Maybe Matt's Miracle (30 page)

I stroke inside her, my movements lazy and slow. She clenches around me, and while she might not be able to come again, with me touching her clit she can certainly take the warm wash of pleasure that I want to give her. She squeezes me tightly, so tight that I want to come already. Her breath hitches and she makes that noise, and my own completion hits me faster than I thought possible. I come holding on to her shoulder, pushing in lazy strokes, and she rides it out with me.

I stop moving and hold her close, not even wanting to pull out yet. She’s so perfect and everything I’ve ever wanted.

“
Good morning,” she whispers.

I chuckle. “I’m almost ashamed of myself,” I say. “I haven’t come that fast since I was a teenager.” I roll her onto her back so I can look into her face. “See what you do to me?”

“
I’ll take it as a compliment,” she says over a giggle.

“
Are you ready to go home?” I ask her.

She smiles and nods. “Can we?”

I smack her naked bottom and laugh. “Of course, we can. Get up. Let’s go take a shower.”

We shower quickly, and she protests that she’s sore. I wash her gently and wrap her in a towel, and then sneak her across the hallway back to my bedroom so she can get dressed. The sun is barely up, and we’re moving around like teenagers. Her hair is wet, and she’s still in her jammies. I pack some clothes this time because I won’t be coming back here. I’m going to sleep at her house, provided Seth doesn’t mind.

We stop for breakfast and take donuts back for the kids.

As we walk into her house, I realize that I’ve just come home. Her dad is puttering around the kitchen, and Mellie is helping him flip a pancake. He looks up and scowls. “Hi, you two,” he says. He glares at me. I laugh. Fuck, he’s her father. He’s supposed to glare at a man with lustful intentions. I also know I have his blessing, and that’s all I need.

“’
Morning,” Sky chirps. Mellie scurries over and straight into Sky’s arms.

“
I was afraid you weren’t coming back,” Mellie says. “Like my mom.”

Oh fuck. I never even thought of that. Emotion chokes me and have to swallow hard to push it back.

“
I’m not going anywhere for long,” Sky explains. “Neither is Matt. We’re going to be here, kind of like a mom and dad for you.”

Mellie looks over at me like she’s curious. “A mom and a dad?”

Sky blinks her blue eyes. “Yes. A mom and a dad. Is that okay with you?”

Mellie takes Sky’s face in her little hands and looks into her eyes. “And you won’t go away?” she asks.

“
Never,” Sky says.

“
Matt, either?” Mellie asks. Her gaze is skeptical.

“
Matt, either,” Sky affirms.

I walk toward Seth’s room. He has a meet today, I’m pretty sure, so he should be up. I knock on his door.

“
Come in,” he calls.

I stick my head in. He’s getting dressed. “You almost ready?”

“
Yeah,” he says. “Are you going?”

“
Of course,” I say. I approach him and sit down on the edge of his bed. “Can we talk? Man to man?”

“
Dude, I used a condom,” he blurts out.

“
What?” I say. I stand up.

His eyes go wide. “Oh, I thought you figured it out,” he says. He winces. “Shit,” he says. “I messed that up.”

“
You’re having sex?” I ask.

“
Just…like…once.” He looks everywhere but at me. Hell, he’s sixteen.

“
You’re being careful, right?” I ask. “Do we need to go shopping for more condoms?” I’d hate to think he just got one from the school nurse or something.

“
Umm, no…” he says. “I got some.”

“
Well, when you need some more, let me know.”

He nods and lets out a breath. “You’re not going to tell Aunt Sky, are you?” he asks.

I bite my lips together. “Sorry, but I can’t keep secrets from her.” He nods. “How did it go?” I don’t want details. I just want to know he’s okay.

He keeps packing his bag with his uniform and equipment. “Okay, I guess.” His face gets red.

The first time is usually fantastic for a young man, not so much for a young lady. “Who is she?” I ask. “You need to bring her by to meet us.”

“
She’s not quite that kind of girl,” he says with a wince.

“
If she’s worth fucking, she’s worth bringing home to meet your family, dumbass,” I bite out. That shit pisses me off. But I can remember having this same talk with Sam and Pete, too. And Logan for that matter. Logan was a bigger man whore than either of the twins. “But that’s not what I wanted to talk about.”

He looks up. “What did you want?”

This time, it’s my turn to fidget. I don’t know why I feel so out of place asking Seth about this. “I want to marry Sky,” I say.

“
Okay…” he says.

“
That okay with you?”

He nods slowly and then with more speed. “It’s okay with me.”

“
So, I was thinking, while we wait for a wedding, that I might move in here.” I wait and watch his face. “How would you feel about that?”

“
You already asked her to marry you, right?”

“
Yeah.”

“
You’re not going to change your mind?”

“
She couldn’t chase me off with a really big stick.”

He chuckles. “It’s fine if you want to move in, Uncle Matt,” he says. My heart stalls. He just called me Uncle Matt. I’m one step closer to being part of his family.

“
I like that,” I say softly.

“
Me, too,” he says back. “We had better go.”

Sky has already changed clothes, and she’s getting the girls into their coats. This will be an all-day event, so she’s packed snacks and toys, too.

We all go out together, going to our first event as a family. Her dad isn’t going with us today, though. He’s going to visit Sky’s mom.

Seth wins in back-to-back matches, and he advances to the final round.

Every time Seth wins, he stops after the match and raises his hand toward the sky, like he’s reaching for heaven. It brings a tear to my eye.

His last match isn’t like the others. He’s up against a boy who’s really good. Seth comes up in the stands to talk to me. “Uncle Matt,” he says. “I don’t know what to do.”

I go and retrieve Joey from the bottom of the bleachers because she is getting a little too close to the wrestling mat. One fling of a fully grown boy in her direction, and she’ll get hurt. I go to get her and bring her back up. I blow on her belly and then toss her over my shoulder. She laughs and hangs there, giggling. “About what?” I ask.

He nods toward the bottom of the bleachers. “You see that guy in the wheelchair?” he asks.

I do. I saw him when we first came in.

“
He’s my next opponent’s dad.”

“
Oh,” I breathe. “Is he sick?” He’s wearing a stocking cap over his bald head, so I can guess what’s wrong with him.

“
Final stages of cancer,” Seth says quietly.

“
And you’re worried about whether or not you should let his son win?” I weigh it in my mind. I can see why Seth is conflicted. And to be honest, I’m conflicted, too.

“
Yeah.”

“
Do you think it would make his dad happy for this match to be handed to him?”

Seth shakes his head and gnaws on his lower lip. “Probably not.”

“
Seth, if I were his dad, I would want him to do his best, and may the best man win.”

Seth nods.

“
Just be prepared.” I squeeze his shoulder. “He might be in it to win it.” He’s a few pounds heavier than Seth, too.

“
Okay,” he says. And he goes down to the clock to sign in when it’s his turn.

“
What’s wrong?” Sky asks when I sit down beside her. She takes Joey from over my shoulder and sets her beside Mellie, and then puts a crayon in her hand and gives her a piece of paper.

I point with my chin and tell her what’s up. She looks sympathetic. “This one has to be hard for him after what happened with his mom.”

I nod. It fucking hurts me, and it’s not even my match.

“
Do you think he’ll throw it?” she asks.

I shake my head. “I doubt it.”

He doesn’t.

He goes at it just like he goes at everything else. He kicks ass. The boy is strong, and he has Seth almost pinned once, but the clock has ten seconds to go. The referee swipes his hand beneath Seth’s lifted shoulder to show the other boy that Seth isn’t pinned yet. It’s close, and I hold my breath. Sky is squealing beside me, and the whole auditorium starts to count down with the clock. It goes off and Seth rolls over, and they move on to round two. Seth holds his own, and he gets some back points when he lays the boy out flat. It’s almost the third round, and he’s up by one point. Just one point. Seth looks over at his opponent’s dad, and the man gives him a thumbs-up. Seth smiles at him and goes back to it.

Seth makes a crazy move, one that I have never even seen, one that might just be dumb luck, and he gets the boy on his back. His opponent can’t wiggle free, no matter what he does. All Seth has to do is hold it.

Suddenly, the ref calls a pin. Seth reaches down and helps the boy to his feet, and they share a back-thwacking hug. The ref raises Seth’s fist, and Sky hoops and yells beside me. Seth stops at the edge of the mat and raises his hand to the sky. He closes his eyes and says something under his breath that I can’t quite make out. But then he turns and goes to his opponent’s dad. He squats down in front of him and says something to him. Seth’s eyes fill with tears, and he’s so fucking emotional all of a sudden that I have to blink mine back, too. Sky doesn’t even try. She just wipes her face.

Seth goes to the locker room to clean up, and it’s not until we’re on the way home that Sky turns to him and says, “What did you say to that boy’s dad, Seth?”

Seth blows out a breath. “I told him to keep fighting. That’s all.”

I have to blink back tears again. Seth is going to make one hell of a man. Sky reaches back and takes Seth’s hand in hers and gives it a squeeze. He leans forward and kisses her cheek.

“
I love you, Aunt Sky,” he says quietly.

“
I love you, too, Seth,” she breathes.

“
Me, too?” Mellie chirps.

Joey follows with, “And me?”

Sky laughs and reaches back to tickle their feet. “You two, too.”

Then she takes my hand in hers and says, “You, too.”

I give her a squeeze because it’s all I’m capable of right now.

Skylar

Two months later

My mother stands in front of me and fluffs my veil. It has been a long time coming, but we’re making progress. She got out of rehab a couple of weeks ago, and we’ve actually been spending some time together. We pop popcorn and talk about…nothing. It’s nice. It’s something she’s never been capable of before. Neither was I. I had to set aside my doubts and my distrust. Sometimes, if you choose to walk the same road, you have to keep filling in the holes so you can find your footing. But other times, it’s safe to take a new path altogether, and my mom and I are on a new path, completely. We’re discovering one another like we’ve never met.

When I got my news yesterday, she was the only one I told. I’m going to tell Matt after the wedding. We got his good news last month when his blood work revealed that he is still in remission.  Now I’m going to give him some more good news.

“
You look so beautiful,” my mom says. She has adjusted my hair, and she even held my dress up when I had to pee one last time. She has really been here for me today.

“
Thank you,” I breathe. My nerves are frayed, not because of the wedding but because of what I have planned afterward. “You have Matt’s gift, right?” I ask.

She pats her clutch. “I have it. It’s safe.”

We found out last week that Joey and Mellie’s dad is willing to give up his parental rights and let us adopt them. They’ll have the Reed name. Matt has never been happier, but I have a feeling the news today will top even that. We’d like to adopt Seth, too, but he says he doesn’t need it. He says he wants to keep his mother’s name. That’s fine with me, as long as he knows he’s ours, too. And I’m pretty sure he does.

My mother gives me one last hug and goes to take her seat.

I hear the wedding march begin, and Dad comes to collect me. “It’s not too late to back out, if you want to,” he says.

I shake my head. “Never.”

He laughs. “I didn’t think so.” He sticks out his elbow. I slide my arm inside. I only have three bridesmaids, and they’re all standing at the front of the church already. Friday, Reagan, and Emily are family, but they agreed to get all dressed up and stand with me. Of course, Matt had to have every one of his brothers and Seth stand with him. He couldn’t leave a single one out, so our sides don’t match. But that’s okay with me.

I step up to the walkway and look up. The guests all get to their feet. But I don’t look at them. I look at Matt. I can tell the minute he sees me because his eyes get glassy and his mouth falls open. I watch his face the whole way down the aisle. Paul punches him in the arm, and he still doesn’t break my gaze. My dad kisses me on the cheek, and the rest of the service is just a dream. I look into Matt’s eyes and say my vows and he says his. When it’s time for rings, I let him slide mine on my finger and nothing ever felt so right. Until I slide his on, too. And then it’s perfect.

“
You may kiss the bride,” the preacher says.

Matt takes my face in his hands, his fingertips splayed toward my ear, and he lays a kiss on my lips that steals my breath. Paul starts to cough indelicately to break us up. When Matt finally lifts his head, he stares into my eyes. I hold his wrists and can’t break away.

The preacher says, “I’d like to introduce, Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Reed!”