One thing she never forgot how to do? Make a damn entrance.
My mom, who had been trying to get her bearings from Asher's news, shut her eyes as a way of hitting the reset button. If anyone knew how to keep their composure in any given situation, it was her. No amount of mayhem could shake her, for she had birthed and raised all four of us for the last thirty years or so and hadn't lost her mind. Yet, at least.
She opened her eyes a few seconds later and nodded to her own mother standing in the foyer behind me. "Oh, hi Mom. Actually, can you take Maddy into the kitchen? I think there's a cookie tray that still needs to be assembled before we bring it out here."
I couldn't see my grandmother's reaction, but the pleading gaze my mom was giving her said it all. Keep the child distracted, the adults need to talk. The sound of clunky heels echoed on the hardwood flooring until my grandmother stopped between Gus and me, bowing to kiss the side of my head.
"Happy Birthday, sweetie," she muttered to me. She rounded the table, throwing out hasty hello's to everyone else while she reached her hand to Madelyn who was idling behind my mom. The two of them headed back into the kitchen while the rest of us remained stupefied in our seats.
As soon as they were out of earshot, my mom let out a sound of pure defeat and plopped down in her chair. "I don't know whether you kids keep me young or age me beyond repair," she said, more so to herself than to anyone in particular.
All eyes were on me now, waiting for my own bombshell to follow in the footsteps of my siblings. That was the ongoing pattern with us, after all. Once one of us jumped ship, we all followed suit.
Instead, I looked to Gus for an answer and we both just shrugged.
"I... got nothing," I concluded.
"Usually we're the ones stirring the pot," he snorted, "Are you sure we don't have any news?"
"For once, we're the boring ones. I kinda like it." I found myself smiling at the idea of being boring with Gus for the rest of our lives. Something I never thought would cross my mind before.
My dad cleared his throat to bring us back to the subject matters at hand. "So we've got a girlfriend, a baby, and an engagement," he recapped with a sigh. Faintly, he added on, "I think we're done with announcements for the year."
"Who are we starting with?" My mom asked as she rubbed at her temples. The classic move we all did when we were stressed. "And I don't want any of this competitive nonsense. Let's all try and be adults for once."
"I'd like to start with Sutton," I suggested, directing my attention at the alleged expecting couple sitting across from me. "You guys are having... a baby? A real baby. Like, you're pregnant? Right now? Is that why you haven't even touched your champagne?"
Sutton nodded, a bashful smile coming to her face. "I'm just a couple of weeks along. I wanted to be totally sure of it before I told you guys because you know how hard this last year has been for us," she said, a slight raspy edge to her voice. At the sound of it, Koa's hand squeezed her shoulder while the other reached for her fidgeting fingers. "We had to look at a ton of different options and I know I've kept a lot of it a secret, but with the help of an egg donor and my angel of a doctor, we're really gonna have a baby."
The glimmer in her eyes was always there, naturally dazzling from the day she was born, but right now it was like nothing I'd ever witnessed. It came close to how she looked on her wedding day. A euphoric glow so contagious, even a brick wall like me could feel the effects of it.
A lump of emotion wedged itself in my throat. On the verge of tears, a weepy noise crept its way out of me when I croaked, "Sutton."
We may have been two completely different breeds. She may have made me consider checking myself into a psych ward just to get away from her sometimes. I may have wanted to strangle her more than I wanted to hug her. Despite it all, I loved my one and only sister from the bottom of my heart, and I couldn't have been more proud of the woman she had become. No one deserved this more than her.
I got out of my seat and came around the table to join my mom in wrapping our arms around Sutton. An embrace we hadn't had between the three of us in far too long. We were mumbling congrats between our sniffles, making sure not to crush my fragile pregnant sister as Koa joined in on our lovefest.
"I'm gonna have another niece," I gushed over the mere thought of being an aunt again. When I realized a different option, I snapped my head up from our hug and gasped, "Or a nephew. What if it's a boy? I'll shit!"
My mom scoffed. "Could you be more vulgar at a time like this?"
"Just be glad I didn't throw a fuck in there." I gave her a cheeky grin, to which she rolled her eyes before pulling herself away from us.
"Okay, okay," Sutton cut us off with a watery giggle, dabbing at her eyes. "I think there's another elephant in the room we need to talk about."
Our heads swiveled around to Duncan on cue. He gave us a tiny, crooked smile in return.
"Please elaborate," I urged. I leaned a hand on the back of Sutton's chair because I knew I'd need something supporting me when he clarified his announcement.
"I'm proposing to Valerie," he said it like it was common knowledge. "Madelyn and I had a long talk about it and she's okay with it, which is the most important thing to me in making this decision. I know it hasn't been that long and it still might be a little weird for you guys, but I'm finally at a place in my life where I know what I want. And what I want is to marry her – to make a real family for my daughter."
"Aw, Duncan," Sutton whined his name. "That's the sweetest thing you've ever said. Even if it is about my best friend."
That was her backhanded way of saying I'm happy for you. We didn't need much more than that from her.
"Congrats, brah," Koa said with his signature sunny smile, leaning over to shake hands with Duncan. "And if you need an ordained minister, I might know one." He shot me a teasing wink over his shoulder, and I nudged his arm in return.
"This is wild. I never pictured you getting married," Asher chipped in. "Glad you are though, don't get me wrong. It's awesome."
There was an air of indifference to our eldest brother as he shrugged. "I've said it before, I'm tired of fucking around. I've done enough of that my whole life and I just want something solid. Val and I have that, and I don't ever want to lose it."
"Well, it'll always be weird for me... but you have my blessing," Sutton said begrudgingly, even going as far as painting a saccharine smile on her face.
"Aw, Sutton. That's the sweetest thing you've ever said," Duncan mocked her catty comment from earlier with a spot-on impersonation of her voice. "Anyway, I can't believe you're all this shocked. I thought it was kind of predictable. Did anyone ever think Bayla and Gus would get married, out of all of us? No offense, guys."
"None taken," Gus chuckled.
"Miracles do happen, I guess," I sang as I circled the table, stopping to pat Duncan's back and remark under my breath, "Considering someone fell in love with you."
"What was that?" Duncan asked at the top of his voice, just begging for me to repeat it for our mother to hear.
"I said congrats and all the best to you two! Can we go back to Asher and his news now?" I deflected, returning to my seat between my baby brother and my own husband.
"No, please let's not," he laughed awkwardly with a shake of his head. "Can we celebrate your birthday since that's why we're here in the first place?"
I pretended to contemplate it for a moment before I ultimately gave in because any self-respecting Leo like myself wouldn't dare pass up the opportunity to be the center of attention.
From the archway that entered the kitchen emerged my grandmother, a wary look on her wrinkled face. At her side was Madelyn carrying the cookie tray they had so artfully put together.
"The cookie tray is ready... or does it need some more rearranging?" My grandmother proclaimed, an excessive amount of naivety behind her words even though we already knew she heard everything that was said. It was where my mom got her killer intuition from.
My mom laughed to herself and waved them on. "It's perfect how it is, you can bring it over. It's time for us to sing anyway." She stood up to light the candles on my cake, pushing it closer so it sat directly in front of me.
After Madelyn set the cookies down, I smiled at her across the table and asked, "Wanna help me blow out the candles?"
A toothy grin split across her face at the offer. She couldn't be at my side fast enough, dropping to the floor and crawling under the table to me. I scooted over to share my seat with her and wrapped an arm around her tiny body, resting my head on hers as my family sang to me one of the worst, most out-of-tune renditions of "Happy Birthday" I think I'd ever heard.
I was doubled over, clutching my aching stomach as my dad said, "Alright, blow 'em out and make a wish."
Madelyn sucked in a breath like her life depended on it while I could barely catch mine from laughing so hard. Once I was ready, we exhaled together, making sure every little flame was accounted for and that there wasn't a single spark left alight.
Time seemed to stop when I looked to my left at Gus. His eyes were already on me.
Sapphire blue. Calm, glistening, just like the stone. Nothing out of the ordinary. The only color that defined us. The color I would paint us with over and over again.
Everything else became background noise then. My mom grabbing the cake to cut it. Sutton insisting she only wanted a tiny sliver, but would definitely steal half of Koa's piece. My dad snatching the candles from my mom to get the extra icing off the bottom of them. Madelyn claiming how good her wish was and how she hoped it would come true.
I couldn't say the same. I blew out the candles, but I didn't need to make a wish. I already had everything I would ever need.
〰️〰️〰️
A/N - THE END.
yo... so uh... anybody got a tissue up in here???? bc oh my GOD i'm crying my damn eyes OUT!!!!! holy shit you guys!!! i never thought we'd see the end of this story but we're HERE. this is the official END of TDBGAN!!! i can't fucking believe it!!! we did the damn thing! i'm so unwell right now sorry not sorry if whatever i'm about to say doesn't make any sense. it's gonna be a long rambly mess. i'll save the pretty, poetic note for the outro.
THOUGHTS??? HOW WE FEELING??? ARE WE OKAY??? did you like how i did the ending??? is there anything we missed? anyONE we missed?? personally, i missed collin and i'm sad i didn't get to write a proper honeymoon for bayla and gus. BUT we got to tie up A LOT of loose ends and see a happy ending for everyone! it was super important for me to round things out and make sure we saw that. we dropped a lot of bombshells here and it's a lot to digest. also that "sapphire blue" line... any OG's recall that from the very first chapter??? LOL that was... so fucking long ago. but now it's tweaked bc bayla is a happy bitch for life :')
i gotta say i started loosely planning the end of this story well over a year and half ago (may 2020-ish) and it's changed a ton since then lol. there was so much i wanted to include that i just physically couldn't without it being too much of a hot mess and so THIS here is what we ended up with. i know this chapter was VERY dialogue-driven and ngl it stressed me the hell out writing it. i've been working on this mf finale for months now, chipping away at it endlessly in between work + life and as sad as i am that this story has FINALLY come to an end... i'm so damn happy with it. i owed bayla and gus and all my children a happy ass ending, and i think i delivered.
i feel like a piece of me has been laid to rest with the end of this story, but it's also an enormous weight off my shoulders. it's been one wild exhausting hell of a ride, but MAN it's been fun. i'll miss bayla and gus more than anything, but i'll always carry them with me. i hope maybe you will too. thank you from the absolute bottom of my heart for reading. for the last time..... I LOVE YA LOTS.
xoxo, sabbbycat
You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net