“Or maybe not.”
Chapter 41
Darius
Just when it was getting good, someone had to stop it. Ruby sat up with a long sigh and her eyes were blood red with anger for whoever was interrupting.
“Ruby. Don’t.” I saw the look on her face but wasn’t quick enough. She got up, stomping towards the door in only her skin and I followed right after her, speaking quietly to myself. “Not again.”
She swung the door open with her eyes peering on the other side and her chest pounding with her heavy breaths.
Trever stood emotionless at first to see Ruby answer the door completely naked but easily changed it with a growing smile. “Am I interrupting?”
I was at the door a second later and pulled Ruby behind it to block her. “What do you want?”
“Ah—” He paused, trying to regain his train of thought. “I need to speak with Red if that’s okay?”
“It most certainly is not!”
Ruby poked her head around the door and her eyes were no longer red. “Is this about why you got so weird?”
“Something like that.”
“Then of course it’s okay. Come in.”
I put my hand out, stopping Trever from even thinking about it. “Hold it. Ruby get dressed.”
“Okay but make sure he doesn’t leave.” She pushed me out into the hall with Trever and closed the door.
I wasn’t expecting it and I wasn’t happy. I stood quiet, leaning myself against the door frame with no intention to say anything.
“So—” Trever said, thinking he had to be the one to say something. “This is—awkward. How have you been?”
I remained still and said nothing while turning my eyes away.
“That bad, huh?”
I sighed and shifted my weight, still trying to ignore him and wishing Ruby would hurry up.
“Okay. I get it. You almost lost someone you love and it tore you apart. I’m sorry but I can relate to that. It’s probably the only thing we have in common.”
For some reason, that caught my interest but I was confused that such an idea even existed and shifted my eyes to him.
“Okay.” Ruby opened the door, diverting my attention. “I’m dressed. Now come in.”
I walked in first and Trever followed.
“Well?” Ruby asked. “Have a nice chat with Aleksander, did you?”
“I suppose. They thought this was something you needed to hear from me.”
Ruby’s eyes looked towards me for an instant and she was just getting confused. “Okay.”
“First, I have to ask you who thought of it.”
“Thought of what?”
“Your son’s name.”
“It was hers.” I answered. “What is this about?” I didn’t want games. Ruby wanted answers and I wanted them for her.
“Where did you hear it?”
Ruby shrugged and acted nervous like she was being questioned for some wrong doing. “I don’t know. I don’t think I heard it anywhere. I just came up with it. Why?”
“Can you sit down for me please?”
Ruby was even more nervous and slowly lowered herself down on the edge of the bed. “Okay. What? Was he like some evil mastermind that had to do with starting the war and since my family was involved, you had to get all weird?”
“No. Nothing like that.”
“Then what?”
“Dirk—is your father’s name.”
A moment of silence followed and I turned my eyes to Ruby. She’s never mentioned a father to me and I saw how confused she still looked.
“My father? Really? And you know this?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Your whole life.”
Ruby instantly got up and started walking towards the windows. “You never told me.”
“You never asked. You’ve never talked about it like you cared at all.”
“He’s alive?”
“Yes. He lives in southern Kalu.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“You’re grown up, Red. It’s time you made a choice. A choice between who you are and who you want to be.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Naming your son after someone who didn’t want you is kind of a step in the wrong direction.”
“He knew about me?”
“Gwen told him hoping he’d want to be there but he was young and stupid. He walked away and she never saw him again.”
“And why should this mean anything to me? I had her my whole childhood. She taught me everything. That was all I needed. I turned out just fine without a father so I don’t care.”
“Now what are you going to think about whenever you look at your son?”
Ruby looked towards the bassinet and slowly walked towards it, looking down at him sleeping. “Not my father. Rejecting something this precious is simply impossible and I’m keeping the name.”
“It’s your choice to do but you still needed to know. You didn’t magically sprout out of the ground or anything.”
“Oh, really?” Ruby smiled, looking up and adding a bit of humor to her tone. “Well, thank you for straightening out that lifelong wonder of mine.”
“No problem.”
“No, really though. Thank you. I won’t lie and say I’ve never wondered about him but no one ever seemed like they knew so that’s why I never asked.”
“Gwen never wanted you to get your hopes up and look for him, fearing that he might say to your face something along the lines he said to her.”
“It’s okay. I’m not going to hate you for waiting this long to tell me.”
“Honestly, if it wasn’t for the name, I don’t think anyone ever would.”
“And I could have gone the rest of my life without knowing. It doesn’t really change anything for me. I’m not going to look for him or anything.”
“That’s probably wise. He doesn’t know exactly who you are. That might give him a heart attack and at the age he is now, it might kill him.”
Ruby laughed. “Then I won’t.”
Dirk started to cry next to her and she looked down. His eyes were open and he got quiet from seeing her.
“Knows who his mother is.” Trever smiled.
“I should hope so. He’s been sucking the life out of me for the past month.”
“Yes, well, I’ll just let you deal with him and I’ll see you later for the dinner party.”
“Okay. Are you leaving after then or—”
“In the morning, actually. I need to get all of the sleep I can before the next leg of my trip.”
“You’re probably right. You’ve always hated traveling by sea.”
“Yeah. Looking forward to it.”
“Well, don’t be long. We’re going to miss you around here.”
Trever’s eyes glanced towards me who stood stiff and straight faced and he laughed again. “Yeah, I don’t think that’s true actually. Besides, you’ll be kept too busy to even think of me.”
Trever stepped towards Ruby and she looked back down in the bassinet, picking Dirk up in her arms. “You’re right about the busy part but I won’t forget about you.”
“And I’m sure everyone’s just thrilled about hearing that.” Trever smiled, insinuating that I was the everyone he was talking about.
“He knows that.” Ruby replied, taking a quick glance at me herself.
“Well, I guess I should go and let you get back to whatever it is you’ll be doing. Sorry that I interrupted—”
“It’s okay. I didn’t expect it to be you. Jaylyn’s been drawn to Dirk since she saw him.”
“Yes, I imagine she would be but she’ll have one of her own soon and she’ll leave you alone.”
“Six months from now.”
Trever laughed. “Well, if you played things smartly, you could be in the same time frame.”
Ruby’s eyes narrowed. “Did you just insult me?”
“No. I—”
; “I think you should leave now.”
“That’s not what I meant, Red.”
“She said, leave.” I took a step towards him so he would back away.
“Was that what you’ve been waiting for?”
“She invited you in. It certainly wasn’t me. When she tells you to leave, you leave.”
“All right.” Trever replied, looking behind me at Ruby. “But I’ll still see you later.”
“If I feel like it.”
“How can you not feel like it? It’s for your baby.”
“Bye!” I cut in, shifting my body so he would have to look at me and keep those sadistic eyes of his off my wife.
Trever just shook his head with a laugh and started backing towards the door. “Fine. You win. I’m leaving.”
“Best news I’ve heard all day.”
“You mean aside from your son, I hope.”
I took a step towards him but Ruby grabbed my arm with her free hand. “Not now.”
I stood still but had my eyes fixed on Trever, watching every move he made until he was out the door.
“Out of sight, out of mind.” Ruby said. “Don’t start this again.”
“But he’s so aggravating and he does it on purpose.”
“I know but just ignore him. He’s been through a lot.”
“You know about that?”
“About what?”
“When we were out in the hall, he said that the only thing we have in common is knowing what it’s like to almost lose someone we love.”
“That’s not what I was thinking. I was talking about the long tiresome trip he’s been on. He’d just rather be around familiar faces. Do you know what he meant?”
“No. At first I was maybe thinking about Ryon and Kole since they were his friends but he used the word almost like it was something else entirely.”
“And it’s bothering you, isn’t it?” Ruby smiled.
I quickly looked down at her and answered harshly. “No! I don’t care. It was just weird. I don’t think we have anything in common.”
“Okay. If you say so.”
I looked back towards the door for a moment then followed her to the bed. “Don’t read into it.”
“I’m not. I just noticed you’re taking an unusual interest.”
“Not an interest. It was just like he purposely said it to make me crazy.”
“And is it making you crazy?”
“Nope. Out of sight, out of mind like you said. You going to feed him again?”
“Instincts are telling me that I should even though he’s not crying. It’s probably been an hour by now.”
“Well, let me see him while you get situated.”
I held my hands out and Ruby smiled as she started to hand Dirk over to me. “Okay. Just be careful.”
“I know that.” I gently took my son, supporting his head and brought him in close to my body. “Hello, my little Dirk. You are just so tiny. I can’t get over it.”
Ruby laughed and sat herself back on the bed, getting her shirt ready to be opened. “Okay. Give him to me.”
“Time to get something to eat so you can grow up to be big and strong just like me.”
“I’m sure he already is strong like you. We just haven’t seen it yet.”
I smiled and sat myself next to her, this time watching Dirk attach to her left breast to feed. “It’s something we’ll have to watch out for so he doesn’t hurt anyone.”
“That’s a little scary to think about.”
“Nah. Not when both his parents have the ability to be just as strong. We can control him but they don’t write about being a parent for a gifted child. We’ll have to learn as we go.”
“You’ve even read about it while you were away?”
“Yeah, it was far to the south where we met a midwife who has like a dozen kids of her own, all grown up now but she wrote a book about her experiences and gave me a copy since the whole world already seemed to know about you. She said it would be good for me so I read it during the free time I had between the high speed traveling.”
“Oh, well, good. I’m glad. How’d Zayden handle all of that, by the way? We haven’t had much time to sit around and talk since you got back.”
“He did fine. As soon as we got to our next stop, he spent most of his time on his ass so he got enough rest in between.”
Ruby laughed. “Sounds like something he’d want to do.”
I was watching her smile but still couldn’t help but ask. “So, how are you doing with this whole father thing?”
“Were you not in the room when I said I didn’t care?”
“I was but I just wanted to make sure. I didn’t know if you just said that for him.”
“He’d be able to read my mind if I was lying and I’m sure he’d call me on it.”
“Doesn’t mean you’re not feeling something now.”
“No. I’m all right, Darius. You don’t have to worry about me. I’m not going to do anything about it. I like the name no matter what. When Dirk grows up, if he asks if he’s named after someone, we can tell him he’s named after my father and that he died when I was a kid.”
“You mean lie to him? You think he would even ask?”
“Maybe. The other two are going to be named after someone, Adele’s grandfather and Jaylyn’s father. It only seems right that our son is named after my father unless you wanted it to be yours.”
“Oh, no. That’s not what I’d want for him at all.”
“What? Named after him because of who he was or what his name was?”
“A little of both. My father wasn’t there much for me growing up. Military men. It was his life. My mother raised me for the most part. I would see him a few times a month when he’d come back from some distant post and he’d shower me with gifts.”
“Wow. Sounds fun.”
“I knew why he was doing it though. He was trying to make up for being gone so much, thinking gifts were what I wanted instead of him so I played along. The war finally claimed his life completely when I was ten and then everything kind of changed for me from there.”
“I know. What was his name?”
“Nikolai.”
She paused. “Hmm. I kind of like it.”
“We’re not changing his name now. He’d hate it growing up. It sounds—not what I’d want to name my son.”
“But would you completely be against it if we did use it, like his middle name or something?”
“I would have figured you’d have that all picked out already.”
“No. It’s less important.”
“Well, if you want to, I won’t object to having his middle name be Nikolai after my father. It’s really only a mother who uses middle names.”
Ruby laughed. “What do you mean, only a mother?”
“You know, when you do something wrong, they’ll yell using your full name.”
“My mother never did that.”
“Well, I hear your mother never punished you for anything but it’s how my mother would get my attention so I’d listen.”
“What is your middle name?”
I looked at her curious face and laughed. “Oh, no. If you don’t already know, I’m not telling you.”
“Why not? I’ll tell you mine. It’s Starla.”
“Pretty.”
“Well?”
I sighed and lowered my head. “All right. It’s Jacen.”
“Jacen, huh? That’s not so bad. Could be worse.”
“I guess. I just haven’t heard anyone say it in a long time.”
“I understand. I’m not going to use it. I just wanted to know.”
“And now you do.”
“Yes and you still agree to use your father’s name for Dirk’s middle name?”
“I said it was up to you. It doesn’t bother me. I won’t be the one to use it.”
“Oh, I see.” Ruby smiled. “So, you’re going to make me be the mean one?”
“No but I’m sure our rules will be different.
It’ll be like a trial and error thing for both of us.”
Ruby smiled and looked down at Dirk in her arms. “I think he’s falling asleep again.”
“Then maybe it’s about time that we do.”
“Real sleep or finish where we left off?”
“We could do that.”
“Okay. Let me just get him burped.” Ruby removed him from her breast and held him up by her shoulder, patting his back until he burped loud enough for both of us to hear.
“Whoa. That was it.” I laughed.
“Must have gotten a lot out of it. It’s hard to tell how much he drinks when the size of my breasts don’t seem to change. It just seems softer now.”
“Then he must have emptied it.”
“Come on, baby. Off to bed.”
Ruby got up and gently placed Dirk down in the bassinet.
“He should sleep for a little bit.”
“Perfect.” I smiled. “Now where were we?”
Ruby smiled back and quickly took all of her clothes off and climbed over me. “Somewhere right here.”
“I just love how you can do that so quickly.”
“Years of practice.”
I sighed while I had my hands around her bare back. “Thanks. I know that practice wasn’t with me.”
“But it benefits you the most.”
I smiled and pulled her head down closer to mine. “Yes, I suppose it does.”
“No more talking. I want you and this time, no one will get in my way.”
I smiled and brought my lips into hers, kissing for what seemed like the first time in a while. It was full of passion and made everything seem perfect.
She was perfect and I finally got her the way I could only dream about. I was glad to have her back and we slept peacefully in each other’s arms for the first time as parents.
Chapter 42
Ruby
We came out of our room for the first time with Dirk since we went in and tiptoed down the quiet hall.
“And where do you think you’re going?”
We both stopped and I let out a sigh. “We didn’t make it very far.”
“Thought you could escape without me knowing?” Jaylyn walked to us from Troy’s room. “Remember, I can tell where you are.”
New Roots (Fate's Intent Book 8) Page 17
