Page 26 of Keg's Revelation

Chapter Nine

Keg

As I listened to Raven, I kept going back to the morning conversation with my sister. Things she said brought a new perspective to what Raven had chosen to do. I wasn’t positive that if I’d been in her shoes, I wouldn’t have made the same decision. So much was going on in her life at that time, could I hold it all against her? She was seventeen and pregnant with my child, and I’d dumped her easily because all I heard was that she was moving. Even though neither of us knew at the time. I couldn’t even bring myself to hate the man that had given my son his last name. He stepped in and loved Ry as his own in my absence.

With my anger set aside, and the hurt, I processed all she had said. I’d ask the few questions I had, and then it was time to shove it all in the past. I couldn’t focus on the time I missed with Ry when there was so much left ahead for us.

“If your husband hadn’t died, do you think you would have ever told me or at least Ry and left it up to him?”

A tear from Raven’s already glistening eyes rolled down her cheek, and she wiped it away before answering, “I don’t know. When I talked with Ry, he asked a similar question. I’d like to think I would have. Keeping him from you did wear on me, Reed. Sometimes so much that Derek would tell me that it would be okay if I wanted to inform you, he’d be with me every step. I often wondered why he was so accepting of my decision, I never asked. But after his death when I’d think of our time together, I wondered if it had had anything to do with him being raised in foster care and never really having a family of his own. In his need to have a family, he would put up with anything or do anything to keep it. I’ll never know, and that’s probably best.”

“How is Ry doing?”

“I was worried at first because he seemed to shut down. But after talking with him and answering his questions, he surprisingly took the information in stride.” Her lips curved in a half smile.

“What’s the smile for?”

“Something he said at dinner yesterday. Basically, it was that he now had the answer to his love for motorcycles, it was in his blood.”

I couldn’t help but laugh, and it felt great. “Glad to see the kid can keep his focus on things while shit’s happening around him. Still working you for a dirt bike?”

“Yeah, any chance he can work it in a conversation. Ry’s always had a fascination with motorcycles from the first time he saw one. He even has several models of motorcycles he’s put together. No one can touch them but him. He has a panic attack if Reagan even goes near them.”

Hearing about Ry’s hobby reminded me about the boxes in my dad’s shed. I wasn’t looking forward to going through all my stuff stored there before now.

“We men are protective of our toys.” I grinned, and she rolled her eyes. The few things she shared of Ry only touched the surface of my need to know about him. “Tell me more about Ry. I want to know everything.”

“Surprisingly, I had an easy pregnancy. Ry was born at one thirteen in the morning and weighed eight pounds even. Twenty-one inches long and a full head of dark brown hair, he made his appearance into the world known, and he’s never stopped. He’s always been laid back, and I shouldn’t have been surprised how easily he’s dealing with this. Thinking about it, even when he was little, he dealt with things pretty much the same way. Going silent as if working it out in his head.”

As Raven continued to share moments of Ry’s life, I found myself absorbing each milestone and eager to learn more. The anger faded. The hurt would take a little longer, but I’d cope with it. I figured it too would eventually go away.

Not sure how long we talked, but the sun started going down in the sky and with it the warmth it provided. “I want to hear any and everything to do with Ry. However, I should probably get you back before the kids and your grandparents wonder what happened to you.”

“I left a note. However, we should head back, it’s cooling off, and I might not have been on a bike in years, but I do remember the difference in temps when the wind hits you.”

I stood and gathered our trash and deposited it in the nearby trash. We were both quiet as we walked to where my bike was parked.

“I’m going to get hit with a hundred questions about getting to ride on your bike.” Raven laughed, and when I looked at her, I didn’t see the twenty-nine-year-old woman; I saw the young girl who had been everything to me. Sami’s voice whispered inside my head.‘You loved her once.’

---