Black Sheep Part 3 - 18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

I check my phone for the hundredth time that day. Adam will hear if he is allowed to go out of his room and the hospital for the first time since the operation today. I’m hoping he will text me or send me a picture if he is allowed to but he might be too excited and busy and just forget about it. He promised me that he would visit again as soon as possible, it would be nice to have him around. Some of the others can be so gloomy when they are around and it is spoiling my mood.
So it’s a nice change to eat in a restaurant and not having to worry about anything, apart from maybe Kevin not conforming to manners. It’s great to see everybody together like this. Mum, Dad, Chris, Steve, Anne, Kevin and me, all seven of us at one table. Everybody is talking and laughing. I look at them, my thoughts not here but with Adam. It’s been two weeks since the operation and I haven’t seen him since, not even in video chat, he said he was ashamed at how he looked. I made a turn for the worse and have been in my bed almost ever since, so I wasn’t even able to visit him when the others could. I was having a good day today so Dad suddenly decided to go out, all seven of us and have a great evening.
I look up and quickly reach out to prevent Kevin from throwing something at Chris at the other side of the table. He pouts at me but then smiles wickedly. He leans over and whispers in my ear, “Anne and Steve are really in love. They think I don’t see it when they kiss. But of course I see it, they just don’t know I know.” Kevin is smiling wickedly, as if kissing is something really secretive.
I smile and Anne looks at me quizzically. I wink and she smiles back. Yeah, I could see they were happy. The subtle hand on each other’s knee and the almost constant blush when they were near each other.
We look up as the waiter stops at our table with the dessert. He is holding a large covered plate that he sets in the middle of the table before walking off again.
We all look at each other before Dad starts to blush and squirm to then stand up and pulls Mum up with him. On the other side of the table I see Anne’s mouth fall open and I am sure I look the same way.
Dad kneels in front of Mum before holding out a small box. “Will you marry me, again?” He stays like that as mum picks up the box and opens it. Revealing a small silver band inside it.
She covers her mouth as she nods, tears sparking in her eyes. “Yes. Of course. Yes!” She pulls Dad up and kisses him.
Kevin touches my shoulder and whispers curiously, “Will they have kids now?”
I snicker and point at Anne, Chris and myself. “They already have kids, remember?”
“Ohyeah.” He blushes and then focuses on the plate in the middle of the table. “What is that?”
All our attention is now on the covered plate. Dad smiles broadly and uncovers a small cake, beautifully white with elegant pink roses on it. “I had a small version of our original wedding cake made. Who wants a piece?”
We all take a piece. The talking is now even more upbeat, about the upcoming wedding and questions about what they had done on their original one.
Steve chimes up. “What would you have done if she said no tonight?”
Dad shrugs. “I would have come up with something I’m sure. But I didn’t expect that to happen. I’m glad to be home and I’m planning on staying as long as she wants me.” He grabs Mum’s hand and kisses the top.

I sit on my bed, everybody has gone to bed after a lot of celebrating. In front of me is the drawing. I’m trying to draw as precise as possible but my hand is by far not as dexterous any more as it was a couple of weeks ago. I’m annoyed but keep going on. Mum, Dad and Chris are added to the drawing. It’s going slow but bit by bit the drawing comes together. A family picture of happiness. Happiness in all its different forms. I sketch some background images to the drawing but decide that it’s not worth the trouble of my own annoyance to add them too.
I lie back and put the drawing on the table next to the bed. I’ll add the background tomorrow, after I’ve had some sleep. Partying is tiring and I haven’t been awake this long after another for a while now. I’m used to taking naps every few hours.
I close my eyes, thinking about the last time I saw Adam. He had told Tom about the kiss but the guy had shrugged it off and said that he expected something like that to happen someday. He did say that he would not tolerate a repeat of it though. I did not understand how he could be fine with it but I could understand that I would not ever do it again. The kiss felt, although desperate, a way of finally letting go of my anger for him. I could finally understand that all those years back he let me go because he loved me. I realised that we still loved each other, just no longer the way we did back when we were younger. We had both grown and moved on. We had found our own happiness in other people.
And that was what was important, right? Happiness.
I imagine Jack, the one that made me happiest. His sweet smile and lovely kiss. I calm my brain and quickly drift off, dreaming of Jack.