Page 53 of Mending Fate

I could have donethis alone, but I wanted Alec to come, not only because he’d helped with Clyde getting arrested, but because Brie’s house had been an important part of my life, and still was. Alec couldn’t truly understand me if he didn’t understand the things that made me who I was.

“Just a warning,” I said as he parked the car in the group home driveway. “Some of the kids may freak out a little. I’ve never brought anyone here before.”

“Never?” He gave me a surprised look. “What about Mai?”

I shook my head. “Not even Mai.” I paused, gathering my thoughts before speaking again. “She knows pretty much what you know. That I was raised in foster care. This is the last group home I was ever in. Brie, the foster mom, treated me with respect, prepared me for aging out. It’s why I come back, to show the kids that they can have a future, a home, a career.”

“That’s how you met Soleil,” he said.

“It is.” I reached over and took his hand. “I’m not ashamed of having grown up here, but bringing someone here, letting them see…”

“It’s personal.” His free hand came up and brushed back my hair. “I understand.”

If anyone could understand wanting to keep some things private, it was the man who’d hidden his dyslexia from everyone outside of his family.

“Just, if they make a big deal out of it, that’s why.”

“Do you want me to stay in the car? Whatever you want, I will do.” He took both of my hands and kissed my knuckles.

“No, I’d like you to come in and meet everyone.”

It was time for me to stop putting up walls. I had people who loved me, and they deserved to know all of me. I didn’t have any delusions that this was going to be easy or that it would happen all at once. It would be a process, and I’d have to work at it, but it was time.

Twenty-Nine

Alec

Complete and utter chaos.

Squared.

There was no other description that could come closer to accurately portraying a birthday party for an eight-year-old girl who had a massive extended family and an entire third-grade class full of friends. It was halfway through November, which meant we were all inside. My house was big enough to handle it, but it was a close thing.

Still, as I turned quickly to avoid yet another collision with a small child, I wondered if it had been a good idea to have both family and friends over all at once. I wouldn’t say a word about it, though. Not when Lumen had suggested two separate parties, and I’d said I could handle it.

I’d managed multi-billion dollar deals with people whose language I didn’t know. How hard could it be to plan a birthday party?

The answer to that was a resoundingI had no idea. I’d actually made a point to reach out to Keli two days ago to ask her for advice since she’d been the one to plan these sorts of parties before. Granted, she’d always had enough sense not to combine them, but she’d offered some bits of advice that had helped things run more smoothly today. She’d actually spoken nicely to Lumen more than once as well. It was encouraging.

“She’s lovely.” Theresa came up beside me.

I didn’t need to ask for clarification to know Mom wasn’t talking about my ex.

“She is,” I agreed. “Smart, sweet…all the things I don’t deserve.”

Theresa put her hand on my arm, and I looked down at her. “Maybe I didn’t tell you this enough growing up, but you are a good man, Alec McCrae. A great father. You’re smart and loyal and a dozen other wonderful things that you don’t recognize about yourself.”

Emotion tightened my chest. “Thank you, Mom.”

She reached up and gave me a hug. “I’ll go make sure the right number of candles are on the cake.”

And that was Theresa’s not-so-subtle way of saying she still didn’t trust Keli, not even to do something as simple as put the right number of candles on a cake. My family’s opinion of Keli had made me more than a little nervous about them meeting Lumen, but not inviting Lumen wasn’t an option. She was my future.

A future that began with a pretty blonde teacher and my dark-haired future track star. The latter was chattering excitedly with Skylar about the field trip the third graders were taking the day before Thanksgiving break. As for the former…my eyes automatically scanned the room for Lumen, drawn to her the way I had been from the first time I’d seen her.

She was standing with Eoin and Aspen, but as if she felt my gaze on her, she looked up. Her eyes met mine, and a bolt of desire went straight through me. Her eyes darkened, and I saw everything I felt reflected in those bright blue depths.

Later, she mouthed.