Even Noah turned from his perch by the window. When he saw Lauren, he got up and crossed the room. He extended his hand down to Lauren to pull her up, and then he sat and tugged her down into his lap.
“Now comes the fun part,” Noah murmured.
Lauren fought the smile. Yes, she was nervous about how Liam’s parents were going to take the explanation of their relationship, but she wasn’t so uptight that she couldn’t appreciate the humor in such an unexpected and somewhat awkward conversation with his parents.
Liam looked nervous. He wiped his free hand down his jeans repeatedly.
“Our relationship is not exactly . . . traditional,” Liam said, unease apparent in his voice.
Then he blanched, his eyes widening and he immediately began to sputter. “Mom, no, I’m not gay and Lauren isn’t a cover name for a man. Yes, I know you’d understand and that you aren’t judging me, but that’s not what it is.”
Lauren started giggling and Noah shook with laughter against her. Liam sighed and closed his eyes as he listened to what apparently was a long stream of conversation from his mother.
“Mom, I appreciate that you’re so understanding, but will you listen to me please? I’m not coming out of the closet here. I’m trying to tell you that Noah and I both are involved with Lauren.”
There was a long period of silence on Liam’s end, and there must have been on his parents’ end too because Liam said, “Mom? Dad? Are you still there?”
He gripped the phone a little tighter and then took a deep breath. “It’s really not that complicated when you look at it. We met her because her brother hired us to protect her, and we both fell in love with her. It’s really that simple. She makes us happy and we’re going to do our damn best to make her happy.”
He glanced toward Noah and Lauren. “Yes, Noah’s here. He and Lauren both are. Uh okay, hang on a minute.”
He held the phone toward Noah. “Mom wants to talk to you.”
“Ah hell,” Noah muttered.
Lauren got up so Noah could lean forward and get the phone from Liam, and Liam pulled Lauren back toward him so she could switch spots from Noah to him.
“Hi, Mom,” Noah said.
Even though Lauren knew he was nervous, he seemed to relax the moment he spoke to Liam’s mother.
“Your family really is Noah’s family, aren’t they?” Lauren murmured to Liam.
“Yeah,” Liam said quietly. “Noah didn’t have an easy childhood. He was a burden to his parents. He was an oops baby to extremely selfish, self-absorbed people who didn’t have time for a child nor the desire for one. He spent more time at my house than he did at home. I can remember times when they’d literally drop him off at my parents with a note saying they were going to be gone for two weeks. Sometimes longer. They’d send one change of clothes in a plastic grocery sack. It pissed my parents off to no end, but they knew if they interfered they’d likely never see Noah again, and by then they considered him their son as much as I was.”
“That can’t have been easy for Noah,” Lauren said sadly. “No one wants to feel like they’re unwanted.”
“I think it was hard for him when he was younger, but by the time he hit his teen years he just seemed to accept it. He loved my parents and they loved him. One day he came to our house with everything he owned in a duffel bag. My dad went outside to talk to him and when they came back in, my dad simply announced that Noah would be moving in with us and would become a permanent member of our family. I never saw or heard from his parents after that day, and I don’t know that he has either.”
“Wow, just wow,” Lauren said in shock. “I can’t fathom that kind of emotional disconnect between parents and their child. That couldn’t have been easy for your parents to take in another child.”
Liam shook his head. “It wasn’t. My dad did shiftwork at the local paper mill, and my mom worked in the school cafeteria. They didn’t make a lot of money and it was a struggle to make ends meet with just the three of us. We lived in a two-bedroom wood-frame house, and Noah and I had to share a bedroom. But they always seemed to manage. They had a lot of pride too. I’ll never forget when Noah and I were seniors in high school, we came home one day. It was a Friday, Dad’s off day from work, and he and Mom were pissed. Not upset. Just extremely angry.”
Lauren’s brow furrowed. “Why?”
“Apparently Noah’s parents had a brief moment of guilt, but not a big enough one that they actually tried to see Noah or come to visit him. They sent my mom and dad a check to cover his expenses. My dad hit the roof. And you’d have to understand. Not much makes my dad angry. He’s a very laid-back, mild-mannered man. But that day, he was livid.”
“I can imagine,” Lauren murmured.
“He gave the check to Noah and told him it was rightfully his to do what he wanted, but that he and my mom wouldn’t accept a dime for doing what was right. My dad told Noah that he loved him like a son and he didn’t take him in to get some check in the mail.”
“Did Noah take it?” Lauren asked.
Liam shook his head. “He told my dad to tear it up and return it to sender. Then he told my mom and dad that they were his parents, and that they’d given him something way more valuable than a check with a lot of zeroes. They’d given him love and acceptance.”
“That’s a beautiful story,” Lauren said with a sniff.
“My parents are pretty special folks,” Liam said seriously.
“And what did they say when you told them about us?”
Liam smiled. “They were surprised, of course. And they wanted to talk to Noah. I’m their son, but to them so is Noah, and they want to make sure he’s happy with the arrangement and isn’t settling.”
Lauren glanced back toward Noah, who was smiling as he spoke into the phone.
“We’ll bring her to meet you as soon as it’s possible. It may be a while before you hear from us again, and I don’t want that to worry you. We have some things to take care of and it’s very likely Lauren is going to have to testify in a criminal trial. Once we’re sure that the threat to her has been eliminated, then we can lead a normal life together. You’ll like her family. They remind me a lot of you and Dad.”
He paused a moment and found Lauren’s gaze, his eyes warming as he stroked over her features.
“Yes, they’re fine with it. It’s not exactly an unusual arrangement in her family. But we’ll explain it all to you when we bring her to meet you. Promise.”
Noah smiled again. “Love you both. I’ll give you back to Liam now.”
He handed the phone back to Liam, and Liam put it to his ear.
“We’ll talk soon,” Liam promised. “Love you both.”
Liam hugged Lauren to him a little tighter as he said his good-byes. Then he punched the Off button and set the phone down on the little end table set up between the two armchairs.
“So it went well?” Lauren asked tentatively.
“Yes,” both Noah and Liam said at the same time.
“They’re very eager to meet you,” Noah said. “They’re pretty mystified over the kind of woman it would take to get mine and Liam’s attention so fiercely. They’ve despaired of us ever settling down and providing them grandchildren.”