Page 149 of Morally Gray Daddies

We all sat there in silence, knowing what we wanted, but having no clue how to fit it into our real lives. I was about to tell them not to worry about it, to shrug it off as a pipe dream, when Sabrina spoke up.

“I don’t… I don’t think I want to be in Hollywood anymore.”

My stomach knotted at her announcement. As long as I’d known Sabrina, Hollywood, to be an actress and a singer, was all she’d ever wanted. “Today has been a really fucked-up, emotional, crazy day and I’m sure we’re all feeling a little raw. Maybe we shouldn’t make any more big life decisions than we already have.”

Across from me, Fin wore an equally concerned expression and nodded his head. “Damon is right. I think we should find some more food, and honestly, maybe a hotel room. We all need a good night's sleep before we make rash decisions about our futures.”

“No, you’re both wrong!” Sabrina slammed her fist down on the table. “It’s not a rash decision. I haven’t been happy in Hollywood for a long fucking time, and yeah, it was what I always wanted, but that’s because it was my ticket out of here. And Hollywood was the polar opposite of this place. But today’s Three Rivers isn’t the same Three Rivers we grew up in. The evil people are behind bars. The good people are left behind, picking up the pieces. They are victims just like us. There are so many fucking… victims. And here is the only place we are going to find people who understand. People who have the same trust issues. The same anger. The same bullshit to work through.”

“She's not wrong...” Fin said, but he still looked unconvinced, like he didn’t really know where she was going, or if he wanted to let her go there.

I understood the feeling.

“I don’t want to be a victim. I mean, I am a victim, and so are you, Fin, and Damon most of all, but I don’t want to feel like a victim. And I don’t want you guys to either. And the people here… they aren’t acting like victims. They are rebuilding. They are taking the town back. They are giving the younger generation a safety we never had, a hometown free of corruption, adults they can trust and rely on. A future. I think… I think I want to be a part of that. I think we should be a part of that. We all should.”

My stomach twisted. I heard what she was saying. It made sense, and I didn’t exactly disagree, but… the idea still left a sour taste in my mouth. Maybe that was the point.

“So you’re saying you want to stay here? In Three Rivers?”

“Well, not here.” She swept her arm around the dust-covered shoebox house. “I want to buy one of the big houses on the hill. Like the one Fin’s parents have. And I want to work with teens. For their future. Maybe even foster some. A lot of them have parents in jail right now. Their worlds have been rocked. We know what that’s like. We can help them heal while we are healing ourselves.”

I scoffed. “I have a record, Sabrina. I just got out of jail. Nobody’s gonna let me near a bunch of impressionable kids. Especially after they realize we’re...” I motioned around the table at her and Fin, then myself. “A throuple.”

The word felt funny on my tongue, but it filled my heart with joy and hope.

Fin scoffed. “There are other throuples here. At least one. And guess what, nobody cares. Also, the co-mayor’s own brother was framed and unfairly incarcerated. He’s not going to judge you for that.”

“I wasn’t framed, Fin,” I reminded him. “I actually did the crime.”

“You were forced into an impossible situation by the adults around you. They knew you were in a rough spot. They knew you needed to get out of Dodge. They exploited that and then made it so you never could. Yeah, you did the crime. Yeah, you messed up, but think about the adults that were involved in the bigger picture. They preyed on kids and then threw them away when they didn’t need them anymore. The new judge would expunge your record in a heartbeat. Honestly, Damon, you’re the perfect person to have around these kids. Who knows what they've been through. They aren’t gonna open up to just anyone. It has to be someone they think might understand.”

“Oh.” Well how could I argue with that? Did I even want to? Everything Sabrina was suggesting sounded pretty damn good.

“You think… you think we could actually stay? You think you’d actually want to?” Despite everything, I still considered Three Rivers my home. I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. But I would, for them. I’d go to the ends of the earth for them.

“I think,” Sabrina said, coming to sit on my lap and wrapping her arms around my neck, “that Three Rivers is the perfect place for us, right now. For me and my Daddy, and his Daddy. This is where we broke. It’s where we lost each other, and it's where we came back together and it’s where we’re going to heal.”

“Amen to that.” Finn stood and walked around behind me, placing his hand on my back. “And on that note, let’s get out of here, and go find a hotel, and some food that wasn’t sitting around for hours.”

I sucked in a breath.

He looked at me sharply. “You ready for that?”

The thought terrified me, but it also excited me. I nodded slowly. “I am. I’m not going to skulk around here in the dead of night anymore. I’m ready to tell the world that I’m home. That Sabrina’s Daddy is home.”

“That my babyboy is home.”

Sabrina smiled as she looked between the two of us. “I’m so happy. And you know what? I’m ready to make that promise again. And I’m ready to mean it again.” She beamed up at the both of us. “Always and forever.”

“Always and forever,” we agreed.

The End

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