Page 160 of Discretion at Its Finest

I squeezed Juliet’s hand before walking after him, pulling at Brielle’s cardigan that was draped around my shoulders.

He paused by the patio door, fingers rubbing his temples as I approached him gently.

I lingered beside him for a moment before speaking. “…How’re you holding up, Lovebug?”

His shoulders dropped at the sound of my voice.

“It’s… a lot to process,” he muttered. “But I’m trying.”

“…That's the most important part,” I whispered gently.

When he finally glanced over at me, his eyes were hollowed with exhaustion, but softer than before. I held it together the best I could.

“You could’ve left, could’ve decided it was too much. But you stayed.”

“…Will you?” he asked, hesitancy in his voice, and my breath hitched. “Stay? Are you… staying?”

He wasn’t searching for answers, for the past or for the secrets anymore. At least not right now. There was no anger in his tone, no more accusations, no more resentment…

His question asked more than if I was staying around for the holiday or for the rest of the night… In it I heard the little boy I’d left, the son who was finally asking the question that would make him whole again.

Are you choosing us? Are you choosing me?

I closed the remaining distance and reached for his hand. He didn’t flinch. Instead, his fingers slid between mine instinctively, bigger and rougher than I remember, but still my little boy.

I squeezed gently. “I’m not going anywhere,” I whispered. “Never again.”

His breath trembled, his hand tightened in mine. He looked down at our joined hands before looking back out the patio, and I followed his gaze. He didn’t pull away when I rested my head against his shoulder.

In the reflection of the patio glass, I could see us. I could see the way he turned his head, gazing down at me as if he couldn’tbelieve I was real. I saw the reflection of a mother and a son, not fully healed but together again.

I didn’t deserve his acceptance or forgiveness. Didn’t deserve him or the family I always wanted. But they let me in… he was letting me in. And that was enough for us to start over.

Epilogue

Eugene

The snow engulfed the Russel estate, soft flakes drifting under the dim lights that illuminated the courtyard. I stepped out for a minute, letting the cold hit my face. I needed to feel it. My head was pounding again, my vision pulsing at the edges as I tried to ignore it.

Too much had happened in too little time.

I braced my palms on the railing, staring out over the grounds. It was quiet… peaceful even.

But I didn’t belong in anything peaceful.

Last night blurred in my mind. The shouting, the kitchen, Genevieve… my mother’s voice, her hands on my face, the way I broke against her shoulder like I was a child again. Shame crawled hot up my throat.

I shouldn’t have needed that. And I hated that it helped silence the noise, helped ease the pain.

I also shouldn’t have watched her withhim. But I did. Saw the way Reid… my—my father held her. The way she let him. Like they’d fought and survived a war to be here. Maybe they did.

Despite her tears, despite the lies, the discretion… she looked happy, warm, alive… reminded me she wasn’t a ghost of my past anymore.

The door clicked softly behind me… I thought it would be Juliet, coming over to talk to me, ease my mind like she always did. She always came when things inside my head got too loud, always reached for me even when she didn’t understand what she was reaching into.

But the footsteps were too careful, too familiar in an entirely different way.

Always sneaking up behind me, pulling at strings I didn’t want tugged, making me feel things I didn’t want to. But I’d feel them anyway, because I had no choice.