Beast, Part Two (The Church #5)

Family

chapter Twenty-NIne

Beast

S ummer scurries around the backyard, fixing the balloon arrangements she put up. She has been a much-needed light in this house. When all of us are locked in our grief, she finds some way to bring us out of it.

For instance, today she’s doing a gender reveal party for Brooklyn and Hawk. They went for their ultrasound two weeks ago. Under the cover of night, we escorted them to Doc’s where one of DOE’s doctors was able to check her out. Even though Brooklyn was eight months already, that appointment was the first one where she got to find out the sexes.

Summer convinced them to get the sex of the baby put in an envelope so she could do something nice for them. No one argued because we needed this type of distraction. Only Summer knows the sex of the babies and she’s not telling.

“What do you think? Is it a good mix of pink and blue?” she asks, coming up to me.

I look around at the backyard. One balloon arch sits behind two white chairs. Another arch is near a table full of pink and blue dessert. Four round tables are set up with white tablecloths and pink and blue flower center pieces.

I don’t know much about baby gender reveals, but this was nice.

“I think it’s perfect,” I say, placing the very last folded chair under the round table.

Summer places her hands on her hips and gazes around at the yard.

“Do you think they will like it?” she asks, turning back to me.

“Yeah, baby. They will.” Even if they didn’t, I’d make sure they did.

“Wow, Summer,” Ms. Reese says stepping out the door with a large cake in her hands. “You did a great job.”

“Thank you, Ms. Reese.” Summer goes over to Ms. Reese and takes the cake out of her hands. She carries it over to the dessert table. “What do you say, Ms. Reese? Pink or blue?” She holds up the pink and blue ribbons in her hands.

Ms. Reese taps her chin. “One pink and one blue.”

Summer quickly hands the lady her ribbons before coming up to me.

“What do you think the sex of the baby will be?” she asks me.

I lift a brow at her before shrugging. “Never gave it much thought.”

She giggles and I wrap my arms around her waist, bringing her into me. “Well, think about it now. Do you think it’s two girls or two boys? Or a girl and a boy like Ms. Reese?”

I really didn’t care what the sex would be. They would be my nieces and nephews either way. But it isn’t about if it mattered to me, making a decision matters to Summer.

“Two boys,” I say. “I’m not sure how I’d feel trying to protect multiple little girls. Emory is enough.” I think over how tough Lucien and Seth are going to have it when Emory gets older and calls herself dating.

The moment I think about my brother, I get sad. There has still been no sight of Seth. I thought with the killing of Zeke and Archie, he’d show back up by now, but he hadn’t.

“I can’t believe I’m only one month away from being a new auntie,” Albany says stepping into the backyard holding Charlie. She walks over to us. I immediately take Charlie out of her arms and toss him up in the air. He giggles and slobs. He’s starting to crawl now at nearly nine months. It’s hard to keep up with him.

“If he throws up on you, I’m not helping you clean it up,” Albany jokes.

Some of the guilt has eased up from seeing Charlie and Albany. I still feel the pain of their loss, but the guilt doesn’t swallow me up. Instead of allowing it to keep me away from them, I use it to put in time with Charlie.

“Give me my brother,” Zel says walking out of the house and taking Charlie from me.

Shortly after, we all gathered in the backyard. Summer once again did an amazing job distracting us from our pain. We’ve laughed, played games, and ate well. Now, Brooklyn and Hawk are standing in front of us with gender reveal smoke cannons. Each one holding a cannon to represent each child.

“All right,” Summer sings. “On the count of three.”

“Wait,” Brooklyn says. “Let’s do it one at a time. Hawk, you do yours first.”

He nods obediently.

“Okay,” Summer continues. “On three Hawk. One, two, three.”

Hawk shoots his cannon, and blue smoke shoots up in the air. We all cheer.

“What color is it?” Hawk asks.

“Shit, baby. I forgot you’re blind. It’s blue,” Brooklyn shouts. Hawk turns around and gently lifts Brooklyn up spinning her around.

“Did she just say he’s blind?” Summer asks looking at me. “He’s been blind this entire time?”

Maksim and Zel chuckle beside me.

“I was just as confused as you the first time I found out,” Ari says. “Don’t feel bad.”

Seconds later, Brooklyn shoots her cannon, and more blue smoke pours out.

We continue to celebrate. I find myself in the corner of the yard staring up at the sky.

“You have two more grandsons, Priest. You would’ve had your hands full.”

I hear her footsteps before she speaks. “He would’ve had so much to say about all this pink and blue, but deep down he would have been so happy.” Albany steps up beside me.

We don’t speak again for a long moment. Both lost in our own memories of Priest.

“Is it weird that I still feel this connection to him? It’s like I know he’s dead, but part of me feels as if my soul hasn’t gotten the memo.”

I turn to her, glancing down at her teary eyes. Placing an arm around her shoulder, I pull her into me.

“You lost your soul mate. Your soul is never going to get the memo. But we are here. For whatever you need.”

She smiles up at me. “Look at you, tapping into your emotions. Priest would be so proud.”

I shrug off her compliment even though it meant the world to me.

We spent the remainder of the night celebrating Brooklyn and Hawk’s great news. At one point, we sat around the fire pit with Charlie, Emory and Gabe and shared stories of Priest. It was a good night. One we truly needed.