Rumor Has It (Longwood U)

Chapter 36

CHAPTER 36

SPARROW

We continue to cruise around the Caribbean for the rest of June. By the beginning of July, we’re heading back to dock in North Carolina again. Not because we’re letting Edin go home, but because we’re going to spend the Fourth with Dak’s family.

I think we all feel the enormity of docking. Of returning to North Carolina. Even Morgan looks listless and worried this morning. Despite it being a clear day, there’s a dark cloud that hangs over our heads.

“Uh oh,” Dak says. I look up to find him looking toward the dock where we’re headed. There are three men there. I don’t need to see them clearly to know that his fathers are waiting for us. Which isn’t a surprise, since we’d already planned that they were picking us up. “Dad isn’t happy.”

I don’t need convincing of that deduction. Credence is standing in front of Jakub and Ethan with his arms crossed over his chest, frowning. Ethan has a big smile, and Jakub’s also smiling, but in a much quieter way.

Morgan waves wildly, excited to see them, which briefly distracts Credence from his displeasure. I guide the boat in and watch with pride as Dak expertly ties us off. He rushes around his fathers to grab the second tow line and secure us. Usually I do the second tie, but I have a feeling he’s trying to prolong this moment .

But eventually, he has to stand and face them.

“You didn’t really get married without telling us, did you?” Credence asks. “And we did not find out from a post you’re tagged in by your new husband.”

“Yes!” Morgan exclaims excitedly. “Sparrow is my new uncle. He teaches me how to drive the boat!”

Ethan grins, holding his hands out to Morgan. She happily—and carefully—climbs off the boat with Edin’s help and launches into Ethan’s arms.

“I’m sorry,” Dak mutters as I come around.

Edin disappears below deck with me to grab all the luggage and haul it out.

Jakub is hugging Dak, and while Credence is still frowning, he hugs Dak right after. “Love you, Dad,” Dak says. “I’m sorry. Really.”

Credence sighs. “Love you too.”

After hugging Ethan, who’s set Morgan on her feet, Dak returns to the boat and my side. He turns to his fathers and I know he’s going to give an explanation until we’re all distracted when Morgan says, “Daddy?”

Everything stops as we all turn to look at Morgan. It’s the tone of her voice, quiet and unsure. She’s not the grinning happy girl I’ve known for the past couple weeks. She looks nervous. Even afraid.

Edin sets down the bag in his hand and crouches in front of Morgan. “What’s wrong, baby?”

“We’re not going home, are we?”

Dak’s breath catches. I grip him tightly, hoping to keep him from getting involved. As much as I’d like to get Edin away from the situation he was forced into, I can’t let Dak force anything else on him, no matter whether his intentions are well-meant or not. Whatever Edin decides, it needs to be his decision this time. He needs to be in control of his life, not have it dictated to him anymore.

“Do you want to go home?” Edin asks.

Morgan shakes her head. “No.”

“You don’t want to see Mommy?”

Morgan shakes her head again, more adamantly. “No. I don’t. I don’t want to go home at all, Daddy. ”

Edin brings her into his arms and gets to his feet. She clings to him. “Okay. We won’t go home,” he says quietly.

Dak relaxes. I let him go when he moves toward them and wraps his arms around them. I’m close enough that I hear him say, “Whatever you need, Edin.”

He shakes his head. “My money will run out, eventually. I’ll?—”

“I understand money is a sensitive subject for a lot of people, but my husband has a boat… So I’m definitely going to live off his money and you’re going to live off mine.”

I grin.

Edin snorts. “Dak?—”

“Listen,” Dak interrupts. “At some point in the future, if you want to pay me back, then we’ll work something out. But right now, the most important thing is your mental health and the safety of Morgan. Please don’t argue with me. Let me do this for you. I love you and I can’t lose you.”

Dak’s fathers are looking between them now, staring at the boys wrapped around Morgan. Their concern bright on their faces.

Edin eventually nods. “Thank you.”

“I would have taken you out of there years ago,” Dak says.

“I know.”

“No more arguing about this, okay? Just let me do this.”

Edin nods again. “Yeah. Okay.”

They don’t separate for several minutes, but eventually, Dak does take a step back. He wipes his face and kisses the back of Morgan’s head.

“We’ll take these to the car and grab a car seat. Hang out a minute, okay?” Ethan says. He pulls Edin into a hug, squishing Morgan between them just as Dak had. I’m glad to see Edin adjust to hug him too.

“Yes,” Edin says. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think about after the boat ride and sold the car when we got here so we had more money.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Ethan insists. “Car seats are good to have on hand, anyway.”

He kisses Morgan’s head just as Dak had.

Dak’s fathers don’t need help with all our luggage, but I join them with a suitcase and duffle bag in tow, allowing Dak another minute to help Edin compose himself without a bunch of people watching him. The fathers are quiet as we head for the parking lot.

They have a giant Tahoe with third row seating, but I’m not sure about fitting all of us and our luggage. That is, until Jakub starts lifting the suitcases onto the roof rack. They planned this out.

“Like Dak said, I understand money can be a sensitive subject,” Credence begins.

I shake my head. “I can support us for quite a while,” I assure him. “By a while, I mean probably a few years very comfortably and longer if I’m more frugal. I also have the means to bring in more money whenever I need to.”

“Legally?” he asks, raising a brow.

I grin. “Yes. Very legally. I have three patents yet to register, two of which will likely begin bringing in royalties pretty quickly.”

All three men look at me. I simply smile.

“Dak has healthy bank accounts unless he bought a Ferrari while in college that we don’t know about,” Credence says.

Laughing, I shake my head. “Not to my knowledge.”

“I’m assuming you’ve had discussions about finances and?—”

“Creed,” Jakub breaks in, and Credence sighs, letting his head fall back.

“Sorry, sometimes I forget my boy isn’t a little boy anymore. The drive to take care of him is still very strong.”

I nod. “I’m not upset about that. But I promise you, Mr. Bozik, I will take care of him. I have the means and I will do anything to make sure he has the life he wants and deserves.”

“Creed,” Credence corrects, a smile on his lips. “I’m choosing to trust that you will. We don’t know you from?—”

Ethan laughs and wraps an arm around Creed’s shoulders, hauling him in for a hug and cutting off his words. “Stop, love. Dak is happy. As much as we have dreams for him, we need to let him live his own life. Including marrying without us. We’re accepting this and accepting Sparrow into our family. Aren’t we?”

Creed looks at me over Ethan’s shoulder. “Yes. I didn’t mean that we weren’t.”

“Then stop sounding like we weren’t. As excited as we are to see our boy, I think Edin needs us a whole lot more right now. The world has failed him. His parents have failed him. From what I’ve gleaned from witnessing that little interaction and from what we’ve seen, that man is in crisis mode and maybe we should have tried a lot harder to intervene instead of giving him the benefit of the doubt.”

I nod. Creed meets my eyes and I’m glad he understands I’m confirming Ethan’s assumptions without further question.

They part and Jakub comes over from the side of the car. “What does he need, Sparrow?”

“I hope Mo expressing her disinterest in going back has convinced Edin not to. I also hope he’ll accept our help. Honestly, I think he needs to focus on his mental health first and foremost. He’s already admitted a lot and I think we need to accept this as him finally asking for help.”

“What do you need help with?” Jakub asks.

I shake my head. “Right now, just a car seat. We’ll take care of Edin and Mo, but I appreciate that you’re here if we need more support.”

“We’re here,” Creed confirms.

I nod. “I’m sorry we didn’t tell you we were getting married. This might not be what you want to hear, but it was a spur-of-the-moment decision. We didn’t invite anyone at all. We were married within an hour of discussing it. But please know I love him with my entire being and I will live my life to make him happy.”

Ethan leans his head on Jakub’s shoulder with a soft smile. “We trust that you will.”

Creed nods, though I can see he’s still hurt and upset about not being a part of it. He has a lot of questions and a lot to say. But he’s keeping it all to himself right now in favor of dealing with what’s going on. Maybe I can talk Dak into a get together to celebrate our marriage before the end of the summer. A small ceremony so no one feels hurt by us not including them. I can only imagine how my entire family is going to react as soon as they find out.

“We’ll be back soon,” Ethan promises.

I nod as we part ways, heading back to the dock. I’m paying for a service to clean the boat while we’re not using it for the next few days, restock, refuel, and do a quick maintenance check, so I plan to leave it where it is .

Morgan is once again in her life jacket as she and Edin sit on the edge of the dock with their feet hanging off the side. Dak closes the distance between us, meeting me part way up the dock.

“How do you feel about adding a person and a half to our bed for a while? Platonically,” he asks quietly. “We can have sex in the shower and stuff. I just?—”

I cup the side of his face, cutting off his ramble with my thumb to his lips. “We will keep him safe,” I assure Dak. His shoulders sag with relief. “Promise. We have our entire lives to fuck, Flight Risk. We will keep your best friend safe by whatever means necessary. But I think the first thing we need to do is convince him to talk to a professional.”

“He’s afraid they’re going to take Mo from him,” he says. “I already asked if he’d be willing.”

“We’ll keep Mo safe too, Dak. No one is taking Mo.”

Dak sighs, and his entire body sags against me. I wrap my arms around him, hugging him as I watch Edin and Morgan.

The thing is, Edin doesn’t want to end his life. He just wants to escape the hell he was living in, and I think he believes that’s his only way out. Hopefully now that we’ve taken the deadline of him having to return home off the table, he can begin the slow process of healing.

“I love you,” Dak whispers.

I press a kiss to the side of his head. “I love you.”

Morgan twists to look back, and a big smile spreads across her face when she looks at me. She gets up and runs to us, wrapping her arms around Dak’s and my legs. Edin looks over his shoulder and gets to his feet. When he’s close, I pull him in behind Dak and make sure he understands without words that we have his back.

One of Dak’s arms twists around to grip Edin. I drop a hand to rest on Morgan’s head. This is my new family. My very own. Mine to love and protect and provide for. And I will. Till my last breath.

We stay on dry land for a week during which I talk to my parents and explain about my new husband and a little about the extra man and girl I’ve now claimed as my own, without giving them all the details concerning Edin and Morgan.

We’ve also convinced Edin to talk to a professional. He agreed only if we’ll allow him to sign over custody of Morgan to us, so there’s no chance she’ll be taken away and put back in her mother’s care.

I’m not sure how legal it’ll be without the mother’s signature, but when the woman who’s helping him fill out the papers asks about the mother, Edin says he hasn’t heard from her in weeks. It’s not even a lie. He effectively has full custody of Morgan.

They probably should have looked further into it. But I’m confident we can fight it if this bitch tries to take Morgan. Money talks, and I’m sure we have enough at our disposal to keep Morgan away from her.

With his daughter safe, we help Edin find a doctor and set up a lot of appointments. I assure Edin that we’ll always be in range of Wi-Fi, so he can continue his calls on the boat if he’d like to return to sea. I think being so close to home unsettles him. As the days wear on, we can all see how dark and irritable Edin gets.

He definitely wants to leave.

True to Dak’s request, we keep Edin and Morgan in bed with us. Actually, Morgan sleeps in her bunk above her dad’s bed at least half the time, but she knows when her father needs extra love.

I think, with as awkward as Edin found it initially, he takes great comfort in knowing he’s never alone. Not when he sleeps. Not when he wakes up. He’s never alone. After his first few appointments, we all saw how very close he was to losing his fight. It scared him. So he keeps close to me, Dak, and Morgan at all times.

As the summer moves on, Edin struggles as he finally talks to someone in depth about everything he’s been struggling through on his own for five years. Toward the middle of August, when we’re heading back to California and campus, Edin finally begins his journey into healing.

The moment we see it is surreal. His smile is different, and the weight on his shoulders lifts.

Dak and I sit back and watch him on the last full day at sea. I find it strange how very much like a child Edin has become to me. Okay, maybe not a child, but a younger sibling, maybe. The relief I feel when he’s finally finding his strength, confidence, and how to deal with his emotional baggage is immense. Like he truly is my baby to care for.

Edin and Morgan are on the net as we cruise up the west side of Mexico, toward California. Dak’s sitting in my chair with me leaning back against him, his arms draped over my shoulders as he leans against me. His heels are hooked on the front of my thighs.

“Do we have an apartment yet?” he asks.

I shake my head. “Nope. But if all else fails and we can’t find one before school starts, I have this friend who lives in a fucking mansion and has already offered me a room. We might have to beg a little since he’s incredibly offended we didn’t invite him to our wedding, but I’m confident that if Mo gives him her big eyes, he’ll cave quickly.”

“At least for her and Edin,” he muses.

I grin. “It’s going to be fine,” I assure him. “I’m not concerned about housing. We might be a little farther from school than we’d initially hoped to be for your commute, but we won’t be homeless.”

“Thank you,” he murmurs, pressing his lips to the side of my neck.

He thanks me a lot these days. I rarely know what he’s thanking me for in any given conversation. “For what?”

“Taking care of them. Of all of us. I haven’t once thought about the essentials of living since Edin’s been here and you always have it under control. I know we just started our lives together and it’s a really big deal since we truly just started seeing each other. You didn’t once express concern about taking care of them when I said they needed help. You have no idea how much that means to me, Sparrow.”

I lean my head against his. Our lives have been largely centered around Edin and Morgan for more than a month. Morgan because she’s five, but Edin because he needs it. We’ve dedicated very little to our marriage or relationship at all since Edin joined us and we saw how very bad off he was.

Yet, I feel much closer to Dak now, than I did before the day those two stepped onto my boat. I love him deeper. Getting married when and how we did was probably reckless and maybe ill- advised, but I believe we’re more committed to each other now than we were in the heat of the moment when we decided to marry.

I love him more. My heart beats for him. I’m positive, without a doubt, this is exactly how I’m going to live my life until my very last breath. Loving this man. Taking care of him and his friends when needed. Making sure he understands without question that he’s safe. He’s loved. He’s mine.

And one day, we’ll finish our honeymoon.