Eli cocks his head to the side. “Who’s Danny?”
Beck runs his thumb along the shell of my ear. “My dad.”
Something passes across Eli’s face, there and gone so quickly I almost miss it, then he’s swallowing hard. “Do they… I mean… Um, would he like me?”
“He would love you,” Beck says. “My mom too.”
Eli perks up a little. “Really?”
I hum. “Definitely. They’re the community parents. They’re basically like a mom and dad to me and Hold. Even Julian, really.”
Eli gets a contemplative look on his face. “Oh. But you guys are my foster parents, right, so they’d be more like community grandparents.”
“Ah,” Beck muses. “They’d die of happiness if they heard you say that. They’re really going to love you so much. I’m almost scared for you to meet them. I don’t want you to get overwhelmed.”
Eli’s quiet for a long while, but then he sighs. He looks back down at Kassie, and runs his hand down her back. “I’ve spent my entire life being overwhelmed by how disliked I am. I think it might be nice to be overwhelmed with something good.”
Oh. Well, there goes my heart. I can’t even speak, my throat far too tight all of a sudden. While I’m still trying to fight back emotions I already know I have no hope of controlling, Beck chokes out, “I can get them here tomorrow. Or whenever you’re ready.”
Eli looks back at us. His smile is the sun. “I think that would be really nice. As long as you’re sure they’re going to like me.”
Of that I have no doubt. But I still can’t talk.
“They definitely will,” Beck says quietly. “I promise. I know my promises might not mean much to you right now, but I’m sure they will eventually.”
Eli sighs. “They actually mean more than you think. I think so far, you are the only two people who have promised me something that I actually believe.”
Goddammit.Not helping with my ability to form words.
Beck clears his throat, his chest shuddering a bit under my head. Oh, good. I’m not the only one who’s seconds away from being a blubbering mess. “I’ll get ahold of them and have them come tomorrow, yeah?”
“Okay.” I love seeing the tentative hope in Eli’s eyes and hearing it in his voice. I somehow already know it’s going to be the biggest honor of my life to nurture that, help it grow, build it into something beautiful and whole. “I think I might go to bed. I’m really tired lately.”
“Yeah,” I finally manage to say around the lump in my throat. “That’s normal. That’ll get better too, okay? Just make sure you’re listening to your body and doing what it needs.”
“I think that will be easy here,” Eli says with a shy smile.
“Yeah?” Beck asks.
Eli nods once. “I feel really safe here. I can’t even tell you how thankful I am that you guys brought me in. I hopeyou don’t ever give me back.” That does it. The tears I’ve been trying so hard to hold back spill over, dripping across my nose and down my temple onto Beck’s shirt. Eli’s eyes widen in horror. “Oh god. I didn’t mean to make you cry! I’m sorry. Please don’t be upset with me.”
I’m off Beck and holding my arms open to Eli in a heartbeat, and he stands just as fast, stumbling toward me and collapsing against me. “I’m not upset with you at all. I’m sad for you. And I’m thankful for you. And I promise we won’t ever give you back.” It’s probably way too soon for all this, but I can’t help it, and I don’t want to. He needs reassurance and I can offer that. So I hold him close and touch his hair and squeeze him, trying to infuse all the love I can into him. I let out a shaky breath. “We want to adopt you, eventually. That’s how little we want to give you back. We want you in our family permanently.”
Eli sucks in a sharp breath, pulling back from me quickly, his eyes finding mine. “Really?” His voice is whisper-soft and so full of hope that it makes my heart twist.
“Really,” Beck says.
Eli’s eyes close and he looks at peace. Like he feels safe.
I know I’ll do everything in my power to keep him that way.
Chapter 8
Beck
We’re finishing up breakfast when Kassie starts losing her damn mind, which can only mean one thing. My parents are here. Eli looks up from his phone. He’s been texting Holden all morning and smiling and gushing about how cool and nice he is. It’s adorable and hilarious, and I love it.
“Mom and Dad are here, beautiful,” I call out.
