“Couch,” Mitch ordered softly.

Billy nodded again and both he and Mitch moved.

I went to the couch. Mitch arrived first and handed me my glass. Then he tilted his head to the couch. I sat. Mitch took a tug off his beer, put it on the coffee table then sat next to me but he left a couple of feet of space between us. Billy came around the couch while I took a sip of my wine and he stopped, appearing uncertain.

Mitch wasn’t.

“Sit here, Bud, between Mara and me.”

Billy’s shoulders shifted strangely then he walked to us and sat in the small space between Mitch and me. Instantly, I turned my body into his, crossed my legs and took his hand in my free one.

Billy’s head dropped and he looked at our hands. I gave his a squeeze and his eyes lifted to mine. That was when I gave him a small smile.

He didn’t return it. He was worried, my sweet Billy.

Mitch lifted both his legs, deposited his boots on my coffee table but he did this at a slight angle effectively boxing Billy in.

No.

Cocooning him in a physical nest of care and family.

God. Seriously. I loved Mitch Lawson. I loved him anyway but I loved him enough that when he was cocooning Billy with me in a nest of safety, I wasn’t going to give him stick for putting his boots on my new coffee table.

Billy’s eyes went to Mitch’s legs.

He didn’t miss it either, then again, Billy rarely missed anything.

“Right, look at me, Bud,” Mitch ordered gently. Billy’s head came up and his neck twisted so he could give Mitch his eyes. Mitch didn’t delay. “There’s some things you need to know. The most important of those things is that I’ve fallen in love with Mara.”

My lips parted and I was pretty sure my eyes bugged out.

Well, this wasn’t where I expected him to go. I didn’t mind it. I just didn’t expect it.

At all.

Mitch kept talking.

“She feels the same for me.”

I blinked then looked down to see Billy’s head had swung toward me. I closed my mouth so I could use it to smile and squeezed his hand again.

Mitch kept going and Billy looked back at him.

“The man who gets Mara gets you and Billie. I’m that man. What you gotta get is, while fallin’ in love with Mara, I fell in love with you and your sister. Straight up, Bud, no lie. The feelings I feel for Mara are hers, the feelings I feel for Billie are hers and the feelings I feel for you are yours. You all have my love, not collectively, individually. Do you understand me?”

“I…” Billy whispered, then finished softly, “no.”

Mitch nodded. “Right. What I mean is, I didn’t fall in love with you all as a whole. I fell in love with each of you because of who you are. I don’t care about you because you come with Mara. I care about you because you’re a good kid. You’re smart. You’re loyal. And you love and look out for your sister and Mara. I know grown men who do not have a character as fine as yours. Those are the reasons I love you. There are different reasons I love Billie. And there are different reasons I love Mara. Today, what we had together was good. But the feelings I feel for you aren’t feelings I have to have in order to have Mara. They’re feelings you earned. Now, you with me?”

“I think so,” Billy replied quietly and I gave his hand another squeeze.

Mitch continued.

“Okay, you’re with me on that, I’ll explain this. You’ve got my love, so do Billie and Mara. Billie loves all of us. Mara loves all of us and, my guess is, you do too. We have that so that makes us a family.”

I felt tears sting my eyes as I watched Billy swallow and wet shimmer in his.

Mitch wasn’t done.

“Life goes like I hope, you’ll be dancin’ with Mara at your wedding and your sister will be dancing with me at hers.”

Oh my God!

My hand spasmed in Billy’s and his curled tight around mine.

Mitch kept talking.

“Between then and now, not every day is going to be like today where we’re happy, doin’ fun stuff and laughin’. We’re gonna have bad times. But those will be ours and we’ll work through them. My job, Mara’s job from now until you become a man is to make sure no one outside this family gives you or your sister a bad time. Mara took on that role and let me be a part of that team. We both take that seriously. Those women you saw, Bud, we’ve dealt with them. That’s done. Nothing will harm you. Not again. Not like that. Nothing. Mara will see to it. I’ll see to it.” He leaned in close and his voice dropped. “You been the man of the family awhile, Bud, but it’s your time to stop worrying. I told you earlier I got this. I had it. So did Mara. It’s done. Whatever you got in your head, you let it go. It is not you and Billie against the world anymore. You’ve got people at your back. You need to let that weight go, buddy. In a family, we all look out for each other. It is not up to you alone to take care of everybody. You need to let that weight go, give some to me, give some to Mara and just be Bud.”

Billy studied Mitch for a long moment then he asked in a small voice, “Is that woman gonna take Billie away?”

“No,” Mitch and I both answered instantly and Billy looked between both of us.

Then he looked at me. “Are you gonna get custody of us, like, permanent?”

“Yes,” I again answered instantly.

“Tomorrow, Mara and I’ll be talkin’ to a lawyer,” Mitch put in, this was news to me, good news and Billy and I looked at him. “We’ll be working at making Mara your legal, permanent guardian and when the time comes, we’ll add me.”

I pressed my lips together.

Billy wasn’t ready to believe.

“Stuff happens, Mitch, bad stuff. And Billie –”

Mitch cut him off, “You don’t worry about it. You let Mara and me worry about it.”

“But, what if you two break up?”

I held my breath.

Mitch leaned deeper into Billy and whispered, “Look at me.”

“I am lookin’ at you, Mitch,” Billy whispered back.

“No, Bud, really look at me,” Mitch ordered on another whisper.

I let out my breath and took in another one.

Billy concentrated hard on Mitch’s face.

Mitch spoke.

“All my life, since I could remember, I wanted to be a cop. That’s all I ever wanted to be. Watched the shows on TV, all the movies. I wanted that to be me. So I made that me. I love my job. I’m proud of what I do. And since I knew about girls and knew I’d someday have one of my own, I knew the kind I wanted. Just like knowin’ I wanted to be a cop, I knew the kind of woman I wanted for me. So I found that woman and she’s sittin’ on this couch.”