Damn, when he said his place was like the Southside, he wasn’t joking.
It’s almost a carbon copy; the same streets of houses that could probably do with a sprucing up, the same run down rec centres and bar-covered school windows, but the people, they’re real. So real.
I fucking love it.
“Should we wake him up? My mum’s place is right around the corner.” Please stop reminding me, I can barely handle the nerves as it is.
“It’s okay, he'll wake up as soon as you turn the engine off anyway.” Okay, just prepare yourself. Expect the Thompson treatment, Kage did it and you can handle it too. They’re going to hate you, until you make them love you.
We turn the corner, Kage’s smile getting brighter, and there’s no doubt whose house he's going to when the three women standing on the front yard start clapping and waving like crazy at him.
“You sure you're ready for this?” Not even a little bit.
“Absolutely.” Game face. Shoulders back, tits high, remember who the fuck you are. You are Maybelline Parker... just tone down the crazy-Parker a tiny bit. Don’t want to scare them.
“My baby boy!” Kage doesn't even get the engine off before his mum has the door open, throwing herself In through it and completely smothering him. “Where is he? Where is my beautiful grandson?”
“Jesus, Mum! At least let him get out of the fucking car! Hey baby bro, your hair looks like shit.” Big attitude, no filter, crazy eyes. This must be Laticia.
Kage told me she was a lot like Brie, the oldest and the most protective, and without even getting out I can feel it rolling off her in waves. She’s only a few years younger than Jay, the ‘don’t fuck with me’ energy radiating.
“Come on, I’ll introduce you.” Kage gets out, his mum smiling just as much as he does. He looks like her, not completely, I think there’s a lot of his dad in him too, but that smile he got from her.
I’m grateful none of their attention is on me, I’ve never been introduced to a boy’s parents before and this isn’t exactly usual circumstances. I get out but keep my distance when Kage takes Teal out of the back, all three of them clutching their hearts when he lifts his sleepy head and looks at them with his bright blue eyes.
“Oh Kage... he's your double. It’s like looking at my baby boy born all over again.” Valerie cries, still smiling as she takes Teal’s hand in hers.
“Yep, no need for a DNA test on this one.” His other sister chuckles, her own son sitting on her hip. He’s cute too, he doesn't have the blue eyes but he's definitely one of them.
“Can I hold him?” Valerie sobs, extending her arms to Teal before pulling back and looking at me.
“You don’t need her permission, Mum. He’s your grandson.” Jesus, alright. His sister doesn’t even look at me, but the younger one shoves her in the side at the clear fucking attitude in her voice.
“I told you to be nice.”
“She’s the one that kept him from us.” She mumbles her under her breath, but I hear it. I don’t blame her, I get that she’s pissed.
“Is it okay, sweetheart, if I hold him? Or does he need some time to get used to us?” Kage’s mum asks much more gently.
“You can hold him, he'll pretty much go to anyone.” She smiles, all their attention back on Teal when Kage hands him over.
“Hello, little one.” The three women start to stroke his face, smiling at him and wiggling their little fingers to make him chuckle. “I’m your Nanna, yes I am. These are your aunties, but don't worry, I’ll protect you from them.”
“Thanks for that, Mum.” Laticia laughs, pinching Teal’s cheek. “Let's get him inside, it's fucking freezing out here.”
“Just wait for me to get the bags.”
“Can't she do that? You’re not her slave.” Okay, there’s the cold shoulder, and then there’s the fucking arctic. I get she’s decided she doesn’t like me, but wind your neck in.
“Latty.” His sister kicks her in the shin. “What part of ‘be nice’ are you struggling to understand?”
“The part where I have to pretend that some girl from a few hours away wasn’t hiding my brother’s son from him! The least she can do is bring in her own fucking bags!”
Shit.
Kage opens his mouth to say something to her, but Valerie just grabs her by the ear and starts pulling her towards the house.
“Enough! Your brother has just come home with his son, this isn't the time for that. Get inside.” It’s not funny, but I smile anyway. I can’t count the amount of times that Granny had to do the same thing with Brie, when she'd go into full guard-dog mode and nothing could bring her down.
“I’m sorry about her.” Kage moves around to my side of the car, twisting my hips to face him. “I know she’s a lot, but I swear it’s not coming from a bad place, she's just-”
“Protective.” Let’s face it, right now, I’m basically Chrissy to her. She doesn’t know everything that happened, as far as she’s concerned, I just had his baby and fucking hid him. I get why I’m the bitch. “It’s fine, you just go in with him, I’ll get his stuff.”
Kage tries to argue with me, but I ram him towards the house. To be honest, I just need a minute to myself.
The younger of the two sisters nods at me, but gets distracted when her own little boy tries to rip his diaper off right in the middle of the yard.
“Damn it, Dimitri! I told you, keep getting that little worm of yours out and one of these birds are going to fly down and peck it off!” She pulls it back up, Kage chuckling and throwing his nephew up into the air as they all go into the house.
It’s okay, I’m fine. It’s just a couple of days of abuse. Considering everything, it’s the least I can do.
Valerie’s house is exactly what I expected. None of the furniture matches, there's still art on the fridge from when Kage was in school, almost every surface has something one of the kids has made for her, and it's absolutely perfect.
It’s lived in. It's a bit too small for all of them, but they make it work. It reminds me a lot of home.
“I’m Alicia by the way.” Kage’s sister waves, changing her sons diaper right on the kitchen counter. “Don’t expect Kage to make introductions, he’s got no fucking etiquette skills like that. He always just assumes that everyone already knows who he is. Not difficult with that big head of his.”
“Hey! I can hear you!” Kage waves for me to come in, shuffling the bags through the little kitchen door before he runs to take them from me. “I thought you just meant you were getting his changing bag. I would’ve come and got these.”
“I’m good.” I am a master of carrying more bags than humanly possible, only suckers do a double trip.
Valerie sits on the floor with Teal, still smiling through her tears as he plays with a set of little blocks. “He's a cutie. Look at you, so much like your dad.”
“Mum, you need to stop crying.” Kage laughs, sitting on the floor next to his mother and resting his arm around her shoulders.
“How can I? My baby boy has a baby. This means I’m getting old.” I giggle, because she’s far from it.
She’s absolutely gorgeous, you’d swear her and her girls were sisters. Valerie smiles, quickly getting up and walking over to me. “Oh God, I’m so sorry! I was just so excited to meet him.” I drop the bags as she pulls me straight into a hug. “You must be Bel... it’s May, right? I’m Valerie, it's really lovely to meet you.”
“It's really nice to meet you too.” She's exactly like I thought she’d be, warm and comforting, just like him. I’ll forgive her the name thing, since she spent two years looking for me under it.
“Come in, sit down. I want you to make yourself at home here.” She waves towards one of the couches, but Laticia stands across the room, arms folded over her chest, shooting bullets into me with her eyes when I go to sit on it.
Okay, I get it, you want a family moment.
“I should probably take this stuff upstairs first, which room is it?”
“I’ll show her.” Laticia doesn’t take her eyes off me, marching straight past her mum towards the staircase. Kage gets up to follow her, but I shake my head. Clearly she’s got something to say, and she should be able to get it off her chest without him there interfering.
I follow her up, it’s not a very big house, but you can see the life in it. The walls lined with photos of them all growing up. I was right with what I thought back in Italy, he was the cutest kid.
“You'll be in this one. Kage said he’ll crash on the couch, but feel free to take it yourself if you don’t want him to kill his back.” Don’t snap, do not snap at her.
Remember; make them love you.
The door opens on Kage’s room, and I have to hold back a laugh.
It’s clearly not being redecorated since he was a kid, painted ropes running around the middle of the room to make it look like you’re standing in the middle of a wrestling ring, posters and stickers with sun damage all over one side. I’m actually surprised there isn’t a giant photo of John Cena on his fucking sheets.
“Thanks.”
“I’m sure it’s not up to your standards. Kage said you grew up in a fucking mansion, but it's the best we've got.” If I bite my tongue any harder, I’m going to rip it off.
“Actually I grew up in a house half the size of this one. I only moved into the Manor after everyone else in my life died or left me, so this will be just fine, thanks.” I don’t really see it that way anymore, me and Brie have spoken about what happened back then, but if she thinks I’m some ‘Pretty Little Princess’ that’s had her whole life handed to her on a plate, then she can think again.
She doesn’t say anything, just eyes me up and down, then slams the door behind her on the way out.
Well... that went well.
I make sure to unpack as slowly as I can, Kage brings up the rest of the bags and tries to help but I tell him just to stick with Teal. He’s good with strangers, but I know he won’t be okay being left with them for long, he’ll need the familiar face.
By the time I’ve folded and re-folded everything three times, set up the contraption that is the travel cot, and made my way back downstairs, everything has settled down a bit.
“You good?” I nod at him sitting on the couch with his nephew in his lap, Teal laying on the floor next to Alicia watching the TV. There’s no pressure here, they're all just really regular people. If I didn’t feel like his oldest sister was about thirty seconds from jabbing me in the throat with her nails, I’d actually like it here.
“You need any help with that?” I ask Valerie as I step into the kitchen. I could really do with the distraction.
“You don’t have to, darling. It’s just a bit of mac and cheese. I’m sorry, I don’t know how to make anything fancy.” She chuckles to herself, breaking up a block of cheese.
“Mac and cheese is perfect. I’ve been trying to fix my recipe in the cafe for awhile, I just can’t get it right.”
“I just make it the same way my mom did.” She smiles, not looking at what she’s making as she does it. It’s automatic for her, just like it is for me, the little part of life where we don’t have to think. “Kage tells me that you know Phil? His brother James didn’t eat a lot when they first moved in with us, he never had a lot of food until then. He would throw most things back up, I used to have to make this for him everyday, it was the only thing he could stomach.”
It’s still mad to me, the way that lives intersect. How I can meet a boy in a totally different part of the world, only to find a connection back home again.
“What was Coach like back then?” I can’t imagine him as a teenager. I feel like he was born with a whistle around his neck, full beard, and the urge to make students cry during dodgeball.
“Too charming for his own good.” She chortles, passing me a knife to chop up the salad. “He went through a lot though. When he came to live with us, he was really guarded... but he settled in. He’s one of the best men I’ve ever met.”
Jesus, do not let Liz see that twinkle in your eye. She’ll carve the fuckers out with a spoon.
“So you were close?” My question is very much answered for me when her cheeks go bright red, turning to put her face into the fridge even though she has nothing to pull out.
If Kage didn’t have his daddy’s eyes, I’d definitely have a few questions. With all that charm, he must have at least a little Wilson in him.
“Our lives took us in different directions, but he'll always be very important to me.” Those damn Wilsons, they just have a way of getting into your heart and never leaving. “Is he doing well?”
“Yeah, really well. You should come to town, I’m sure he’d love to see you.” Just let me buy popcorn first for Liz’s face. I am absolutely inviting this woman to the next monthly barbeque, just for shits and giggles.
“I’d love that.” This is going to be fun.