Selena Rose, Daughter of the Moon

Chapter 11

Selena pulls into Dwayne's driveway still annoyed with Gabriel. She sits in the car a minute just trying to cool down so as not to say anything that might reflect poorly on Gabriel in front of Kya.

No matter how we get along, or don't, I really want her to have a chance at having a good relationship with him. If he fucks that up then so be it. I will burn that bridge when we cross it. Until then, I just need to cool myself down and not be a jerk. It just ticked me off, him asking with that suspicious tone in his voice like he knows better for Kya than I would. He has only known about her for a week. Overbearing jackass. Ok, deep breath in and slow out. Let it go and get your butt in there to have some awesome food with your daughter, friend, and his son.

Slowly she gets out of her truck and walks to the door, Dwayne opens it as she raises her hand to knock.

"I was beginning to wonder if you were coming in, I felt you come through the barrier a while ago?"

"Ugh, I have issues and I sat there to cool off. But, I don't want to talk about that stuff right now. You promised food, specifically your mom's casserole?"

"Yes, yes I did and Mom delivered. It is all ready, just waiting for you. KIIIIDDDDSSSS."

Tiny feet thunder toward the kitchen as giggles echo through the house. Dwayne and Selena take a more sedate pace to the kitchen. Dwayne dishes out his mom's stellar casserole and they all sit around his cozy table to laugh and eat. After lunch, the kids go back to Nathan's room to play Kingdom Hearts.

Dwayne and Selena head out to his back porch with a couple hard ciders so they can talk without being overheard. Selena tells him about everything that happened at the coffee shop.

She waits while Dwayne mulls things over. It has always been his way to really think things through before committing to speaking his thoughts aloud so she just leans back and enjoys the view of his backyard.

Finally he shifts his seat and says, "I think Gabriel is going to be a problem. He seems to think in terms of ownership. I had encouraged him to try and mend fences so that perhaps the two of you could be on better terms than how he began things with you most recently." He holds his hand up when he sees her start to fire back. "Hear me out please." She nods and he continues, "This was before any of this had come to light, when it was possible that he was better than he appears to be now. It was the day after you first saw him again. He hasn't been in touch with me since then. You seemed to have been desirous of having more of a relationship with him all this time so I thought it might help. It probably did not and I apologize. It will not happen again. Now, who will you be taking with you for visitation today?"

"Dammit. It seems the more I talk to him the less I like him and the more I feel like we would have gone our separate ways anyway. Plus, I am not really at all sure that he will be able to separate having a father-daughter relationship with Kya and not being allowed to have a more intimate relationship with me. I thought for a long time that I would really like to get back together with him and the three of us be a family. When I saw him again, that all changed. He looks so gross and he is such a jerk. Was he always that big a jerk? Did I somehow miss that before?" Dwayne sips his hard cider, "I think we all saw him as better than he seems to be now. Perhaps we were all a little naive. I don't recall him being so possessive or..." Selena cocks her head, "Or what?" Dwayne shifts in his seat, "I don't like to share things said in confidence but I feel in this case it will not cause you to feel more ill will toward him than he has already caused. That day I saw him? He told me he had lied to you about being with other women. While I think what he lied about is not so important to you, the fact that he started out lying does seem important."

Selena shrugs, "You're right. I don't care about him being with other people. The lying immediately after he showed back up in my life is good to know. I would like for you to go with us, if you have the time? I mean, we have taken up a lot of your time today. Do you need to work or something?"

"No, hackers like me work in spurts and mostly at odd hours so I have plenty of time for Nathan, you know that. A regular day job would take me away from him too much. Besides, what I do pays really well and I am good at what I do."

"Ooh, well Mr. Hacker, I think it is about time to go meet with Gabriel. We set it up for this meeting to be at a park. He can play with the kids and you can keep me company while we keep an eye on him."

Dwayne stands with a small laugh, and starts moving to the door, "Give me a few minutes to clean up and throw some shoes on myself and Nathan."

"Sure, send Kya out here please."

***

Kya steps out the door and walks over to sit on Selena's lap, resting her little head on her mom's shoulder.

"Hey sweetling, how's the day?"

"Good mama, I like playing with Nathan. He is always nice to me. Him and his daddy are putting on their shoes. Are they going somewhere? Are we going with them?"

"No sweetling, they are going with us. Gabriel wants to visit with you again today."

"Oh mama. Do we have to? He is so booooorrrring."

Selena laughs, "Well, Kya I think he hasn't spent much time around active little girls—"

"I know mama, I saw his belly."

"What? What do you mean you saw his belly?"

"When he is standing there, his belly is poking his shirt out, like the pictures of you when you had me in your tummy." Kya's eyes get really big, "Mama, does he have a baby in there? Can boys do that?"

Selena fights with her face to be serious and not laugh at her daughter's very earnest questions. "No Kya, he does not have a baby in there. Some boys can have babies in their bellies like girls do but Gabriel cannot. You know it would not be the kind thing to do to mention his weight to him, right?"

Kya was still for a moment digesting all she had heard. "Yes mama. So he is just fat but we don't tell him because it might hurt his feelings?"

"Uh, something like that. And we never ask someone if they are pregnant either. For a lot of reasons, that we don't have time for talking on. So that will do for but I think we need to talk about this some more later. For now, I think I hear Dwayne and Nathan walking through, they must be ready to go. How about you sweetling?"

Long sigh, "I guess mama. I can't tell him that he is boring either, huh?"

Selena laughs, "No baby, you sure cannot. But Nathan will be there, maybe you will have more fun this time? Let's go."