Page 73 of Companion Required
For a few seconds she stared at him, before smiling and nodding. After a moment, she turned her gaze out to the scene beyond the window.
“I thought you might be. Even in your early twenties you were never really into girls, not like your brother. And, let’s face it, you and Jennifer were hardly love’s young dream. Even though you told me otherwise, I never saw her making you happy, never saw that spark between you.”
“You knew? Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Oh, honey. What would I have said? And, more importantly, what would you have said to me? I don’t think you even knew yourself. But a mother knows. Of all my children, you were the sensitive one, the worrier, always fretting about me, worrying if we’d be able to make ends meet. Half the time your worrying helped to stop mine, if that makes sense?”
“But how does that make me gay?”
“It doesn’t, but—I don’t know—I just saw something special in you. Of all my children, you are most like my oldest brother, Peter.”
Uncle Peter. Or Gay Uncle Peter, as most of the family had come to refer to him. Kieran liked him and Uncle Gino. Along with his grandparents, they’d helped care for Kieran and his siblings as kids. Both men had been low-key and fun, sharing a tiny bungalow in the country that had a huge garden backing onto a farm.
Did he have the family gay gene?Kieran wondered.And was that even a thing?
His mother must have sensed his confusion, because she went on to clarify.
“Don’t get me wrong, love. I think you’d have made a brilliant husband for Jennifer. But she’d have been the one ordering you around, getting you to do what she wanted, when she wanted it done. There would’ve been no give and take. She’s that kind of woman. And I know you, dear. Eventually you’d have walked away. So better it happened sooner rather than later, when you’d have had far more to lose. Do you have someone?”
“Sorry?”
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
Kieran blanched. His mother had actually used the word ‘boyfriend’ with him. As natural as breathing. No drama, no crying, no accusations. For a moment, he felt the sting of tears in his eyes.
“I did. That’s where I was in September.”
“And what’s he like?”
How the heck did he explain Kennedy to his mother?
“He’s amazing, Mum. Smart, successful, handsome, funny.”
“Sounds like somebody’s smitten.”
“No, we’re not together anymore. Just travelled as companions for the month.”
“Then he’s not as smart as he thinks. My son is a catch.”
Kieran laughed, his mother’s approval and the rumble of his own amusement in his chest lightening his mood. After coffee arrived, both of them fell quiet again, until his phone beeped with a message. Even before he’d pulled the phone out, he was pretty sure the sender was Cole. But the display announced something different altogether.
Steph:Not counting our chicks just yet, but doctor says we’re likely going to be a mother.
Kieran put his phone face down, then grabbed his wine and emptied the glass. After a taking steadying breath, he smiled weakly at his mother.
“Mum. There’s something else I need to tell you.”
