167 - Porch
*Vin, this is my sister, Mary Katherine. I need you to tell us everything that your grandmother said to you. The more details that you can remember, the better. Don’t embellish, just exactly what happened and what was said. If you’re not certain on something, let us know. - Celt*
On the advice of Celt, William went to a hotel and agreed to meet with Camille and Darkness after their lawyer arrived the next day. Celt promised to go over and talk to Vin on his way home. With that settled, the only thing left was to decide what to tell Nicki and Mitch.
“We need to tell them something so that they are not blindsided if something happens,” Darkness said as they were still out on the front porch.
“I know,” Camille admitted. “I just…”
“Come here,” he held his hand out to her, and she moved off the porch swing to stand between his legs. Shifting, he leaned against the porch railing behind him and wrapped his arms around her. Laying her cheek against the soft cotton T-shirt, she wrapped her arms around his waist. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head before resting his chin where he had just kissed. “Talk to me, ti limyè.”
“They are just now starting to really open up. That damn trip back to Arkansas set Mitch back and now he’s back to asking about everything. He caught himself today after we got home and he asked if he could have a yogurt. And Nicki has been more withdrawn.”
“Didn’t you ask their therapist about the trip before we went?”
“Yes,” she sighed out.
“And we knew that this was a possibility,” he held her head to his chest and used his thumb to swipe away a tear on her cheek. Although he could not see it, he could hear them in her voice. He could feel the damp warmth on his shirt. “But there is something that you seem to be missing.”
“What’s that?”
Darkness kissed the top of her head again. Smiling against her hair, he spoke softly to her, “They have taken a few steps back, but they are also a lot more confident. They make more decisions without asking permission. They are blooming, ti limyè, and that’s because of you.”
She stood there in the dimming light and thought about what he said. As she considered it, she thought about how although Nicki was a little more withdrawn, she was also a lot sassier. Nicki was acting like a typical teenager.
As Camille thought about how Mitch had caught himself this afternoon when he asked about a snack, she smiled. *Never mind, you don’t care. Looking up at her husband, she reached up and pulled him down for a kiss.
“We’re doing pretty good, aren’t we?”
“Yeah,” he gave her another quick peck. “We are.”
A car pulled up into the driveway behind them and they heard teenage girls laughing as Nicki got out of her friend’s car. “Okay, I’ll see y’all in the morning!”
“Are your parents always like that?” one of the girls yelled.
Camille peeked around her husband’s arm and watched Nicki turn and look at the house. She threw up her hands in defeat and then looked back at her friends. “Unfortunately, yeah, they are.”
“Girl, your dad is pretty hot!” one of the other girls yelled out.
“Gross!” Nicki yelled as the car backed out of the driveway. She rushed up the walkway and skipped up the three steps. Rolling her eyes, she let out a loud huff as she opened the door. “Sandy is on an age gap kick, you’re not all that hot.”
Camille waited until the teenager was inside before she looked up at Darkness. “I happen to think that you’re pretty hot.”
He grinned at her, “Same at you, little Cam.”
“I guess we’re not going to talk about that grin she had while she was huffing at us?”
Chuckling, he leaned in and kissed her again, “We probably should ignore it.”
“Let’s go cook dinner –“
“Did I hear pizza?”
“Amos,” she laughed, “I already got Italian sausage out for spaghetti.”
“What I’m hearing is that we’re having spaghetti tomorrow night.”
Grinning, she shook her head, “You really want pizza?”
“Yes, we were working across the street from Luigi’s Pizzeria, and it smelled so damned good. Plus, they gave us coupons.”
Laughing, she buried her face in his chest. With a giant smile, she looked up at him, “Coupons are my mother’s weakness. And that was because she had nine kids to feed. Ten after Colton was born and before Charlotte moved out. Plus, whatever orphan brother dad brought home.”
“I’ve never seen a woman get so excited over pizza coupons,” he chuckled. “Are you going to get that excited over pizza coupons?”
“I wouldn’t mind a few more babies,” she admitted with a dreamy look in her eyes, “but I don’t want to have six more kids. Certainly a few more.”
“So, maybe four or five?” he grinned at her.
“More like two or three.”
“We’ll negotiate later,” he murmured as he leaned in and kissed her.
“Maybe we can practice later?” she suggested as they moved towards the front door.
“I like the way you think,” he chuckled as they entered the house. Looking past his wife, he called out, “Who wants pizza?”
Forty-five minutes later, they were sitting at the dining table that Darkness had built when they had first moved into the much smaller house across town. When he had built it, they had each imagined having family meals at it. Neither expected to have them so soon. Nor did they expect to be having the conversation that they were about to have.
“I talked to Vin earlier,” Camille said as a way of testing the waters.
“Is he coming down for your graduation?” Nicki asked.
Darkness passed his daughter a few napkins, “He’s coming down with Oma and Opa.” Looking at his wife, he waited for her nod before continuing. “He saw your Grandmother Dominique.”
“I’m sorry.”
Mitch’s quick response made his parents smirk. Camille offered her hand to him as Darkness lightly gripped Nicki’s hand. As Mitch slipped his hand into the pale one, the shift in the atmosphere could be felt.
“It wasn’t a good visit, was it?” Nicki asked.
“No, sweetheart,” Darkness answered, “it was not.”
“Dominique approached him to get help to get custody of you,” Camille told the teenager sitting across from her.
Mitch leaned in and laid his head against Camille’s arm. Turning her head, she pressed a kiss to the top of his head. Darkness tugged Nicki’s hand until she moved to sit next to him on the shorter bench.
“I don’t want to go,” she whispered. “I want to stay with you.”
Laying her cheek on her son’s head, she smiled at her daughter, “Then that’s what you’ll do.”
“Are you certain?”
Darkness chuckled as he brushed a kiss against her braids, “Very certain. Celt is flying down in the morning, and his sister is meeting with Dominique. From what I understand, she’s more vicious than he is, and he’s pretty vicious.”
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