Page 42 of Lila

“Sit down.” I nod to the bed before sitting down myself.

Her breath rushes out of her as she trudges over and sits next to me. “Stop dragging it out, Luca. I can’t handle anymore. Tell me what’s wrong,” she pleads.

“Nothing’s wrong. Thanks to Lila, everything is about to be perfect.”

“What are you talking about, Luca? Stop being so cryptic.”

“Grayson’s going to be able to talk.”

Her jaw drops and her hands fly to her mouth. “W-what? Are you serious?” she stammers, her eyes pleading with me to tell the truth.

“As a heart attack. I would never get your hopes up like that if I wasn’t sure.”

“Buthow?”

“All this time, we thought it was because of his autism. But it’s not. It’s a spell. We never thought there could be a magical explanation.”

“A spell? But how? How’d you find out? How did we not know all these years?”

“Lila. She can see curses. More importantly, she canbreakcurses.”

“Oh my god. I knew it was fate that I met her.” She smiles.

“You have no idea.” She quirks a brow and I drop another bomb. “Lila’s my mate.”

Her eyes widen and she gasps. “Yourmate? That’s amazing, Luca! Oh my god! Congratulations! Thank god I don’t have to worry about your future mate anymore.”

“What do you mean? You’ve been worried about me meeting my mate?”

“Of course I have.” She rolls her eyes. “I’m a witch, I don’t know how the whole mate thing works. For all I knew you’d find your mate and then completely forget about Grayson. You’d want kids with yourmateand you wouldn’t want him anymore.”

“Ann. I didn’t know you were so worried about that. That could never happen. Even if Lila wasn’t my mate and Fate stuck me with a controlling bitch, I wouldneverforget about Grayson. He will always be my son just as much as any kids I have with my mate. I won’t love them more than him. You have to know that.”

“I do. It was just an irrational mom fear.” She shrugs. “But I don’t have to worry now, because Lila loves Gray as much as we do. And she’s going to give us the best gift in the world. I can’t believe it. He’s going to be able to talk!”

“I know. I can’t wait to hear his voice for the first time. I just know I’m going to cry like a baby.”

“You and me both!” she laughs.

“There is something else…” She cocks her head and waits for me to drop the final bomb. “Your parents are the ones who cursed him.”

She goes deathly still, I think she even stops breathing before she blinks. “Wh-what? Myparentsdid this?”

“I’m afraid so. When Lila did her thing, she said the curse revealed all of its secrets to her. When she told me Celeste and Jorgon were responsible I about lost my shit.”

“Butwhy?When? I can’t believe it. Why would they do that? I know we don’t get along, but tocursetheir grandson? How could they do that?”

“I don’t know. But we’re going to find out.Afterwe sever the curse.”

“You’re right. That’s what’s important. Finding my parents can wait. How long will it take to break the curse?”

“Lila’s already gone to Highway to Spells to get the ingredients she needs for the potion. She’ll be back as soon as it’s ready. We’ll get to hear our son talk for the first time,today.”

Ann throws her arms around me and sobs as I hold her. People who don’t have a child who’s never spoken couldn’t possibly understand the feelings crashing through both of us right now. People take being able to have a normal conversation with their kids for granted. Whereas we would give anything just to hear him say one word. And thanks to my amazing mate, we’re about to have all our wishes come true. The overwhelming happiness has a way of bringing a tear to even the strongest man.

When Ann finally calms down and pulls away to wipe the tears from her face, I grab the box of tissues off my nightstand. “Let’s go watch our son play video games while we wait.”

“I saw the guys playing with him when I got here. Who’s the new guy?”

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