by VK Fox
After saying goodbye and two dozen hugs, Ian and Jane bundled the babies into the Hummer.
Ian’s eyes sparkled from the driver’s seat. “Milkshake?”
“I earned it.” Jane grinned back. “I had a chat with Dahl.”
“I saw him pull you aside. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah. It’s good.” Outside, the road slipped by. The car smelled like olive oil and chrism. In the side-view mirror, Jane glimpsed the shape of a wolf. “I’m thinking we should stay in Vegas. I have a job interview Monday.”
Epilogue
“I wish you could have been with me. You would have liked them.” Everest was bunched against him on one side of the couch, the credits from The Matrix rolling quietly along the screen. Dahl was back to one arm, so Everest always sat to his left for easy contact. He never startled under Dahl’s touches anymore, and the level of familiarity still made Dahl giddy.
“I know I would have.” Dahl fingered Everest’s shaggy hair, brushing it this way and that. “Tell me about them. What were your impressions? What was the story?”
“At first I was too terrified to enter the room.” Everest hid a shy smile in Dahl’s neck. “I stood in the doorway, out of sight, and listened to them talking. They were wondering when I would arrive, if I had changed my mind. I knew I was the youngest of six from the email, but it wasn’t until I heard all those voices did it sink in just how many people that was.”
“It’s more than a pop group and almost a Broadway musical. Can you imagine fighting over the last piece of pie or what the bathroom must have looked like growing up?”
Everest laughed, bright and lovely. “Never alone. It must have been marvelous.”
“Toothpaste all over the sink… hot water constantly running out…”
“Always someone to talk to, always someone to play with.”
“Always breaking your toys and stealing your favorite clothes.”
Everest chuckled. “I don’t know, I think Fitz needs a brother.”
“Fuck me, Everest, he slept through the night like once. Do you have another orphan you’re squirreling away in the pantry or something I don’t know about?” Everest was laughing, but Dahl didn’t miss the probing nature of his voice. The man was a generous masochist.
“Anyhow, I did go in. Fitz was getting impatient, and I had to make a decision. It seemed like a shame to leave when I’d asked them to come.”
“I’m glad Fitz was with you. That must have made things easier.”
“Yes, he was a comfort. When I entered the room, there was a moment when everyone went quiet and just stared at us and I couldn’t move under all of those eyes.” Everest relaxed onto Dahl’s shoulder, warm and smelling of lavender. “I was completely frozen. Then a man stood—he could have been my twin. He introduced himself as Mika and said we were ten months apart. An older woman, my birth mother, was watching us with her hand over her mouth and tearing up.”
“Mika?” Dahl couldn’t hide a grin. Everest’s brother was named Mika? That, at least, had better be true. “Do you know what Mika means?”
“No.” Everest was smoothing the fabric on the couch cushion. “I know it’s a Sioux name, so that’s something to research more.”
“It means rabbit.”
Everest laughed again. Twice in one conversation. Dahl soaked in the noise. “Did you ask your birth mother why she gave you up? I know you wondered.”
“I did. She told me the day after she found out she was pregnant, my birth father went out for his morning jog and suffered a fatal heart attack. My birth mother, Jenny, was a widow with five young children, including one-month-old Mika. She said she had dreams for me she couldn’t provide: a stable childhood, better opportunities. She wanted me to be happy.”
“And what did you tell her?”
“That I am happy. Happy and grateful. I have a beautiful life.”
Dahl kissed his forehead and stood, wandering to the kitchen. “Do you want a drink?”
“Sure. Whatever you’re having.” Everest stretched and ran his hands through his hair, glossy black locks almost long enough to put in a braid. Dahl grabbed two beers in one hand and stopped by the lighted desktop PC on the way. Everest had left his email open to the message from his birth mother.
Thank you for reaching out, but I have decided not to meet. It’s an issue long closed in my mind and I ask that you not contact me again.
Sincerely,
Jenny
“Do you want to keep this?” Dahl called over to where Everest was perched on the couch. Sometimes he did. The incongruity of what happened and what could have happened didn’t trouble him as much as it had even a few weeks ago. It was possible that Everest was the youngest of six, had an Irish twin, and a birth mother who would cry to behold him. Those things were important. They meant so much that Everest had subconsciously sifted through a dizzying array of possibilities to see what might have been if Jenny had said yes.
“No, you can delete it. I don’t need it anymore.” Everest explored him with soft eyes, the ones that always turned Dahl inside out. “They’re lovely, and I’m glad I got to meet them. But they’re not my family. I’m already home.”
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About the Author
VK Fox lives in the beautiful Piedmont region with her husband and a small herd of children. When she’s not deep in her mind she enjoys wrangling a menagerie of exotic pets, uppity livestock, and carnivorous plants. Stay up to date on new releases and awesome give-aways and VK-Fox.com
