still ill • michael gray

Chapter 13

I quite like Ada. She's smart, self-sufficient, and most importantly, she isn't a total bitch. Her son is adorable, and watching Michael play with him makes my heart melt. It's like it just comes naturally to him.

"I've never actually seen him with kids until now," I remark to Ada while he's outside playing catch with Karl, "I'm wishing I had though."

"He does love them," she sighs, "you'd never expect it with how tough and broody he acts half the time."

"It's all for show," I chuckle, "you wouldn't believe how he was acting when I made him swim in the ocean with me for the first time. He wouldn't stop complaining about how cold it was."

"Oh, I believe it," she smiles, "no matter how he acts, he's still considered one of the babies in the family. That's probably why he gets on with the kids so well."

I bite my lip, "My brother and my soon to be sister in law are due to have a baby this winter, and I think secretly Michael's more excited than I am about it all."

"How much is he going to bribe them to let him be the godfather?" she snickers.

"He's already offered to pay for their wedding," I shake my head, "but my brother's a self-righteous  Harvard Law student, so he declined the offer."

Her eyebrows raise in curiosity, "What does your family think of Michael?"

I take a deep breath, "Well, my father likes him, my brother tolerates him, and my mother is convinced that's he's the devil. He handles her various insults gracefully though."

"He must really like you then," she smirks, "because he gets set off pretty easily in my experience."

I blush, "He even brings flowers for her every time we all have dinner together."

"Pol says you two will be engaged by the end of the year, I say she's wrong, my bet's on before winter," Michael walks back in just as she's finishing her sentence.

"Bet's on what before winter?"

I don't answer and only sip my wine awkwardly.

Ada smiles cheekily, "That you're going to propose to the lovely Beatrice here."

His cheeks flush bright red and I still don't say a word.

"Only time will tell," he finally answers before sitting next to me.

"I'm only nineteen," I add, "I still have plenty of living to do before I'll be ready to settle down in any way."

"Getting married doesn't mean settling down these days," Ada scoffs, "you can get married and still live like animals."

"Well, you haven't heard his plans," I glance up at Michael whose eyes are now wide with fear of me spilling his desires, "he wants an estate in the countryside where we can raise a family."

She almost spits out her wine from laughing, "You really are mini-Tommy," she gasps, "holy shit Michael."

He glares at me for an instant before laughing along with his cousin, "You just had to share my secret, didn't you?"

"She's family," I retort with a grin, "she ought to know."

"I think it's lovely, Michael," she says, "it truly is. I just can't believe that not so long ago you were talking about how badly you wanted to leave the countryside. I also don't recall you ever being concerned with having a family."

He shrugs, "Things have changed."

"You've grown up," she sighs longingly.

"I've gained perspective," he corrects, "you shouldn't forget that I almost died six months ago."