(This part 2 of Lily's story and is told by Lily.)
It was a Saturday morning, and I was in the kitchen with my thousands of nieces/nephews/brothers, and sisters. I was about to to pour some cheerios into a bowl when Mom came into the room.
"Ross is here, he's taking you to breakfast," she said.
My older siblings all started making dumb oooh noises which made the children laugh. Rolling my eyes, I got up from my seat and left the room.
Seeing my oldest brother standing just inside the door, made me blush and my heart skipped a beat. We hadn't really talked about us being a couple since the wedding a week ago, but maybe this was a start. I didn't want to push, so when he only offered me a friendly brotherly hug instead of a kiss, I accepted it and followed him into his car.
"This doesn't mean anything yet," he said straight off. "I don't want getting your hopes up, I'm still not sure I'll ever be open to dating you."
"I know."
"Okay, good. I figured, I'd start spending more time with you. That's all it is for now, just us spending more time together as siblings."
"I understand. Where are the kids?" I asked, noticing how quiet the car was, which could only mean Victoria and Ethan weren't in the backseat.
"Victoria went on a sleepover last night, I'm picking her up after breakfast. I just dropped Ethan off at an early soccer practice."
We arrived at a cafe, ordered our food and decided to sit outside to enjoy it. We found a table a safe distance from the others and took our seats. I could tell Ross was nervous, and he kept looking around as if he didn't want anyone to see us together.
"Ross," I said.
He looked at me.
"It doesn't matter if we're seen. All they're going to think is that we're two siblings having breakfast together... which you said yourself is the truth."
"Right," he said. But he still glanced around one last time.
"So, how's school?" Ross asked.
"Fine. We're starting to prep for finals. I can't wait to graduate."
"Yeah, sometimes I forget how young you still are," Ross said.
"I'm eighteen," I reminded him.
"I know. I meant, how young you are compared to the rest of us. Millie is the second youngest and she's 25."
"Well, I'm technically not the youngest anymore," I pointed out. "Dylan's only four, Sam's three, and Hannah is just a baby."
"I don't think of them as Mom's kids, though. It makes it easier to deal if I only think of them as Ty and Andy's kids."
"But in public they are only Mom's kids," I reminded him.
"Right," he said. Ross looked around again, and I did too. Because Mom had been seen pregnant each time, we pretended they were only her kids when we were in public. Same with the other children, they were their mother's children and had no fathers.
Ty and Sky had to stop taking Liana and Kyler out because they always called them Uncle daddy and Aunt mommy. Of course, the children didn't really understand why they called them that. With them being so young, there hadn't been any actual conversations about how our family was all related. Sky came up with the idea so it wouldn't come as much of a shock when they finally did explain it to the kids, but really it only caused complications. Even Dylan called them this, even though Ty wasn't his uncle and father, but rather is his brother and father.
"I thought I recognized you," a woman said, suddenly standing at our table.
"Mrs. Hendrixs" Ross said, almost too loudly.
"You're back in town," I commented. Mrs. Hendrixs used to be our neighbor.
"No, I'm just visiting my daughter," Mrs. Hendrix said, pointing to a woman a few tables away. "The two of you used to have so many playdates."
Ross faked a smile.
"And look at you, Lily. All grown up. I haven't seen you since you were a toddler."
I smiled, a true smile.
