24. Rory

24

Rory

R ory told himself repeatedly that he needed to have that conversation with Savvy. However, the time never seemed right. Sebastian and his parents were constantly at the house, even though he was out of the woods and feeling a lot better. He had even started back to work, albeit from his home office.

About a week and a half after the attack, he felt good enough to take the pups for a walk.

“We can’t run all out, but we can get a little exercise,” Rory said.

“Can Cassia come?” Cat asked as her new best friend perched on her shoulder.

“Of course,” Rory said. “She’s part of the family now.”

He noticed that the pups were constantly looking around and seemed to jump at every odd sound. They stayed very close to him, instead of running around like they normally did.

“You’re safe,” Rory assured them. “All of the bad guys have been sent far away where they can’t get to you. I promise.”

“We know, Daddy. Uncle ’Bastian and the others told us so,” Cat said.

He knew that even though they might know cognitively that they were safe, deep down inside it would take a while before they felt comfortable going out in the woods again. He figured that the best way to make them okay with it was to keep taking them out for runs – well, walks for now.

They passed the spot where the attack happened. His heart started to beat faster as he remembered fighting for his life, hoping that he could prevent the monsters from hurting the kids.

They seemed to read his thoughts.

“We were very scared,” Drake said. “Cassia and Savvy saved us,” Drake said.

“Then, we were afraid that you weren’t going to be okay,” Cat said.

“I’m sorry for scaring you,” Rory said. “But we are okay. The good guys always win, and we’re the good guys.”

Almost always, Rory thought, but that was a lesson for another day.

They seemed like they were starting to relax a little as they played a short game of tag with Cassia. All three of them made sure that they stayed where he could see them, though.

After a while, they headed back to the house. Rory was really tired from his first real physical excursion since the attack, although it felt good to be out and about.

It’s going to take me a while to get back into shape, he thought. Especially since some of the muscle tissues in my arms, legs, back, and chest were damaged.

The witches healed him, but he would have to regain the strength.

Savvy read to the kids and then they had a science lesson about the sun. They created a 3-D model of the sun and then hung pieces of paper under it with little facts. The kids were able to write a couple of factoids, with Savvy’s help, even though they were so young. He was very impressed with how much she taught them. She put them down for a nap after lunch. Rory watched her with the kids and his heart melted. A warmth spread through him as the love she had for them was obvious.

She grabbed the monitors and went out onto the deck. Rory joined her there.

“You are so amazing with the kids. They adore you and Cassia.”

“We love them, too,” Savvy said.

Rory took a deep breath and decided that now was the time to talk to Savvy about how he felt. He was sure that she felt the same.

“Before all of this mess got started, I told you that I wanted to talk to you about us,” he said.

Savvy swallowed hard, her eyes fixed on his face. She waited, breathlessly, for him to find the words.

“I really…” he started.

Just then, Amy stepped on the back deck. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but Eva is here. She insists on talking to you right now.”

Rory groaned and ran his fingers through his hair. “Great.” He looked at Savvy and said, “We’ll try to have this conversation later.” He touched her shoulder and went into the house, into the room that was just off the deck.

“Eva,” Rory said. “What are you doing here?”

He studied her face. She was a classically gorgeous woman, but as far as he was concerned, that’s where her beauty ended.”

“I wanted to talk to you. I need you to listen to me. I mean really listen,” Eva said.

“I’m here,” Rory said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“These last four years have gone by both extremely quickly and extremely slowly. Over the years I’ve thought about you and the kids nonstop. Every night before I go to sleep, I remember holding them and kissing them. Then, I remember you. All the fun we had. When we made love. I still remember your touch and your kisses.” She took a deep breath and brushed a tear away. “I meant to call you, but then every morning, I got into a rush, and before I knew it, the day was over. Another day had gone by before it was four years.”

“Those days are over,” Rory said.

“They don’t have to be,” Eva said, rushing toward him, putting her hands on his arms. “I know that I have a lot to make up for, but I will do anything to make it work. I want to be with you guys again. I want to be a family. We could go through the mating ceremony again. I’m still in love with you. I always have been. No other man has touched me. I couldn’t look at another man without seeing your face and without feeling your arms around me.”

Rory looked at the woman he was once in love with and realized that he felt absolutely nothing for her. There was no love, no hate, just complete indifference.

“I was in love with you for so long,” Rory said. “I never stopped.”

He heard a noise at the door and turned quickly to see Savvy standing in the hallway with a shocked look on her face. A tear fell on her cheek, and she quickly ran up the stairs toward the kids’ rooms. For a very brief second, Rory thought about chasing after her but decided he needed to deal with Eva first.

Rory looked at Eva and shook his head. “For a long time after you left, I thought about you. I hoped that you would change your mind and come back home. I hoped that we could work things out and that you could be happy here. That’s why it took me so long to have our mating canceled.”

“We can go through the ceremony again,” Eva said, hopefully. “We can have that happy family life you want.”

“I moved on and I met Savvy. She is my fated mate,” Rory said, the truth hitting him like a ton of bricks. “It is a feeling that is more powerful than I could have ever dreamed of and more intense than I have ever experienced. I don’t mean to hurt your feelings, but what I felt for you was nothing compared to the love I have for Savvy.”

Tears fell on Eva’s carefully made-up face. The mascara made black tracks down her cheeks. Her lips quivered. Rory wanted to comfort her but was afraid that any move he made like that would make Eva think that there was a chance for them.

After a minute, she nodded. “I understand. I can’t blame you for moving on. I’m not going to stand in your way or cause any problems between you and Savvy. But I do still want to be a part of Drake’s and Cat’s life. I missed out on so much with them, and I don’t want to miss out on anymore.”

Rory hesitated before he spoke. “As their mother, you have a right to be a part of their lives. However, I don’t want you hurting them again. I don’t want you to be a part of their lives for a while and then bail when you start shooting your next show. Then, they don’t get to see you for months or years at a time.”

“I swear that I’ve learned my lesson. And I’ll take my time with them. I’ll give them a chance to get to know me again. I won’t rush into their lives like a hurricane and then rush back out,” she promised.

She seemed sincere and Rory almost believed her, although he found it hard to trust her.

“I’ll make arrangements for you to spend time with the kids, but I swear that if you walk out on them again or if you hurt them in any way, I’ll make sure that you never see them again until they are old enough to make their own decisions.”

Eva nodded eagerly. “I understand. Can I see them now?”

Rory led her upstairs where the kids were quietly talking to Amy.

Cat looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “Savvy said that she had to go for a while. She said that she loves us, and we’ll see each other soon.”

Rory’s heart sank. He knew why Savvy left. She wouldn’t want to stand in the way of the family uniting. She also couldn’t stay and watch him and Eva be a couple.

“We’ll talk about Savvy soon. I promise that you’ll see her very, very soon. Meanwhile, your mom is here. She wants to get to know you and start to hang out with you a little bit.”

Neither pup was excited to see her. They just looked at her suspiciously.

“You’re the reason that Savvy left, aren’t you?” Cat said.

“We don’t want you. We want Savvy back,” Drake said.

“Guys, Savvy will be back very soon. I promise that I’ll go talk to her and tell her we love her and she needs to be back. Your mom can be a part of your life, too. You can have both Savvy and your mom,” Rory said.

Cat looked at Rory, at Eva, and then at Drake. Drake mumbled something in Cat’s ear, and she mumbled something back. Rory smiled at that. The two were very close and would never make a decision without talking to each other. They both stared at Eva suspiciously.

“I was wondering if I could take you guys out to get some ice cream,” Eva said. “You can tell me about what’s going on in your lives.

“We have ice cream here,” Drake said.

“I see,” Eva said. “It would mean a lot to me if you would let me take you to get a cone.”

“I think you should go,” Rory said.

“Fine, but we won’t like the ice cream,” Cat said defiantly.

“I see that you are just like your father.” Eva laughed. “I promise that we’ll find yummy ice cream. I won’t hurt you again.”

Rory knew that the kids were very unhappy. They’d had it rough lately. Their mother popped back into their lives, they were attacked and watched him get hurt, they had to worry about whether he’d survive, Savvy left, and now their mother was suddenly pushing to be back into their lives.

“I can fix one of those problems,” Rory vowed.

“Amy, can you watch out for the kids’ return? I need to visit a jewelry store.”

“Absolutely.” She grinned. “It’s about damned time you figured out what’s what.”