7. Violets Are Blue

*MATTY POV*

"You guys really don't have to do this,"

Thomas repeats himself as we sat parked outside the church with his hands on the wheel. I gently reached over and rested my hand on his shoulder.

"Thomas, if us being there makes you uncomfortable we don't have to go in. We're here to support you love," Luca says, practically reading my mind. Thomas finally relaxed his hands from the wheel and let out a long sigh, looking at the two of us.

"I'm not ashamed of who I am or who I'm in love with. I just don't want anyone to hurt you," Thomas adds and I tried to hide the sound of me gulping with a small cough.

I'm not going to lie, I'm terrified of going in. It looked like there was a sea of at least a hundred cars here just for his mom and I didn't know a single person other than Thomas and that's not even mentioning the fact that his family hates us.

But Thomas, my amazing husband, best friend, and father of my five babies wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for his mother giving birth to him and raising him the best she could with what she was given. So I want to pay my respects to her in some way as a silent thank you for giving me one of my two soulmates.

"Don't worry about us, you know Luca and I can hold our own if we have to," I reassured him, clenching my fist, more than prepared to put up a physical fight for my baby to see his Mama.

Thomas raised his thick brow and gave me a look that told me he hoped I was being sarcastic but knows I'm not. Slightly amused, he opens the car door and we all get out of the Tesla together. People walked into the church in small huddles and I could already hear the loud weeping. Thomas paused and I slowly reached out to hold his hand before quickly pulling it back.

I never questioned holding my husband's hand in public until today. Luca gave me a small nudge, telling me to do it in silence, but he doesn't understand. He didn't grow up in our America which isn't as free as it appears to be. Thomas looks over and sees me struggling and I could tell he was struggling too.

Seeing that pained look in his eyes made me curse myself in my head and wish that I was a woman for a solid 2.3 seconds. That Thomas and I were a normal straight couple so I could physically hold him and support him through this with my touch but I didn't want us to be kicked out of the church and what could very well be his last chance to see his Mama.

Thankfully no one seemed to notice us as we walked into the church which seemed barely adequate to hold the number of people that turned up to see his mother. She must have been an amazing woman to have so many people heartbroken over her death.

With nowhere to sit, the three of us stood in the very back, finding a small corner to ourselves. As the service began, I surveyed the crowd, finding Sophia in the very front, sitting in a row facing the crowd of mourners. Beside her was a man who looked very similar to my Thomas, but with a darker complexion and a deeply set frown. Another man sat beside him who was much older and looked to be in his eighties and Thomas looked nothing like him but I assumed that was his father.

I looked at Thomas, then looked back at the man, then back to Thomas wondering why I couldn't find any similarities.

"He's my stepfather, my actual father left when I was five years old," Thomas whispered as he caught my stare and read my mind.

"Ah," I quietly hummed as I found myself inching closer and closer to him, with me on one side and Luca on the other.

Thomas kept his head down as the minister started to talk about his mother. At least I assume he's a minister of some kind since this is the first time I've ever been in an actual church.

I never knew Thomas grew up in a religious household. From the way he acts, I know he has morals but he's never mentioned God once in a preaching manner and we never talked about raising our kids with any kind of religion.

Now I had more and more questions about my husband's origins as I'm sure he had some about mine as well. And I knew for sure both of us questioned what horror Luca came out of before he finally came to us.

As the service continued I moved my hands behind me and slowly inched one hand over to Thomas' back, not wanting to draw any attention to ourselves. Thomas moved his own hands behind his back and slowly found mine, finally, I felt like I was able to give him the affection and support he desperately needed. I looked over at Luca but he seemed lost in his own world, scanning the crowd as if he was searching for threats. He looked so tense that he might get into a fist fight with thin air if it dared to push him the wrong way.

Sophia begins to speak and I could tell Thomas was just barely holding himself together. His hand tightly squeezes mine to the point where I nearly gasp in pain but hold it in.

Sophia spoke about how wonderful her mother was, all the charity work she did, and how she did was an amazing mother to herself...and her brother.

Brother as in singular, meaning one brother.

Herself and her ONE brother.

Thomas snapped his head up with tears now streaming down his face with a look of pure horror and betrayal as he looked as his sister, his twin sister, and knew that she was so ashamed of him that she didn't even recognize him as her own flesh and blood.

"My brother and I went through many hardships with our mother, but she always turned to God to show her the brighter side of things," Sophia said, scanning the crowd until she saw us in the corner and paused.

"Adrian and I are so thankful to have had her as our mother...and..." Sophia doesn't take her eyes off Thomas as she realizes what she did and the guilt shows. She clams up so badly that she could no longer speak and breaks down crying instead with the paster and her stepfather bringing her back to her seat. Thinking she was just so struck with grief that she couldn't go on.

But the three of us knew what the bitch had been struck by.

"I want to go home," Thomas whispers to us as everyone begins to stand to sing a Psalm.

We slowly made our exit through the crowd, not caring as people narrowed their eyes at us and saw us as rude. But while leaving, I managed to steal a single brochure right out of another woman's purse with the pictures of his mother, her full name, and obituary.

It wasn't for my reading, but for our children when they grew older and wanted to know who their other grandparents were.

I looked at the picture of Miss Rumi Jackson and saw her violet eyes staring into mine with a soft smile that reminded me of none other than our sweet little Mika-Ji.

I put the paper in the inside of my suit vest and jogged to catch up to Thomas and Luca as we rushed to the car before the procession started. Luca ushered Thomas into the back and followed him as I got into the driver's seat and burned rubber to get us back home.

"I hate this, I fucking hate this so much," Thomas whimpered and I looked in the mirror to find him collapsed in Luca's lap, Luca himself was in tears as he huddled over him and tried to comfort him.

"This is bullshit, that's what this is," I muttered under my breath and Thomas covered his face with his hands.

"T-T-They acted like I never existed. L-L-Like she wasn't my mother too," Thomas stutters and I finally turned into our long driveway.

"I know and it was wrong of them to deny your existence like you're some disgraces animal. You were her son too, I don't understand why she would do this to you, my love," Luca sighed and I parked in front of our house, not even bothering to make it to the garage as I hopped out of the front seat and into the back, yanking Thomas up by his jacket until we were face to face.

"They can disown you and ignore your existence all they want but you listen to me, Thomas Jackson. You matter, your existence on this earth matters more to Luca and I than the sun and the moon combined. I love you so fucking much that seeing this bullshit move the people who you once called family decided to pull, hurts like hell. It took everything in me not to walk up to your sister and bitch slap her so hard that she went back to when you were younger and remembered who was really there for her when she needed a superman in her life. Who was the one who bought the bakery for her and supported her hopes and dreams when everyone told her they were worthless,"

I tell him and his tears continue to flow as his sweet brown eyes held nothing but immense sadness and heartache.

"To them, you might be nothing, but right now in that house, there are four chubby little faces and one beautiful little girl who think nothing but the world of you. Every single moment you spend with them is another moment that they learn to be a little bit more like you and I couldn't ask for a better more attentive father than you. You are nothing like your father and your nothing like your stepfather, so I don't know where you got your parenting skills from but you are absolutely beautiful Thomas Jackson and I'm so proud and incredibly lucky to have you as one of my husbands for the rest of my fucking life. I don't care what anyone else has to say and neither should you,"

I told him the straight up truth and he seemed taken aback for a second before taking my hands in his and pulling me close so I wasn't holding him up anymore, instead I was lying on top of him as he still had his head on Luca's lap.

Thomas gently reached up and caressed Luca's cheek while slowly rubbing my back with the other.

"This right here is the only family I need," Thomas told us. No longer crying as he snuggled with both of us. I wrapped my arm around him and pressed my head to his chest, listening to his heartbeat while trying not to fall asleep after my emotional outburst. I could lay there for hours as he ran small circles on my back with the palm of his hand.

"It's okay...they're going to remember I exist soon enough when they realize the house is in my name and it's in writing that once my mother dies, the property is to be immediately sold and the money returned to me," Thomas sighs and Luca snorts.

"I love you so much," Luca says as the two of us laughed just imagining the bastards faces once the will was read.

"Thomas, your savagery right now, might be the thing I love the most about you," I giggled as we snuggled for a little bit longer before going into the house for some much needed playtime with our adorable quad squad and to relieve their babysitter on duty.

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Honestly this is one of my favorite chapters.

How you guys feeling about this?

Also what's your favorite Jackson Trio moment in the series???