“I forgive you, Dad,” he whispered.

It’s what his therapist had told him he needed to do. She’d been right. It felt good to finally forgive his father. It didn’t right any of the things his father had done: All the miserable years of growing up feeling different—unaccepted—the freak of the neighborhood. All the years of not living after both his parents died because he’d been afraid. He was only glad now that he’d managed to overcome that fear when it was most important, when he’d decided to open up his heart to Regina.

She brought all this change into his life, including talking him into seeing a therapist and letting out all that he held in, all the pain he numbed away after both his parents’ deaths. It did feel better to let it out, and he knew now needing a therapist didn’t mean he was weak. He was healing, and it felt damn good to let it all out.

~*~

Regina

Watching Brandon kneeling at his father’s graveside was almost unbelievable. He’d come such a long way. She’d been surprised when he agreed to join her in seeking the therapy to help them deal with the things they were both obviously still dealing with. It was only once every two weeks, but it was already helping. Brandon had told her more than once that the day he buried his father he’d said good-bye forever and he’d never come back here again.

She knew he’d been nervous about coming here today, but she was proud of him. This was a huge step for him.

Her family still didn’t know about what happened that day in her condo. She wasn’t sure she’d ever tell them, but they’d since moved her out of there. Seeing the patched up bullet hole in the ceiling of her bathroom was a constant reminder of what she’d put Brandon through, and she didn’t want to be reminded of it anymore. Neither did he.

Shaking her head, she still couldn’t get the memory of hearing him become so hysterical out of her mind. In her haste to get up and open the door to comfort him, the ridiculously powerful gun she’d bought to make sure it got the job done had gone off in her hand. The force had been so much that she’d flown back against shower tile and had been knocked unconscious.

She’d woken to Brandon’s sobs. He’d been cradling her in his arms, but they’d been sobs of joy. He later explained that, before he was able to break the bathroom door in, he really believed he would find her dead in a pool of her own blood. He also confessed that his only thought the entire time was to take the gun and turn it on himself.

Smiling suddenly, she watched as he stood up and began walking toward her. She too stood and met him halfway. “How do you feel?” she asked tentatively.

“Good.” He smiled. “The therapist was right. I needed to do this.”

Regina wrapped her arms around his waist. “I’m proud of you, baby.”

“How do you feel” he asked, pulling away to look at her.

She looked up at him, smiling big. “Excited.”

“Me too.” He kissed her. “Let’s go do this.”

~~~

Bell set the birthday cake on the table. It was considered in bad form to do any celebrating while still in mourning, but it’d been over three months since their father had died, and their mother insisted it was time. Her father wouldn’t have wanted them to mourn for weeks or even days much less months.

Romero sat in front of the cake with Romeo and Amanda on his lap, smiling big as they all sang happy birthday to him.

Once Romero finished blowing out the candles, Regina took ice-cream duty as Bell set slices of cake on plates. She smirked, watching Pat, who was once again engaged in an ongoing debate with Romero’s uncle Max on the loveseat in the living room. Those two were always going at it lately, and if Regina didn’t know any better, she’d say her sister enjoyed arguing with him a little too much.

Bell caught Regina smirking and then leaned into her and whispered, “Don’t you dare tell her I told you, but she’s had him over to her place a few times.”

Regina’s jaw fell open. “You’re kidding me.”

Bell giggled then shushed Regina as she continued slicing the cake. “The first time it was supposedly to settle a bet about making tamales.” She rolled her eyes but laughed. “She had him over, and they made a few dozen tamales together, so you know he was there for hours. Another time she said he’d offered to take a look at her dryer because she’d mentioned the timer wasn’t working, but she insisted that’s all he’d done. She thinks she’s being sneaky, but she doesn’t know Manny tells Romero everything, and according to Manny, she’s all Max ever talks about these days. He also says they get together way more often than Pat’s admitting. Pat and Max!” Bell covered her mouth, laughing. “Can you even imagine?”

Looking up at Pat, Regina saw her sister place her hand on her hip, suddenly looking completely appalled at whatever Max had just said. She then stood up and walked off toward Regina and Bell. “Uh, oh,” Regina whispered. “Looks like trouble in paradise.”

Both Regina and Bell went back to quietly filling the plates with cake and ice cream as Valerie and her girls helped pass them out. Pat came over and picked up two plates: one for her and one for Max, no doubt. She eyed Regina, who couldn’t wipe the smile off her face.

“What are you smiling about?” Pat asked suspiciously.

“Nothing.” Regina shook her head. “I’m just in a good mood. That’s all.”