Star-Crossed Secrets

by Kali Brixton

  41

  Everleigh

  “What the hell is she doing here?” My brother and I arrive at our childhood home at five on the nose, only to find our parents laughing over a plate of crudites in the kitchen. With her. The woman my father’s been sneaking around with behind my mother’s back.

  “Everleigh Kherington Greene!” my mom scolds as my dad shares the same surprised look with the slut that shall not be named. “What’s gotten into you?”

  I’m sorry... Did I just step into a Twilight Zone episode where my dad thinks he can bring his giant hoebag into my mother’s kitchen and my presence, all willy-nilly, and me not address it? “So, are we not allowed to talk about the fact that she’s here? In your home?”

  Kieran grits his teeth. “Ev, hush.”

  I don’t think so. “What is wrong with you all?”

  While my parents look half-mortified, half-murderous, she dares to smile at me. “You must be the Kher Bear I hear about so much.” Her hand reaches across the island countertop. “I’m Darlene.”

  When I don’t take it, she pulls it back. Good call. “I don’t care what he’s told you. You don’t get to use that name.”

  “Everleigh, that’s enough!” my dad’s deep voice quietens the other spectators in this arena.

  “Well, Dad, I’m so sorry my rude behavior toward your…” I rake my eyes up and down the woman’s figure, squinting my eyes at her. “Mistress is embarrassing you.”

  “Mistress?” she has the audacity to exclaim.

  I cross my arms. “I didn’t stutter.”

  She and my parents all look at each other with wide eyes before being reduced to fits of laughter and giggles. Has the fucking world gone mad? Now we laugh about affairs in this household?

  “Ev, this is Darlene, an officer who’s been working with your dad,” Mom offers, patting her on the back.

  I don’t call grinding on his dick actual work. Ew. “Is that the lie they fed to you, Mom?”

  “Kher Bear, you’ve got it all wrong,” my dad says, giving my brother the stink-eye.

  Whipping out my phone, I pull up the proof of their illicit rendezvous. “I know what I saw, Dad. Video doesn’t lie.”

  He takes my phone in his hand and watches the video intently, as Darlene and Mom peek over his shoulder.

  “Now, got any more bullshit to spread around? Because I didn’t pack my rubber boots.”

  Dad looks at me with—wait, is that fucking disappointment? “I want you to look right here,”—he points to the corner of the video—“And tell me what you see.”

  I narrow my eyes at him before searching the area of the video his thumb hovers near. “It’s a police cruiser.”

  “Mmhmm. One that a dirty cop was driving. We didn’t expect him there that early, so Darlene hopped into my arms like that to watch my six while I carried her to the stakeout room.” He rewinds it. “See how she’s looking behind me while I whisper in her ear?”

  I slowly bob my head, still seething.

  “She was watching the parking lot to make sure no one shot at us. I was whispering in her ear to see if I needed to stop in the parking lot and take cover behind the vehicles near the room. Darlene, or should I say Capt. Ritters is the task force leader for the operation.”

  I scrunch my eyebrows at him. “Dad, you’re not an undercover cop, though.”

  “No, but I took on this assignment for the kids,” he says as my mom wraps her arms around his midsection, with him laying a quick kiss on the top of her head and his arm around her shoulders.

  “What kids?”

  Dad relays a story about how drug dealers approached two of the children currently staying at Hope House about being package boys for them. The mother of the two kids told Mom, who told Dad, who reached out to the DEA about it—ultimately leading to Darlene and her people setting up shop at the motel.

  DEA. Captain Darlene Ritters. Kids being courted as drug mules.

  Well, shit. “So, you’re not cheating on Mom?”

  He gives me a disappointed look. “I can’t believe that you would think I’d ever do your mom that way, Kher Bear.”

  And I now feel about two inches tall. “Well, how was I supposed to know? Mom kept brushing off my worries—and someone planted them there, to begin with.” My brother doesn’t meet my side-eyed glare.

  Mom sighs like she’s trying to explain something to a three-year-old. “That’s because I didn’t want you or your brother involved, honey. Kieran was on assignment and away, so I thought we’d be able to chat once things wrapped up for your dad.”

  I flick my gaze to the woman I’ve tremendously insulted, her smirk telling. “I’m sorry for being so rude to you.”

  She shakes her head. “No skin off my back, honey. I’ve got a daughter just like you, so I’m used to it.” Mom and Dad laugh with her and my brother snickers while I stand there waiting for the joke.

  What’s that supposed to mean?

  42

  Luca

  Rian was the one to answer the door when I came to their house that evening. He ushered me into Kieran’s game room, which was probably why my face was beet red from the entire exchange. Everleigh told me she loved me for the first time in this room, which I could have told him, except she told me during the first time we ever had sex without a condom.

  I don’t think Rian would’ve been too happy to walk down memory lane with me on that one.

  He asked me what my answer was to his question. Why did I deserve to be the man in his daughter and future granddaughter’s lives?

  I told him it’s because I’d make sure they were always safe. He clapped his hand on my shoulder, grinning like a Cheshire cat, then shot that answer down too.

  This continued seventeen more times, day after day until I finally caught a break on Christmas Eve from Mrs. Claus herself.

  We’re standing in the kitchen of the Greene home, me in my buffalo plaid, which matches Ev and Rory while Kyleigh, donning a cute apron with a white wig, adjusts jolly old St. Rian’s white beard. He’d borrowed the suit from a buddy at the precinct to wear for the Hope House kids tonight and is grousing about the polyester chafing his “delicate area”, as Kyleigh put it.

  “Rian Greene, if you don’t quit dancin’ around, I’m gonna take a wooden spoon to your hide.”

  “I’m not the one who enjoys being spanked, dear.” He bends over to kiss her, only to have the elastic beard pulled back and snapped on his face, which still probably doesn’t touch the nuclear red hue Kyleigh’s face now sports.

  Okay, I did not need to know that.

  “For that remark, I think someone here deserves a hint.” She winks at me, not at all giving away that she helped me pick out the ring I already purchased and have hidden in my sock drawer at home.

  Rian gives me a pity-filled gaze. Finally, some mercy. His eyes crinkle as he grins. “He’ll get it, eventually.”

  Rian Greene, you’re a cruel, cruel man.

  “It’s Christmas, Santa,” Kyleigh reminds him.

  He gives her a stern look. “I didn’t get a hint from your dad.”

  “Then you should know how miserable it is to have to make so many wild guesses.” She rolls her eyes at him. Checking to see if the coast is clear, she puts her hand on top of mine and lowers her voice to barely above a whisper. “Luca, why do you deserve to be with Everleigh?”

  Rian gives her a disapproving grunt, to which she responds by snapping one of his suspenders.

  “I don’t,” I answer honestly, earning two very unique responses. It’s a conclusion I came to while I’ve been trying to figure out more reasons to prove I am, only to find that she deserves much better. “I try every day to be the type of man who’s worthy of her, though. Rory too.”

  Kyleigh smirks at Rian then gives me an approving nod. “I told you he was a smart boy.”

  “You cheated,” he grumbles.

  “I assisted. There’s a difference.” Her eyes sparkle as she gives me a peck on the cheek.

>   Kieran lumbers into the room with an elf costume on, still just as pissed as he was when his dad told him he would wear it.

  “Why are you kissing him?” he sasses as he walks into the kitchen, the jingle bells on his elf shoes announcing his arrival long before he got here.

  “Be nice to your future brother-in-law,” she chastises him.

  He narrows his glare at me before slapping me on the back. “Well, it’s about time, dumbass. I was beginning to think you weren’t serious about her.”

  Kieran and I have mended our fences mostly after our skirmishes. He surprised me by apologizing after I showed up when Capt. Ritters was here. I believe a certain Irish beauty had something to do with that, though. Now that Rian’s work with the task force is complete, he’s been attempting to hang out with Kieran more and mend some fences of their own.

  “I guess you and Kyleigh will have to go ring-shopping here soon,” Rian comments as Kyleigh helps him put on his Santa coat while Kieran fixes his pointy cap in the microwave’s reflection.

  She throws a knowing glance at me from behind Rian. “You know Santa. I think we just might have to do that.”

  43

  Luca

  Rian Greene is a wonderful, wonderful man.

  You would’ve thought he’d handed Everleigh the key to the Taj Mahal as excited as she was when she opened one of her Christmas gifts from him and Kyleigh the following morning. He had gotten her a pair of tickets to go see The Righteous Brothers on New Year’s Eve at a small venue in Downtown Atlanta. She asked me if it was okay to take her father since he was a big fan of their music as well. Like father, like daughter.

  It bummed me out, though, because I was hoping to propose to her on New Year’s since I had been given Rian’s blessing and wouldn’t have to go through the second round of blessing bestowal. In addition to helping me look for a ring for Ev, Kyleigh had secretly prepped me along the way to Christmas, sending me emails with Celtic wedding traditions and things regarding their heritages that Rian had to know before Kyleigh’s dad would give Rian his blessing. She sent me one about the Luckenbooth the night that Rian first questioned me at the gym and faithfully sent one every day after that. So when he told me after returning from Hope House that the second part was a doozy, I demonstrated my knowledge of the customs he never thought an Italian would be so “naturally” aware of. Kyleigh pointed out that it took him a long time to learn all of the things that I was already well-versed in, so he told me I was free to ask her.

  I asked Ev’s mom why she was so willing to help. All she would say is that she wanted Ev to be happy…and wanted a grandbaby named after her. With all of her assistance to help me fast track this proposal, how can I say no to that?

  One day, Kyleigh. One day…

  The day before the concert came, as did Rian’s mysterious stomach bug. He told Ev he wasn’t feeling up to going to the concert, but seeing as how Greta mentioned she and Rory were still going over to help the Greenes ring in the new year, I don’t think she bought all that. With him “out of commission,” Ev invited me.

  I told her that I wanted to go someplace special after the concert, so when I pulled in front of my and Kieran’s old apartment building, she understandably looked confused.

  Just like she does right now as we stand in front of the window that used to be mine.

  “Luca, not that I’m complaining, but why are we here?” She glances around at the people who are coming and going, coming back to celebrate the new year or leaving to go ring it in elsewhere.

  I point up to my old window. “You remember our old apartment, don’t you?”

  “You know I do,” she laughs, probably wondering why I’m wasting time instead of us being naked in her bed.

  I hold her left hand in my right as I stare into the dimly-lit rectangle, a room that someone else now occupies. “There were some great memories made up there—and a big mistake. I let go of the person I loved more than anything in that room because I thought I didn’t have any choice in the matter.” She remains quiet as I continue, no doubt recalling the pain of when I forced her out of my life. “When I was in Italy, I replayed our night over and over in my mind, trying to right the wrong I did. But I never could because I knew until I had your forgiveness, nothing could wipe the stain of that mistake from my soul.”

  Turning to face her, I take her other hand as well. “I hope you can forgive me one day for the hurt I caused you.” She smiles and bows her head to let me kiss it. Here goes nothing…“And for what I’m about to do now.”

  Her eyes raise to mine, panic flooding into the green. “What?”

  “Everleigh Greene, I don’t want to spend my life with you.” Even in the pale streetlight, I can see she’s losing color. “Because a lifetime’s not enough. I want to spend every moment of eternity with you. Even when our bodies are gone, I want to know that our souls are forever entwined—where one ends, the other begins.”

  I take her hand and put it over my racing heart, a heart that became hers in the quiet of the bedroom above us. “This one is a very poor offering for the heart I’m asking for in return, so I hope that this ring might sweeten the deal a bit.” My hand pulls out the ring box as my knee hits the pebbled sidewalk. “I want you to forgive me for being selfish and wanting all of this from you and so much more, even though what you’re giving me is far more valuable.”

  She bites her lip as her eyes bounce back and forth between the box and my face.

  “Evergreen, will you be mine for all eternity?” The box clicks open to reveal a large round emerald, with little diamonds dancing all around it. The platinum setting is a mix of delicate details and little claw-like pieces gripping the center stone—graceful and ferocious. Just like my Evergreen.

  She never says a word, only nods her head in the affirmative. My heart beats wildly at her acceptance as I slip the ring on her finger, a perfect fit for the woman who’s my perfect fit in every way.

  My lips find hers as I wrap her in my arms, only to feel a sharp slap to my chest. “Ow.”

  Her giggle is light, her shiny eyes glimmering under the lamp. “You scared me for a moment, you bastard.” She grabs my face to capture my mouth once more. When we come up for breath, my oxygen-deprived chest feels fuller than ever, until her gaze suddenly starts darting around.

  I watch her as she bends over and glances under my car. “What are you looking for?”

  “I’m expecting Kieran to pop out of nowhere since he usually ruins moments like this.” I laugh as she grins, straightening up. “No more surprises, right?”

  I cup her face and lightly presses my lips to hers, whispering against them. “Only the best kinds from here on out.”

  44

  Everleigh

  Mid-January

  “And make sure you come up with a chores list. It makes for a much happier household,” my mom advises as she finishes drying my feet.

  “Got it. Make sure I call dibs on what I want instead of giving him the option.”

  She snickers then sighs as I adjust my dress. “I can’t believe your own little girl is getting baptized today…” Her eyes start to tear up for the twenty-seventh time in the past three hours. “And…”

  “Mom, we’ll cry after the pictures, okay,” I say, trying to keep my tears at bay. This emotional shit’s for the birds. “Is Rory ready to go?”

  “Already on the altar with the priest and Luca. Kieran and Lia are good to go too. She’s going to be so happy for you all.”

  We had asked Lia and Kieran to be Rory’s godparents the other day when I signed the adoption papers for Rory. The transition period was still in effect, but Greta wanted her to officially be mine—and of course, Luca’s as well, though he has to wait until we return from our trip in two weeks.

  A knock on the door signals Dad’s presence, since he, Luca, and Kieran are the only ones who know we’re back here. Eden and Addy along with Papi Dean and all the people who matter most to us are awaiting for the mother of the child bei
ng baptized to arrive.

  Little do they know what other surprises are in store for them today…

  Luca

  The church is filled with our families and dear friends, all who came to celebrate Rory’s baptism into mine and Ev’s shared Catholic faith. Lia’s got Rory on her hip as Landry sits on the first pew in front of me, with Papi Dean beside him holding Aliana and my parents sitting on his other side.

  Eden and Addy sit in the second row and giggle to themselves now and then, probably still joking that the church is going to collapse on top of their depraved souls—their words, not mine. And Kieran’s still trying to playfully talk me out of all this, although I think he knows after I proposed to Ev, there was no looking back, only forward.

  “You do know there’s still time to run for the hills? My sister isn’t the easiest person to live with,” Kieran whispers in my ear.

  “Neither were you as I recall. I think I’ll survive.” He scoffs as I muffle my chuckle. “Plus, she’s a lot prettier to look at.”

  “Pfft. Says you,” he rebuts. “Just make sure you take good care of them both. Or I’ll beat your ass.” A throat clearing has him looking sheepish under the priest’s disapproving stare. “Sorry, Father.”

  I shake my head and look back at him, my right-hand man through all these years. “You have my word.”

  Lia motions to Kieran to come and stand by her, but he’s exactly where he needs to be right now. Especially since I see Rian Greene’s red hair in the high window of the sanctuary door, meaning it’s go time.

  Smiling at the priest, he takes my cue, even though Lia’s still trying to get Kieran’s attention. “We want to thank all of you for attending the baptism of little Aurora this Sunday afternoon. However, there’s another matter we need to attend to before we begin the rites.”