King stood in front of a jewelry display window and stared at the gleaming jewelry. From the corner of his eye, he could see Effie with Yaya in a one-stop-shopping store.

The two of them had a basketful of essentials. Effie’s arms were full of clothes for the both of them. There was a kind of elation in starting over, but a sadness, too. They hadn’t felt comfortable going back to her mom’s house at all, and King didn’t feel safe going to his own condo. The three of them were starting from scratch with just the clothes on their backs.

It wasn’t time for a ring just yet, King knew that. But he also knew he would need one soon. Hell, if she’d let him, he would marry her and they’d be pregnant by summer.

King was tired of waiting. He may not have known it until recently, but he’d been waiting for her for years.

Yaya knew, though she’d kept quiet. How could he have been so blind?

He thought back to all those awkward encounters they’d endured while she’d been with Thorne. The force conversations at family get togethers and the sideways glances he stole at her.

The whole time, he hadn’t realized she’d felt the same way. He hadn’t known that what he thought was envy from Thorne having “won” was actually his heart screaming that he needed to do something.

From the reflection in the window, he saw a familiar face approaching. Somehow, he wasn’t surprised to see Thorne. He knew it would come to this eventually.

King turned with a growl in his throat. Before Thorne could speak or make a move, he grabbed his brother by the collar. King almost withdrew, disgusted by the stench of booze. Thorne stumbled in his grip, and for a moment King almost felt sorry for him. But then his brother began to speak.

“What, no Effie?” Thorne asked with a slur.

“That just means one less person will witness me beating the shit out of you. She’s the only reason I didn’t do it before.”

Thorne broke away and nearly fell into the newspaper box nearby.

“She’ll never be happy with you! You know that, right?”

“And she was with you? You’re kidding yourself,” King said.

“You don’t understand…”

“You need to leave,” King said firmly. “You’re fucking hammered.”

“Mom and Dad sent me to get Effie,” Thorne said. He held up his hand and King was sure he would vomit. Instead, Thorne hiccupped loudly and followed it with a belch. “They feel… that without a woman by my side, I look… feminite. Effiminate,” he corrected.

“Oh, Mom and Dad sent you, huh? And do they know that you cheated on her?”

Thorne glowered.

“Yeah, I somehow thought not. Now I’m going to give you one more chance to get the fuck out of here. Then I’m going to beat the tar out of you, drunk or not.”

“You can’t have her!” Thorne bellowed. “She’s mine!”

King launched himself at Thorne. His brother fell to the ground easily while King toppled on top of him. Thorne turned his head to the side. King couldn’t tell if it was to vomit or try and protect his face.

He could hear the small crowd that gathered, but didn’t care. This was a long time coming. The first punch landed squarely on his brother’s jaw, but Thorne was so drunk he barely flinched. The second hit his nose and King felt bone give way beneath his fist.

Blood began to ooze from his nostrils while Thorne tried to sniffle it back up.

“You’re a waste of air,” King spat into Thorne’s face.

His brother didn’t argue. Instead, he brought his hands to his face and wondered at the blood that poured onto the concrete. King stood up and brushed off his clothes.

He saw a group of teenage boys with their phones angled towards him. A trio of old women whispered viciously. A shop owner stood in the doorway in an apron and a phone in hand.

“I called the cops!” she yelled.

“Don’t bother,” King replied.

Effie ran towards him from two stores down.

“Effie,” Thorne muttered when she got to them. “I need you to come—”

“Thorne, you need to leave,” she commanded.

King grabbed Effie by the waist and pulled her close.

“I told him that,” he said. “I think he understands now. Right, Thorne?”

Thorne groaned as he pushed himself onto hands and knees.

“Burn in hell,” he growled. “You two deserve each other.”

Thorne glared up at them, and in his eyes King didn’t see any semblance of a brother. They’d never been close, but he’d never realized the pure hatred that burned below the surface.

As Thorne made his way to his feet and began to slink off, King held Effie tight. He tried to think back to their younger years, when they were supposed to be brothers.

King remembered being in third grade and his mom screaming so loud he thought something terrible had happened. When he’d raced to her bedroom, he saw her slapping Thorne who was dressed up in her red sequin skirt and heels way too big.

He didn’t know what “faggot” meant back then, but he knew it was bad. When Thorne realized King was there, he turned bright red and hung his head.

King remembered being in middle school and Thorne found out he had a crush on a girl a grade above him. For all he knew, Thorne didn’t like her, but he made it his personal mission to embarrass King every time he could in front of her.

It didn’t really work, but when King finally confronted Thorne about him and asked him why, Thorne had shrugged. “Because I could,” he’d said.

Every memory he had of Thorne was tainted. There was the time their dad had forced a stack of Playboys into Thorne’s hands when he was thirteen with the remark, “Maybe this will fix you.”

King didn’t get what that meant, but he remembered being jealous. Thorne had instantly turned away so King couldn’t even see the covers.

“Don’t worry, King,” his father had said and patted him on the shoulder. “You don’t need those. You’ll do plenty fine on your own, I can tell that already.”

King had hated his father for that. He’d never realized such magazines really existed—he thought they were just in movies. And he certainly didn’t realize his dad had them or access to them.

Why would he give them to Thorne and not me?

He didn’t know if his brother was really gay or a crossdresser or what. After all, Effie had found him with another woman, but did that mean anything?

If Thorne did have some deep seated secret, it seemed to have turned him into a monster. And if that was true, then maybe he should feel a little sorry for him—or should have until Thorne raised his hand to Effie.

No wonder my parents were so thrilled when Effie went with Thorne.

King realized he’d never known his brother to be with another woman. He’d taken everything for granted from high school proms to dates for weddings. His whole life, it had come easy for him, even if it had been Effie he wanted the entire time.

But for Thorne? It was only ever Effie. He may not have loved her, but she validated him for their parents. To sweeten the deal, having her made Thorne feel better than King for once.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with him,” Effie said with a shake of her head. “He wasn’t like this, not nearly this bad at least. I thought… I thought I might not have loved him, but at least I knew him.”

“I think he has plenty of his own demons to fight,” King said. “Let’s not let it ruin our day.”

“I still have to call Renee,” Effie said with a sigh. “She’s not going to believe all this.”

“What’s she going to say about it all?” he asked.

“God, I don’t know. She had a thing for Thorne, so who knows. Maybe she’ll be happy about it. I’m not serious,” she said when she saw the look he gave her. “I mean, I’m not serious about her being happy about it. Ugh, no more fighting for you though, okay? I want you to be around for a long time, alright?”

King smiled into her hair as he kissed the crown of her head. “Okay. For you, I can make that deal.”

“Okay.” Effie grinned up at him and he kissed her gently. The crowd around them had dispersed. The shop owner had retreated and there were no sirens in the air.

“Come on, we better go get Yaya. Who knows what she’s put in the basket on her own.”

“How’s she doing today?” King asked.

“Okay,” she said. “Not nearly as good as the past two days, but you know it comes and goes.”

King followed her into the store, the wheels in his head spinning. He watched as Effie covertly put back the random items Yaya had placed in the basket. He’d grown used to watching her as a caretaker. It highlighted what a great mother she’d be, though he never had any doubts about that.

Any reservations he had about bringing her grandmother with them had vanished. It seemed natural. Yaya helped to balance them out. She grounded them, and it was something they both definitely needed.

At least until we have kids, he thought.

Just the two of them, it was all fireworks all the time. That could be a hell of a lot of fun, but it wasn’t realistic. Maybe what they’d needed before was a little more common sense.

I’m working on growing my own, King thought. But it was baby steps, and he still had a long way to go.

King had always known he was a dreamer. When he was a child and his mother indulged him with fairytales, he’d noticed the way his father’s face clouded.

However, it was nothing compared to how Thorne was treated when he asked to watch Sleeping Beauty instead of a more “appropriate, masculine” movie as their father put it.

He sighed. All the signs he’d been blind to all his life started to pile up. He had no idea how he’d taken so much for granted. All this time, he thought he was the black sheep of the family and Thorne the golden boy.

Maybe his father liked that he was the rebellious one. It cemented his manhood. After all, that’s how men were supposed to be. The entire time, Thorne had done everything imaginable to win their parents’ approval, and he still fell short.

There was no point trying to untangle everything now. King knew that, and the damage had been done. A part of him hurt that he knew he’d never be able to reunite with his family. However, one look at Effie with her hand on her grandmother’s shoulder, and he knew that wasn’t right. She was his family now—hell, both of them were.

Who says your family is who raised you? he wondered.

He may be able to burn his past and leave it all behind, but that doesn’t mean she has to. He hated the idea of forcing her into the same fate as him.

After all, King wanted to. There was nothing of his family to salvage. His dad, and then Thorne, had seen to that. It could be a lonely life, and one full of regret, except for the fact he knew it was for the best and that Effie was his family now.

However, he didn’t want to act too quickly. If there was something of Effie’s family that could be saved, it had to happen now. King knew too well how much damage time spent stewing could cause.

It was too late for him, but there was still a second chance. If he made the right moves fast enough, maybe he could give her the real fairytale ending she deserved.

Now that King understood happy endings weren’t just about money, he might be able to work a miracle or two. Effie put up a brave front, but he knew her. And deep down, she wanted more. She deserved more. This was King’s chance to make things right without putting their relationship at risk.

Who says you can’t have it all? And Effie deserves everything.