Page 36 of Cloud Nine Love

I remembered her being in bed a lot after she had Ruby. As an adult looking back, I’m not sure if it was depression from losing her husband less than a year earlier or if she suffered from postpartum. As a ten-year-old kid, I just knew there was a baby who needed taking care of. I was the one getting up in the middle of the night. Changing diapers. Doing laundry.

Thankfully, the town showed up with dinners, diapers, formula, and other essentials. There were a few times I worried that they were going to take Ruby away. I remember seeing adults exchanging knowing looks, signifying that something needed to be done, but I did everything in my power to prevent that.

I made sure I got straight A’s. I was never late for school, even if I hadn’t slept. And the trailer was always clean. Seeing ten-year-old kids now, I wonder how I did it. At the time, I just knew that if I didn’t, someone was going to take Ruby away from us, and there was no way I was going to let that happen.

People have always said I act more like a father to her than a brother; that first year was probably the reason.

“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “I don’t think it’s depression. She does seem genuinely tired, not like she’s going to bed to hide from the world, and the trailer is spotless.”

Before my dad died, my mom was always cleaning, cooking, baking, doing laundry—all the domestic things that parents do. But after he died, she just sort of stopped…everything. From that point on, we’d always had to fend for ourselves.

Ruby sighed as she nodded.

“I tried to talk to her about it,” I told my sister. “But she just told me to come back and talk to her when I was fifty.”

“Yeah, she told me the same thing.”

Our conversation was interrupted when the back sliding door opened, and Harper stuck her head inside and bellowed, “Dinner’s ready!”

“Oh, good!” Ruby clapped her hands together. “I’m starving.”

My sister walked into the kitchen, and I followed. When I came around the corner, I was disappointed to see no sign of Taylor.

“Can you grab the wine from the fridge and bring it out?” Ruby asked as she picked up a bowl of fruit salad.

“Sure. I’m just gonna go wash up.”

Harper was at the kitchen sink washing her hands, so I headed down the hallway to the guest bath. After closing the door behind me, my mind was working overtime to devise a game plan for how I was going to get Taylor alone to speak to her. The house was a decent size, but I doubted that she’d let me corner her anywhere. Especially since she wouldn’t want anyone to see us speaking.

I’d thought about getting her phone number from Ruby or Kane last night under the guise of ‘wedding stuff’ but decided it wouldn’t be right to bother her on the first night she was back with Harper. Over the years, Kane told me how much it killed Taylor to be away from her daughter. She was an incredible mom.

Just one more check in the perfect column.

I still didn’t have a plan when I opened the door and saw that opportunity had knocked. Taylor was standing in the hall. It was clear that she had no idea I was in the bathroom she was waiting for. Her eyes widened, and she started to turn away. Her effort didn’t get her far. With ninja speed, I grabbed her wrist, pulled her inside, and shut the door.

“What are you doing?” she whisper-yelled.

“Funny, I wanted to ask you the same thing, Ana.”

Her arm sprung up, and she covered my mouth with her hand. “Don’t call me that.”

Even though she was only touching me to stop me from talking, it was still contact—contact my entire body took note of. She must have felt it too, because her lips parted as she dropped her arm and reached for the doorknob. She was fast, but I was faster. Once again, I grabbed her wrist and pinned her hand behind her back. Her breath hitched as a flush rose on her cheeks.

Her eyes were locked with mine as I lowered my head, so our mouths were a mere inch apart. The warmth of her breath fanned my face as I asked, “Are you planning on ignoring me all night? All week?”

She swallowed with a gulp as she shook her head slightly. “I’m not ignoring you.”

“Liar.”

“I’m not ignoring you,” she maintained as her shoulders straightened. “I don’t have anything to say to you.”

“You don’t have anything to say to me?”

“No.” Her gaze was steely and cold.

For whatever reason, this ice queen thing she had going on was really doing it for me. Maybe it was because I knew how hot she was when that façade melted away.

“Really?” My lips brushed against hers as I spoke, and she moaned softly. “Because I have a lot to say to you.”

---