Page 30 of Saber's Surrender

“Yeah,” I murmur, a small smile turning my lips upward. I have to admit, he’s his father’s son. He doesn’t take shit lying down and wants the facts laid out on the table. “Do you wanna know something kind of cool?” I question.

“What?” He’s not sounding as belligerent, which has me cautiously optimistic, but I’m still gonna tread with caution.

“When we found out we were having a little boy, we chose a name so we weren’t calling you something silly like ‘bean’ or ‘peanut’,” I admit. “So, we called you Draco. And your mother? She chose the couple she thought would be the best people to raise you and told them what we had been calling you.”

“That’s my middle name,” he replies. “They kept it as my middle name!”

I nod, overcome with emotion myself. “You need to understand that we know this won’t be easy for you, given the circumstances, but you’ve never been far from our thoughts this whole time. Adding Egypt to our family will just make it that much sweeter as far as we’re concerned.”

“So even though I wasn’t with you, I had a piece of you. I had Draco,” he surmises.

“You did,” I acknowledge, reaching out and placing my hand on his knee. “You may not have known it, but you’ve always had us, son.”

“What about if you have more kids?” he asks, his voice back to sounding suspicious. “What happens then?”

“Then you and Egypt become the big brother and sister,” I advise. “I’m sure it’s not as much fun when you’re a teenager and your mother has a baby, but we’re obviously both still young. Not only that, but when we were teenagers, we dreamed about having a house full of children.”

“You grew up together?” I can now see that he’s no longer full of anger, but curiosity. And I’m going to answer each question he has so he understands that even if we choose to add to our family down the road, neither he nor Egypt will be replaced.

“We did. Your mother, Roxy and I, grew up in the system. It was a hard life, which is why we didn’t want that for you. With the way we were struggling to survive, the state could’ve stepped in and taken you away from us. Your mother made the right, mature decision.”

“Does that mean you didn’t want to put me up for adoption?” he asks.

“No, I didn’t. However, that doesn’t mean I was right. Now that I’m older and seeing things clearer, I know that the McAllisters were the better choice for you. I haven’t said this yet, but I’m going to say it now, I’m sorry for your loss, Canyon. I can’t imagine what you’re going through and I wish I could take this pain away from both you and Egypt. What can I do to help make it better for you?”

“I don’t know,” he says, blowing out a heated breath. “Right now, nothing feels right.”

“I get that. Your life has imploded and you have no other choice but stay on course and join the ride. I can promise you that with time, things will get easier. The pain and grief will always be there, you’ll always miss what you had, but it’ll lessen.”

“We’ll see,” he mutters.

“Now that you get from Roxy,” I chuckle. “She’s always saying that to me when I tell her I want something.”

“What do I get from you?” he hesitantly asks.

“Everything else,” I chuckle. “It’s like looking back through time when I look at you and listen to your smartass mouth.”

“We’ll see,” he rebuts with a smile on his face which has us both chuckling.

Maybe things aren’t going to be as bad as we were worried they were going to be. But like all things, only time will tell.

CHAPTER

EIGHTEEN

Roxy

When Canyon came downstairswith Weston, my entire body stiffened and stayed that way until after introductions were made and Canyon sat down next to me and leaned over, whispering, “So I hear you’re my mom?”

“Yeah, I am,” I whispered back, my pulse rapidly pounding alongside my heartbeat.

“I hear I’m kinda like you in a way,” he states.

“Could be,” I tease. “They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

“We’ll see,” he snickers.

Weston, who was sitting directly across from me, smirks and mouths,“Just like his mom.”

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