“Cut the crap,” Elsa growled. “I need you to sign the papers so I can move on.”
“I thought you already had,” I remarked. “Gone in sixty seconds. Remember?”
“You know why I left,” she snapped. “Because of what you are. And Declan is just like you. Amonster.”
My instant fury sent my hands to a fit of trembling. I gripped my cell hard as I leaned forward over my desk as though getting into her face. “Watch what you say about him,dear. He’s our son and a beautiful boy. I did what I did to save your life, Elsa. Yours and his. Call him a monster again and you’ll see the real me. Again.”
“This is why I ran away,” Elsa all but shrieked. “Because you’re dangerous. You’ll teach Declan to be a murderer. Just like you.”
“You don’t know anything of the kind,” I replied. “You didn’t give me a chance to explain, to show you how much I loved you. That’s your loss, sweetheart. We’re better off without you.”
“Kiss my ass, you freak.”
“Bare it.”
I listened to her suck in a deep breath, calming her runaway emotions. I rubbed my eyes, thinking of the love and happiness we once shared. The day Declan was born, our joy soared to the clouds and beyond. I suppose she’d have someday discovered what I truly was, what I’d passed to our son in my genes. When that day finally came, it involved death and violence.
“Just sign the papers,” she said, her tone bitter, but composed. “I want to marry again.”
“Who’s the lucky guy?”
“None of your business.”
“Send them along,” I told her wearily.
Elsa said nothing, but I heard the faint tapping of computer keys. “They’re sent to your e-mail,” she said at length.
I opened my e-mail. “Got them. I’ll read the documents over and get it back to you.”
“Asap,” she snapped, and clicked off.
I set my cell down with a sigh and opened the document. A simple, legal form that dissolved our once happy marriage. Within it, Elsa agreed to not contest my full custody of Declan, to not demand alimony or any support, that any goods or property we shared were now mine. I examined it for any loopholes and found none.
After signing and initialing, I hit the send button. “There you go, my now ex-wife,” I muttered, leaning back in my chair. “Loads of best wishes in your life with the new man.”
A strange emptiness surrounded my heart. As though a part of me had hoped Elsa would come back one day and now that hope was gone. Intellectually, I knew a long time ago she’d never return. Her terror of both Declan and me went far too deep for that. My heart hoped my mind was wrong.
I rubbed my eyes again. “Oh, well. Life’s a bitch, then you die.”
***
A free man, I confess I started looking at Jacy in a new light.
As though my promise to protect her brought a fresh freedom to her spirit, she smiled and laughed without hindrance, her love for Declan shining in her brilliant, green eyes. Days had passed since her fears had her packing her belongings, and in those days I witnessed a new Jacy.
“Dad.”
In unrepressed excitement, Declan slurped his milk from his plastic cup, his enchiladas only half eaten. He gazed at me, grinning widely, then shot a quick look toward Jacy. Jacy kept her eyes on her meal, yet I suspected a conspiracy at hand.
“Yeah?”
“Jacy saw an ad today,” Declan went on. “For kittens.”
I blinked. “Kittens?”
“Baby cats,” Declan explained as though to an idiot. “Can we get one? Dad? Please?”
I eyed Jacy sidelong. “Why kittens?”
