Episode 116

Episode 116

Epilogue 4: Maia and Rhodes

MAIA

"Maia!" I heard Emily scream from the entrance to our home. Buddy had just picked up the kids from school. Mom and I were in the kitchen with Marisol, learning how to cook.

The tone of that scream made gooseflesh rise on my skin.

"Maia!" she screeched again, as the sound of multiple pairs of teenaged feet came clomping through the house to the kitchen like a herd of horses.

Emily was a mess of rosy cheeks, wild hair and streaked mascara.

"What the fuck!" I dashed over to her and cupped her cheeks. "Did someone hurt you? Where's Buddy?"

"Right here. And I already asked. I'm going outside to patrol. I did not sign up for this shit," he grumbled and bailed out the kitchen side door to the backyard. Buddy often bitched about the teenagers but was also the first to volunteer to pick them up. I think he was still dealing with what happened in Colorado and being overly protective of everyone in the family. The kids and their drama drove him up the wall, which I thought was hilarious. Most of the time.

"You!" Emily spun around and pointed at my brother Zach. "You ruined everything!" she roared.

The noise apparently interrupted Rhodes because, within moments of them arriving, I could also hear his feet pounding down the back staircase off the kitchen that led to his office.

"Maia, Emily!" he called out as he rushed into the kitchen, his gaze going from Emily's angry red face to Zach, and then to Maisie who was leaning with her back against the wall quietly watching the show.

"Dad! You tell him he is not the boss of me!" Emily yelled at Zach.

"Zachery, what did you do?" Mom approached him. She was moving around great now that it had been six months since we left Colorado. For the most part, she spent her time helping Marisol and learning how to be an independent woman. It wasn't easy going, but she was a champ, and I believed in her. Plus, I loved having our entire family in the same place.

"That slimy jock had his hands all over you!" Zach snapped.

"He's my boyfriend!" Emily shrieked, the pitch rather piercing to the rest of us.

"What boyfriend?" Rhodes asked.

I let out a deep sigh. "Babe, I told you she was dating someone. A guy on the wrestling team."

"He sucks though. I took him down in one punch. A little bloody nose and he went whining away to his dumb-as-rocks friends." Zach smirked, clearly pleased with his actions.

"You are not allowed to hit my boyfriend! You are not allowed to hit anyone!" Emily stomped her foot with petulance.

Zach maneuvered around Mom and pointed in Emily's face. "Then you should keep your kissing in private! And he should have kept his hands off your ass!"

"Oh my god! He kissed you?" I started bouncing up and down on the balls of my feet. "Jeremy Joplin?"

Emily smiled huge. "JJ for short. It was so awesome!"

"Eeeek!!!" I hugged Emily and we jumped up and down together. She'd wanted to catch the eye of the hot wrestler since high school started months ago.

"Who kissed you? Maia, stop celebrating for chrissake," Rhodes rumbled and rubbed at the back of his neck.

"It was so dreamy, Maia," Emily breathed. "I thought I was going to die. He was so romantic!"

"It was so dreamy…" Zach imitated in a high voice while snarling and making quacking motions with his hand.

"You shut up!" Emily pointed her finger at Zach's face. "Maia, tell him he's not allowed to hurt my boyfriend. Or any other guy I date!" she added for good measure.

I patted her back. "Bro, what's up? Why did you fight him?"

"Did you miss the part where he was kissing her and touching her ass?" Zach deadpanned.

"Kid has an excellent point…" Rhodes cut in.

"Daddy! Not cool." Emily's eyes narrowed as she glared in his direction. "All I know is that you need to lay off dude! I am not your girl, I'm never going to be your girl, and you can't go around beating up the boys I like. Period. I'm going to my room. Maisie!" she called out like my baby sister wasn't hiding in the corner as all this went down.

She pushed off the wall. "I'm here, Em."

"Our room. Now. We have to do damage control because somebody may have ruined my entire life!" She growled in Zach's direction then did an about-face and stormed out of the kitchen and toward their room.

After about a month of Maisie living in the guesthouse, the two of them asked if they could share a room. Since the bedrooms in Rhodes' house were ginormous, and Mom was cool with it, they bunked up and became best friends.

"Hey," I put my hand to Maisie's shoulder. "Don't forget, you leave for therapy in an hour."

Maisie smiled. "I won't."

"Besides all this drama, therapy is going good yeah?" I liked to check in every couple weeks.

She nodded. "I like her very much. Right now, we're working on the idea of me making one friend that wasn't given to me by Emily."

I tilted my head. "I don't understand."

She dipped her head and her cheeks turned red. "All of my friends are Emily's. And they are nice, but the therapist wants me to make a friend of my own. She says it would be good for me to put myself out there."

"Oh honey, that's a great idea," Mom interrupted.

"I think so too," Maisie agreed. "Today I actually complimented a girl sitting next to me in math class on the dress she was wearing. Turns out it was one she made herself. She says one day she's going to be a famous designer. I told her she was definitely on track. Then she asked for my cell phone number, but I don't have one."

I blinked, standing there like a stupid idiot. I remembered getting Mom one. And when we went to the store, we'd taken Zach because he was learning to drive. He'd straight up asked for one.

"Honey, shoot. I'm so sorry. We'll get you one on the way home from therapy. I don't know why it didn't dawn on me sooner," I apologized.

Maisie shrugged her shoulder. "I didn't have anyone I needed to call before. Now maybe I will."

Behind Maisie I could hear Mom sniffling. Rhodes went over to her and patted her back. "It's an oversight, we'll take care of it right away."

"But you shouldn't have to," Mom croaked. "I'm supposed to be providing for my children, and it's my child and her husband doing all the heavy lifting."

Husband.

I loved hearing Rhodes called that. We'd married three months after getting home from Colorado. None of us had ever seen the ocean, so that first weekend we were all home together, we went to the beach. Every last one of us felt the calming healing vibes of the ocean, finding the experience so uplifting and freeing. I'd decided there and then that I wanted to get married right where I'd felt free. Rhodes thought it was a wonderful idea. We'd only invited a handful of people to witness it. My best friend Sam of course, Alana and Christophe, Marisol and her family, and us. It was perfect. After the ceremony, Marisol and her kids cooked us a Mexican feast, and we drank margaritas and danced under the stars until our feet were too tired. It was one of the most beautiful nights of my life.

"Maisie, go on ahead but be ready for therapy," I instructed.

"Okay, Maia. Love you, Mom!" she called out and then headed to her room.

"I'm outta here," Zach snarled.

"The hell you are!" I hollered. "Zach, you cannot beat people up at school. Not Emily's boyfriends, not anyone. You are not that person."

"Bullshit. Dad made sure I was. Taught me exactly how to take a punch and return it double-fold. And if anyone lays a single finger on Emily or Maisie, I'll do what I have to do."

"You are not the law." I growled under my breath.

He recoiled at those words, likely remembering how his father claimed to be the law all the time. Look where that got him. Serving life in prison and likely becoming some inmate's bitch. Served him right.

"Like I said, I'll do what I have to do to protect what's mine," Zach crossed his arms over one another defensively.

"Emily is not yours," I said as calmly as I could muster.

"One day she will be." And on that note, he stormed out the back patio door all teenage angst. "I'll be in my room," he said as he slammed the door.

Rhodes left Mom and came over to my side. "That boy has a lot of anger coiled in him even with regular therapy visits. It still doesn't take much to set him off. I can see why he'd react the way he did, especially since he's made it no secret he is enamored with my daughter. But he's going about it the wrong way," he sighed.

"Can you maybe, talk to him? Try to show him a better path to channel his anger?" I asked.

He nodded. "I talked to Buddy about this the other day. He thinks we should get him into boxing or some form of mixed martial arts. Put a heavyweight bag in the gym, sign him up for some classes or a league."

I closed my eyes. "I hate the idea of him using his fists for a hobby though," I said, not saying what I truly feared, that he'd end up like Damon one day.

"That's why he has to channel it. He lived in that house with that man for fifteen years. Using his fists is his first go-to. We need to teach him a healthy way to do what he's already good at."

"Mom?" I knew it was technically her decision, but she'd been deferring to me and Rhodes on anything involving the kids since they got here. It's like the woman I remembered had been beaten down so badly she didn't know what was right or wrong, healthy for the kids, or what even was good for her. But she was learning, and I'd do everything I could to help her transition into being the mom those kids needed. The mom I needed.

"I have to agree with Rhodes," she wiped at her teary eyes. "Zach was taught to use his fists to solve a conflict. It's his default, just like it was Damon's. Finding a positive outlet for that could be the best bet."

I nodded. "Okay, I trust you." I lifted my head and Rhodes planted a kiss on my lips.

"I'll go talk to him. You'll sort out Emily?" Rhodes clarified.

I waved my hand. "She's easy."

"Just for the record, I can't say I'm mad about Zach protecting our girl like that." He grinned.

"Rhodes, don't you dare encourage him. He already thinks he's going to marry her one day. You want the kids getting hitched right outta high school?"

"She despises him." He frowned. "Doesn't she?"

I rolled my eyes. "If she didn't care what he thought, or what he did, she wouldn't be fighting so hard now would she?"

"So she hates him, but that means she actually likes him?" he asked.

"Exactly. She likes him, likes him, but she doesn't want to. Therefore, she hates him. For now. Could last a week. A month. A year. Or more. Depends on how it all goes."

"Likes him, likes him….what?"

"God," I groaned. "Men. Just go talk him off the ledge and approach him about the boxing idea."

He pecked my lips again. "On it. You ladies cooking?"

"Mari is teaching us the art of making the perfect homemade sopes and tortillas. They are way harder than they look."

He grinned. "Looking forward to eating it, and you later." He whispered that last part just for my ears. Now my cheeks turned pink, but I busied myself with picking up my chunk of dough and giving it a few smacks.

"So, back to our lesson. Mari?"

Shockingly, Mari had not gotten involved in our family argument, letting us handle it all ourselves, continuing to cook or pretending to, and listening in I'm sure.

I went over to her side and bumped her shoulder. "How'd we do?" I asked, genuinely curious about her opinion.

"I agree with the boxing. Teenage boys need things to punch once in a while. All those pesky hormones." She made a sour expression.

"And Emily?"

"She'll soon learn she can't string one boy along while kissing another."

I snorted and chuckled. "True. And Ma?" I whispered.

"She'll be okay in time. More time is needed. A lot more. We will help her heal."

I loved Marisol even more for saying that. She'd become a solid resource for my mother, who questioned everything. When a person lived over twenty years with a vile, violent man who didn't let them be a true adult, it wasn't surprising that Mom was extremely awkward around other women. Marisol wouldn't allow anyone to feel awkward around her. She'd push and pull until the person gave up and accepted her bossy, nosy version of love.

"And me?" I added just to see what she would say, never having asked her thoughts on Rhodes and me before. Not that it mattered. We were a done deal. But I was a little curious.

"You, my dear, are the best thing that ever happened to our little family. Alas, you are a bad cook. You lose points for that."

"Mari-sol," I enunciated her name. "That was soooo mean!" I laughed. "If I'm a bad cook it's your fault because you're the one teaching me." I skipped right over her love-bomb of a message and went straight into easier waters. Marisol loved a good bickering sesh, which she always won.

She hit me with rapid fire Spanish that I had absolutely no hope of translating when she spoke so fast, but the results had Mom and me laughing like hyenas just the same.

* * * *

RHODES

Later that night, after I'd fucked my wife to the point where she could barely move, I asked the burning question I'd been worried about for months. We'd had so much going on in our lives, it never came up, and I certainly wasn't getting any younger. I was coming up on thirty-nine while my wife hadn't even turned twenty-five yet.

I threaded my fingers through Maia's now shorter hair. After we got married, she chopped her curls to chin length. I loved it. The shorter length made her curls look even more enticing and I adored running my fingers through the silky spirals as I fell asleep.

I started our nightly conversation focused on the day's events. "Today was a bit rougher than we've experienced since your family moved in with us, huh?"

She sighed, her breath puffing against my bare chest. "Yeah. Teenagers are a lot of work."

I chuckled. "They are. Speaking of teenagers or children in general…"

Maia didn't say anything or even breathe, but her body did go stiff in my arms.

"We never talked about us having kids." I threw it out there, wondering where the conversation would lead.

Maia shifted off me and sat up, holding the sheet to her chest. "You already have a kid."

I crossed my arms behind my head and rested my head in my hands. "Yeah, but you've never had one of your own."

"Emily's mine," she responded instantly, making my heart swell to the size of Texas. It was the leeriness to her tone I didn't like. "Are you about to drop a Portia situation on me? Is that why you went for the third O? Buttering me up for some new drama she has going?" she frowned.

I grinned. "No. And I know Emily's yours, baby. No one is suggesting otherwise. I'm grateful you've taken on the role of mother to her so well. But what about you?"

"What about me?" She pressed her hand to her chest.

"You haven't experienced being pregnant or caring for a baby."

"And?" Her entire face scrunched up into one of disgust.

"Well, I just thought we should talk about the future. About whether or not you wanted to have a baby together. I'm not getting any younger."

"And I am?" She scoffed. "What about our busy life says, let's have a baby? Honey, do you want another child?" She winced.

Winced.

"I want what you want," I chose my words wisely. If she wanted to expand our already large circus, I'd be happy to share that experience with her. Did I want it? Not particularly.

Maia reached out and ran her hand up my abdomen to rest it on my chest over my heart. "Rhodes, I do not want to have more children. I do not have any desire to ever become pregnant. Honestly, before Em, I didn't even want children in my life. Now, I'm good with them, but I certainly do not want to add more to the equation."

"Are you sure? You're so young."

"I've lived a harder life in my twenty-five years than most will ever in a hundred. I do not need to add a baby to feel fulfilled. I'm happy as it is. Knowing all of them will be out of the house and going off to college in a few years is a true blessing I do not look down upon."

I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing, lifted up to a seated position and yanked my wife up and on top of me. She came with an oomph and a cute little giggle.

"God you're the perfect woman for me." I cuddled her small frame.

"Do you want more kids?" she asked.

I shook my head. "No. Would I willingly make a baby with you? Absolutely. I have room in my heart for anything that comes from us and our bond. But I love the idea of being empty nesters in a few years. You and me, alone…" I ran my hands down to her juicy bottom and gave it an encouraging squeeze.

"Down boy!" She playfully swatted at me. "We need sleep. It's your turn to take the kids to school tomorrow."

One of the things we'd agreed upon was that if we were busy, Buddy would pick up the kids from school, but one of us always drove them for drop-off. They needed to see how much they were loved and cared for, and part of that, in our opinion, was checking in with them at the start of their day. Making sure everyone was okay and ready to roll with whatever life threw at them.

I kissed Maia deeply and with my entire body and soul. Then I slid her off me, and she cuddled in close to my side in her normal sleeping position. She hadn't had a single nightmare since we'd come home from Colorado. Which was weird, but I kept vigilant in case she did. The bathroom light was always on, the door cracked so she could see in the dark if the fear returned.

"Goodnight, Maia."

"Goodnight, Rhodes. And just so you know, I love our life just as it is. Hormonal teens, fights, slumber parties, Mexican cooking classes with Marisol, teaching Zach how to drive, and looking after all of them. Thank you for giving me everything I could ever want."

"All I ever wanted was for Emily and me to have a woman in our lives we could both love and who would see our love as something to cherish. You show me that every day. So I think we both got what we wanted."

"Yeah, we did. Love you."

"Love you."