The last thing I remember is hitting the bed after a hot meal and an even hotter shower. Okay, I remember those things and also, Guy spoonfeeding me and rubbing my head as I chewed.
If I can’t find a medal to give this man then I will make him because he is absolutely killing it in the husband department right now. Not that I’m putting him and Wyatt in a competition.
Wyatt.
Just thinking of his name makes my eyes flutter open. My arm fans out across the messy sheets and for a second I’m back in our honeymoon and he’s laying there next to me, smiling at me.
Except it’s not my honeymoon and he’s not here. He’s off on his own healing from all the damage Rhea did to him. And I can’t even touch him.
My heart clenched and I couldn’t swallow the pain any longer. I sat up in bed, grabbed a pillow and I sobbed like a baby into it.
“Now why are you crying baby?” Nearly jumping out of my skin, I turn towards my mom. She’d been sitting in the corner of the room for who knows how long.
“Mom? How long have you been here?” Did she see me drooling?
A soft smile touched her honeyed lips.
“Long enough to see you drooling.” Dammit!
“O-oh.” my cheeks darkened and I hid under the sheets a little.
“I heard what happened to Wyatt. Guy filled me in.” Her face darkened, voice lowering just a bit. “I’m glad he got his revenge…but I’m happier that at least Guy took care of you first before running off to save him.”
“You’re happy?” I crossed my arms, looking at her in a new light. “You’re a cop, mom.”
“I was. Now? I help train them but I’m not a law enforcer, not really. So I’m perfectly within my rights to cheer on my son-in-law for ending that bitch.”
My shoulders slumped as I took in the absolute last words I ever thought would come from my law-abiding mother’s mouth.
“Mom…I felt the same way but I shouldn’t.” I rubbed my arm for comfort. “Being glad someone’s been murdered isn’t very heroic, ya know?”
Mom sighs and taps the top of her thighs.
“Maybe. And maybe when I was a cop I would agree with you. But that was when the world still had rules that made sense and everyone wasn’t a mushroom and there weren’t wars on our front steps babygirl.”
She comes and sits next to me in bed and I lay my head down on her lap. I let out a shaky sigh as she rubs my hair.
“Even with the world the way it is now, I still want to do the right thing.” I whispered, believing it in my heart.
“I know, and I love that about you babygirl. You’ve been that way since you were a child and I am so proud of you for carrying that discipline and hope with you.”
She paused, letting those words hang in the air.
“But…?”
“But the world needs to establish that discipline. It needs new rules and people like you to enforce them.” The word ‘enforce’ made me flinch.
“I’m not a dictator mom…I’m not your grandson.” Her hand stilled in my hair at the mention of Rupert.
“Barnaby…how is he?” I love that she still calls him that. Maybe it's easier because he hasn’t wronged her yet.
“About as well as can be expected , I guess? I don’t know mama, he’s so much like his father that it's hard to tell when anything is actually getting through to him.”
“That might be true but Barnaby is your son. You might not have raised him but you carried him, you loved him and sometimes that much is enough.”
Is it though?
“How can you say that? Barbie took him and raised him…” I curled up a fist and pressed it to the top of my abdomen, shoving the pain back down. I was robbed, no matter how much time I had with Rupert now, I could never get that time back.
“Believe it or not, Barbie isn’t that terrible of a human being, babygirl.” My breath stuck in my throat and I raised up, examining her closely.
“Mom?” there had better be something more to this.
“If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t be here, Sapph.” Her eyes softened and she gave me a lop-sided grin. “When that last monolith attack happened, she gave me and the rest of the family a choice for salvation.”
“A choice? The same way Wyatt gave me a choice?” Involuntarily, my jaw clenched at the memory. However good his intentions were, it wasn’t enough. I had forgiven him but I would never forget it.
“No, it wasn’t like that. She gave us a choice…most of us took it.” She lowered her gaze, hiding a pout I hadn’t seen since she argued with my stepfather a century ago.
With a gulp, I leaned back and stared up at the ceiling.
“Your older brother wouldn’t leave his wife behind and Allen…” her voice caught, “Allen wouldn’t leave people behind. Still a fire fighter to the end.”
Oh god…my stepdad and my big brother chose to stay behind. On the one hand I’m jealous that they got to choose peace but on the other hand, how dare they not fight to stay together as a family!
I know it’s wrong, but a strong part of me wanted to see them all together again. But enough about me though, poor mom. I spread my arms out and let her come to me, holding me tight.
“I might get absolutely furious at Wyatt…but I couldn’t imagine not being with him after the world ended.”
“Hmph.” I could hear her smile in that snort. “That boy has loved you since the moment he laid eyes on you. In fact did you know that when you were 8 and you used to get into all those fights at school, Wyatt came by the house for you. He, a 12 year old who barely filled out a baby t-shirt—boy he was a skinny thing—”
“He still is.” We giggled.
“That boy asked if it would be alright for him to pay for private tutors for you, instead of you being in public school anymore. Allen found it hilarious. I wanted to string him up by his preteen toes because he was not about to tell me how to raise my baby.”
Even now, I could see the forehead vein on her throbbing in annoyance. Laughing as hard as I did, I started feeling lighter than air.
“He did not !” I gasped in between giggles.
“Oh yes, he did! He had a powerpoint presentation and handouts of all the best tutors in Cyran. Allen wanted to ask him to do our taxes but the man still didn’t take it seriously! Ugh, what did I ever see in him?” She mumbled.
I knew she was just bringing this up to make us both feel better. Talking about memories of the men we loved, when times were simpler, it made everything better somehow.
“He was so polite about it too…” mom sighed. “Sometimes I wonder if I did enough for you. It was hard not to question it when a rich scoundrel comes along like he knows better.”
She crossed her arms but couldn’t hold that angry look for long. We both burst into giggles again and I kissed her forehead.
“Thank you, mama. Wyatt never told me that…but it fits him.”
She softly smiled and cupped the side of my face and I leaned into her touch.
“I think, before he met you and our family, Wyatt might have never known what love really looked like. I tried not to dig into the family he came from but with money like that it was impossible.” She shook her head, frowning softly. “They were not kind people, baby, in fact they made Al Capone look like an amateur.”
“Yeah,” I let out a shaky breath, “I figured. Maybe that’s why we're drawn to each other so much?” Aside from mate politics. “Wyatt wanted to protect something he saw as kind and good, and I wanted to protect his heart from growing colder.”
Yeah, that basically sums it up, I think.
Mom nodded. “There was no pulling you two apart, at least not until his brother took him for a few years. I was getting worried for a minute there, I mean you were about to go through puberty—”
“Mom! Wyatt would never have—”
She smirked, “Oh, I was never worried about him taking advantage of you.”
I blinked and placed a hand over my chest. “Mama, are you calling me a predator?”
“I’m calling the younger you, primal and inexperienced and knowing him? Well,he might not have made it to adulthood and I was too young to be a grandmother.” She shook her head softly as I grimaced.
“You’re awful.” Mom just laughed it off. She was probably right if my heat cycles are anything to go by but it didn’t make me feel any less awful.
“Say…mom. About Barbie saving you though.” I’d been holding this off as long as I could.
“Hm?” She tilts her head.
“If you’re here, where are the others then?”
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter