Page 16 of Samhain

I smiled, letting her adoration warm me.

“Maybe I regret your father,” she teased, and I barked out a laugh. My father and I didn’t see eye to eye about my life choices, hence the reason he wasn’t out here and they were. He was back in Chicago with his new family and his new son who he did everything with—who he supported no matter what.

Fuck him.

Though, I did regret not having much of a relationship with my little brother.

“But even then, you wouldn’t be you without him.” She squeezed my hand and leaned in close. “Are you screwing the princess?”

I gasped and lemonade shot out of my nose.

“Fuck,” I said, spilling it down the front of my shirt, tears welling in my eyes. “Mom!”

“What?” she said. “I just have to know whether I should plan to share grandchildren with the king and queen of England. That’s all.”

“Unlikely,” I said.

“Okay, fine.” She paused for a moment before giving me a side-eye and muttering, “You weren’t screwing Ivy Washington either.”

I sighed and wiped at my shirt, pulling it away from my sticky chest.

“Ivy and I…” It hurt to think of her. It hurt to talk about her. “I don’t want to talk about Ivy.”

She ignored my protests. “What about Lex? Weren’t the two of them?—”

“I don’t want to talk about Lex either.” My tone was unintentionally harsh.

My mom moved closer. “It must have hurt when they got together.”

They weren’t together. Or at least…I didn’t think they were together. We’re all together.

“It’s—It’s complicated, okay?” But my voice shook, and my eyes burned, and for a brief moment, I thought I might crack right open in front of her. I took another sip of lemonade and swallowed the bitterness at the back of my throat, telling myself it was afterburn from the acid in my nostrils.

“My baby boy,” she whispered. “Gods willing, you will know many great loves in your life. May you be fortunate enough to hold on to the ones who are meant for you.” She nodded at the house, gesturing toward Miri. “You two have great energy together. I can feel it.”

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. A certified Reiki healer, my mother believed in the power of energetic fields. If I told her what happened to us in Ireland, she’d probably have a crystal and a bag of herbs for me to chant over, proclaiming us all fated lovers from a previous life. To be fair, I didn’t have much proof to argue against her.

“Did I have good energy with Ivy?” I’d meant it to mock her, but she answered me seriously anyway.

“You were born with the ability to connect with anyone, but you already know who you belong with.” It was an ambiguous answer, but I got the feeling she’d meant it to be so.

All of them. All of us. We belong together.

I cleared my throat, the thought of my Weeds too much. All of this…too much. “Well, she’s already spoken for so?—”

Mom stood so she could hug my head into her stomach the way she used to do when I’d skinned my knee as a kid. I tried to resist the vulnerability. I was a grown-ass man, after all. But I sat my lemonade down and wrapped my arms around her body, pulling her closer, maybe hoping she could put a bandage over my broken heart and kiss it better.

This would take more than a mother’s love to fix.

She put her hands on my jaw and tilted my attention up to her so she could give me a peck on the forehead.

“Remember what you were put on this earth to do, baby,” she said.

Love. And be loved.

That was her motto. Nothing else mattered.

But for me, I was put on this earth to act, and it reminded me again of my life motto, the one I’d sworn to Anthony Michaels all those years ago.

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