I pursed my lips and gave her a look. While I appreciated her pragmatic view, I didn’t want it right then. I wanted a real conversation.
She made a rude sound and hopped up on the island to sit. “I was surprised when I first noticed the way your relationship with him developed. But the more I thought of it, the more I watched you both, it seemed so obvious.”
I started to say something, but she held up her hand and gave me a be quiet look. “The right kind of love is supposed to bring out the best in people. It adds to your life, fills in all those gaps you didn’t even realize were there. Trent does that for you, doesn’t he?” She tilted her head to the side and watched me.
I nodded slow, realizing T did exactly that.
“Then it doesn’t matter who you found it with. It doesn’t matter he doesn’t have boobs.”
I laughed out loud.
She giggled, then turned serious again. “You found something some people wait their entire life for. I’d much rather you be happy and so in love with a man than have some mediocre relationship with a woman.”
“Not everyone is going to see it that way.”
“Are you worried about everyone or someone more specific?”
I glanced away, back down to the ice lying in front of me. My sister knew me well. “I don’t want to tell him.”
“We have great parents. They’d do anything for us, but they were always so strict,” Ivy replied. “I think you felt their pressure more than me and Camden. You’ve been living up to Dad’s ideals for a long time, Drew. I don’t think I quite understood what it was like for you until you moved here.”
“It wasn’t terrible,” I told her, but I couldn’t disagree entirely.
“I regret not seeing sooner. I regret not being there for you more.”
“Hey.” I pushed away from the counter and moved to where she was sitting on the island. “Big brothers take care of little sisters, not the other way around.”
She made a face like I knew she would. “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard, and I’ve heard a lot of dumb crap.”
“Well, you are married to Braeden,” I muttered.
She smacked me in the chest, and I grinned.
“We’re both grown adults. I’m not a little girl, Drew. You’ve always been there for me, and now it’s my turn to be there for you.”
“I love you, Ives.” I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to my chest. Both her arms locked around my back and squeezed. “And you are there for me. In all the ways I need you to be,” I whispered in her ear.
She didn’t say anything else for a few long moments, instead just pressing her face against my chest and hugging me.
I never really thought of it until right now, but being in a relationship with Trent didn’t just affect him and me. It affected our entire family.
Suddenly, the family meeting Romeo declared we have in the morning didn’t seem quite so unnecessary.
“I want to be there when you tell him,” Ivy said, pulling out of my embrace.
I shook my head. “I don’t know, Ives.” It was going to be a hard conversation. She didn’t need to deal with that. She didn’t need to see a side of our father that was basically unknown. “I’m not sure I’m ready to tell Dad.”
To tell anyone really. The people in this house were the only people I’d felt comfortable enough sharing with.
But I was beginning to think that choice was being taken out of my hands.
“No one in this house is going to say anything. You and Trent can decide how and when you want to tell people, and we’ll support you. I’ll support you.”
I pulled her close again and pressed a kiss to her hairline. I was still rattled inside. I would be until I was with Trent and I knew he wasn’t going to try and run. But this was good. Having some backup in the form of family went a long way in easing some of the havoc inside me.
As if Ivy understood those very basic feelings I never voiced, she said, “I never doubted you would fight for him. He needs you to.”
I picked up the ice and nodded. “Yeah, I know he does.”
“I’ll see you in the morning,” she said.
On my way out of the kitchen, I snagged the first aid kit and tucked it beneath my arm. Walking up the stairs, I couldn’t help but think about all the times Trent fought for me and I didn’t even know it. All the times he put the way I felt before himself. The weeks of verbal abuse from Conner at the frat he turned a deaf ear to and never said a word. Even the way he was fighting now, pushing me away.
A lot of people might argue right now that T was being weak.
He wasn’t.
He was still the bravest guy I’d ever known.
That’s why it was so important I fight for him now.
Even the bravest of men sometimes needed someone else’s strength.
Trent
Fractured.
Cracked.
Not whole.
Will heal, but never as it was before.
That was the prognosis for my ribs.
For my entire life.