Found by Love (14 page)

"Oh I do Mattie... I certainly do." And knuckle bump again! I look over at Grayson and he seems deep in thought. I hope not trying to figure out what the two idiots are talking about.

"Grayson, what would you like to go do in the morning?" He gets a panicked look on his face.

"Why? Are you leaving already?" How did he get that from my question?

"No honey... I know we haven't discussed this yet but I'm staying here for as long as you need me to so that we can get to know each other. As of right now, Caleb and I are here for the week." I look over at Mattie. "That is if that's okay with you. If it’s too much then Caleb and I can get a room at a hotel." Mattie waved my suggestion away.

"Of course, Claudia, that's fine; you both can stay for as long as you need to. I do have to leave for business Tuesday night and I won't be back until Thursday night, but you can have the house to yourselves. Grayson usually goes back home on Sundays but I see no problem in him staying here all week since you're both here."

"That's not my home Uncle Mattie and I wish you would quit calling it that!" For the first time he is finally acting his age with his arms crossed across his chest and a pouty look on his face.

"Grayson... We've been over this. I travel a lot for work and I needed you somewhere where you could be taken care of and able to be around your family, friends and school."

"Maria would have taken care of me and you know it! They're NOT my family! They don't like me and they only want me around so that you'll give them money so that they can buy stuff for themselves and their kids and I'm not going back!!! Ever!!"

He looked over at me with tears in his eyes and stormed out. I want to chase after him but I've got to give myself a moment to process exactly what to say to him and I should also give him some time to calm down. I look towards Mattie and he has his head down and seems discouraged.

"Mattie? What's going on? Have you told his cousins yet that I'm here? Do they know that he wants to live with me now?"

"Oh they know and they're none too happy about it. They've mentioned taking you to court so that they could get custody of him instead of temporary guardianship. I think that's why Grayson seems so upset because they've made comments to him that you... Well... Already threw him away like a dog and why you would want him back. Their words... Not mine. I think he's just nervous is all."

I push my plate away because I've lost any appetite that I had no matter how good it tasted. How could they be so cruel? My first instinct is to go to their house and tell them exactly what's going to happen and that is that I WILL be taking my son home with me. Caleb got up and came around and sat next to me where Grayson was and started rubbing my neck and shoulders.

"Claudia? Calm down baby. We knew this wasn't going to be a cake walk from the get go. What we have to focus on right now is reassuring Grayson that he will be going home with us since that seems to be what he wants to do. Or is it Mattie? Are you sure that he doesn't want to stay here with you?" I think everyone has lost their appetites because Mattie pushed his plate away as well.

"Listen to me, both of you. I love Grayson... As if he were my own but I have a lot of growing up to do and money to make and I'm sorry... This might sound selfish of me but I'm not ready to settle down." I can tell that he's embarrassed to admit that and I'm impressed that he can freely admit it to us since we are pretty much complete strangers.

"Now... having said that; if you decided to change your mind and didn't want custody of him? I would stop traveling and... Well... Finish raising him but it wouldn't be fair to him because I can't give him what he needs and that is a mother AND a father. I do want to be able to visit him now and then and be able to talk to him quite often."

"Well of course Mattie. Caleb and I know how important you are to him and I don't see a problem with that at all. We aren't going to cut him off from everyone that he loves and cares about."

He nodded at me in appreciation and I looked at Caleb wondering where his head was at and wondering if I should go talk to Grayson yet.

"Claud, I'll go with you to talk to him if you want. If he's anything like you he's probably calmed down by now."

"I think I'll go by myself because if we both go in there he might feel a little outnumbered. Give me a little time with him and then you can join us. I do want him to know that he has both of us and not just me though." I lean over to give him a soft kiss on the lips.

"Sounds good Baby, and good luck because you're going to need it because he is his mother’s son after all." I hear Mattie clear his throat and I had forgotten that he was in the room and I know that he could tell that I was blushing.

"So how long have you two been a couple? You seem to be deeply in love." His question had both of us cracking up.

"I'll let you answer that one Caleb... I'm going to go talk to Grayson. Please don't make me sound like a crazy person okay Nerd Boy?" I get up and kiss him on the forehead and push my chair in. I look at my dinner and my stomach growled at missing out on Maria's awesome pizza.

"Cruella? Do you care if I tell him the story of when you proposed to me?" I turned around and glared at him.

"I did NOT propose to you! You were putting words in my mouth thank you very much." I look over at Mattie and point my finger at him.

"Do NOT believe anything that he says unless I say it's the truth or not." I grinned at him assuring him that I was just messing with him which had him rolling. As I was walking out of the room he was telling Caleb what a cute couple we were which makes me feels good.

I hear a thumping noise as I get closer to Grayson's room letting me know that it's coming from his room. As soon as I knock on the door the thumping stops.

"I want to be alone." Thump, thump, thump. I start to turn the knob but hesitate because I don't want to just barge in on him.

"Grayson, will you please let me come in so that we can talk? Please?"

The thumping stopped and I hear him get out of bed and come to the door. He opens it and looks at me and behind and around me to see if I was by myself. It's a good thing I came by myself because he probably wouldn't have let me in. He pulled the door open wider for me to come in and I look around and I must say. He's got a pretty cool bedroom with a big screen TV in the corner hooked up to an Xbox and at least a hundred games lined up on the shelf next to the TV. A miniature basketball goal is standing in the corner and a set of bunk beds that has a slide at the end. It reminds me of something my nephew Gideon would love to have in his room.

"Wow! This is a cool room and big too. Um.... the room that you will have at mine and Caleb's is maybe half this size. I hope that's okay. I mean... if you want to come live with us.” I try to see if I can see what he wants to do by looking at him but all he's giving me is a blank stare. "What or who do you want to live with Grayson?" He seems so deep in thought that I start getting nervous and hold my breath. He sits down on the couch that's in front of the TV and looks up at me.

"I do want to live with you and Caleb." Oh thank God! I finally exhaled the breath that I was holding in. "But... I also want to live with Uncle Mattie. I guess that's not gonna happen huh."

The last eight months have really taken a toll on him and I can only imagine that Mattie being his last link to his parents is what has kept him going. Could Caleb and I move here and leave everything behind? Yes! I know I could in a second but what about Caleb? If he couldn't move here with me then that would be the end of our relationship. As much as I love him I love Grayson more and will do anything to have him back in my life no matter the price.

"Okay. I don't want to just swoop in here Gray and tell you that you have to move to Oregon with me. I want this to be your decision and yours alone. You've had enough life changing issues to deal with this past year that were not in your control and I want to do what you want to do here and that is what is going to make you the happiest." His eyes have about popped out of his head and his mouth dropped and he's just staring at me in shock.

"What's wrong?"

"It's just that... No one has called me Gray since my Mom died. That's what she always called me. I didn't realize how much I missed hearing her nickname for me until you just said it. I'm sorry but I really miss my mom and dad... a lot!" I sit down next to him and put my hand on his shoulder and then his back and pull him closer to me and start running my fingers through his hair.

"I know you do baby and it’s okay to miss them and you can talk to me about them any time you want to. I know what it feels like to miss someone you loved and knowing that you'll never see them again."

"You do? You're not talking about the way you missed me after I was born are you?" There's that old soul of his showing itself again.

"No... My parents died not too long after you were born. Both of them had heart attacks six months apart from each other. My only brother died almost 3 years ago along with his 3 kids in a car wreck so yeah... I know what it feels like to miss those that you loved and know that you will never see them again."

"So you don't have any family left either? Well... other than Caleb?"

"Believe it or not I have a lot of family left. They're not my biological family but my sister in law who was married to my brother has been my best friend since we were fourteen years old and she's more like a sister to me than anything. She's married to Caleb's brother Cash and they have four kids. Their parents are kind of like my parents too. At least they treat me like I'm one of theirs. Well... They try to when I let them, haha." He looked up at me and was grinning from ear to ear.

"So I have grandparents and an aunt and uncle and cousins?? How old are my cousins?" Oh I love seeing him smile because he such a beautiful smile and he doesn’t look as withdrawn when he smiles really big.

"Gideon is 8 and Eden is 6 and Cassidy and Claude... I mean Hank, are 8 months old. They're twins! They're all pretty awesome. I think you and Gideon will get along pretty well. He's almost as funny as you are." I leaned down and kissed him on the forehead and he flinched. I wasn't thinking and it just seemed like an immediate reaction so I did it.

"I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to do that. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable around me it just seemed like the natural thing to do." He started giggling and shaking his head at me.

"It's okay. I like spending time with you and it... It wasn't weird or anything. You can do it again if you want to."

My heart literally melted and tears sprung to my eyes. I leaned down and kissed his forehead again but gentler this time and breathed him in. Oh my son! My sweet, opinionated, funny, gorgeous son! I've prayed and prayed to be this close to him since his parents walked out of my hospital room with him. I pulled him in even closer to me and hugged him and he hugged me back and it was the most perfect moment of my life and I doubt life could get any better than right now. I leaned back and looked him in the eyes as his eyes were shining bright with tears, threatening to fall, but he was grinning at me so I pulled him in even closer.

"I could so get used to this. I'm going to warn ya Gray... I am a hugger."

"That's okay because I love hugs. Uncle Mattie and Maria give good hugs, but not like you do." There's a knock on the door that startles both of us and I turn around and there's the other man in my life.

"Do you two mind if I join you? Mattie is heading to bed so I figured I would join the party. Is everything okay in here? I brought you both something." I didn't realize that Caleb had one hand behind his back like he was hiding something. He shows us what he was hiding and Grayson and I both attack him.

"Oh thank you Caleb!! I'm starving! Did you bring a pop too?" Grayson was the first one to reach him and I couldn’t help but laugh. Caleb pulled a can of pop out of one pocket and a bottle of water out of his other pocket for me. I mouthed thank you to him and he just nodded.

"I sure did my young Jedi, and water for the beautiful Princess." I grabbed my plate and water and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Thank you... You knew I wouldn't have been able to sleep tonight without having more of that pizza huh." Grayson and I head back to the couch and Caleb sat down next to me which has me sitting between them.

"You're welcome and I know you well enough to know that you would have been tossing and turning all night just thinking about the pizza you didn't get to eat. Haha... So… did you guys get everything worked out in here?" He starts looking around the room and seems quite mesmerized. "Grayson... I've just got to tell ya buddy. This is a pretty cool room! I would have loved to have had a bedroom like this when I was your age."

"Thanks! Uncle Mattie picked everything out and had it all ready for me when I came to stay with him on the weekends. I know I haven't decided where I want to live yet but I don't have to have a big room like this if I move in with you guys." Caleb looked over at me and I knew that we had to have a talk because I meant it when I told Grayson that I would do whatever he wanted and if that meant to move here then I would.

"Caleb... We really haven't discussed everything. I was telling him about Cash and Olivia and the kids and yours and Olivia's parents."

"I see... Grayson, I can't wait for you to meet my nephew Gideon. I think you two will get along great. He lives in a castle and his bedroom doesn't even come close to comparison to yours." This piqued his curiosity because he put his pizza down.