Page 42 of Serenity
“I had assumed you had told your dad to have me break out the champagne because you had good news, but with the way you two are whispering back and forth I’m starting to wonder.” The happiness that’d been in my mom’s eyes out on the front porch had dimmed, and now she lookedworried.
“We do have good news,” I reassured her. “But before I share it with you, I wanted to let you both know that I appreciate the time you’ve given me to come to terms with what happened. You backed off and gave me the time I needed, and I know that couldn’t have been easy for eitherofyou.”
My mom reached out for my dad’s hand, and they held on tight to each other while theylistened.
“The therapist I’ve been seeing has helped me work through my feelings about what happened with Declan. To understand it was an accident, and I wasn’t at fault for what happened. And that you guys did the best you could in a horriblesituation.”
“Dillon,” my mom gasped. “Does that mean youforgiveus?”
“Of course I do, Mom. But only for lying to me about it for so long,” I added. “Because you never needed my forgiveness about the decision you had to make. For that you have my gratitude because you savedmylife.”
My mom and dad rushed forward to hug Faith and meagain.
“I’m proud of you, son. Your forgiveness and acceptance is more than I expected and in less time than I anticipated.” My dad patted me on the back before letting go. "Someday, God willing, you'll have children of your own. Then you’ll understand how hard our decision was, and how much your understanding meanstous.”
“It wasn’t easy, but you taught me to not give up when the going gets hard. Especially when you’re fighting for something important, and family iseverything.”
He clapped me on the back again. “I can’t tell you how good it is to hear you say that, Dillon. Seeing you in the office these past weeks and knowing you were in pain; it’s been difficult not being able to do anythingaboutit.”
“It wasn’t easy for me, either.” I’d always been close to my dad, and I hadn’t been sure how to act around him with the distance between us—even though it’d been at my request. “But it means a lot that you trusted me to figure it out onmyown.”
“There’s a time in every parent’s life when they’ve got to let go and trust in the fact that they raised their children right. Your mom and I are lucky because even with all the challenges over the past five years, you turned outsowell.”
“So very well,” my mom added, giving meanotherhug.
When Faith moved to my side and laced her fingers through mine, I realized we’d gotten sidetracked and I still hadn’t given them the big news. “You also have my thanks for saving myfiancée’slife.”
“Fiancée? You’re engaged?” my mom shrieked. Her gaze dropped down to Faith’s hand, and she frowned when she didn’t spot a diamond on her finger. “Noring?”
Faith shook her head and answered for me. “Notyet.”
“Dillon! Did your father teach you nothing about being romantic?” my momadmonishedme.
“Actually,” I drawled, looking at my dad. “I was hoping you’d let me have Grandma’s engagement ring. I think Faith would love it, and it’s an heirloom which makes it even more perfect because she’s alreadyfamily.”
“Dillon! No, you don’t have to do that. We can go pick out a ring or something. I’m not even used to wearing jewelry. It doesn’t have to be something fancy,” Faithprotested.
“Oh, sweetie.” My mom’s eyes filled with tears. “That’s going to change if I have anything to dowithit.”
“My son’s right,” Dad added. “My mother’s engagement ring would be perfect for you, and it might just be big enough for Dillon to be satisfied. It’s in the safe in my office. I’ll gogetit.”
“Big enough?” Faith echoedsoftly.
“Yeah, baby. To warn off other guys,” Iexplained.
“Don’t blame Dillon. He comes by it naturally.” My mom held her left hand out and laughed. “It took years for me to get accustomed to the weight of wearing this every day, and I was already a big fan of jewelry so I had a head startonyou.”
Faith pointed at my mom’s ring and stared up at me with wide eyes. “Your mom’s ring is huge. I noticed it when we first met, and I never pay attention to jewelry. Please tell me your grandma’s engagement ring isn’tthatbig.”
“Well,” I laughed. My mom burst into a fit of giggles. They were just dying down when my dad came back in the room. “Get ready to crack open that bottle of champagne, honey. We get to see our boy put my mom’s ring onourgirl.”
To anyone else, his choice of phrasing might’ve sounded odd; like incest or something since he’d called me their boy and Faith their girl. But for Faith, I knew it sounded like exactly what it was—unconditional acceptance. Or in one word...family. Something she’d never experienced before. But I could giveherthat.
My dad gave me the jewelry box, and I flipped it open. I remembered my grandma telling me about her engagement ring when I’d asked her if the stone was dirty since it was yellow. I was only six at the time, but her lesson about canary yellow diamonds stuck with me. At five karats, the stone in the ring was big, even by my mom’s standards. I figured that the only reason I was able to get it on Faith’s finger without her freaking out was because her vision was clouded by tears at what my dad had said. But that was fine by me. It was on there, and it was nevercomingoff.
