He continues, "A lot of you know about my mom... about her passing and leaving behind seven children. You know about the life she lived and the person she was, so I'm not going to harp on about that. The only thing I will say is that when she left, someone in my life replaced her presence. Not just my life, but my brothers, and definitely Lucy Goosey's. Now, I'm not saying that Cameron's a girl, or that he’s feminine in any way, regardless of the stories you may have heard." He pauses to let the guests’ laughter fill his ears. "I remember when I was twelve, before I grew into this manly, flawless body—" More laughs. "I was out in the yard, where Cameron had helped us boys make a baseball diamond... we were playing, and Lucy was out there reading, holding Lachlan in her arms... and I kept seeing him look over at her. It wasn't like he was staring or being creepy in any way; he was just watching her. Anyway, months passed and those two finally got their sh—stuff together and started dating. One day I wanted to go for a swim out on the lake, but I stopped when I saw them sitting on the dock. They were opposite each other, legs crossed, schoolbooks in front of them. And then I saw it, him—glancing up and looking at her. He didn't do it for long, maybe he thought she would catch him and think he was a creeper or something. But as soon as his head was down, I'd see her do the same thing. And I sat there watching them, for over an hour... he'd look up, watch her for a bit, then look back down at his books. Then she'd do it... then he'd do it... and I just wanted to yell at them, 'Just look at each other already!' Months later, I'd still see him doing it. Whenever she wasn't looking, he'd watch her. So one day, I got the balls to actually ask him why. He laughed at first and said that I wouldn't understand. Honestly, I got a little pissed, because the thing is—Cameron always treated me like a friend, like his equal. Even though I was three years younger, he never spoke down to me. He never treated me like a kid. Which in a way was odd now that I look back on it—because even though he thought of me as an equal, I kind of always thought of him as a hero." Lucy sniffs and holds my hand tighter. I clear the lump in my throat. So does Lucas. "Anyway, I asked him why he did it..."
He looks right at me and laughs once. "You said that you were reading her. You said that you liked to know what it was that made her smile, or made her laugh, or got under her skin. I asked you why you didn't just ask her—that it would be so much easier. Do you remember what you said?"
I shake my head.
"You said that it wasn't the same. You said that you could ask her what made her happy, and she could say books—but the answer wouldn't be enough. You told me that you wanted to know what type of books, and that you wanted to be the one to give them to her. And even then, you said, it still wasn't enough for you. You said that you wanted to be her reason for loving books. You said you wanted to be her reason for everything."
Lucy wipes her tear stained cheek on my arm.
Lucas clears his throat again and glances around, like he forgot he was speaking to an audience. "It took me years to work out what you meant, but I finally got it. I finally understood. Yesterday, I saw Lucy watching you when you weren't looking. Six years on and she still had that look in her eyes. The same look you've always had in yours. The kind of look that can't be described in words—only in heart. So, Cameron, all those years of watching her—reading her—it worked. You're her reason for everything."
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
-LUCY-
Lucas gets off the stage, walks toward us, shakes hands with Cam, they nod at each other, and then he sits in his seat. And that's all they do.
We sit in mostly silence, my tears still flowing. Amanda sobs. Logan rolls his eyes. "Why are you crying, pretty girl?" Lachlan asks from next to her.
"Dude," Logan says, leaning forward and looking past Amanda to him. "You're always stealing my game."
Lachlan clicks his tongue. "Fine, you can have her." His gaze moves around the table and lands on Heather. "I'll take that one." He gets out of his seat and taps Mark's shoulder. "Move please."
Mark's eyes narrow.
Little Logan speaks up. "You can't just go from one girl to another," he drawls.
Lachlan lets out a tiny growl as a snarl pulls on his lips. Then slowly, but too fast for any of us to react—he picks up a piece of cake and throws it at him.
We watch as it flies in the air, his shout of "YOLOOOOOOOOO!" filling our ears.
And then... smack.
Right on Little Logan's face.
I choke on my held in laughter.
Little Logan wipes just enough off so that his eyes aren't covered. "You little punk, you better run." He picks up his cake, gets off the chair, and starts for Lachlan. "Run, Lachlan!" Lincoln shouts.