Broken String

CIV

"Whoa." she says as soon as she's taken her own shoes off and Edlyn's and walks over to him. Edlyn runs, shrieking, and he smiles as he catches her carefully. She lifts herself on his lap, almost as if she understands he can't carry her, right now.
"Hey, girlie. How are you doing?" he says to her hair. 
"Uckle Eddy!"
He kisses her soft little forehead and holds her close for just a second, until she starts wiggling to get free. Other things to see, other havoc to wreak, clearly. He smiles again as she slides off the couch and starts rummaging around the coffee table. The  tea is cold, by now. No harm there.  
"Eddy. What the hell is going on? You're... weird AF. You okay?"
He shrugs. Crap. Is he that obvious? 
"Weird how?"
She sits down next to him, holding out a book to Edlyn from her handbag. It may keep her entertained for about three seconds, you never know. 
"Um. You're both looking terrible and... happy at the same time? What the...?"
Ten seconds. Ten seconds she's been in this house and she already made him. Does she really know him that well? His head spins with the quick decision he has to make now. Is he going to tell the truth, or at least the part of the truth he can disclose? Or will he tell her he just had a nice morning with the guys, that's all?
Wretched, wretched filter, running away to Alaska, when he may have needed it most, because he can feel the spilling words bubbling up already, he knows the truth must be written on his face. 
"Um." he chokes. 
"Is it a girl? You like someone, or something? But who would you have met at the moment? Did you meet someone like a nurse or something?"
He looks up at her soberly and before he knows it he nods, once.
"Um. Yeah. Not a girl." he admits then. 

He can basically see the cog wheels turning in her head. But come on, she'll never guess this, right?
"Jesus Effing Fuck." she whispers then. "Not... a girl. Wait. Eddy. You're joking me. It's Brett?"
His mouth must have fallen open because he can feel his jaw drop and all of a sudden any word he's ever owned has joined his filter in Alaska. Gone, gone, silence pervades him, he's frozen to the couch. 
"It is!" she shrieks, clamping her mouth with her elegant hand. "Oh my God! It is Brett! You... finally! Oh my God!"
He's a stalacmite, forever etched to the settee and even Edlyn is standing still for once, her hand on the coffee table, staring open mouthed at her mother using words she's definitely never heard her say before. A tiny part of him registers that Lily will probably get those words back from her at some inopportune moment, the rest of him is gone, suspended forever in a state of shock.
Finally?
"Um. Finally?" he manages to breathe after a million moments, and it somehow breaks the spell they've all been under. Edlyn moves from her spot by the coffee table and climbs on his leg again, lying herself flat against his chest as if she feels he could do with the comfort. Or maybe she wants the comfort, after all the adults around her behaved so weirdly? He strokes her soft hair automatically, but his eyes are on Lily, who seems to swallow several times to gather herself. 
"Whoa." she whispers again. She runs her hand through her black hair and shakes her head in amazement. "Finally. I can't believe it." 
"Lily, how did you... please. What did you see? What did you know?"