11
Selena pulls into Dwayne’s driveway still annoyed with Gabriel. She sits in the car a minute just trying to cool down so as not to say anything that might reflect poorly on Gabriel in front of Kya.
No matter how we get along, or don’t, I really want her to have a chance at having a good relationship with him. If he fucks that up then so be it. I will burn that bridge when we cross it. Until then, I just need to cool myself down and not be a jerk. It just ticked me off, him asking with that suspicious tone in his voice like he knows better for Kya than I would. He has only known about her for a week. Overbearing jackass. Ok, deep breath in and slow out. Let it go and get your butt in there to have some awesome food with your daughter, friend, and his son.
Slowly she gets out of her truck and walks to the door, Dwayne opens it as she raises her hand to knock.
“I was beginning to wonder if you were coming in, I felt you come through the barrier a while ago?”
“Ugh, I have issues and I sat there to cool off. But, I don’t want to talk about that stuff right now. You promised food, specifically your mom’s casserole?”
“Yes, yes I did and Mom delivered. It is all ready, just waiting for you. KIIIIDDDDSSSS.”
Tiny feet thunder toward the kitchen as giggles echo through the house. Dwayne and Selena take a more sedate pace to the kitchen. Dwayne dishes out his mom’s stellar casserole and they all sit around his cozy table to laugh and eat. After lunch, the kids go back to Nathan’s room to play Kingdom Hearts.
Dwayne and Selena head out to his back porch with a couple hard ciders so they can talk without being overheard. Selena tells him about everything that happened at the coffee shop.
She waits while Dwayne mulls things over. It has always been his way to really think things through before committing to speaking his thoughts aloud so she just leans back and enjoys the view of his backyard.
Finally he shifts his seat and says, “I think Gabriel is going to be a problem. He seems to think in terms of ownership. I had encouraged him to try and mend fences so that perhaps the two of you could be on better terms than how he began things with you most recently.” He holds his hand up when he sees her start to fire back. “Hear me out please.” She nods and he continues, “This was before any of this had come to light, when it was possible that he was better than he appears to be now. It was the day after you first saw him again. He hasn’t been in touch with me since then. You seemed to have been desirous of having more of a relationship with him all this time so I thought it might help. It probably did not and I apologize. It will not happen again. Now, who will you be taking with you for visitation today?”
“Dammit. It seems the more I talk to him the less I like him and the more I feel like we would have gone our separate ways anyway. Plus, I am not really at all sure that he will be able to separate having a father-daughter relationship with Kya and not being allowed to have a more intimate relationship with me. I thought for a long time that I would really like to get back together with him and the three of us be a family. When I saw him again, that all changed. He looks so gross and he is such a jerk. Was he always that big a jerk? Did I somehow miss that before?” Dwayne sips his hard cider before saying, “I think we all saw him as better than he seems to be now. Perhaps we were all a little naive. I don’t recall him being so possessive or…” Selena cocks her head, “Or what?” Dwayne shifts in his seat, “I don’t like to share things said in confidence but I feel in this case it will not cause you to feel more ill will toward him than he has already caused. That day I saw him? He told me he had lied to you about being with other women. While I think what he lied about is not so important to you, the fact that he started out lying does seem important.”
Selena shrugs, “You’re right. I don’t care about him being with other people. The lying immediately after he showed back up in my life is good to know. I would like for you to go with us, if you have the time? I mean, we have taken up a lot of your time today. Do you need to work or something?”
“No, hackers like me work in spurts and mostly at odd hours so I have plenty of time for Nathan, you know that. A regular day job would take me away from him too much. Besides, what I do pays really well and I am good at what I do.”
“Ooh, well Mr. Hacker, I think it is about time to go meet with Gabriel. We set it up for this meeting to be at a park. He can play with the kids and you can keep me company while we keep an eye on him.”
Dwayne stands with a small laugh, and starts moving to the door, “Give me a few minutes to clean up and throw some shoes on myself and Nathan.”
“Sure, send Kya out here please.”
***
Kya steps out the door and walks over to sit on Selena’s lap, resting her little head on her mom’s shoulder.
“Hey sweetling, how’s the day?”
“Good mama, I like playing with Nathan. He is always nice to me. Him and his daddy are putting on their shoes. Are they going somewhere? Are we going with them?”
“No sweetling, they are going with us. Gabriel wants to visit with you again today.”
“Oh mama. Do we have to? He is so booooorrrring.”
Selena laughs, “Well, Kya I think he hasn’t spent much time around active little girls—“
“I know mama, I saw his belly.”
“What? What do you mean you saw his belly?”
“When he is standing there, his belly is poking his shirt out, like the pictures of you when you had me in your tummy.” Kya’s eyes get really big, “Mama, does he have a baby in there? Can boys do that?”
Selena fights with her face to be serious and not laugh at her daughter’s very earnest questions. “No Kya, he does not have a baby in there. Some boys can have babies in their bellies like girls do but Gabriel cannot. You know it would not be the kind thing to do to mention his weight to him, right?”
Kya was still for a moment digesting all she had heard. “Yes mama. So he is just fat but we don’t tell him because it might hurt his feelings?”
“Uh, something like that. And we never ask someone if they are pregnant either. For a lot of reasons, that we don’t have time for talking on. So that will do for but I think we need to talk about this some more later. For now, I think I hear Dwayne and Nathan walking through, they must be ready to go. How about you sweetling?”
Kya looks at her mom and with a long sigh, “I guess mama. I can’t tell him that he is boring either, huh?”
Selena laughs, “No baby, you sure cannot. But Nathan will be there, maybe you will have more fun this time? Let’s go.”
12
Selena and Dwayne arrive at the park right on time to meet with Gabriel for the visit with Kya. There is no sign of Gabriel.
Dwayne asks, “Should we let the kids out to play and wait a bit to see if he arrives?”
From the back seat two young voices “Yes please!”
“I think we have to, there may be a mutiny if we don’t.”
Selena and Dwayne laugh and get out of the truck, letting the children out to run into the park while they followed at a slow walk. Dwayne and Selena talk about recent happenings in town and with mutual acquaintances as they watch the children play while they sit on a bench off to the side. Selena feels eyes on her back and stops mid-sentence to look for the person staring so hard. Dwayne looks around too, curious what made her stop speaking. Selena’s eyes land on Gabriel at the edge of the parking lot, his face mottled, lips pulled back from his teeth and his fists clenching over and over until he saw she was looking at him. It all melted away as though it had never been. Selena cut her eyes toward Dwayne and he shook his head so slightly only she would see it. She pasted a smile on her face and waved at Gabriel. Standing she walked to meet him midway.
“Kya is over playing with Nathan, I thought she might be more comfortable getting to know you if she had a friend with her.”
“Oh? Is she uncomfortable around me?”
“A little, yes. She has no knowledge of you and has only just met you. Sh
e is smart, and I have no doubt that she has figured out that you took off. She knows you weren’t aware of her until now and though I haven’t told her anything more than what she has asked, I know she has put more of the story together.”
Gabriel shifts a doll from his left hand to his right, “I suppose that is fair enough. I am going to go ahead and go say hi to her. Uh, could you hold the doll for a bit? I didn’t bring anything for Nathan, I didn’t know he would be here…”
“Sure, go meet your daughter and be gentle. Don’t push, she won’t tolerate it.”
Selena heads back to sit with Dwayne carrying the doll Gabriel brought for Kya. The doll feels strange in her hand, almost as if it had something in it trying to grab onto her. There are other people in the park so she tries not to look strange as she lifts the doll to get a better look at her with her witch senses. She sits next to Dwayne still looking at the doll while he watches Gabriel with the children.
“What’s wrong with it?”
“I’m not sure. I think it has a spell in it but I haven’t felt anything like this before. There is a lot of magic I haven’t felt before though. Ugh. Ok. Let’s see…”
She focuses on the doll, looking past the physical to what lies underneath. “I see something, it is a sickly green and red, the colors are continually swirling within and around each other. It feels… like… a love spell? Ew.” Realization dawns on her, “He put a charm in here to make Kya love him! That slimy piece of—“she looks around to see who might overhear,”mierda!”
Dwayne looks at her wrinkling his nose, “I can put a barrier around the doll to keep that inside but still allow him to gift it to her as though we are unaware. It seems odd that he asked you to hold it first.”
“Yes, do it. I could destroy the stupid thing but he might notice that so close. Kya will go along with my lead and she’ll see what you have done. This is not going to help him earn her trust. Damn him! Why couldn’t he just be a decent person? If he had even asked about her,” she looks around at the people near them, “abilities, he would have known that she will see this immediately.”
“Hmm, yes. He hasn’t asked any questions about her at all? None? Not even whether she likes bologna or pb&j?”
“No, not one. Even when I saw him in the cafe, he didn’t ask about her at all. Wait, no, he did ask where she was and was very interested in who I had let keep her while I was out. I don’t get it but I am chalking it up to he has no experience with kids and doesn’t yet know they are people.”
Kya and Nathan run over, and Kya takes the lead in asking the parents a question, “Mommy, Dwayne; Mr. Gabriel wants to take us to have dinner. You and Dwayne too, I asked him if he meant you too. He said he did, he wants to take us to the barbecue place, can we go?”
Selena looks at Dwayne who shrugs to show he is not opposed to the idea. “Yes, we can all go there and eat. Let’s go tell him and we will get you two cleaned up at the truck.” Selena hands the doll to Dwayne, “Could you take this to the truck with you? We will be right there.”
Dwayne nods as he takes the doll and begins to shield it as he walks toward the truck. Kya narrows her eyes at the doll.
“Momma, where did that doll come from? It looks sick.”
“It came from Gabriel, but let’s talk about it later, he maybe shouldn’t know what we see.”
Kya was silent for a moment as they walked. “I think you’re right momma. But we can still have barbecue, right?”
“Yes baby we sure can.”
“Yay! Can Nathan and me go get in the truck with his daddy while you tell Mr. Gabriel?”
Sigh, “Yes, straight to him now, no where else.”
“Yes momma.” Yes Selena.” The children take off and Selena finishes her walk to where Gabriel is waiting.
“Why did the kids run off?”
“They are excited about barbecue, they wanted to get in the truck to get there sooner. Kya said you invited everyone out to the barbecue place?”
“Yea, I wanted to spend some more time with her and you. I thought dinner would buy me some time.”
“Uh, ok… Well, let’s not keep those kids waiting. They seem ravenous.”
Gabriel falls in step with her as she walks back toward her truck. “I am really enjoying getting to know Kya. I would like to spend more time with both of you.”
“I think we need to take it slow. She has seen you all of three times. Relax, take your time getting to know her.”
“But if you both wanted to spend more time with me that would be different, yes?”
Selena struggles to keep her eyes from rolling, “Yes Gabriel, that would be different. But that takes time. You have to let her get to know you too. We are not going to push her on this.”
“No, no, of course not, I wouldn’t dream of it. I just meant if things move faster then we would be around each other more.”
“Oh, look, the kids and Dwayne are all loaded up. We should get going if we are going to get a table.” Selena takes the last few steps to her truck and opens the door, “So we’ll see you there?”
“Yea, see you there.”
He watches with narrowed eyes as she backs out of her parking and pulls away.
At the barbecue place they get a large round table and Gabriel insists on sitting next to Selena. Kya demands she sit on Selena’s other side. Nathan sits next to Kya and Dwayne on his other side, leaving him also sitting next to Gabriel.
After ordering, the kids start talking to each other about school starting in the fall. Gabriel interrupts Nathan to ask, “Kya, what grade will you be in?” “Um, kindergarten?” Gabriel nods, “I remember kindergarten, lots of coloring but not much learning.” He turns to Selena, “Perhaps you should consider homeschooling her so she doesn’t spend so much time around people that may not be the best influence on her.” He looks pointedly at Nathan. Selena’s chin drops briefly and Gabriel continues on, “Or maybe a private school? Of course, you would have to move to make that possible unless it was a boarding school-”
Selena stops him, “No. I feel like the local public school will be a great experience for Kya. She has friends now and they are not a bad influence. I trust Kya to know who is or isn’t a good influence. I am absolutely not moving away from my family here nor will I send Kya away. Those options are not in her best interests.”
Gabriel’s already thin lips compress to nothing more than a line in his pale face and spots of color appear on his cheeks, “I am only thinking of what is best for Kya. I would think that you of all people would appreciate that.” The waitress arrives then with their food and they are all distracted by the food placed in front of them. Selena and Dwayne thank the waitress, Gabriel tells her that his food isn’t hot enough and sends it back. The rest of them begin to eat while Gabriel leans back and crosses his arms. “So, Selena, when would be a good time for our date?” Selena chokes a little on the bite she has just taken, Dwayne and the children look up from their food in surprise. Coughing a bit Selena gets her airway clear to reply, “What are you talking about? I have told you in no uncertain terms that we are not going to date.” The waitress delivers Gabriel’s food back to the table, he accepts it this time and begins to cut his food into small pieces. After taking a bite and chewing it carefully he continues on as though Selena had not replied at all, “I was thinking that a weeknight date would be nice because it would be less crowded than on the weekends-” Selena has stopped eating entirely and cuts him off, “Did you not hear what I said? We. Are. Not. Dating. Period. Get it through your thick skull.” The kids are quietly looking down at their plates and moving the food around on them. Dwayne is glaring at Gabriel and Gabriel is furious. Swallowing his food Gabriel puts down his utensils and turns his chair toward Selena, “You are embarrassing me in front of our child and all these people. I advise you watch what you say to me and how you say it.” Dwayne pushes his plate away, “Or what Gabriel? Are you threatening her right now?” Gabriel looks in surprise at Dwayne, “I forgot you were here. Of cour
se I am not threatening her.” Selena waves at the waitress for the check while Gabriel continues, “I was simply explaining to her that she should treat me better than this. I am after all, the father of her child.” The waitress arrives with the check, Selena takes it and thanks her. Turning to the kids, “Ready to go?” The kids jump out of their seats, “Yes!” “Dwayne, could you take the kids out to the truck?” Dwayne nods and Selena hands him the keys. Turning to Gabriel who is still in his seat and fuming, “Thanks for a travesty of a dinner. We are not doing this again. The whole point of this is for you to get to know your daughter, not hound me.” Selena stands and begins to leave the table when Gabriel’s hand shoots out and grabs her arm and growls at her, “You are embarrassing me again. Sit your ass back down and finish our date.” Snatching her arm out of his hand Selena looks down at him, “Have you not heard anything I said? You need to seek professional help Gabriel. We are never getting back together. And more importantly, you need to keep your hands to yourself. You ever touch me again and I am pressing charges for assault.” Selena walks away and pays the bill, tipping the waitress extra for the drama. In the truck Selena apologizes to Dwayne and then thanks him for being there and stepping in. She offers to get everyone takeout to make up for the barbecue they didn’t get to finish. They go to a burger place and have a fun dinner in the truck before Selena drives back to Dwayne’s place and to drop them off.
***
The next morning Selena starts her coffee and brings the spelled box she put the doll in last night to the table in the kitchen. Brighid growls at the box and moves to sit between it and the doorway leading to the rest of the house.
“Don’t worry girl, it is quite contained, twice over. I just need to figure out how to destroy it without destroying the doll. But first, coffee.” Brighid snorts and continues to stand guard. Minutes later Selena sits at the table, coffee beside her and opens the box. The doll lays still inside, though the spell within it roils in frustration at being kept from its goal. She puts her hand over the doll and closes her eyes to feel more information out of the spell.
Selena Rose: Daughter of the Moon Page 6
