She embraced me with a tight hug. “Thank you! I can’t wait to tell Dash!”
Ding-dong.
“Oh, that must be Coal. I’ll be right back.”
She returned with her twin. “Since Coal either stays at the Martins’ house or the clubhouse, I thought it would be easier for you two to talk and get to know one another without an audience so I offered the use of my house. Dash will be gone for the rest of the day and I have to get to the barn to finish ordering supplies and making out next week’s schedule.”
With that, she skipped out the door leaving me and Coal alone. He took a seat in the chair but remained silent.
After several moments of uncomfortable silence, I asked, “Do you, um, do you remember me?”
“Yeah,” he answered.
“I didn’t know about you,” I blurted. “I know that sounds crazy, but I was never allowed to see my ultrasounds and the doctor never talked to me about my pregnancy. It never even occurred to me that I might be pregnant with twins.”
He nodded. “I know that.”
I waited for him to say more, but he didn’t. The ease I had with Ember seemed to have walked out the door with her. “We don’t have to do this today. You don’t seem very interested in being here.” He was not the compassionate and understanding young man from the day before.
He blinked and sat up straighter. “I’m sorry. My wounds are bothering me and I’m waiting on the medicine to kick in. I guess I overdid it yesterday. It helps to be still and not talk until the pain eases off.”
“Oh! You shouldn’t have come if you’re in pain. We could have done this another day or even later today. What can I do to help you?” I asked. I had unknowingly left my seat and was hovering beside him, well, like a mom.
He grimaced. “Will you hand me one of those pillows?”
I quickly grabbed a throw pillow and handed it to him. He braced it across his abdomen and said, “Let’s watch something on television for a bit. I should be fine in about 30 minutes.”
We watched some show about cars for the next hour. When it ended, he turned the television off with the remote and said, “Sorry about that. I’m feeling much better now. What would you like to do for the rest of the afternoon?”
I had no idea what my options were. I just wanted to spend time with him, but I didn’t want him doing anything that would cause him pain, so I told him just that. We opted to stay at Ember’s house and talk, which allowed me the opportunity to fuss over him and take care of him.
We spent the afternoon talking, much like Ember and I had. I told him about escaping from Octavius and then I told him about Nathan. He was also interested in meeting his half-brother, particularly once I told him about Nathan’s budding MMA career.
He told me about his life growing up on the farm with Kathleen and Jeff. Kathleen was a kind and genuine woman. If I had to choose someone other than myself or Phoenix to raise our children, it would be her. If only Ember could have been adopted by them, too.
Coal told me the story of the shooting from his point of view and his version was much more harrowing than the version Phoenix told me. I cried all over his shoulder while he hugged me and repeatedly assured me he was okay.
Then, he said something that had been flitting around in the back of my mind since Phoenix showed up in California. “Mom, I believe everything happens for a reason. I mean, getting shot sucked, but if it hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t know about my biological family, at least not at this point anyway. Ember and I have talked about this a lot over the last few weeks and she feels the same way about the events of her life.”
“Yeah, I feel the same way about certain aspects of my life as well,” I said, unwilling to specifically reference Nathan.
Coal nodded as if he understood what I wasn’t saying and blessedly changed the subject.
Before I knew it, Ember had returned to the house with Dash and Phoenix. Apparently, it was well after dinner time and they refused to stay away any longer. Ember invited Phoenix and me to stay for dinner, but Phoenix politely declined for the both of us. And I was glad he did. The day had gone much better than expected and I didn’t want to push my luck. Phoenix offered to drive Coal back to the clubhouse, but he opted to stay for dinner. We hugged and kissed our kids goodbye and walked to the truck.
Phoenix opened my door for me, but I didn’t get in. Instead, I turned into him and placed my hands on his chest. “Earlier, when you said you blew up Octavius’s house, it made me wonder about another building...the one where Ember and Coal were born, and Nathan, too. Uh, could we go see if it’s still there?”
Phoenix cleared his throat and nodded. “Sure. Do you remember where it was?”
Oh, I would never forget where that damn building was. “Yes, I do,” I answered, trying to keep the nerves out of my voice and gave him the directions.
He pulled up in front of the building that held so many bad memories for me. He sat silently beside me, holding my hand, while memories I did not cherish flooded my mind. “Is it being used for anything now?” I asked shakily.
“No, doll face, it’s empty.”
“I swore if I ever had the chance, I would burn this damn building to the ground,” I confessed.
“If you want to torch it, baby, I’ll gladly hand you a can of gas and some matches,” Phoenix said, pulling me into his arms.
