New Roots (Fate's Intent Book 8) (19 page)

“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.”

“Great to see you, Jaylyn. Can we help you with something?”

“Can I hold him now?!”

“All right.” I sighed. “But only because I know you’re not going to go away.”

Jaylyn clapped her hands with a big smile and reached for Dirk. “Hello—um—well, what happened? Did you change or keep the name?”

“You knew about that?” Darius asked.

“Not that long. Just today. We heard it from Aleksander while Trever went to tell you.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter.” I said. “And we’re keeping the name. I’ve grown attached to it and we’ve chosen his middle name to be after Darius’s father, Nikolai.”

Jaylyn stood with Dirk in her arms and an odd expression on her face.

“My real father.” Darius clarified.

“Oh! Sorry, I didn’t know about that.”

“It’s okay. I didn’t expect you to.”

“So, where are we off to?”

“Where should we be off to?”

“The dinner will be soon. Guests have already begun to arrive to see the baby.”

I sighed. “Great.”

“What’s the matter?” Darius asked. “Celebrating him is a big deal.”

“I know that but it’s just—people. They judge, it’s their nature. Dirk’s different. They’re not going to see him like we do and I don’t want him to get attention for the wrong reason.”

Darius let out a long breath and put his arm around my shoulders. “It’ll be all right. No one’s going to ridicule him, at least out in the open. They wouldn’t dare to.”

“We’ll just have to see about that.”

“Awe, it won’t be that bad.” Jaylyn smiled, looking down at Dirk. “He’s so adorable. They’re going to love him just like we do.”

Hearing her say it put a smile on my face and I tried to be positive about it as we continued with our slow walk downstairs but I swallowed hard when we walked into the dining hall and saw that it was full of people.

“It’s okay.” Darius whispered, rubbing my back.

Kathryn was first to notice us and immediately turned from a conversation to approach. “Oh, Ruby, it’s good to have you back!”

We hugged.

“Thank you.”

“May I?”

“Of course.”

We both turned towards Jaylyn and she didn’t seem ready to give him up yet. She lifted Dirk and held him gently to her chest. “But—”

“Jaylyn, learn to surrender him now. You’re not going to be able to hold him all night with the amount of people here.”

She sighed childishly and handed him off to Kathryn.

“Oh, he is so cute!” She said in a high pleased voice. “And he has your hair? Izin mentioned it but I had to see for myself. He’s remarkable! You must be so proud!”

“We are.” Darius smiled, pulling me to him by my waist.

“Okay, I don’t want to either but I’m going to give him back so you can be the ones to present him.” Dirk was given to Darius and Kathryn walked right next to him to the tables where the people are. “Look who’s finally here!”

Everyone looked up and they started talking amongst themselves and the room seemed buzzing with noise.

Izin lifted his glass at the head of the table and tapped a fork against it. “I’d like to thank you all for coming and congratulate you on being the first among the world to lay eyes on my first grandchild. Darius and Ruby have been graciously blessed with a beautiful baby boy whom we are all here to celebrate tonight. To Dirk.”

He raised his glass in the air and everyone followed in an echo. “To Dirk.”

Everyone took a drink but I still stood unsure as I watched Darius holding Dirk still mostly covered in his arm.

“Come, Darius.” Izin smiled. “Do show everyone your son.”

“All right.”

Darius repositioned Dirk into his hands so he could hold him up and I stood nervous. I was tensing to stand still to keep from shaking as the blanket was pulled off him.

Gasps as well as awes roamed all the way around the room and remarks were openly made.

“Look at that.”

“So adorable.”

“He is his mother’s son for sure.”

“What a remarkable distinction.”

“My word—”

And it went on.

I tried not to listen. It made me feel like standing in front of a cage containing some odd being that everyone was gawking at but this was my son. He was no deformed creature or rare sight. I was standing right before them with the same likeness but it seemed like the echoing voices were never going to stop. They were getting in my head and making me dizzy but I made an attempt to keep my thoughts to myself and sat down.

“And we heard this right?” Someone asked. “You had him today?”

I was hesitant to answer but I did as politely as I could. “Yes, this morning.”

“Wow. Out of bed and everything. You look great.”

“Yeah.” Darius smiled. “It’s like she never even gave birth.”

“Please sit down.” I muttered through my teeth.

Darius kept his smile and lowered himself into the chair next to me while bringing Dirk in close to his body. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Just not really an attention enthusiast.”

“Really?” He joked.

I nudged him hard in the arm closest to me, thankfully it wasn’t the one holding Dirk and dinner had begun.

Silver trays of food lined every table and conversations proceeded among the guests.

I sat quiet while I ate, trying not to involve myself in any. My eyes never even roamed the tables. They would be fixed either in front of me or at Dirk who spend his night with Darius and never made a peep. I smiled as I watched him talk like I was actually listening but I was more enjoying seeing my boys together and how Darius was behaving around his son.

It’s like he changed somehow but a good change. I could finally see that this was something he truly did want and it made the night for me a bit more bearable.

The hours passed and the food had all but come and gone. Everyone remained around the tables, mingling and all getting a chance to hold the new baby.

I kept my eye on him, determined not to let him out of my sight but it became difficult at times.

“It’s all right.” Darius whispered, leaning down into me.

“Call me paranoid, I just don’t want anyone to hurt him.”

He laughed. “We’re right here. No one’s going to hurt him.”

The sound of a baby’s cry echoed and my heart skipped a beat as I gasped lightly and raised my head to look alert.

Darius turned too and the nursemaid that had once tended to me was holding Dirk out away from her with well-open eyes and others surrounding her seemed to be keeping their distance away from him as well. “This child is a curse. He should not have been saved.”

I was almost breathless as I pushed my way through people to get to him. “No! Leave him alone!” Darius was right behind me and I held my hands out for my son. “Give him to me.”

She looked at me, hesitant and slowly began to draw my child towards her.

“Give me my baby.” I demanded.

“What’s going on here?” Izin asked.

No one seemed to pay him any mind as Dirk was still crying as loudly as he could and the nursemaid looked down for a brief second. “You birthed a monster and he’ll destroy us all.”

I didn’t hesitate it another second. I snatched Dirk from her hands and held him in close to me while I looked down. He was still crying but his eyes were open and I saw them red. It wasn’t that much of a surprise to me but I looked back at Darius with worry.

“Get him out of here.” He said softly. “We’ll take care of it.”

I could only nod to stop my own eyes from turning red around everyone and I slowly started to move away from the crowd and leave.

“You must stop her. That child is—”

“Not your decision to make.” Izin cut in.

I was out of there, my feet swiftly carrying me upstairs and no one was going to stop me. Dirk was calming in my arms because he knew it was me; he knew he was safe.

“Red?”

I quickly turned around with Dirk held close to my chest to protect him. My eyes were red and I took a slow step back.

“It’s okay.” Trever said, holding his hands out so I could see he was doing nothing with them. “It’s me.”

“Stay away!” I moved Dirk so his head was right up to my chin.

“Red, calm down. He’s safe. You know I would never hurt him.”

I knew that; I knew he wouldn’t. A tear fell from my eye as they changed back and I rushed towards him, leaning my head down into his chest. “Oh, Trever! Don’t let them take my baby!”

“It’s okay. Nothing is going to happen. She was just surprised.”

“I knew it was a bad idea. I knew something was going to happen. He didn’t mean it. He’s just a baby. He can’t help it.”

“And the important ones know it’s going to take time for him to control it. Nothing is going to happen to him. We would never let it.”

“I want her gone. Far away. Out of here so she can never try to hurt him.”

Trever moved me back and made me look up. “You have nothing to worry about. They’ll see to it that everything is taken care of.”

I wiped my eyes with my free hand and started to turn away. “I’ve never been so scared in my life.”

“You don’t have to be. He’ll forever be safe with you around to protect him and having Darius for a father will only add to that.”

“I can only hope that you’re right.”

“Haven’t I always been?”

“Sadly yes.” I sighed. “But in a way, I was glad you weren’t here to say I told you so.”

“Yes, I’ve heard about what happened between you two and I’m sorry that I wasn’t here for you. I wouldn’t have rubbed it in your face.”

“Well, thank you but we’re passed it now. Dirk is our future and it’s how we both want things to be.”

“I’m proud of you, for sticking with it and not giving up on him. You were made to be together.”

“Though I still would have done things differently when I look back on it. So much has changed since then. It’s hard to believe that any of this is real.”

“Well, believe it.” Trever came to me and gently stroked the red locks of Dirk’s hair. “Because he’s a miracle not a curse. You deserve it.”

“Thank you. I feel a lot better since you’ve been here.”

“You’re welcome. I knew I needed to follow you. You shouldn’t be alone.”

I looked around the room for a moment then sat myself comfortably on the bed. “I know this is asking a lot but I have to feed him and I’d like for you to stay. At least until Darius gets here.”

“And have him walk in on me seeing that? I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”

“I’ll stop him from taking your head off. Please just stay. You said I shouldn’t be alone.”

Trever paused then sighed. “All right but only because I miss seeing your breasts.”

I laughed. “Stop! It’s not going to be like that and you know it.”

“Sorry. I had to.”

“It’s who you are. I know. I’m only letting it go because Darius wasn’t around to hear it.”

“That’s fair.” Trever sat down on the foot of the bed and watched me begin to feed my son. “What’s that feel like?”

“I don’t think I can describe it to you but after a few seconds it’s like I don’t even feel it anymore.”

“Oh.” He continued to watch through a pause. “Wow. I still can’t believe it. Red has a baby. Honestly, not something I could have ever imagined.”

“Thanks a lot!”

“I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just—as long as I’ve known you—never mind.”

“No, what?”

“It’s stupid.”

“Tell me.”

He let out a long breath. “If you told me a year ago that today we’d be sitting here in your husband’s room, feeding your baby, well, I wouldn’t have believed you.”

“You mean, it was never foreseen?”

“Not the exact date. It was coming, surely but I guess it came too soon for me. Everything has happened fast like you said.”

“Well, isn’t it kind of a good thing? You’ll be able to start your life and not have to focus it on everyone else.”

“You mean in a year from now?”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot. You’re leaving again in the morning.”

“It’s okay, Red but you’re right. I will be.”

The door opened and Trever’s head turned. Darius stood still by the door, his eyes slowly beginning to narrow.