And that was what I wanted with Remy, the long-term stuff. It was a surprising revelation, but I wasn't going to try to write it off as anything other than what it was. I didn't understand what fate had had in mind when she’d decided that the young boy I’d left behind would become the man I couldn't be without, but I'd accepted it. Remy was mine. Now I just needed to show him that I was his. We needed to be more than just two people with an ugly past. I was also on a mission to change the way Remy saw himself. The idea that he thought I couldn't have feelings for him because of his past made me crazy. It was so easy for me to see how strong and kind and amazing he was, but me just saying so wouldn't be enough. I'd have to show him, and I'd start with this date.
I went to my brothers and grabbed my phone. All three asked similar versions of, "Will you send the picture to me?"
I quickly created the text and sent the picture so I wouldn't forget and found myself smiling when all three of my brothers snatched their phones out of their pockets so they could continue to look at the picture. While Vaughn and Con hadn't seen Gio in person, King had. It hadn't surprised me that, like Remy, he'd been going at night to visit Gio. But unlike Remy, I doubted that King spoke to my son. If anything, my son probably hadn't even been aware he was there because King was going so late in the evening.
King was the least patient of all of us when it came to fixing things. Like me, I knew it frustrated him that he couldn't just fix all this for me or for Gio. As with the rest of us, he’d suffered with the knowledge of how long it had taken to find my son. He'd driven his team ruthlessly to search for Gio at the same time that he’d had his men getting so many other kids out of that same world. He'd saved countless children, but I had no doubt that he saw it as a personal failure that he hadn't been able to find my son.
"We won't wait up," Con called, even as he continued to look at the picture on his phone. I flipped all of my brothers the bird, but doubted they’d even noticed. I was hopeful that they were, in fact, preoccupied because I really wanted them to miss me grabbing the little bouquet of flowers off my nightstand as I left the room. Remy was on the same floor as me, just a few doors down. But when I got to his room, it was empty. I couldn't help but feel a little nervous that he’d taken off again, but the sight of several sets of shirts and pants strewn across his bed gave me hope.
I hurried downstairs and went straight to Violet's room. Sure enough, I heard his voice, or rather, Scooby's voice, as I got closer. I entered the room quietly so I could watch him interact with Violet. While I understood that he wasn't ready to be a father, I knew that one day he would be. He was a natural at it. His giving nature and soft heart practically demanded it.
Remy and Violet were sitting in the big armchair by the window. Violet was freshly bathed and in her pajamas. She was sitting on Remy's lap, her head against his chest, as he told her a Scooby-Scrappy story. I could see that she was practically out cold. Remy's eyes lifted to meet mine, but he didn't miss a beat with his story or his impersonation of Scooby. My heart practically stopped in my chest when he smiled at me. It was the first time in a very long time, maybe ever, that I'd seen him looking so content. He was wearing a button-up shirt and a pair of khakis and his hair was curling just a bit at the ends where it was still damp.
I leaned against the doorjamb as I waited for him to finish. When he did, he leaned forward and gave Violet a little kiss on her forehead. I could have let him pick her up and put her to bed himself, but something had me moving forward to do it myself. I cuddled the little girl against my chest and when Remy stood, he was practically pressed against us. The scene was so domestic that it left me aching. I still had a hold of the flowers, so I handed them to him so I wouldn't damage them when I put Violet in her crib. Remy's eyes lit up at the sight of the flowers. I saw him sneaking a sniff as I carried Violet to her crib and settled her into it. The little girl didn't wake. I covered her with a small blanket and then Remy was at my side.