Chocolate Eyes

Brian called for EJ as Papa and Suzy’s car rolled into the driveway. Bri got up from the couch, yelled upstairs to his son, and headed to the front door so he could go outside and help them. His step-mother grinned at him as he traipsed down to meet them in the looping driveway and his father glanced behind him.

“Where’s E?”

Brian shrugged, glancing back towards the house as he stopped at the trunk of the car. “He should be coming down. He spent all day yesterday in his room ‘recovering’ from school.”

Suzy handed Brian a pan a stuffing and gave her husband the tray holding the turkey. “Be careful,” she warned them, looking between them, “If either of you drop anything, we’ll be eating takeout for Thanksgiving.” She reiterated her point with a stern look and then shooed them into the house.

Brian Sr. led the way into the house and through the living room to the kitchen. His grandson still hadn’t emerged, but Michelle was near the dining table setting out plates and double-checking the numbers.

“Happy Thanksgiving,” Michelle said as she moved to her father-in-law. He set the turkey down on the island and wrapped his arms around his daughter-in-law.

“You look beautiful,” Brian Sr. said wholeheartedly, “Are you parents coming today? I doubt they’d miss the opportunity.” He turned back toward Brian. “Matt’s coming, isn’t he? So your parents might as well come here and see you and Valary.”

“Yeah, I think everyone’s coming here,” Michelle said, almost joking but not really. Their holiday and house was going to be crammed with people. Brian’s parents, brother, and sister, her parents and sister, Matt and his parents, the Kents, Johnny, and Zacky and his brood. Despite the size of their house, Michelle wasn’t sure if they could comfortably hold everybody.

Brian joked that it was warm enough for an outdoor Thanksgiving this year.

Papa cheered and it took Brian and Michelle a minute to see what he was cheering about. EJ walked into the room, practically up to his grandpa’s shoulder as he smiled as greeted his family. He held his brother in his arms and Papa gave them both a light hug before drawing EJ into an easy conversation.

“Your dad said that sixth grade is kicking your butt,” Papa said, taking his youngest grandson from EJ just so he could hold him. In contrast to his brother’s blonde and pale complexion, Elija was born with thick, dark hair and skin the same tone as his father’s. But like Evander, Elija’s eyes were copy and pasted from their father to them.

EJ was eleven when Michelle and Brian found out they were having another baby. For the longest time, they’d considered adding to their family, but there was never a right time and always enough EJ to subdue them. So their pregnancy came as a surprise and they worried about how to tell their son that, at eleven years old, he was going to have a sibling.

But Evander jumped at the opportunity. He helped design the baby’s room and thought up names for his mom and dad to consider. He told all his friends and when it was finally time, he was so shocked and in love with his brother that he picked him up and never put him back down.

Brian didn’t know how he got so lucky. His sons were beautiful and healthy and everything he could’ve asked for. In the last fourteen months, Elija had become a seamless part of their family, just as EJ had when he’d finally come home to them.

Matt and Val arrived next with Matt’s parents. The original Sanders’ followed their daughter and son-in-law into the house, looking for their other daughter and son in law. Valary headed straight to the kitchen and found the Haners spread out across the oversized room.

Matt and Val carried their children with them. Their daughter, Margot, turned four just last week and their son, Reid, was barely two. Valary managed to wriggled Elija away from Brian Sr. by practically exchanging babies with him. He took Reid contently, swapping one toddler for another.

Valary wrapped her arms around her nephews, pulling EJ out of his chair at the table where he was still talking with Papa. She balanced Elija in one arm and hugged EJ with the other, looking between the siblings and grappling with the sheer craziness of how far the Haner family had come. She’d been rooting for them from the beginning, watching every moment as EJ assimilated into their lives, and this was the future she saw for them.

Val wondered out to the living room when the doorbell rang. She still had Elija but she’d mostly been following her sister around the kitchen, watching her get more and more flustered as more people showed up. Val pulled the front door open, stepping back with the baby in her arms to greet who was on the other side.

James and Holly Kent smiled at her when she opened the door to them. Val smiled back, inviting them inside. “How was your flight?” she asked as she directed them where to put their coats, “‘Chelle and Brian told me that you flew in yesterday? Honestly, that probably didn’t help you avoid traffic.”

Holly answered for the both of them, “It was still probably better than traveling today, but it seems like everyone has the same idea now. Luckily, we had a day or two to relax before the holiday actually started.”

Val noticed Holly’s attention drop to Elija and the blonde woman passed the baby over to her. “This one’s yours,” she said, referring to them being Elija and Evander’s grandparents, “My two year old tyrant is with EJ, I think.” Val glanced lazily back to the kitchen.

They hadn’t seen Elija except for a couple months after he was born when they flew up to see EJ. He was impossibly bigger now and more active and perceptive than they’d imagine he’d be. Without Val pointing it out, they would’ve never figured out for sure if he was the same baby they’d seen a year ago.

James grinned at his almost-grandson, allowing Holly to talk his ear off about how adorable and big he was, and then he looked to Valary. “Evander’s in the kitchen?” he asked, already taking a step that direction. They’d arrived in the state mid-yesterday, but EJ had a soccer game that took up most of the late afternoon. They both had decided to wait until actual Thanksgiving to see their biological grandson.

The Kents had been to this house so many times over the years that they knew exactly where they were going as they headed into the kitchen with Valary. The mess of people in the room obscured their view of their grandson, but Brian found them automatically. He greeted them easily, hugging Holly and shaking hands with James. He also found his baby in Holly’s arms and took them from her as he pointed towards the large dining room table.

James and Holly headed that direction immediately, exchanging pleasantries with the familiar people they passed. Brian held onto Elija and rounded back out towards the front door as another group of people, his sister and bandmates, pulled up to the house.

EJ saw his grandparents coming before Papa did, but when they both realized that they were heading this way, Papa ended the conversation, squeezed his grandson’s shoulder, and left to find his wife. EJ stood up and Holly grabbed him in her arms.

Usually EJ spent a week every summer at their house in Oklahoma. Since his first visit there as a child, he’d found a niche in that part of the state, but this summer he hadn’t been able to go. Middle school soccer demanded more hours than recreational soccer had in elementary school, so he stayed home and spent the three month break sleeping, eating, and practicing.

“I missed you so much,” Holly said as she held onto her grandchild. At twelve, almost thirteen, he was practically her height already. She tried not to get emotional in front of the whole family, but every time EJ came back to them, she realized how different things were without him.

Over the years, Holly realized how grateful she was to Brian and Michelle. Not for getting to raise EJ instead of them, but for providing him with every opportunity. They’d raised EJ to understand that he was privileged more than most kids and he was down-to-earth, humble, and passionate about everything. He attended the best school, played for a great soccer team, and usually spent his summers, outside of soccer and Oklahoma, traveling with his parents and Brian’s band. He was more than they could’ve raised him to be.

He had a family that they couldn’t give him. Including uncles, aunts, and cousins. When he came here to live with Brian after everything, he was a child in a mess of adults with lives too absurd to really fathom, but seeing him like this, among these people, really made Holly, and James, grateful that he’d found his father.

EJ pulled back from his grandma, smiling, and hugged his grandpa. “How was your flight?” he asked, dark eyes shinning as he looked at them both.

“It was fine,” James said, wrapping his arm over EJ’s shoulder, “Not too crazy. There was one guy who never stopped talking, but otherwise, it got us here without a problem. How are you? How’s school and soccer?”

Holly shot James a look and claimed her grandson’s attention. “How’s the baby?” she questioned, “How do you like being a brother?”

EJ grinned at them both. “Elija is great,” he answered first, “Honestly, I love having a little brother. Now that he’s getting bigger, he’s a lot of fun. And school and soccer are good, I guess. The team’s done with for the season, but I’m going to go back next season.”

“That’s great!” James answered, grinning down at his grandson, “Email us your game schedule and maybe we’ll be able to come up for one next year. We haven’t seen you play since you were in fourth grade.”

The Kents considered moving to California when they lost EJ to Brian and they’d thought about it a hundred times since then. Every time they saw him and every time they left him, the considered moving right down the street so that they’d never have to leave him again. But every time, they came to the same conclusion, the same one they made the first time.

Evander had a life here. Had a routine and friends and parents that took up all of his time. They knew that if they came, at least now that he was older, he’d make time for them, but his life was his life and they didn’t want to uproot him anymore. Of course they’d seen him more, but it would be fleeting and typical, completely unlike the moments when they saw him now. When he raced to them and wrapped his arms around them. When he spent hours catching them up on every facet of his life.

They would miss out on driving him to school in the morning a couple days a week if it meant they got dozens more meetings like that.

Michelle made her way around the room, diving from person to person like a ball in one of those old-school video games. When she had told everyone that dinner was ready, Brian led everyone to the dining room table made room. There were enough chairs for everyone, but Val brought a high chair for Reid that clung to the table so they all scooted chairs around to make room for the little boy. Elija was already in his high chair when EJ walked over, and the older brother rolled him over to the table.

Holly and James sat on EJ’s other side as the rest of the group filled in and found spots. Evander matched names to unfamiliar faces, point out his cousins, Margot and Reid, Zacky’s son Trager, Aunt McKenna’s boyfriend, and Val and Michelle, and Uncle Matt’s parents.

It didn’t go unnoticed by the Kents that EJ had three sets of grandparents in attendance. The Dibenedettos cooed at Elija all through dinner and made polite and pleasant conversation with James and Holly, EJ’s famed grandparents that they’d only heard about in the past.

After dinner, EJ led the kids into the living room and turned on reruns of the parade for them. Margot and Trager were the only ones old enough to pay attention, but Reid and Elija were just happy to be part of the commotion.

Zack came to supervise the kids, nodding back towards the kitchen where most of the adults still lingered around glasses of wine. “Your parents want you,” he said to his nephew.

EJ frowned slightly and climbed up from where he sat between the kids. “What for?”

Zack rounded the couch and sat down, reaching to hand his son a stuffed bear that laid on the floor by him. “I think your grandparents are looking for you,” Zacky explained, craning back to see EJ as he made to move out of the room.

EJ found his dad and Michelle standing in the kitchen with Holly and James. The four of them looked up as he came over, leaning forward against the island. “What’s up?”

“We were just talking to Dad and Michelle about taking you out for breakfast or lunch tomorrow,” James said, turning towards his grandson, “We don’t fly out until Saturday, so we were wondering if you wanted to spend the day together tomorrow.”

Evander nodded easily and glanced back towards the living room before looking between his maternal grandparents. “Could I stay at the hotel with you tonight? Then you don’t have to drive over and get me in the morning. And they have a pool, don’t they? We could go swimming and rent movies and stuff.”

Holly nodded quickly. “Of course, if that’s okay with your parents,” she added.

Brian grabbed for his son, pulling him back so that the shorter boy stood right in front of him. He wrapped his arms around his shoulders and shrugged, glancing to ‘Chelle for confirmation. “It’s fine by us. You don’t have school so there’s no reason for you to stick around here.”

EJ grinned. He hugged his dad back from the side and let go quickly. “I’ll just get my stuff and say goodbye to Elija,” he said, nodding to his grandparents before he darted towards the entryway.

“Say goodbye to everyone else too,” Brian called after him, frowning slightly at his running son.

EJ nodded complacently and disappeared from sight. He raced through the living room, past the kids, and darted up the stairs to his bedroom. He had spent all day yesterday laying in bed watching TV, recharging from soccer and school and so today, it was a mess. He went straight to his closet and pulled out the smaller of his two suitcases. He threw clean clothes in before he raced to the bathroom and grabbed his toothbrush.

He slowed down only long enough to say goodbye to his brother, first, and then made his way around the house, hugging and thanking and saying goodbye to everyone else. Michelle’s parents, who he didn’t see six times a week, were with Elija and the other babies so EJ took a little extra time to tell them he Happy Thanksgiving. For the most part, he called a mutual goodbye to his aunts and uncles and reappeared back at the Kents side within twenty minutes.

“You can call me if Lya gets upset,” EJ told his mom and dad, using his baby brother’s nickname. “Hopefully he won’t notice I’m gone since everybody else is still here.”

Michelle smiled at her son. “He’ll notice later when it’s time for his bad and bed,” she said, knowing that EJ was always a part of Elija’s bedtime routine, “But he’ll be okay. Just have fun with your grandma and grandpa and don’t worry about Ly. He’ll be here when you get home tomorrow.”

Michelle, blonde like her step-son, gave him a hug and a kiss before watching him leave with his grandparents, grateful that, after everything between them, she and Brian wouldn’t have to fight for their son to come home to them again.