***
“You must be Tanesha.” The pretty woman said, leaning forward to kiss Tanesha on both cheeks. “Do forgive the silly behaviour of my children. They were all adopted.” She added in a low tone, making Tanesha laugh. “Come on in my dear. I’m Lisa by the way.”
“Nice meeting you Lisa,” Tanesha said, following Ty’s stepmother into a cozy living room. She turned around to look behind her but Ty and Thea were nowhere to be found. She could still hear Thea’s delighted screams though.
“Likewise, my dear. Make yourself comfortable.” Lisa said. “Lunch will be ready soon. But what can I offer you?”
“I’m good, Lisa. Thanks.” Tanesha said, sinking into the plush leather seat. “You have a lovely home.”
“Thank you. Thank God the twins are grown now so nothing gets destroyed around here. Those two were a handful. Little monsters I used to call th…”
“Still call them.” Came a man’s voice from behind Tanesha.
She twisted her head and saw a really tall elderly man. So that was where Ty got his height, Tanesha thought, getting to her feet. The man actually looked taller than Ty.
“Tanesha.” George Wesley boomed. “So you’re the young lady who has turned my son’s world on its axis huh? His words, not mine.” He added with a chuckle.
Tanesha’s eyes widened. “Err…” She didn’t know how to respond to that.
“I’m so happy to finally meet you hon.” George drew Tanesha into a hug. “I’m George.” He said letting her go. “Where are those kids?” He asked just as a lanky teenaged boy burst into the living room.
“Holy shit!” He exclaimed when his eyes landed on Tanesha.
“Theodore Wesley if you…” Lisa began sternly but got cut off by the boy.
“Sorry, sorry mum. Damn, she’s hot.” He breathed staring at Tanesha with a look of reverence.
“Hello Theo,” Tanesha said, laughing softly.
“Oooh, I love the sound of my name on your lips.” Theo, Thea’s twin brother gave a mock shiver as he came closer to an amused Tanesha. “Can I kiss you…”
“Theo!” Lisa hissed just as George burst into laughter.
“Your cheeks I mean,” Theo said with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Mum you didn’t wait for me to finish what I was saying.” He said, not turning to look at his mother. And when Tanesha leaned forward to kiss Theo on both cheeks, he blushed so hard despite his bravado his parents and Tanesha burst into laughter.
“What happened?” Ty asked, entering with Thea.
“She kissed me,” Theo informed his siblings with a brilliant grin.
“You what?” Ty looked at Tanesha with incredulity.
Amused at the look on Ty’s face, Tanesha decided to allow him to think the worst. With a shrug and a naughty glint in her eyes, she turned to face Ty. “I’m sorry but I couldn’t help it, Ty. Your brother is simply adorable.” Whilst George and Lisa laughed, Thea shouted ewww, and Theo gave a fist pump.
“Yeah, whatever,” Ty said, drawing a laughing Tanesha onto the couch beside him.
Lunch was a fun-filled affair. Tanesha admired how loving and carefree the Wesley family was. They reminded her of her own family. She hoped she could make her and Ty’s home as loving and fun as she was used to and was witnessing that very moment. After lunch, they retired to the living room and had a lengthy chat. Tanesha told George and Lisa about herself and had a good laugh when they told her hilarious stories about Ty’s childhood.
“Okay, that’s enough.” Ty gave a mock growl when he thought he’d been teased enough.
“Honey, why don’t you show Tanesha the famous metal head?” Lisa asked excitedly, making Tanesha burst into laughter.
Ty pulled a laughing Tanesha off the couch and turned towards the backdoor. “You know I’ll get you for this don’t you?” He growled low in his throat, making Tanesha laugh even harder.
“Oh but that’s so sweet, baby. I can just picture a ten-year-old you, trying to make his toddler siblings laugh. What I wish I could see though is your face when you realized you couldn’t pull your head out.” She laughed.
“I remember it as though it happened only yesterday.” Ty chuckled. “All the laughter disappeared from my face. I couldn’t believe the twins were happily clapping and laughing whilst I was struggling to get my head out of the railing. They obviously thought I was still fooling. ” Ty laughed as he watched a laughing Tanesha leaning weakly against a pillar. “Those little twits should have known better and gone for help. Tan stop laughing. It wasn’t funny then.”
“I’m sorry but it’s funny now.” Tanesha laughed. “Oh my God. What did you expect them to do? Call for help? They couldn’t even speak at that age for goodness’ sake.”
“I’m sure Theo knew what was going on,” Ty muttered, drawing Tanesha towards the pool house. “When the firefighters came, Theo was laughing his head off.”
“He wasn’t even two yet, how could he have possibly been laughing his head off, Ty?”
“I swear I saw his teeth. I could see all four. And I can tell you the little twit wasn’t crying. Here we are.” Ty said, kicking at the offending railing. “After they widened the metal to free my head, mum told them to leave it like this for future reminiscing.”
“Oh wow, your head was this small?”
“Fuck you.” Ty laughed, opening the door to the cozy two-bedroom pool house which had been his ‘mansion’ when he turned sixteen.
After pleading with his parents that he wanted the pool house to himself to enable him to play loud music without disturbing them, they’d allowed him to occupy the place. He and Lisa had had so much fun furnishing and decorating the place. His friends used to love coming for sleepovers. His parents didn’t have any problem with that at all for as long as he kept getting good grades. Those were some of the best times of his life.