Page 146 of Their Property
TWO YEARS LATER
“Hey, mom, who was Cesar Chavez?”
I looked up in disbelief, my eyes landing on Isaac who had surrounded himself with piles of books in the corner of my office. He was eight years old now, bright and curious. And...I hadn't heard him right, had I?
“What did you say, sweetie?”
“I said, who was Cesar Chavez?” He held up a book. “This book is about him, so he must be important.”
My heartbeat settled, and I smiled. IsworeI heard him call me mom, but of course that wasn't right. He had a mother, although he hadn't seen her in nearly six months.
After Dyno and I went to meet Lacey, they agreed on three-month custody schedules. Isaac would stay with us during the school term, which he badly needed because his homeschooling was seriously lacking, and stay with his mother during breaks from school.
That lasted all of four months.
Isaac was shy with me at first, but we soon became great friends, and I fell in love with the little boy who was a spitting image of his dad. The first three months flew by, and I cried the whole way home after we dropped him off with his mother.
A month after that, she showed up unannounced and practically dumped him on our doorstep. She screamed at us, saying Isaac was acting out and throwing tantrums like never before. He didn't like her food, he missed his friends and his room with us. We'd spoiled him rotten, and she couldn't handle him. I hugged that boy with everything I had, wishing I could shield him from it all while Dyno made Lacey leave.
She hadn't been back since.
While I loved having Isaac full-time, he always called me Kyrie, orlittle ladywhen he was impersonating T-Bone. Which was fine. I'd been a stranger to him until two years ago. But it still sent a little rush through me when I thought I heardmom.
“Cesar Chavez was very important,” I said, rising from my desk to take a little stretch. “He helped a lot of people who were being treated unfairly.”
“Like you?” It was a genuine question, not flattery. His long, dark eyelashes blinked as he waited for an answer.
“Me?” I said, genuinely surprised.
“Dad always says you help people when others don't help them, and that's why you're the governor.”
I just stared at this beautiful boy, stunned and moments away from bursting with how much I loved him and his fathers.
“That's sweet of him,” was all I could think to say. “I do try my best.”
A knock rapped at my office door and T-Bone swaggered in moments later, heading straight for me.
“What's wrong?” I asked, noting the scowl on his face.
His hands circled my waist and he lowered a smoldering kiss to my mouth until Isaac made gagging sounds.
“Your father's here,” he said in a low voice.
I could feel his anger simmering beneath the surface, felt it in his grip at my waist. Even now, he treated my dad like a threat to my happiness, as a malevolent force to protect me from. Grudge probably would have been a more fitting nickname for him than our Grudge.
“Thank you for letting me know.” I held T-Bone's cheeks with my palms and kissed him again in an effort to soothe him. “Have Anita send him in.”
“Do you want me to stay?”
“No, I'll be alright.”
Dad and I hadn't spoken for a year, and then he sent me a letter out of the blue. He spoke casually and didn't mention the Sons at all, so I ignored it. His second letter though, was a long, rambling apology. We'd stayed in sporadic contact after that, but today was our first in-person meeting since I’d left Four Corners.
“Come on, kiddo.” T-Bone went to Isaac and ruffled his hair. “Kyrie's got an important meeting.”
“Hang on, I'm reading,” Isaac grumbled back.
I chuckled, my heart lifting at what a bookworm he was turning out to be. “It's fine, he can stay.”
