Ruthless Revenge

Chapter 10

"Thank you for keeping him last minute this evening." With Kieran securely on my hip, I walked Ms. Johnson to the door. "I appreciate your giving Kieran his bath, too."

Earlier today I got a call from Rosa begging me to cover this evening's shift for her. Even though I had put the job behind me, by the sound of her voice I knew whatever was keeping her from work was important. I quickly put on some clothes and went to the club. Andrew wasn't too happy to see me but he agreed because he needed the extra help. By the end of the shift, he was begging me to come back. Of course, I gave him a flat no. No way in hell I'd go back to that.

"No trouble at all, my dear. I think of Kieran as my grandchild, now, don't I?" She tickled Kieran under the chin. "He's a magnific little fellow." I gave her a hug and slipped ten dollars into her nightdress pocket. I knew she felt t because she frowned at me but she said nothing.

The moment I started to close the door, Ms. Johnson bounded around the corner. "Hold up," she called, " I forgot to tell you about my doctor's appointment tomorrow. I won't be able to babysit Kieran tomorrow. I'm sorry. " said apologetically.

My first instinct was to check if she was okay. "Are you feeling okay?"

She chuckled. "Oh yes, honey. Just going to check to make sure my blood pressure and glucose levels are stable."

I sighed in relief. "That's great." Ms. Johnson was the closest thing to family I had other than Kieran. I don't want to lose her.

She smiled. "I'm okay, child. It's you I'm worried about. What will happen to Kieran? I'd tell you to ask Christina but she's been out of it for the past few weeks."

I nodded. "Yea. I tried talking to her the other day but she was very standoffish so I left her alone. Didn't want to make the situation worse, you know?"

Ms. Johnson nodded. "Yea. She's going through a rough patch. I just hope she recovers from whatever is holding her down."

"Me too," I responded sincerely.

"So what are you going to do?" she paused and looked at the Kieran in my arms. "Could you take him to work with you? Just this once? You did say your boss isn't there while you work so Kieran's presence shouldn't be an issue as long as you do your work."

I thought about it for a second and realized it could work. "Yea. It can work. My boss is away in Atlanta for three weeks. I'm not expecting him back until next week. I could definitely bring him with me. I'll just let him play and watch tv while I work. Thank you, Ms. Johnson. You're too smart."

She chuckled and shrugged. "You're the smart one." she lifted her hands to Kieran and tickled him. "And you're the cute one."

Kieran giggled at Ms. Johnson and muttered, "Thank you."

I smiled at my son and brushed the hair off his temple.

"He's obviously tired so I'm going to let you guys go." she tickled Kieran then whispered, " Read him his bedtime story, the one about baby sharks."

"Baby Shark!" Kieran shouted and we chuckled.

"Yea, he loves that one. Goodnight, dearest."

"Goodnight." Kieran and I said simultaneously as we moved away from the door.

Ms. Johnson said another goodnight before closing her door.

I smiled at the closed door before walking to our apartment. I got us in the apartment with ease. I walked straight to the bedroom and laid Kieran in the bed.

"What will it be tonight?" I asked Kieran as I removed a handful of small books from the chest of drawers.

"Baby Shark," Kieran said. I chuckled, at least I tried. It seemed like every kid below the age of five was obsessed with the song. Now that there is a book, Kieran was obsessed with me reading it to him every night. As a two-year-old, he had a remarkable vocabulary. He could comprise complete sentences and his pronunciation was mostly perfect.

"All right." I picked up his favorite book, Baby Shark, and laid beside him on the bed.

I opened the book.

"Once upon a time, there was a baby shark..."

He ran along with me with a big smile on his face. We were finished in less than five minutes.

"Give mommy a night kiss, Carebear." He wrapped his arms around my neck and planted a wet kiss on my cheek. "Wuv you."

I smiled and returned the kiss. "I love you, too, my little angel."

"Another one!" he begged.

I smiled and stood from the bed. I grabbed the first book I saw, which was 'The Little Red Riding Hood.'

By the time I had gotten to the part where the wolf ate grandma, Kieran was fast asleep. I closed the book and laid it in her lap. Seeing my son sleeping peacefully, I sigh contentedly and think about how I have always longed for a family and a home. A family with two parents. Children. Roots. A house to live in for a lifetime.

I never really knew my father. I only saw him a handful of times when I was younger. He was a military man who moved from state to state and in each state, he had a different family. When my mother found out she left brought me to Illinois and we moved in with my grandparents Eleanor and Christoper. My grandfather died a year after we moved in from a stroke and then my mother died suddenly in a car crash when I was twelve.

After that, I was raised by grandma Eleanor who didn't really have a maternal bone in her body, ironically. However, she did try her very best to raise me and for that, I was forever grateful, so grateful that I gave up the love of my life to save hers.

If only I could turn back time. If only I had handled things differently. Maybe Kieran would have known his father, have a relationship with him. I would also still have a relationship with him too. We were so in love.

We'd discussed the possibility of buying a place in Naperville or Buffalo Grove. We'd even start looking at houses. We'd planned to travel to Chicago by his private helicopter every morning to work. We had planned to spend the rest of our lives together.

Then along came the message and the threats. They knew my weakness was my grandmother and they targeted her. Ironic, how she died only a few weeks after saving her life.

Was it worth it? A few weeks less with my grandma yet a lifetime with the love of my life, the father of what I didn't know at the time, my unborn child.

I gave him so much only to end up with nothing. Well, not nothing. The day after my grandma died, I found out about my pregnancy...

Talk about bad timing.

Not that I had regrets. I was happy after the initial shock. I wasn't completely alone in the world anymore. I had a child to call my own, a family.

My gaze rested on Kieran. He was the little replica of the man of his father. Every day I look at him and it's like staring into Holden's eyes. It made me feel close to him, even though I was so far away.

It wasn't so Kieran and not sure how I would have survived these past years.

Glancing at my watch, I grimaced. I needed to get the laundry sorted so I could bring them with me to Holden's place tomorrow. It was way more convenient for me to do my laundry at his place. Not only did I save a ton of money, but I also saved time.

I leaned over, kissed Kieran's forehead, and drew the covers to his neck. "I want to tell your father about you, sweetheart. Really I do. But I'm afraid telling him might be a big mistake. You see, he hates me for breaking his heart. Who knows what he might do? I can't risk it. I'm sorry, baby."

If it asked about his father when he got older, I could tell him the story. If I asked to meet his father maybe I'll build up the courage to confess, but for now, I like how things were.

Kieran and Katiana.

We're going to be okay. We'll get through this together. 

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