Damon (29 page)

“Meggie calls Aunt Cait Mom and I know she’s not really her kid
. J
acob and Little Jim call Grandma Mom, but I know they aren’t her kids either
. I
want you to be my dad
. I
never had one before
. B
ut if you didn’t really want that but said that to Mr. G to make him think you were, then I want you to tell me.”

“Connor, before I answer you, why do you ca
ll Devin and the others Uncle?
W
hy do you call my mom Grandma?
They aren’t really that to you, not yet at any rate
. W
hy haven’t you called me Uncle Damon?”

Connor had thought about that
. H
e had never actually given any thought to calling the others Uncle or Aunt
. I
t just sort of fell out of his mouth one day and when nobody told him to not do it anymore, he kept doing it
. B
ut Damon?
Damon hadn’t felt like an uncle.

“I don’t know
. Y
ou never seemed like an uncle to me
. Y
ou were always bossy like my momma, I guess
. A
nd Meggie calls the others Uncle and Aunt and well, no body said I couldn’t call them that so I kept it up
. S
hould I stop doing it, you think?”

“No, I don’t
. I
think it would hurt them if you did
. T
hey love you as much as if you’d been born into our family anyway
. I
have something for you
. Y
our mom and I were going to give it to you later, but now is better.” 

Connor reached for the large blue folder
. H
e opened it up and read the first few lines of the neatly typed pages
. H
e didn’t understand all the words, but he did get the meaning.

“It says here you want to adopt me
. T
hat you want me to become a Grant like you and Momma when she marries you
. M
omma k
nows that you want to do this?
She okay with it?”

“Yes
. I
would never have been able to file the petition without her permission
. I
decided that I love you too much for you not to be my son both in name and in my heart
. Y
ou don’t have to change your name if you want to go through this. That would be entirely up to you.”

Connor didn’t answer. He didn’t care if his name was Pink Petunia as long as Damon loved him too
. C
onnor looked out the window
. H
e just had one more thing to ask.

“What if you and Momma have kids together? You gonna wish you didn’t have me around then I bet
. I
’m not really your son and that one would be.”

“Yes, you are my son, Connor
. W
hether you sign those papers or not, you’ll always be my son
. Y
our mom and I are planning to have other children
. Y
es, it’s true that they’ll be of my blood where you won’t. Other people have children of their blood that they don’t love half as much as I do you. But Connor, I choose you to be my son
. I
want you to be my first born with all my heart.”

Connor looked back at the man who meant everything in the world to him and decided he couldn’t love him anymore if he were is real dad
. T
aking a deep breath, he stuck out his small hand and asked his final thing.

“Can I call you Dad?”

~CHAPTER
23
~

One year later

“Connor, will you hurry up?
Christ, your parents are going to kill us
. W
e were supposed to leave ten minutes ago
. W
here’s your coat?”

Connor looked at the frazzled woman standing at the bottom of the stairs
. H
is aunt Dane looked like she could be in one of her pretty people magazines
. S
he was holding one of his cousins, Alan, and the other one, Anna, was still lying on the couch half in and half out of her coat that looked like a bag
. T
he twins had been a surprise to everyone, including Uncle Jamie and Aunt Dane.

“Momma said that she would wait for us
. I
don’t think she was supposed to have the baby until later
. D
ad said she would be in labor for another five hours
. I
s that all it takes? You just tell the baby to wait and it does?”

“Not in my experience, no
. C
an you see if you can figure out that stup
id car seat for me?
I swear that Pi changes them out just to frustrate me.”

“Missy Dane, I do not
. Y
ou just don’t work it right
. I
tell you five hundred time to put kid in seat in house then take to car
. M
uch easier when you can get to front of it
. L
et me show you again.” 

Connor tried not to let Dane see him laugh, but it was funny that a woman as smart as his aunt Dane was couldn’t figure out a car seat buckle. When she winked at him over Pi’s head, he nearly fell over
. S
he knew how to do it.
Aunt Dane was just playing with Pi
. H
e laughed this time
. T
hese two were the best part of this family some days.

“Pi, are you coming with us to the hospital, or are
you staying here and cooking?
I think James said that he would have them all come here if you wanted to cook for everyone
. I
t’s up to you, but you have to hurry
. I
’m running late. Again.”

“You run nowhere fast, Missy Dane
. Y
ou take time off or I tell Mister Jamie to beat you with cane
.
S
omeday
I want to take cane to you
. Y
ou work too hard
. I
stay and cook, but I no like you running you self in to mud
. B
ad for your hair.”

It took Connor a full minute to translate that one
. W
hen he started to tell his grandma Pi that she meant “running into the ground,” he thought about her asking about why anyone would want to run into the ground and decided her way was just fine
. T
hat was another thing he loved about coming here
. H
e got to learn a whole new language, Pi-isms. 

After they were all loaded in the van, Connor thought about the past year
. H
is momma and Damon had gone on their honeymoon in Paris after they got married on Valentine’s Day
. W
hen they came back, his momma went to work for Damon because Ms. Tansy, the nurse who worked for Damon forever, had died in her sleep one night
. T
hat was the first funeral Connor had ever been to.

Then two weeks later, Aunt Morgan had her baby
. A
cute little girl named Cybil
. S
he looked just like her momma and Cybil’s brothers wouldn’t let anyone touch her except Connor. They thought he was cool
. T
hen Aunt Dane had the twins
. U
ncle Jamie still talked about the argument he’d had with Damon in the delivery room over that one
. U
ncle Jamie thought that Damon should have told them there were twins and Dad pointed out that when you say you want the entire birth experience to be a surprise, then that’s what you got
. A
surprise.
Connor didn’t know why he thought so, but he could almost swear that Dad hadn’t told them on purpose.

Then he’d had to go to his next funeral two months later
. G
randda had died
. H
e’d been out in the yard mowing the grass and had had a heart attack
. D
ad said that he’d not suffered but had gone quickly. 

Connor didn’t think his grandma was ever going to be the same after that
. S
he still worked and all, but he could tell that she was really sad
. C
onnor had been going over to her house more and more lately
. H
e liked her very much and she had the coolest stories about her family
. C
onno
r hoped she wouldn’t die too.
He liked having a grandma. Jacob and Little Jim had taken it hard too
. H
e liked his cousins and they all played together
. B
ut like Grandma, they didn’t seem the same anymore.

Connor’s momma worked for Aunt Dane and for his dad
. H
is momma was so happy all the time now he couldn’t help be happy with her
. W
hen the first child support check had come in the mail a week or so after Grandda had died, she’d sat him down and told him what she wanted him to do with his money.

“It’s all yours, Connor
. A
nd it’s no small amount either. I’d like for you to save at least half of it for your education
. I
t’s going to be expensive and you might need the extra money when you go there
. I
know you’re really smart and you’ll probably get a scholarship, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t have expenses
. A
ll right?”

Dad had told him that he’d paid for his own education
. T
hat even though is parents could well afford it, they’d made sure their sons knew the value of working for something
. M
omma thought that was a good rule to follow too.

Connor took the check from his momma
. U
ncle Devin told him that Brody had to pay back child support for Connor until he was caught up, and a monthly amount
. M
r. G was in jail now
. N
ot only had he gotten in trouble with raping his momma, but there had been other women who had come forward and said he’d done the same to them
. H
e was in a lot of trouble, Uncle Devin explained. 

The check was for a little over five thousand dollars
. I
f Connor saved half, he’d still have a lot of money to spend if he wanted to
. B
ut Connor had a debt to be paid
. A
nd he was ready to start paying it forward.

“Grandma said she’d help me set up a fund
. I
want to take the other half of this money and help little kids like me to get away from mean men like Mr. O
. A
unt Ronnie said she’d help me get more money with donation so that I can give it to moms and kids that need to run away like you and I did
. S
he said that it’s easy when it’s a good cause.”

“That’s a wonderful idea, Connor. I’m very proud of you
. Y
ou’ll need a good name for your foundation
. S
omething that says it all, something people can remember.”

He had been working on that since she’d told him and, now all this time later, he still didn’t have a good name. He had to hurry now. His grandma had told him that she would announce his foundation and what it was doing at the next charity event in five days.

They arrived at the hospital to find Uncle Jamie waiting for them
. H
e hurried to the car and took one of the twins out and threw her expertly over his should
er
as he unbuckled her brother
. P
i would have been so proud of him
. W
hen they got to the labor floor, the twins were taken from him and settled over the laps of the people sitting there waiting for his brother or sister to be born.

Connor sat next to his grandma while she held Alan on her lap and fed him a bottle
. S
he looked to be really enjoying the baby so he didn’t beg to hold him as he normally would have
. C
onnor did touch his little fingers.

“Got a name yet?
I’ve been thinking of possibilities and there are a
ny number of them you can use.
‘Kids’ Way’ is nice
. T
hen there’s another favor of mine called ‘Kid Forward.’”

Connor suddenly had it
. H
e thought it was perfect
. A
nd he hoped his grandma thought so too.

“I got it, Grandma
. I
f you like it, that is
. T
he ‘Daniel Parker Foundation.’
I think Grandda would have liked it too, don’t you?”