Page 72 of Bound By Threads
“Hey. Everything okay?”She asks, drying her hands on a dish towel.
Lottie walks in first, barefoot and a little windswept. “We’re okay.” Her lips move as she speaks, and I have to tear my eyes away from her.
Archer steps closer to her, and I follow, slipping an arm around her waist. “Actually… we wanted to talk to you and Dad,” Archer says, signing as he does.
That gets her attention. “Is this one of those sit down and brace yourself talks?” she teases, eyes flicking between the three of us like the pieces are already clicking together.
Archer’s dad appears from the hallway, tall and quiet as ever, with that same ex-military stillness that makes him look like he can read a situation before anyone speaks.
“Let’s hear it,” he says simply, folding his arms.
Archer doesn’t flinch. “It’s about us. The three of us.”
His mom’s brows rise—then she beams. “Oh!Finally!” she exclaims, looking like she just won the lottery. “I’ve been hoping you’d all stop dancing around it.”
Lottie blinks. “You knew?”
She waves a hand at us like it’s obvious. “I’ve watched the way you all look at each other when none of you were looking. The only surprise is that it took our son this long to do something about it, and that Oscar got there first, I’m assuming, since you’ve been hiding away at his house the last few nights while our son avoided his feelings.”
Claire’s hands move wildly as she talks, and I chuckle, all tension easing from my shoulders.
Will doesn’t say anything for a long beat, then looks at me, then at Archer.
“You’ll treat her right?”he signs to me, then repeats the same question to Archer.
“Always.”I sign back, no hesitation.
“Every damn day,” Archer replies.
Will nods once, then levels a very specific kind of dad-stare at both of us. “Good. If either of you hurts her, I’ll make you disappear. Family or not,” he says and signs it, calmly—like it’s just a fact of life. And somehow that makes it scarier. I swallow a lump in my throat, forgetting how truly terrifying Will can be when he wants to be.
Archer coughs. “Got it, Dad.”
Lottie steps between us, moving into Will’s open arms, reaching up to kiss his cheek. Will holds her there for a moment before stepping back, his eyes misty. “I’m happy for you, baby girl,” his lips move, a smile tugging at the edges. “You deserve all the happiness.”
Claire wraps Lottie in a hug, stealing her from her husband, and reaches for me too, pulling me in like she always does. She holds on for a long beat, then lets us go, wiping away a tear from her cheek. “Does this mean you’ll both call me mom now?”
Chapter34
Lottie
After Claire and Will make us eat—because apparently being emotionally wrecked doesn’t excuse you from dinner—we sit around the table while Claire chats like she’s been waiting years for this exact moment. She keeps smiling between us, eyes a little misty, saying things like“it just makes sense, doesn’t it?”and“I always knew it’d be you three.”
I don’t have the energy to argue or even tease her. I smile. I eat. And when it’s finally over, and the dishes are done, Archer gently nudges me toward the hallway.
“Come on,” he says, his hand warm at my back.
Oscar follows behind, quiet as usual, but I can feel him there. I always can.
By the time we get to my room, I’m barely holding it together.
I push open the door, step inside, and all the tension I’ve been carrying just... lets go. I flop face-first onto the bed with a heavy sigh, limbs sprawled like a rag doll.
I feel the door shut behind me. Then the bed dips as Archer sits beside me, his hand finding my leg, thumb drawing slow circles over the fabric of my leggings.
Oscar settles on my other side, the mattress shifting with his weight.
Everything’s quiet for a second.
