"Flowers On A Grave" by Bush

The next day on my lunch break, I headed up to the farm-without Declan and Kelly, despite their insistent whining that they wanted to go with me. Adrienne ended up distracting them with some bugs she found, distracting them with education. I used the time to gratefully slip away before my mother noticed either. I knocked on the door and was greeted by Noah.

"Murphy and Connor are out tendin' to the sheep," he greeted. He's a gruff, stoic man, but he looked a lot more relaxed. He was a lot more personable this time. Well, as personable as he ever really gets.

"Thanks, Noah," I turned to leave but then stopped, turning back to face him. "Actually, I guess I should ask you, too. I assume Murphy told you?" He nodded. "Well, they'd like to meet him so I wanted to have a family dinner. I'm a pretty decent cook, so I'll do all the cooking."

"Are ye asking if that's okay with me?"

I nodded.

"Aye, I'd love to meet the little ones." I smiled, noticing how his eyes sparkled a little more at the idea.

"Good, I'll check with the boys, but I was thinking tomorrow or the day after? Long enough for me to grab whatever we'd need."

"That sounds perfect, lass," he smiled softly. I smiled back.

"Good, I'm sure they'll be excited for it." And then I left to find the boys. It didn't take me long to hear them bickering out back. Some things will never change. I stood there watching them bicker back and forth about who would be shearing a particularly persnickety sheep before they noticed I was standing there watching them.

"Sorry, we didn't notice ye sooner," Murphy apologized, the first to fully stand up and look at me. Connor followed his gaze, also standing up to face me.

"Family dinner tomorrow or the night after? Depending on when I can dump the kids on Tyler or my mom to grab groceries."

"Yes," Murphy said so quickly that I thought he might burst from excitement.

"As a warning, I am going to try to get my mom to not attend but I'm not sure I'll be able to prevent that."

"I think I can handle it," Murphy said stubbornly. Connor turned to stare at him, lighting a cigarette, and then he started laughing at his dark-haired twin.

"I don't think ye can handle it," Connor laughed. "Ye could barely handle Cecilia getting pissed with ye."

"I can handle it."

"I think you're volunteering for more than you can handle," I laughed. "Trust me, she makes me look like child's play."

"Cecilia!" Mom called from a distance.

"Speak of the devil and she appears," I said bitterly. Mom and I are getting along a lot better now, but we definitely don't get along very well when Kelly and Declan aren't around. Mom stopped about a foot behind me, eyeing the twins with a judgmental stare. She landed on Murphy.

"So you're the dad."

I sighed. "Mom, this is Murphy. Murphy, this is my Mom. And this is his brother Connor." Murphy extended his hand politely but she looked at it as if it were diseased.

"So now you're just going to be part of their lives? It's been seven years, you know. They're doing fine without you."

"Mom, that's unfair," I cut her off before Connor was able to angrily respond. Murphy looked both shocked and a bit hurt. He's a lot more sensitive than he lets on. "I didn't tell him about Declan and Kelly. That's my fault, not his. And I asked the twins if they wanted to meet their dad and they said yes."

"Well they just don't know him."

"Neither do you. And I've never hidden who their dad is or what he's like. Not even from you, though apparently you haven't retained any of that." At this point, Connor and Murphy were shifting from foot to foot uncomfortably. "We're going to have dinner together. If you're going to continue this attitude," I waved my hand at her, "then I'd prefer if you wouldn't attend so that you don't ruin this for Kel and Dex because that's absolutely not fair to them." She opened her mouth to reply but I held up my hand, not done. "You will not ruin their relationship because of your own personal hang ups which, frankly, do not matter. I wouldn't entertain the idea of introducing them if I thought it would be detrimental for them."

She clenched her jaw, staring at the twins before fixing me with an angry glare. "I hope you're right and that you know what you're doing. You never do."

As soon as she began walking back to camp, I rubbed the base of my skull. That gave me a tension headache. I needed some medicine before it turned into a full fledged migraine.

"Sorry about that," I apologized to the boys, mostly looking at Murphy.

"That's not the warmest welcome we've ever received," Connor said jokingly. He then groaned. "That feckin' sheep never stays where it feckin' should." And then he was off, yelling profanity at the lone sheep trying to escape the farm. I couldn't help but smile, watching him carry on with his usual Connor antics.

"Thank you for that," Murphy said after a few moments of silence. I turned to find him staring at me and smiled at him reassuringly.

"I meant what I said, Murphy. I'm still a little pissed you were an idiot and assumed that I was with Tyler, yet again, even though I can't stress enough that we absolutely do not have a relationship like that. But it was my decision to not include you in their lives after the incident in Boston."

"If I had known-"

"I know, and I told the kids that. They're a lot more grown up than Mom or I give them credit for. They're good kids, Murphy. Other than when Declan's being a little shit like you," I teased. He laughed, wrapping an arm around me, looking down at me.

"It almost feels like nothin' has changed," he said, studying my face.

"Yeah," I smiled sadly. Eight years and I was still in love with a man I didn't really know any more. He pulled away.

"I'd better go help Connor."

I watched him walk away for a few moments before I turned away myself, going back to camp to deal with whatever wrath my mother wanted to bring down on me.