Page 30 of Requiem for Love

Mo’s voice finally came through. “Eesh, Theo’s having a hard time tonight. He—oh, puka, it’s okay. It’s okay, sweetie. Cry all you need to. I won’t leave you—woke up screaming. Like, it’s so bad, he’s throwing up. Then he asked me to ask Giorgio if he could make sure ‘the man’ didn’t get him. When I told him Giorgio left to meet up with Dez, Mike, and Julien, this started.”

Ayesha dabbed uselessly at her eyes. “We’re almost home.”

“Gio’s on his way back, so we’ll try to get him to calm down.” Mo whispered a few more reassuring words to Theo. “It didn’t feel right not calling because we’ve never seen him this bad, you know? But we’ll take care of him and love on him until you guys get here. I promise.”

“Thanks, Mo-Mo.”

“No problem, Eesh.”

They ended the call, and Ayesha folded herself into the seat. She couldn’t distance herself from the problem to effectively treat Theo, but he needed to talk tosomeone. Someone who could give them more clarity on this whole “man” issue.

“Joel?” She looked over, her vision watery. “Did somebody hurt my baby?”

CHAPTER6

When they arrived at the house, Theo had on a new set of pajamas and was fast asleep in Giorgio’s arms, those two fingers in his mouth. Josiah had fallen asleep in the middle of the sofa while Mo sat near Josiah’s feet. Aleksi, curls growing more uniform week by week, was sprawled all over Mo, his tiny belly rising and falling with each quiet snore.

“Hey, Mo-Mo, Giorgio,” Ayesha greeted. “Has he been asleep long?”

Giorgio stroked Theo’s hair. “Nyet.”

“He’s been asleep for about fifteen minutes,” Mo said. “I’ve never seen him like this. I mean, he didn’t stop crying until Gio walked in. Then, after we finished cleaning him up, he asked Gio to pick him up, and I can’t tell you the last time he’s donethat.”

Joel lifted Theo from Giorgio’s arms, and Ayesha pulled his fingers from his mouth, which caused Theo’s head to pop up.

“It’s us,” Joel whispered.

Theo gripped Joel’s coat. “Where’s Mama?”

“Right here, baby,” she said. “Sweetie, did you have a nightmare?”

Theo’s fingers returned to his mouth, and each tug opened a fresh crack in Ayesha’s heart.

“Theo? Can you tell Mama what happened?”

Theo closed his eyes and continued to suck on his fingers.

Ayesha sighed and turned to Mo. “Mo, is it okay if Josiah stays until the morning?”

Mo handed Aleksi to Giorgio and stood, stretching her arms above her head. “Of course. He can stay for as long as he likes.”

“Thank you.”

Ayesha kissed Josiah’s cheek.

Mo walked them to the door.

Just before they left the main living area, Ayesha noticed Giorgio’s hands moving, which was one of his stress responses. When things got to him further, he cut. Though it wasn’t noticeable to the naked eye, he did it far less ever since she started joining him when he worked on his cars. During those times, she’d also learned a lot about his past. For him to be where he was despite his trauma made him one of the strongest people she knew.

Theo fell asleep as soon as Joel secured him in the car, and he didn’t wake up on the ride back or as they walked into the house. However, the minute Joel set him on his bed, he scrambled into Joel’s arms as if the sheets were on fire.

So, they took him to her room.

As she changed him into his nighttime undies, she saw he was already wearing a pair and prayed it wasn’t because he’d had an accident at Mo and Giorgio’s. Mo wouldn’t mind, but the latent “you’re a terrible mother” merged with the “you’ll fail as a single mother.” She wouldn’t be able to weather that with everything else going on.

“Honor Curtis for once in your life.”

She gave Joel a black ribbed tank and checkered pajama bottoms he had to know, at first glance, were brand new. While he changed in a guest room, she dragged makeup remover cloths over her face until her skin tingled. Then she brushed her teeth, tossed on one of Joel’s shirts, lifted Theo out of bed, and went downstairs.

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