Page 17

Chapter Seventeen

T he following day I headed out to meet with Diego. When I told him about Grandma, he slumped into a chair and wept. He’d known her for years; his father had known her.

“I can’t believe it, Ruby. But it’s a good thing, I guess,” he said.

He made us both a coffee and we sat at one of the restaurant tables. It was empty, not open, and I found I missed the place.

“Do you remember when I arrived at Grandma’s? Can you tell me anything about that?”

He frowned and I decided to tell him the basics of what I’d learned. “He wasn’t my father; she might not have been my mother. I’ve discovered a lot the past week. I might have been a stolen baby. The police were after them, which is why they fled to Spain, it seems.”

Diego stared at me. “But you’re the spit of your grandmother,” he said.

I shrugged my shoulders. Was I? Sure, I looked Spanish with my long curly hair but if my mother wanted to pass me off as their child, wouldn’t she have been selective when choosing me?

“Oh, Ruby. I don’t know what to say. It sounds so unbelievable. She loved you, I do know that much.”

“I know. I’m struggling with it myself. My... he came here, to the house a few days ago. He confirmed I wasn’t his child, so I know it to be true.”

“He came here!”

“Yep. Now he’s gone again. I can only assume he was after money. Maybe he thought Grandma might have some.”

Diego shook his head and sighed. “I hope you sent him on his way.”

“Oh, I did, don’t worry. Anyway, these are the funeral arrangements,” I said, handing him a card with the details printed on.

“I’ll be there, and if there is anything I can do, you call me.”

I smiled at patted his hand.

“This man of yours, he’s doing you good. You’ve changed, Ruby. Not so... ”

“Bolshy? Annoying? Late?” I chuckled.

“All of those, but you’re smiling. I haven’t seen you do that in years.”

“I know, and I feel like I shouldn’t be. Grandma has only just died and I’m laughing and smiling. I’m dining in restaurants. I’m living a life as if she didn’t exist, or she’d died a long time ago.”

“She did die a long time ago, Ruby,” he said. “We all grieve in very different ways. You lost her body suddenly, but maybe you already grieved when she lost her mind, and you lost your grandma for real.”

I stood and he followed. He held my shoulders and kissed my forehead.

“We will always be family, don’t you forget it,” he added as I left the restaurant.

I walked back to the house I shared with Grandma knowing I’d be safe. When I opened the door, the hallway was clear of the disability items. I walked around making a note of what I wanted collected to take to Sebastian’s. It wasn’t much, just some personal items, some childhood things, and the trunk of clothes in the loft. I wouldn’t climb up there, though. I chuckled at the thought of how cross Sebastian had been. My safety was obviously very important to him, but he was prone to overreacting. I’d have to watch out for that.

I called him .

“Hey, baby, how did it go?” he asked when he answered.

“Good. I’m at the house and I’m going to box up some things I want. Other than that, the house can be handed back to the landlord,” I said.

“Good, maybe the landlord will come along and help you.”

“I’d like a lift home.”

“I’ll be there in five.”

He cut off the call and I smiled. When he arrived, I had everything, except the trunk, piled in the hall.

“I’m not going to get all that in my car,” he said, staring at it.

“I wasn’t expecting you to. I’ll get a man and a van, or whatever. I want the trunk from the loft, oh, and there is a record player up there I want as well.”

“Tony can sort it. Make a list.”

I waved a piece of paper in the air, he took it. “Where now, my princess?” he said.

“Princess? Is that a step up from baby?”

“Absolutely. A promotion now you live with me.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Mmm, I like that. But I’m not going to have sex with you in return for rent, you know that, right?”

“You’re going to have sex with me whenever I want it,” he replied, taking a step towards me.

“What if I refuse? ”

He smirked, raised his middle finger to the side of his eye and rubbed.

I giggled.

“Strike one, Ruby.”

My stomach fluttered.

“You’re mine now,” he whispered, and it wasn’t said in jest or with menace. He meant it. I belonged to him, and I wanted to. “And I will cherish you.”

“Forever?”

“Yep.”

“You know what happened to Mr. Wolfe in the fairy tale, don’t you?”

He stepped closer to me, and I backed to the wall.

“Yep.”

“She killed him.”

“I know,” he said, placing his hands either side of my head. “I’ve said this before, Little Red Riding Hood, you will be the death of me.”

Grandma’s funeral came and went in a flash, so it felt. We were just a handful of people and a couple of random strangers. There was no wake, once it was done, we congregated outside as another funeral arrived and just chatted.

“Let’s get together for coffee soon,” Monica said, and I nodded. She’d sat one side of me while Sebastian sat the other. Both had held my hands.

Tony stood by the Bentley, and Sebastian and I climbed in. I hadn’t cried, I’d shed all my tears already, but I pulled a tissue from my bag and wiped my nose. That morning, Sebastian had arranged for a hairdresser to come to the house. My hair was beautiful, and the stylist had also applied a little makeup for me. We had decided to head straight home even though Sebastian had offered to pay for a meal somewhere for us all. I just wanted to shower off the makeup and change into some sloppy clothes. I wanted to curl up on the sofa and watch Hallmark movies. Christmas would be upon us in another month, and I wanted to plan for it.

Grandma had loved Christmas; it was her favourite time of the year. We’d attend Midnight Mass, put a goose on to cook overnight, and wake up early to open gifts. We only had one gift each, she wasn’t big on the commercial side of the festivities, but it was always something thoughtful.

“What are you thinking?” Sebastian asked as we drove home.

“Christmas. What do you want to do?”

“Stay in bed all day and unwrap you,” he whispered.

I saw Tony chuckle. “Cheesy, mate. Super cheesy.”

“I might like the idea, if you please,” I replied.

My relationship with Tony was growing. I was still wary of him, still a little anxious if I was on my own with him, but I understood how important he was to Sebastian.

“What did you do before me?” I asked.

“Ate, drank, watched a movie, the usual,” Sebastian replied.

“Moaned like a bitch, got drunk, went to bed, more like,” Tony added.

I laughed. “How about this year, I cook for us all.”

Tony looked in the rear-view mirror at me. “ All of us?”

I got his meaning. There was the group, his vigilantes as I called them. Would they all be alone at Christmas?

“Maybe not all unless you can hire in tables and chairs... Why not? You said you all meet occasionally, so why not Christmas?” I looked between Tony and Sebastian.

“I don’t know. I mean... we could, I guess,” Sebastian said.

“There, sorted. You get numbers, I’ll get planning.”

I was sure we could have a heated marquee on the patio. I smiled and it widened.

“I want to go to church at midnight, though. Anyone volunteer to come with me?”

“Fuck that,” Tony said. “We’d burst into flames if we ever set foot in a church.”

I laughed and it was the first time in a little while that I felt happy. Which was strange considering I’d just buried my grandma.

When we arrived back home, I washed the makeup off my face, tied my hair in a ponytail, and changed into some sloppy clothes. I loved the outfits Sebastian had bought me, the shoes, and underwear. I also loved to just throw on some joggers, flipflops or slippers, and a sweatshirt.

With a cup of tea and a book in hand, I curled up in the corner of the sofa. Sebastian left to head to the office and catch up on some work and I had the house to myself. It was peaceful and I felt content. I read a little, I dozed a little. I opened my laptop and worked a little as well.

I was keen to get back to work, my course was due to start in the New Year and I wanted to be ahead of the game. I also wanted to open the email I’d been ignoring.

I wasn’t shocked to learn I wasn’t related to Grandma. I think I’d prepared myself for that over the past few days. I was sad, of course, but there was also a part of me that was glad. The thought of being related to him appalled me. I was still to learn the full extent of what he’d done, Sebastian wasn’t about to tell me, but I knew it would hit the news at some point. Then people might come forward, parents of missing kids, kids looking for their parents. I knew I’d find it hard to cope with. The last thing Sebastian had said about him was that he’d been charged with multiple counts of kidnap and trafficking. Word among the police was they were about to blow one of the largest cases London had ever seen. I wondered if I ought to get some therapy in advance of that. Maybe have someone teach me some coping methods. I knew I’d have to speak to the police at some point and Sebastian had hinted that I’d sit with his legal team before it happened.

There was just too much going through my mind. I wanted some fresh air and decided to take a walk. Maybe it was time to face the woods in the light of the day and lay some ghosts to rest.

I pulled on some walking boots and a slid my arms into my red coat. I chuckled as I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. The coat didn’t exactly go well with the rest of my outfit, but I didn’t care. No one was going to see me.

I left a note on the kitchen table just in case Sebastian returned and headed down the lawn towards the entrance.

I stopped to admire the trees. Large oaks, having already shed their nuts, stood tall and I realised, they were a natural barrier. When the clouds decided in that moment to lose some weight, I walked under them and onto the path.

I breathed in deep, and the smell of rain, damp earth, and foliage was a comfort. It was nice to walk along the path, hear the crunch of leaves and twigs beneath my feet. I heard the odd winter bird, and a scuttle as a rabbit shot across the path in front of me. It was a beautiful place, perfect for walking a dog. I doubted Sebastian was the pet kind of person, but I might ask. I chuckled to myself.

I came to the clearing with the stone cottage and paused. I didn’t want to go inside, but I did admire it. The architect in me surfaced. It would make a wonderful place to come and stay, to picnic in the summer, or curl up in front of the open fire in the winter. I wondered if Sebastian had thought about doing it up. It needed a lot of work; I could see holes in the roof. I decided to circumnavigate it.

The stonework above the door and windows was beautiful, the placement of the flint perfect. I imagined it had been an estate workers cottage back in the day when the area had been one large fancy property with land.

A little further behind the cottage was a lake, it looked as if it should have been larger, but the sides had collapsed in and there were a lot of fallen trees and bushes in it. I skirted around to a jetty. I imagined kids jumping into the water in the height of the summer or a small rowing boat moored up. The lake wouldn’t have been large enough for anything bigger. Perhaps the owner fished.

A strange feeling came over me. I turned and looked around me. I wasn’t wary of the woods; it didn’t scare me anymore. I felt at peace among the trees with their swaying branches and gentle rustle.

A thought hit me, and I sat on a log to process it.

All those years I’d drawn a stone cottage in some woods.

Had that image been leading me here?

My cottage wasn’t the same as the one standing near me, of course, but similar. All those years I’d had a feeling that I would never get to the cottage and yet, there I was facing it. I’d been as far as the door just a week or so prior. I’d reached the point I’d been trying to get to for years.

“Ruby?” I heard.

“Over here, by the lake,” I shouted back.

Sebastian came through the clearing and walked over to me. “What are you doing here?”

“Just investigating. Isn’t this beautiful? What do you know about this?”

“Not much to be honest. It was a large estate at one point. Lord someone or the other owned it. Then it got sold off into smaller parcels and people built houses. I bought the house, and then when the land came up for sale, I bought it so no one could build on it, to be honest. Why?”

“My dreams were always me trying to get to the cottage in the woods and not making it. Here I am now, in real life, by a cottage in some woods.”

He sat beside and placed his arm around me. “We’ll do this place up, make it a holiday home in the back garden,” he said, chuckling.

“I’d like that.”

I leaned into him and sighed. I felt happy and content. I didn’t care who my parents were, where I came from, as long as I had him. I told him that.

“Also, I want to be real married sooner rather than later. Or at least I want a ring to show we are pretend married.”

“You want something that binds you to me?” he asked, smirking.

“Yep. I want people to know I’m yours and you are mine.”

He laughed. “Leave it to me.”

We sat for little while just watching the trees sway in the breeze.

“You know, maybe you’ve found your way home, finally, Ruby. This, me, is your home.”

He was right. I was home. I was in the place I’d longed to be. A place of comfort and safety, of wanting and needing. Of being wanted and being needed .

I shuffled around until I’d straddled his lap. He held my hips and looked at me.

“Yep, I’m home, finally.”

I lowered my head and kissed the man that made it all happen for me.

My Mr. Wolfe.

My wolf in sheep’s clothing.

The leader of his pack.

“What’s the time, Mr. Wolfe?” I mumbled.

“Time for dinner, Ruby.”

The End