Page 7 of Claiming Their Omega

There are also new photos on the mantle of Mom dressed up to work at the annual county fair.

“When did you start volunteering?”

“Oh, I just had nothing to do with you kids all grown up, and it’s such fun!”

Gram has a new quilt she’s almost finished, they had to replace the fridge in the kitchen, and Dad’s office got repainted.

I stare out the back door across the porch, squinting. “Didn’t there use to be a fence out there? I had to climb over it all the time, I remember.”

“Oh, yes.” Mom comes up to stand beside me, smiling. “We managed to acquire that land. It’s part of the farm now.”

“When was this?”

“Last year.” Mom smiles. “It’s allowed us to expand the farm and grow more crops.”

“That’s really great,” I say, although my heart twinges a little in my chest. This happened last year, and I had no idea. Maybe I’ve gotten more sucked into my life in New York than I realized. I call my parents pretty often, or at least I thought I did. But now I wonder if I didn’t call as much as I thought, and my stomach sinks.

There’s no judgment or anything like that in my mother’s eyes. Of course there isn’t. But I feel judgment, anyway, inside my heart. Mom was never anything but supportive to me, and she still is, my entire family is.

I just worry now, standing here, that perhaps I haven’t given that support back in return.

There’s a clatter in the kitchen and a curse from Dad. Mom smiles. “I should go help him. And you should help your man, I think Aiden just cornered him.”

Oh, shit.

I hurry over to where Aiden, sure enough, is talking with William and clearly gearing up for the shovel talk. The last thing I need. I’m an adult, I don’t need my older brother protecting me like that anymore.

“Aiden.” I slide up to him. “Are you even letting him breathe?”

“Just letting him know how things go around here,” Aiden shoots back. “We have lots of land, nice soft soil, easy to dig into… that nobody checks…” He lets his voice trail off meaningfully.

“You’re not funny. Except your face.”

“Oh, look who’s talking?” Aiden slings an arm around my shoulders. “You think you can get away with this kind of stuff now that you’re older, huh? I’ll still tickle you.”

“At least it’s not getting me up a tree and then leaving me there, stuck!”

“You got down just fine!”

“I ruined my clothes and scraped myself up. I was not fine.”

“But you did it all on your own.”

“You’re such an ass.” I shove him away playfully. Aiden grins down at me, and I feel so… safe, that’s the word. Safe. Aiden’s always made me feel that way, even when he was luring me up trees and getting me stuck.

I know that if I’d actually been in danger, he would’ve been right there to fix things and help me out of it.

“Well how can I resist when you make it so easy?” Aiden clucks his tongue. “You’d think New York City would’ve made you tougher, aren’t they all supposed to be assholes over there?”

“Ah, but see, I had you to grow up with so I was already immune moving over there.”

William watches this whole exchange with a look of fascination and a bit of confusion on his face. I don’t think he really knows what to make of our sibling banter.

I lean into Aiden’s side and let him give me a squeeze. “So, how are things? Seriously?”

“Seriously? They’re going well. Steady work. There’s always some stable that has a door needing mending. I’ve started some artistic stuff, for the ren faire as well, just a few little things.”

I had no idea. “That’s so cool, can I see photos?”

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