Fostering Hope (Silver Lining Book 1)

by Amanda Perry

  Dominic comes up beside me, startling me out of my internal musings. He points to my bowl and lifts a brow. “Are you finished eating, or do you want more?”

  I glance at the empty bowl in shock. I meant to take my time eating, but it tasted amazing. It wasn’t just noodles and plain sauce. Whoever made it added meat, garlic, onions, and crushed tomatoes. I’d love to thank the chef. I suspect Collin made it since he was chopping up tomatoes earlier when I arrived. Part of me wants to accept Dominic’s offer for more, but it would make me sick from overeating.

  Duncan seems to notice my inner debate because he leans against the counter, resting on his elbows and smiles his calming smile at me. “There isn’t much left in the big bowl. How about we put what’s left in a small container with your name on it so you can eat the rest when you’re hungry again?”

  I nod gratefully, though surely someone else will find it before I become hungry again. It’s a nice gesture on his part either way. I move to clear my spot, but Dominic grabs my bowl and fork for me. I blink in surprise at his kindness. These guys are nicer than any other guys I’ve had to live with. Even Lochlan isn’t too bad thus far, aside from the whole attempted murder incident. Things are sure to change soon, but I like it for now.

  Once he’s finished cleaning the kitchen, Duncan turns around to face us. He leans on the counter as he peers up at Lochlan and Dominic. “Are you guys staying the night here? It’s kind of late to go home.”

  “Yeah, we stopped here because it’s a little closer, and we were too tired to drive all the way home. Plus, I thought dad might have cooked his famous spaghetti since it’s Thursday. After that meal and the horrible work week we had, I could sleep for a few days right about now.” Dominic emphasizes his point with a big yawn before heading toward the stairs. He stops in the entry of the kitchen and turns to gaze at me. “It’s good to meet you, Parker. I’ll probably see you tomorrow.”

  “It’s been, um, interesting,” I offer, trying my best not to sound like a brat.

  He chuckles and shakes his head as he turns around and continues on to the stairs. Lochlan gives me a grunt of some kind before heading out of the room after Dominic. I can only guess what he meant by it. Either “screw you, Parker”, or “see you tomorrow, it’s been lovely to meet you”. If I had money, it would be on the former.

  Duncan waits for me to stand before gesturing for me to follow him up the stairs. He gives me a quiet good night at the doorway to my room, then heads off to his room. This might actually be the strangest night of my life. I don’t know what to make of this family.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The bright sunlight filtering through my open curtains wakes me the following morning. I drag my tired body from the warm bed while cursing myself for not taking the time to close the curtains before I fell asleep last night.

  Grabbing my bathroom bag and a new outfit, I decide to take a quick shower. Thankfully, the bathroom is available and the hallway empty. Finding the towels in a small linen closet beside the bathroom, I grab one for my hair and one for my body. A second before closing the bathroom door a blur races by, and a foot appears between the door and the frame. A yelp escapes me and I stumble backward.

  “Not a chance, it’s my time to shower, and you know it, dude.” The door swings open and I give the young guy standing on the other side a confused stare. He appears a bit younger than the guys I met yesterday. He may even be younger than me. The sides of his blonde hair are shaved short. Longer strands on top in disarray from sleep. He’s dressed in pajamas, ribbed tank and plaid cotton pants..

  “I didn’t know there was a schedule,” I assure him, cocking a brow in amusement. Not feeling threatened, I venture, “Also, I’m not a dude.”

  He blinks rapidly, appearing mystified for a few seconds, but quickly shakes himself out of it. “You’re a chick!”

  “Last time I checked.” I nod, slightly bemused. “If you’d move, I’ll leave so you can shower first.”

  “No, no way. You go ahead, I’m good.” He steps back from the door and removes his foot. “Sorry, I thought you were Talen. He takes longer to get ready in the mornings than anyone, and there’s never hot water if we let him go first. Plus, this isn’t even his bathroom. He just likes our shower better.”

  “Ah, I haven’t met that one yet,” I admit. “Actually, I haven’t met you either. I’m Parker.”

  “I’m Austyn.” He sticks his hand out and shakes mine when I place it in his. “I’ll let you do your thing. Sorry again for that awkwardness.”

  “It’s fine. Nice to meet you, Austyn.” Chuckling at his pink tinted cheeks, I close the door.

  After a nice hot shower, I wander downstairs, following the smell of bacon being fried. Rounding the corner to the kitchen, I stop dead in my tracks. Maggie and a strange man stand in the kitchen with their arms around each other, kissing. The strange man is most definitely not Collin, and I shake my head, more than a little shocked. Of course, I’ve witnessed women and men cheating before. I really didn’t expect Maggie to be the type, though, especially with some of her children in the house.

  Taking a few steps backward, I turn to head back to my room. A floorboard under my foot squeaks loudly as I attempt to remain unseen. Cringing, I peek over at Maggie and her mystery man. Both sets of eyes lock on me and go impossibly wide.

  Without a word to either of them, I race around the corner and up the stairs and into my room, shutting the door quietly. Plopping down onto my bed, I push the heels of my hands into my eyes and try to rub away the anxiety bubbling up. I hadn’t meant to catch them in the act. Who knows what they’re going to do now. Maggie probably wants to ship me back to Rebecca, claiming I’m a busybody and up to no good.

  My stomach twists at the possibility of leaving this house. It’s nicer and cleaner than any place I’ve lived before. The people living here have yet to scream and shout at each other or me. No one brings drugs out while I’m in the room. There haven’t been any drunks stumbling around. The whole house doesn’t reek of cigarette or marijuana smoke. I may as well be living in heaven right now, and I don’t want to give it up simply because I accidentally witnessed something I shouldn’t have.

  I know I need to calm down when the room tilts and my vision becomes fuzzy. Taking a deep breath in, I hold it for three seconds then let it out slowly. I force myself to repeat the process multiple times until the dizziness passes. I can’t change the outcome of my situation. I can only change how I handle it. I repeat the mantra to myself over and over. My coping mechanisms were all learned from the internet, but they actually work sometimes.

  A knock on the door startles me from my relaxation techniques. Jumping off my bed, I cautiously tiptoe to the door and pull it open slightly. When I make eye contact with the strange man from downstairs, he smiles sheepishly at me.

  “Mind if I come in?” He asks, rubbing the back of his neck.

  Huffing, I stick my foot at the base of the door in case he tries to push his way in. “Look, I won’t say a word about what I saw. It’s none of my business. Let’s just pretend this never happened, okay?”

  He reels back as if physically struck by my words. “Come again?”

  “I’m not about to ruin this for myself, buddy. What you and Maggie do is none of my business. I’ll keep my mouth shut if it means she doesn’t send me back. It’s none of my business anyway.”

  He shakes his head slowly. “No, you don’t understand.”

  “I probably do.” I’m not interested in listening to the same speech from him I receive from every cheating man I come across. “Your wife would leave you if she found out. You’d lose your house and your car. You can’t get caught. It was just one time. You never meant for it to happen. It’s fine, your secret is safe with me. Just let me do my own thing, and you can do yours.”

  The man opens his mouth to say something, but Maggie’s voice coming from down the hall stops him. “Jack, did you find her in her room? I checked downstairs, and she’s not there.”
>
  “She’s here, Mags,” he calls back, not taking his eyes off me.

  Maggie reaches my room and brightens when she notices me. “Oh, Parker, there you are. I didn’t get a chance to explain things to you about Jack before you ran off.”

  “Like I told him, I won’t say a word to anyone,” I promise her. My eyes sting when I realize she probably wants me gone before Collin gets home in case I try snitching. Pushing past the lump in my throat, I resort to begging. “Just don’t send me back, please. I swear I’ll stay quiet. I didn’t even mean to see anything. I wasn’t snooping. I’ll keep my mouth shut, I promise.”

  “Parker, calm down,” Maggie soothes, putting her hand on the door and pushing slightly. It doesn’t move because of my foot in the way, and she stops pushing. She frowns deeply and hangs her head. “Will you come downstairs, please? We can talk about this together. It’s really not what you think.”

  Hesitating briefly, I decide to comply with her request. What do I have to lose? “Okay.” I sniff, willing the tears to dry before they fall. I refuse to cry in front of these people. She’s surely called Rebecca already. I never should have unpacked my things.

  With no other option, I follow Maggie and Jack back down the stairs and into the living room. They sit together on the couch, and I take the ottoman in front of them. Before anyone can say a word, a guy comes strolling into the room. His crystal green eyes glow against his light caramel skin. He wears a hooded sweatshirt with a sports team logo on the front and plain denim jeans. His black hair is buzzed short against his scalp. In one hand, he carries a mug filled with a steaming beverage, in the other hand a cell phone. His phone appears to be his main focus as he enters the room.

  “Hey, Ma,” he mutters, not taking his eyes from his phone. “What’s the plan for—” His words cut off when he finally glances up and notices his mom isn’t alone in the room.

  His eyes stop on me for a long second before bouncing to Jack. “Holy shit, you’re here,” he gasps, nearly dropping his mug and phone in his haste to set them down. Jack jumps up in time for the new guy to grab him in a big hug. “I can’t believe you’re here, finally.”

  “I missed you, too, son,” Jack mutters, hugging him back tightly. “We have a slight situation to deal with before we can catch up, but damn I’ve missed you so much.”

  “Situation?” The new guy pulls back glancing from Jack to Maggie, and finally to me.

  Raising my hand slightly, I gain the attention of all three of them. “I think I’m the situation.”

  He barks out a laugh while plopping down into the oversized chair to my left. “I’m Talen, and who might you be?”

  The name rings a bell in my mind. “You’re the shower stealer. I’m Parker.”

  His eyes widen, and his brows rise with surprise. “Oh, I didn’t expect that at all.”

  Before I can ask what he means, Maggie interrupts us. “Parker, I need to explain Jack to you. I understand you think you know what you saw, but it’s not the case.”

  Taking a deep breath, I give her a small nod to show I’m listening. She waits for Jack to settle back into his seat before continuing on. “The truth is Jack is my husband.”

  “What?” I blink, holding a hand up to stop her from saying anything more. “Collin said you were his wife yesterday. So that’s a lie? Why would you lie about that?”

  “It’s not a lie,” Jack assures me, taking Maggie’s hand.

  “What’s not a lie?” Lochlan and Duncan come into the room, and it suddenly becomes too crowded in here.

  Talen answers Duncan’s question before anyone else can. “Mom and Pop are explaining their relationship status to Parker.”

  “Great,” Lochlan sneers and crosses his bulky arms over his chest. “Best to tell her sooner so she can get all her bull shit judgments out, then get lost.”

  “Calm down, Lochlan,” Maggie scolds, frowning up at him. “We raised you better than that. Don’t be so rude.”

  He simply continues to glare in my direction without a word. I glare back. What crawled up his ass and died, I wonder. Whatever his problem with me may be, I’m not interested in dealing with him and his grumpy attitude right now.

  “As we were saying.” Maggie sighs, clearly frustrated with all the interruptions. “I’m married to both Collin and Jack. I have two husbands.”

  I sit in silence, taking a moment to allow the information to sink in. Two husbands? How does a person even end up in such a relationship? Isn’t it illegal to be married to more than one person? I keep my immediate thoughts quiet. It’s really none of my business, as long as they aren’t hurting anyone. So far, they all seem like good people, except for maybe Lochlan. He’s still an ass.

  “So…” I drag the word out, fiddling with the sleeve of my shirt. “Does this mean you won’t send me back?” The question sounds selfish, but I need to be sure I’m not packing my things again already.

  “Wait,” Talen chimes in, scrunching his brow. “That’s it? You’re not going to get all weird about it?”

  “Should I get weird about it?” I ask slowly, not understanding his confusion.

  Duncan adds his two cents in as well. “It’s just something our parents get judged on a lot. Poly relationships of any kind aren’t the norm, and people who aren’t used to it get kind of uncomfortable with the idea. We all grew up with it for the most part, it’s normal to us. It’s odd to outsiders.”

  “It’s not really a big deal to me.” Shrugging, I lean back on my hands and relax slightly. They might not be shipping me off after all. “As long as I don’t have to keep secrets or pack my bags, I’m fine. It isn’t like they don’t love each other or whatever. I’d think being in a toxic and loveless relationship with only one person would be a lot worse than being in a loving relationship with multiple people. I honestly never thought about a relationship like yours, but it doesn’t bother me either if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  “I’ll be damned,” Talen mutters, sitting back in his chair and running a hand over his buzzed hair.

  Maggie lets out a dramatically loud sigh. “What a relief. We actually stopped fostering a few years ago because the older kids we took in weren’t comfortable with our relationship. It hurts, but we won’t change who we are.”

  “It doesn’t make me uncomfortable. It isn’t like the news changes who you all are.”

  Talen grabs his mug from the side table and takes a long sip of his drink. A mischievous grin remains on his lips, and he keeps his eyes on me the whole time. Duncan chuckles at Talen’s odd behavior, while Lochlan simply shakes his head in exasperation before stomping out of the room.

  Maggie stands at the same time as Jack, and then pats my shoulder. “Boys are strange, dear, especially mine. You’ll get used to it.”

  “Let’s hope so,” Talen mutters, his eyes still on me.

  Duncan replaces Maggie on the couch in front of me and leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “So tell me, Parker. Where did the bruise on your cheek come from?”

  “Huh?” I startle at his change of subject and press my hand to my cheek as if trying to feel for the bruise. “Oh, it’s no big deal. I got smart with my old foster father and he got pissed.”

  “What?” Talen shoots forward in his seat, inspecting my cheek closer. “What a fucking prick.”

  I glance down at my hands. “It’s really nothing. I should have kept my mouth shut.”

  “I don’t give a damn what you did, he shouldn’t have hit you.”

  “Your mom was right.” I frown at the oddly protective reaction from both Talen and Duncan. “You boys are weird.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Maggie calls the three of us into the kitchen, insisting I join her and the guys for breakfast and my stomach agrees with her.

  “Can I help set the table or something?” I offer while fidgeting awkwardly as Maggie finishes making waffles.

  She glances around the kitchen, contemplating. “Can you fry eggs? I’d say yes to setting
the table, but honestly, we never know which of the kids will show up for meals around here. We usually just put a stack of plates on the counter and let them grab one as they show up.”

  I cringe and eye the stove. “I can try the eggs, but you may not want me cooking with an actual stove. I’m not the most coordinated person in the world. I’m also an awful cook.”

  “Oh, I’m sure you’re not that bad.” She giggles, going back to the waffles. “Try one. If you butcher it, I’ll take over. Does that sound fair?”

  “Sure, why not?” I concede with a shrug.

  Grabbing the eggs out of the fridge, I set them next to the stove. Luckily, I don’t need to search all over for a frying pan. A clean one already sits on the burner waiting for me. Turning the stove on, I stand and wait for the burner to heat up the pan. While I wait, I pick out an egg and prepare to break it when ready.

  “I bet if you turned on the front burner it would heat faster,” a male voice behind me scares the heck out of me.

  Jumping and spinning around to find the culprit, I end up dropping the egg. It falls to the floor and lands on a pair of dirty work boots. Following the boots up, I find a pair of worn and ripped jeans and a shirt which probably started out white at one point but now has a dirt brown tint to it.

  My eyes finally land on a familiar face. The man in front of me looks like Duncan. He sounds like Duncan. Everything about him is exactly the same as Duncan. But something is off. I can’t put my finger on it, but I know this guy isn’t Duncan. “You’re not Duncan.”

  “Not quite, Martha Stewart.” The Duncan clone chuckles. He reaches past me and flips the back burner off, and then turns the front burner on. “That should help, though you’re down an egg unless you want to eat that one.” He points to the egg on his shoes.

  “Oh!” I cover my eyes and cringe. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do that. You startled me.”