Chapter 963: First Agenda, First Words
Stella’s muffled protest slipped right past Reika’s hands and hit the table like a bell.
"MOM!"
Everything stopped for a beat. Forks hovered. The music felt too loud for one second and then too quiet.
Rachel’s eyebrows went up high enough to hit her hairline. Cecilia blinked once—slow, precise—and set her napkin down like it suddenly needed to be folded into a straight line. Seraphina didn’t move at all; she goes statue-still when she’s surprised, chin tilted, eyes a touch colder while she thinks through feeling.
Reika held her ground, palms still over Stella’s ears, face calm in that professional way that is also a shield. Rose’s mouth curved, and she glanced at me like, there it is.
The moment breathed again. Rachel was first to find her voice.
"Since when," she said, very carefully, "do we say Mom to Reika?"
Stella wriggled, pulled one of Reika’s hands down by sheer indignation, and popped up between them like a small, righteous lawyer. "Since today," she said. "Since last night for Mom—" she pointed at Rose, "—and since this morning for Mom—" a jab at Reika, "—and it’s a good word and I get to have it."
Rachel’s shock unspooled into a grin, fast and bright. The jaw muscle that clenches when she’s trying not to be jealous flexed once and then let go. "It is a good word," she said, and the envy in her eyes wasn’t sharp, just human.
Across from her, Cecilia finished making the napkin edges perfect and aligned her fork exactly with the plate rim. It’s her tell—tidying what’s already tidy when she wants something she hasn’t named. She caught me watching and did not look away.
Seraphina finally moved, a tiny rotation of her chair back toward the door, then back toward the table—a tactical reflex she corrected on purpose. When she spoke, the dryness in her voice was thinner than usual. "I see we are doing bravery at dinner."
I sighed, because I’d been waiting for this and because they deserve honesty without making it heavy. "That’s why I brought up the first agenda," I said. "We’ve all been careful for months. Too careful. Rose asked Stella for the word last night. Reika asked this morning. I’m glad they did. I don’t want the rest of us to treat love like a rank you have to wait your turn for."
Stella went still in the way she does when she’s listening with her whole body.
"We’re not a court," I went on. "No ranks at this table. If you want that word, ask her. No ceremony. No keeping score."
Rachel’s mouth tugged sideways. "You’re trying to make us jump off the dock instead of testing the water."
"Yes," I said. "Because the water is fine."
Cecilia’s tidy fingers stilled. "Stella," she said quietly, not looking at me anymore. "May I ask, too?"
Stella turned toward her, serious as a judge. "You may."
"Would you like to call me Mom?" Cecilia asked. No hedge, no briefing voice. Just clear.
Stella didn’t hesitate. "Mom," she said, and the okay was inside the word, bright and certain.
Cecilia’s shoulders eased two centimeters. She smiled in that small way she keeps for wins that matter. "Thank you," she said, and reached across to squeeze Stella’s hand, a quick press like a signature.
Rachel blew out a breath that sounded like she’d been holding it since we sat down. "All right," she said, hands up, palms bare. "I want it. Stella, if you want it too... may I have Mom?"
Stella turned, considering nothing except whether her heart agreed. It did. "Mom," she said again, delighted with how many times it could fit and still feel right.
Rachel shut her eyes for a heartbeat and then started laughing at herself, swiping at one eye with the heel of her hand. "Redeemers are going to start calling me that by accident," she muttered, and the table liked that enough to breathe differently.
Seraphina was last. She stared at her orange slice like it had information and then set it down with surgical care. When she spoke, the dryness was armor; the request under it was clean. "I do not know if I am good at this word," she said. "But I want it. If you want me to have it."
Stella leaned across the small sun-space between them and touched Seraphina’s wrist, gentle. "Mom," she said, and the whole shape of the room changed, a small shift you felt more than saw—like the ward adding a note you didn’t know it was missing.
Seraphina exhaled and, for once, didn’t bother to hide how much relief looks like panic melting.
Reika finally took her second hand off Stella’s ear and rested both palms on the table, grounded. She didn’t say anything to claim space; she didn’t have to. The space was hers, and everyone knew it.
Rose met my eyes over all of it and gave me the smallest nod. Good. Right.
Cecilia was the one to find the stray thread I hadn’t tugged yet. "A practical question," she said, and that’s how you know she’s about to ask something that matters. "Stella calls Arthur Daddy. She calls us Mom. Not Mommy. Why the distinction?"
Three heads turned to Stella. She froze like we’d asked her to recite a spell backwards. Color climbed her cheeks. She studied the pattern in the table wood like it contained a trapdoor.
"It’s okay," Rose said, soft. "You don’t have to explain if you don’t want to."
"I—" Stella started, stopped, tried again. "Mommy sounds like when you’re small-small," she said at last, voice down a notch. "Like three. I didn’t... have that then. Not really. Mom feels like now. Like choosing. Daddy is... Daddy. It didn’t change."
The room went quiet in a kind way. Not sad. Respectful.
I reached over and scooped her up before she could drown in her own honesty, settling her sideways on my lap like I’ve been lifting her since forever. "Approved," I said. "All of it."
She muttered something about being too big to sit like a baby and then leaned back into me anyway, head under my chin. Her ears were very red. Reika slid a glass of water across without comment; Rose brushed a crumb off Stella’s sleeve with a tenderness that didn’t need a label.
Rachel cleared her throat and managed to make her voice light again. "Motion to retain Mom as the house standard, with the understanding that any sub-variants are valid if proposed by the minor."
"Seconded," Cecilia said, amused and soft.
"Carried," Seraphina said, and ate her orange like a toast.
The table felt different now. Not louder. Settled. The word had found its shape, and the house had adjusted its bones around it.
I kissed the top of Stella’s head and let myself enjoy the way everything had just become simpler. "Good," I said. "That was Agenda One. Names. Habits. No guessing."
"Agenda Two," Rachel said, immediately predatory. "The real reason we’re here."
"Not a dignitary," I warned, because she was about to enjoy herself too much.
Cecilia angled her chin. "If you say ’it’s nothing,’ I will throw you a calendar."
Seraphina leaned back, expression unreadable but interested. "Proceed."
I opened my mouth to start—
—and the doorbell chimed, a single polite note that cut clean through the room.
Every head turned. Reika’s hand tightened on the back of Stella’s chair. Rose’s eyes flicked to me. Rachel grinned like she’d set this up. Cecilia was already standing without realizing it. Seraphina’s fingers tapped once on the table and then went still.
I set Stella gently back into her seat.
"Agenda Two," I said, and crossed to the door.