Jimmy's parents was as much a surprise to Laine as it was to the rest of them. All of them it seemed except Zacky who was giving Brian a discreet thumbs up.

"I'm so sorry!" Laine said looking dangerously close to tears.

"Oh honey! There's nothing for you to be sorry for!" Barbara engulfed her in the most grandmotherly of hugs.

Matt's concern eased off a bit as Barbara soothed her. Still he couldn't help shooting Brian a sharp look. Brian raised an eyebrow in return but his eyes were apologetic. Brian and Zacky exchanged glances and Zacky turned to Matt and mouthed, "Bad idea?"

"Really fucking bad," Matt mouthed in return. Matt couldn't believe the two of them had thrown Laine in the deep end like that.

"Sorry," Zacky winced and turned his attention back to Sloane who was squirming in his arms. She was wearing a tiny pink sunhat covered in ruffles and lime green polka dot romper. Matt felt himself go pale when he considered that in the not too distant future he was going to be fumbling his way through dressing his own tiny daughters in similar garments.

Barbara and Joe drew Laine a little off to the side and sat down with her. Matt didn't exactly follow them but he hovered close enough to overhear their conversation. Barbara's smile in his direction let him know she was aware of his eavesdropping and didn't mind.

There was a loud splash from the pool as Johnny's voice rang out, "Hey little dudes! Who wants to see if they can beat me in a race?" Matt glanced over his shoulder as a roar erupted from all the children present and they began cannonballing into the pool around him. Johnny gave Matt a wink when he caught his eye and Matt was grateful to his buddy for keeping the kids occupied.

"I can't believe how much like them both you are," Barbara was saying to Laine when Matt turned back to the conversation between Laine and her grandparents.

"You knew my mom?" Laine asked in astonishment.

"Your mom was a great girl. We liked her very much, she always brought out the softer side of our boy," Joe offered with a kind smile.

Matt was struck by how true that was. Jimmy had always been wild, it was part of who he was, but with Elliot he hadn't been as reckless. When she'd left any inclination toward restraint that Jimmy had felt had left with her. He'd only ever held back when it came to girls. Until that day when Jimmy had realised that Elliot was never coming back to him and that she had a child, one he thought belonged to another guy, he'd never even thought once about another girl. Once he realised she was gone and wasn't coming back all bets were off. It was how Matt and the other guys had known just how much Elliot had hurt Jimmy and why even though they'd all missed her they all silently agreed to take Jimmy's side and never tried to contact her.

Matt felt a pang of guilt about that. Maybe if they'd listened to Val and Michelle's attempts to persuade them to give her a call Jimmy might have known his daughter, and maybe, in a circumstance almost too painful to contemplate, Jimmy might have still been with them. Even if he wasn't the rest of them would have had Laine in their lives – it would have been a joy to watch Jimmy's daughter grow up. Still they had her now and, even though Caitie was right and they had been acting like a bunch of crazy, over-protective assholes, he was glad they did. And he was glad to know that his daughters would grow up with Laine as a role model in their lives.