Page 33 of Zeus: Love of a god

My hand went to my belly before I glanced back at Zeus. His smile was bright. “Yeah, our daughter is taking up a lot of space in here. She’s intrusive already.”

We all chuckled. My joke lightened the mood for the moment. Zeus told us to sit down so we could talk. I moved back to my seat.Should I initiate this conversation, or should he?

“Um, Dindi, you are beautiful. You’re the spitting image of your mother,” he complimented.

My cheeks rose blushingly. “Thank you. Auntie Kadence told me that all the time.”

His expression softened. “My condolences to the loss of your aunt. She really was a good woman.”

“That she was.” I felt like that was enough small talk. “May I ask why you never tried to reach out or be involved in my life?”

He shook his head with a titter. “Yeah, you are your mother’s child, straight to it. I could give you one hundred excuses, but I won’t because there is no excuse that is acceptable for my actions. What I will say is that I should have done better and been in your life. I should have told my sons that they had an older sister. I have a lot of regrets in my life, and one of them is how I disconnected from you, even when your mother was alive.”

I processed what he said. “Why did you disconnect from me?” I shifted in my seat. “Was it because I’m deaf? Was that why you didn’t want me?”

When he dropped his head, I knew the answer. Zeus’s hand went back to my thigh, and he squeezed it gently. He knew that I had insecurities about not being wanted because of my disabilities.

“Baby girl, it’s not that I didn’t want you. I think I was intimidated with everything it took to take care of you. Your mother was so perfect when it came to that. Instead of being a good husband, I let her do it and did other shit I had no businessdoing. When your mother died, I was devastated. She was the love of my life, and I spent a lot of our relationship being a fuck boy. When your aunt told me about your mother’s wishes for you, and it was confirmed by the will, I thought it was best to let it be.

“I made sure I sent you money every month, but I know that I should have made more of an effort to be in your life then. I was young and dumb as hell with a lot of my mistakes,” he admitted.

Him saying that my mother was the love of his life was incongruent with him saying that he was a fuck boy to her for a lot of their relationship. “I’ll assume that your wife was one of the women that you cheated on my mother with.” I glanced at my brothers. “Your mother is evil. She sent her son to kill me, and he tried to rape me because she told him I was a ho who fucked everything. That was after she tried to kill me herself by pushing me in front of a moving car.”

Anger still sat on my chest about that. I had gone to two sessions so far with a therapist. It would take a lot more sessions.

AJ nodded. “I completely understand that. There’s nothing I can really say except sorry. My brother and mother were sick as fuck for what they did.” His acknowledgment of that meant a lot to me.

My father shifted in his seat. “To answer your question, yes, my ex-wife was one of the women that I regrettably cheated on your mother with. I don’t regret my boys; however, I wish I’d made a better decision when it came to picking their mother. Had I been on my shit like I should have been, your mother may have been theirs.”

I caught the ex-wife comment. “You’re divorcing your wife? Why?”

His demeanor became very tense. He glanced at my brothers who looked uncomfortable as well.What the hell is going on?

“Yes, I am divorcing her. I should never have married her. Like you said, she is in fact evil and have done things that are irreparable. One of those things was sending my son to attack you. As far as the sexual assault, that was of his sick doing.” He smacked away a tear that fell. “I will never be able to express how fucked up I feel about that shit.”

My heart ached for him. I was at a crossroad. Forgiveness was a crazy thing, but the reality was this part was not something that I needed to forgive him for. I reached my hand across the table and placed it on top of his. The agony in his eyes bothered me.

“Hey, I’m not saying it’s ok, because it’s not. What I am saying is that it’s not your cross to bear.”

Melody used to tell me that I forgave too easily. It wasn’t that at all. It was that I hated to hold things on my chest. I would never volunteer myself to have a stroke or heart attack because I held grudges.

“So, what is it that you’re wanting to happen from this point on, Aaron? All of this is cool, and I respect it, but I want my woman to have a clear understanding of what you wanted the outcome of this meeting to be. After everything that’s happened, I’m on high alert when it comes to her protection.”

The way Zeus protected me was sexy and needed. I never knew that I needed his kind of protection until I had it. The love I had for this man was something that hurt sometimes, in a good way. There were times when I woke up in the middle of the night and he was talking to my belly. He would tell our baby how much he loved her and how awesome her mommy was.

Jason cleared his throat. He’d been quiet the entire time. “Well, I can only speak for me, but I think I speak for my brother too. We never knew about you. If we did, we would have wanted a relationship. We can’t do shit about what happened in the past,as far as not knowing you. Now we want to know you and build a relationship.”

I couldn’t lie and say that was not what I wanted too. The way Poseidon, Hades, and Zeus carried on about their sisters was something I always wanted. AJ, Jason, and I would probably never get there, but at least we’d have a relationship.

“I would like that,” I replied. “Um, Aaron, what do you want out of this?”

He didn’t say anything for a beat. “I would like to be in your life however you would like me to be. I can’t make up for the past. All I can do is show you that I have changed and want to be in your life. I know you’re grown now and don’t need a daddy, but I would like to be there for you.”

I nodded. This was a lot to take in. With a warm smile, I responded. “I hear everything that you all are saying. Can you give me some time to think about it? A lot has happened, so it’s not an easy decision to make.”

“Of course!” Aaron stood from his seat. “Take as long as you need. Zeus, you know how to get in touch with us.” He patted my brothers on the back. “Let’s get out of here.”

AJ and Jason stood up. “Hopefully, we’ll see you soon, Sis.” I smiled at AJ’s reference of me as his sister.

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