Page 89 of Power Move

“So, are you finding out if they are boys or girls?” Mum asked.

Eva glared at me.

“What?” Mum asked.

“We know. David said that would be a distraction, so we didn’t want to tell you.” Eva sold me out.

I cleared my throat. “I thought you’d hate that idea. We had the genetic tests that came back.”

“Of course I care! I’d like to call them the boys or the girls, obviously! Come on!”

“We’re having boys,” I answered.

Mum gave me a big hug unexpectedly, “Oh, so we’ll have one girl and two boys. Good. That’s incentive enough for someone to try for a girl to even out the ranks!”

“Mum, we don’t need this to be about competitive conception,” I sighed.

“Well, any excuse to move this show along. Do your parents know, Eva?”

She nodded. “They’re happy with the news. Davey actually met them this week.”

Astonished, Mum said, “Really?”

“Don’t seemsosurprised, Mother,” I sighed. “I’m not completely uncultured and uncouth.”

“I never know. If someone did what you did to one of the girls, your father would have lost his mind,” Mum said.

“Well, Lady Danna, I’m not sixteen, and he’s nearly forty, so… I think we’re good. Their main concern is that he is reliable and shows up. So far, he’s doing well,” Eva said.

I rubbed her back. “They are nice people. I did have to sleep in the guest room, though. That was a first for at least the last twenty years.”

“Mom is… very Catholic at times.”

Mum exchanged a glance with me.

Eva read that as a negative. “Oh, sorry, you’re… are you not? It’s okay. I’m not religious. My parents?—”

“No, darling,” Mum said. “That is nothing I worry about. I am practicing even if my children are making it nearly impossible to stay in the good graces of the diocese. We were raised in the Church, no matter what the English would tell you.”

As long as the checks keep coming, they will keep you around. My mother’s Scottish exceptionalism knew no bounds, and the guilt came in waves.

“Mum, it will be fine. Buy them some more kegs for a fish fry and no one will care,” I sighed.

“There are not enough kegs in the world some days,” she grumbled before changing the subject. “Will you be coming up to Michigan in two weeks?”

“We are attending a wedding,” I said. “Her best friend’s wedding.”

“I’m the Maid of Honor and Davey offered to go.”

“That’s nice,” Mum said, surprised. “Well, we will miss you, but I understand. Behave yourself, David.”

“I plan to,” I said.

Eva smiled at me, softer than ever before. What was this magic? And why, oh why, did she make me so fucking happy?

25.LOVE ME LESS

Eva