Dayton

Chapter 28

After my therapy session, I scheduled my next appointment for next Friday at the same time. I am emotionally exhausted, and I hold back the tears because I have class right after my appointment. I will probably cry out my emotional mess on the way to pick up Darien from daycare.

Several hours later, Darien and I are home, and all I want to do now is nap, but I cannot since D is not in need of a nap, and Ajax is not home to watch him. Besides, I want to spend as much time as possible with him before he reaches his bedtime.

"Dada, pway?" Darien sweetly requests as he eats his snack in the living room at the coffee table.

"Sure bub, what are we playing?" I answer with a smile as we sit on the carpet by the toy box.

"Caws?" he answers with a grin as he climbs up to his feet to grab his two favorite cars from the box - one red and one blue.

"Which one can I use?" I ask, wanting him to choose this for me, and he hands me the red one since the blue one is more of his favorite of the two.

"Thank you, D," I praise, taking the car from him with an appreciative smile.

A couple of hours later, Ajax is walking through the front door with a tired smile on his lips; "Hello, my babies!"

"Pa!" Darien squeals, leaving his toys on the carpet to run over to Ajax as he steps into the living room, and Ajax instantly picks the toddler up for a hug, and a kiss on the cheek.

"Hi D," Ajax greets the boy with a bright smile before he greets me; "Hi baby."

"Hi love, how was your day?" I answer with a small smile as I walk over to them to him him with a gentle kiss.

"My day has been decent, but it is better now that I am home with the best two people in my life," he says with a sweet smile. "Can we talk later about our therapy sessions, but not in full detail?"

"Sure we can, but later when Darien is asleep," I murmur with a small nod against his chest.

By Monday morning, I am an anxious mess about our couples session. I do not want to discuss our problems with an outsider, even if they are professionally trained to help couples deal with their problems in a healthy manner. I had, and have the same reservations about my solo therapy sessions, too.

"Are you boys ready to leave?" Ajax asks, stepping into Darien's bedroom where I have been getting D ready for the day along with refilling his diaper bag.

"Yeah," I mumble, placing the strap of the bag over my left shoulder before picking Darien up, and resting him on my right hip with a shaky smile at Ajax.

"Hey, this session will be fine," he murmurs as we leave the bedroom.

Nodding curtly at him because I am worried that if I continue to speak, I am going to vomit everywhere.

"Deep, slow breathes in through your nose, and slow exhales out through your mouth, love," Ajax calmly, and gently tells me as we leave the house and he locks the door behind me.

Buckling Darien into his rear facing car seat, then leave his diaper bag on the floor in front of him before shutting his door, and settling myself in the front passenger seat. Ajax is driving us to drop Darien off at daycare before he drives us to our therapy session, and he is dropping me off, and picking me up from school. Ajax will be picking Darien up from daycare while I am attending school.

He stops at daycare, and we take Darien inside with Ajax carrying him while I sign the toddler in, and remind the staff that Ajax will be picking D up in a few hours. After saying goodbye to the toddler before we leave, and Ajax drives us to the therapy building.

When he parks, turns off the engine, and he turns his upper body toward me; "Day, everything will be fine. We are here to better ourselves, and our relationship for us, and our son, okay?"

"Okay. I just hope this helps us," I mumble, swallowing around the sudden lump in my throat. "I want us to be the happiest we can be together, and as a family with our son."

"I know you want this, baby, and so do I," he assures me with a gentle squeeze of my left hand. "Let's head inside now, so we are not late."

Nodding, we leave the car to walk inside the building, hand in hand, and Ajax registers us with the person behind the counter. When he finishes this, we sit in the seats in the waiting area to be called back.

"Ajax West and Dayton Valentino?" a female voice calls out, and my head snaps up at the feminine voice that sounds similar to my father's.

The person looking back at me looks familiar. She looks like the pictures I have seen of my aunt Vonnie who is my dad's older sister. My steps falter, and Ajax looks at me in concern.

"What is wrong, love?" he asks, looking between me and the woman in front of us. "Do you know her?"

"Um, possibly," I mumble. "She looks like my dad's older sister, Vonnie from pictures I have seen."

His eyes widen in surprise before he collects himself before asking her; "Ma'am, what is your name? If you are who you he thinks you are, then we will need a different therapist because if you are family to him, that would be a conflict of interest."

"My name is Vonnie Valentino," she answers with wide eyes toward me that I mirror back at her. "Is your father by any chance named Victor Valentino?"

"Yes he is," I murmur, gripping Ajax's hand tightly.

"I never knew he and Kerri had a child," she murmurs. "You look just like your father. Let me speak with my supervisor because I cannot treat you and your partner."

When she returns several minutes later, she has a man with her who she introduces as her supervisor Dr. Mark Brown. Dr. Brown will be taking over our sessions.

Before walking away, I tell Vonnie; "By the way, my parents had four boys in total."

Walking away with Ajax, I feel damn proud of myself for telling her something she missed out on because dad's family went no-contact with him when he married mummy.