Chapter 15

Brendon

I sipped coffee, a small smile on my lip as I watched Aurora and Julian play on the carpet. He brought his cars with him when we picked him up. In fact, his backpack contained mostly cars. He had taken out many of the clothes his mom had packed before we got there, and so I had to pick up some stuff for him to wear before we left for the trip. I didn't mind. I thought it was cute that he was more focused on what toys he got to bring than what he was going to wear. It was the kind of thing Avery would have done.

I sighed and looked down at my phone, wondering if it was too late to call. Aurora and I had been touring stores all morning, and because it took a little longer with Julian there we soon spilled over into the afternoon. We hadn't even gotten lunch until nearly two, and now it was nearing four pm and I wished I had taken twenty minutes to call Morgana earlier in the day. Not that she didn't have enough to worry about.

My brother was stable. More stable, anyway. It looked like he'd backed down from death's door, which came as a huge relief to everyone. It felt like a weight had been lifted from us, and even Julian was noticeably happier now that we weren't waiting by the phone for horrible news. It didn't hurt that the kid loved to travel, and was having the time of his life in Los Angeles. He was going to like tomorrow even better, and though I wanted to wait until dinner to tell him the news, I decided that now was as good time as any. Our dinner would undoubtedly be late too, and I had the feeling that a nap was on the horizon.

"Hey, kid," I said, tossing a stuffed platypus at him.

Julian laughed. He and I both knew that his mother would've killed me for that one. I was teaching him bad manners, but it hardly seemed to matter in this situation.

Aurora glanced up too, eyes shining with happiness. I loved watching her with Julian. She was so gentle and kind, and I knew she would make a wonderful mother someday, if that was what she wanted. I wasn't just picturing her as any mother, either. In my head, she was the mother of our children, though I was determined to keep that strange little fantasy to myself. I'd never fantasized about a particular woman mothering my babies before and I wasn't sure how to feel about it.

"Aurora and I have a surprise for you," I said. "You've been so good for this trip, so we wanted to do something special for you."

Jude's eyes lit up. Aurora smiled when she realized that I was telling him now, and sat back on her heels to watch.

"What is it?" he asked excitedly. "Is it about dad?"

I winced internally. Though we were in better spirits today, our happiness only went so deep. If it weren't for Aurora and Julian, I would have already hopped a flight to France and would be at my brother's bedside in a heartbeat. They were the only things keeping me sane this far away from Avery, and I could tell that Julian felt similarly about Aurora’s and my presence. I would've been fine with Jude on my own, but he wouldn't have been nearly as carefree without Aurora. I made mental note to thank her greatly later on.

"Do you know what else they have in California other than all the movie stars?" I asked.

He cocked his head to the side. "A horrible drought?"

Aurora snorted. I merely sighed. Sometimes Julian was like his dad, but sometimes his mom popped through too. Her influence was always unmistakable.

"I was thinking more along the lines of fun things," I said. "Lighten up, kid."

He frowned, an out of place expression on his little round face. "What?"

"Well," I said. "We've got just one store to look at in the morning, but we should be finished before it opens..."

The anticipation bloomed on his face. He furrowed his brow as he tried to think. Since I could tell he wasn't going to get it, I decided to make it easy for him.

"Some say it's the most magical place in the world."

Jude somehow managed to cock an eyebrow at me, and he'd never looked more like his dad. "Hogwarts?"

I sighed. I ran a hand over my face. I smiled.

"Disneyland, kid. We're taking you to Disneyland tomorrow."

Julian exploded into movement, thrusting his arms in the air and then throwing himself at me. He hugged me, squeezing as tight as he could, while blubbering excitedly against my shirt.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so excited! Thank you, Uncle Brendon!"

I was glad that, although I expected he would have his nasty days in the future, for now Julian was a relatively unspoiled child. It didn't matter that his parents were exceedingly wealthy. He just acted like a normal kid, and like any normal kid the thought of going to Disneyland made him breathless with delight.

He pulled back from the hug and looked up at me with sparkling blue eyes. "Can we go get ice cream to celebrate?"

I chucked. Cheeky bastard. So much for that nap.

Julian wasn't the only one anxious to finish work and get over to the Magic Kingdom the next morning. Normally when I took him into Lock Knocks he acted like I had taken him to Disneyland, but today he was more sedate and clearly saving his energy for the theme park. I was tired and groggy thanks to the early start, though we wouldn't have had as much time at Disneyland if I didn't arrange this final tour so early in the morning.

Aurora took the lead easily, letting me hang back while she chatted to the store manager and brainstormed with him about what kinds of designs would work best in a store of his size with his customer base.

I was glad to let her charge ahead. It would have been worth it just to watch her at work, to see how she injected each word with passion and enthusiasm. She was amazing. A force of nature. And I realized, little by little, that the feelings I'd been trying not to notice were welling up at the surface. Everything I'd tried to suppress, or even just hadn't had time to acknowledge, became clear as day.

Her radiant smile, the swing of her hips as she walked down the aisles, the way her hair curled and shined under the fluorescent lights as beautifully as if she were in a sunbeam...

I think I love her.

The thought came fast and out of nowhere, blindsiding me so that I accidentally squeezed Jude's hand. He made a noise of protest and I released him, giving him an apologetic look.

"Sorry buddy."

He shrugged and went back to looking at the row of wands on the closest display.

I was surprised to see that the world had not changed in the wake of my revelation. I half expected to walk outside and have the sky be green or the sidewalks purple, but everything was so familiar it almost ached.

Oh, impossible of impossibles.

"Ready to go?" Aurora asked, pulling me from my reverie. We'd said goodbye to the Lock Knocks employees and were now standing in the hot, noxious LA air.

I nodded. "Ready."

Julian nodded excitedly. "Ready!"

Aurora took my free hand, and the three of us walked toward the waiting car.

Me, my little nephew, and the woman I loved.