Page 79 of The Holy Grail

Living outside the box

“Is this something you can accept?” Evan asked his mother, Evangeline, after giving her the entire lowdown, starting with meeting Malcom and Gwen years ago, meeting Jules a few years later, then the recent run-in with Jules and Malcom, and ending with the establishment of the triad and the plan for everyone to move in together.

To her credit, Evangeline simply listened, without interruption, until Evan was finished.

“And if I can’t accept it?” she asked quietly.

Evan took his mom’s hand and gently held it.

In her mid-sixties, she looked like the older version of Evelyn, with reddish-brown hair liberally streaked with silver, and worn in the same shoulder-length style Evan remembered going all the way back to his childhood.

Her dark brown eyes, which had been inherited by all three of her children, gazed at him as he answered, “I’d still do it, but it would bother me, knowing you weren’t behind it.

Having your support is important to me.”

“Is it what I always dreamed for you?” She paused for a moment before continuing. “No, mainly because I didn’t know this was a thing until five minutes ago, but it’s not surprising, to be honest. You always did like to live outside the box.”

“Is that your way of saying I was a handful?”

“You were a hell of a handful, and still are,” she corrected him, managing to convey humor and aggravation at the same time. “But you’ve always been so easy to love, too, and that makes up for most of your shenanigans. ”

“Only most of them?”

“Well, there were a few you really should have thought through first, that’s for damn sure. It could have saved us all some trouble.”

“Are you referring to the girl I dated my senior year? God, what was her name?”

“Jennifer?”

“No, the blonde girl.”

“Elizabeth?”

“No, the other blonde girl.”

“Wendy?”

He snapped his fingers. “That’s her.”

“Wasn’t she a little … crazy … for lack of a better word?”

Evan nodded. Wendy had been next-level crazy, and he’d actually taken a third year of French because of her, even though only two years of a foreign language were required to graduate. Looking back, he probably could have spent his time better, because when was he going to use French anyway?

“ Oui, elle était un peu folle ,” he said, deciding to use some of it right then.

Evangeline blinked at him. “What?”

“I just said, yes, she was a little crazy, in French.”

Shaking her head, she mused, “You always did like the crazy ones.”

“I know.”

“Is Jules a little crazy?”

“A little, but in a good way. I think you’ll like her.”

“What about Malcom?”

“He’s a little on the shy side, actually.”

Evangeline searched his face, this son of hers who shared part of her name, whom she’d watched over, worried about, been proud of, been aggravated with, and adored from the moment he’d come into the world ahead of schedule. “You really love them both? And they love you?”

“Yes, and yes.”

There was a long moment of silence, and then she said, “Okay.”

“Okay?”

She nodded.

“So, you can accept this?” Evan asked .

She put a hand over his, which was still holding hers. “I won’t know for sure until I meet them.”