“That was Sebastian Keye, wasn’t it?” Sadie more or less accused.
“Yes.” I looked to Serena, who rolled her eyes heavenward.
“How do you know Sebastian Keye?” Sadie asked. “Why is he here? Why were you—”
“I met Sebastian when I took Hades and Persephone to the Blood Academy location shoot.”
Sadie glared at me. “Why didn’t you say he’d be here? I have pimples. Do you hate me so much that I had to meet Sebastian Keye with a face full of acne?”
I was aghast. “I don’t hate you. Not at all. What—”
“What are you looking at?” she shouted at her brothers. “You think it’s funny?”
My hundred-pound German shepherd, who was named after the Irish goddess of battle, scrabbled behind Lincoln.
“You think it’s funny that Sebastian Keye saw me looking like this?” She beat her chest with her clenched fist. “Wearing this dumb dress Mom made me put on with these ugly shoes?”
I looked to Serena for answers because as far as I could tell, Sadie was the image of her beautiful mom at that age. To me, she looked wonderful, wearing an autumn-shaded floral dress, black tights, and pretty, girly shoes.
Serena mouthed the word thirteen.
Adolescence? Was that all?
I could see where that might be hard to live with, day in and day out.
“He’ll think I’m a little kid,” she wailed. “How could you do this to me?”
Molly, stalwart champion of rational behavior, chose that moment to reappear.
“Hey. So, I’m Molly. Who do we have here?”
“Meet Serena, my ex-wife.” I performed introductions like a game show host. “That’s Sadie, our daughter. Jesse’s in the middle, and that’s Lincoln over there with Morrigan.”
“Link’s the youngest,” Jesse said. “He’s the baby of the family.”
“You’re the baby,” Link—should I call him Link?—spoke hotly. “Anyway, Sadie’s the one who’s crying, not me.”
“Shut up,” Sadie said through gritted teeth, “or I’ll yank your underwear over your head while you’re still wearing it.”
“Whooboy.” Molly did some kind of herding thing until all three kids were heading to the front door. “You guys come with Morrigan and me so your mom and dad can talk privately, okay?”
“That is not my dad.” Sadie glared at me before Molly successfully pushed the three of them from the house.
“Come, Morrigan.” Molly patted her thigh.
Morrigan turned back to make sure I wasn’t trying to trick her.
“Go on, girl. Go play with Molly.”
Molly closed the door behind them.
“Oh my God,” Serena said dramatically. “I can’t believe Sebastian Keye saw me like this. I’m old. I have a gray hair.”
I eyed her carefully. “Are you joking?”
“Of course I am.” Her expression grew furious.
“Are you angry with me?” It was pretty clear she was angry, but I wasn't certain why.
“You said to come early, so we came early, and what the hell, Stone? You’ve got some kid half your age draped over your lap and then I find out he’s a TV star or a fashion model or—” She waved both hands at the couch as if to point out the scene of the crime. “What. Were. You. Thinking?”
“The ceremony isn’t until three o’clock, and I asked you to come an hour early, so I was thinking about how I’d greet you at two, with Taggart, so he could take the kids over to see Ariel and the baby while we talked.”
“So we have to do everything your way? Is that it?”
“No, Serena—” I took a deep calming breath. “I want to do this however you need me to do it.”
“I don't need anything from you. We said goodbye four years ago and I moved on.”
“I haven't,” I said.
She turned away. “Not my circus, Stone.”
“Okay. I understand. I've dreaded this moment for four years,” I said. “Not because we broke up. Jason suits you better than I ever did and that's okay.”
“I'm so glad we have your approval.”
“But you know what?” I continued as if I hadn't heard her sarcasm. “I can't bear that I'm not the Dad I wanted to be. I can't bear that I abandoned them. I want to tell them that I made a mistake—lots of them really—and I'm going to do better.
“They have Jason, now. They don't need you complicating their lives by competing with him.”
“I'm not competing, I'm compounding.”
“You want to be their weekend dad now?”
“Not necessarily. Not if they don't want that.”
“Then what?”
“I want to tell them what happened to me, all the things I did wrong, all the things I wish I'd done differently. I want to open a line of communication with them and after that, the ball's in their court. Maybe we can text, or—”
“What if they don't care?” she asked. “The boys barely remember you. They're more excited to see the dog than you. Sadie's going to be a hard sell, because she was always Daddy's little girl, but you destroyed that when you walked away. What are you going to do if they no longer give a damn?”
“I'll tell them I do give a damn. That I will always love them, but I can't tell them how to feel.”
“So you're not looking to have them over on weekends, or—”
“Not unless that's what they want.”
“What if I don't want them here?” She gripped the strap of her handbag like a lifeline. “What if I think they're better off without you?”
Hadn't I thought that for four years? “You’re their mom. I trust you to know what's best for them. I'm only asking for an open line of communication. We can negotiate anything else between us.”
“They're not game pieces,” she muttered.
“I'm not playing a game. I only want them to know that in the whole wide anonymous world, there is another adult who loves them unconditionally and wants what's best for them.”
She nodded slowly. “I'll…think about it.”
“Have you eaten?” I asked. “Do you want coffee? I can make a fresh pot. We really weren't expecting you until later.”
“Soccer was canceled this morning, so I thought I’d come down a little early. Is that a crime?”
“Of course not,” I said, “but a little notice wouldn’t have been a bad thing.”'
“Why do you need notice that your family is dropping by unless you have a half-naked, very young TV star lying on your lap.”
“He wasn’t lying on my anything.” It was clear that choosing that particular fact to argue was a mistake. She reddened.
“No, his head was in your lap,” she clapped back. “Is this why you abandoned your children? Because you couldn’t bring yourself to tell us you’re gay? You sure as hell never gave me even a hint that was the case. Jesus, Stone. Did you think I wouldn’t want to know?”
“I’m not gay,” I said quietly.