You Know Me Through The Years

Ride the Waves

Roe never thought she would find herself in this situation. Not in a million years, but who was really counting anyway. She was torn between anger, indifference, and grief as she hung up the phone with her older brother.

Her brother only called once a year on her birthday to catch up. He was older than her by seventeen years, so when she came along, he was ready to leave their parents home for good. Still, her birthday passed months ago and when he called for the second time this year, she knew it was not good.

"Babe?" Her husband walked into the kitchen after she had hung up with her brother. The concern on Dante's face was enough to bring her back into balance for a moment before the roller-coaster of emotions threw her off kilter again.

"My mother died." She said it quietly, not really sure if she could accept the news or not. Her mother was not the best person.

"How?" Dante stepped closer to her.

"She had a stroke a couple months ago." She only found out about that now, which told her how much her family actually cared about  her at this point. "Then another a week ago." She sniffed as she felt moisture gathering in her eyes. "They waited three days to call me." Roe had no idea how to feel, but when Dante wrapped his strong arms around her, she broke.

"It doesn't matter what they did, she was still your mother." He held her tight as she sobbed into his shirt. "Even if she chose to cut us out."

That was another issue entirely. Dante could not stand Silvia, and the feeling was mutual. The first time Roe's mother visited was when Mara was two. She stayed for a total of twenty-four hours before Dante had kicked her out for being atrocious. It was her constant disapproval of him that drove everyone crazy. Dante was not good enough for her daughter, and of course, Silvia even offered up a huge sum of money for him to leave. She even told him to take his wretched spawn with him, and that was something he could not abide.

Roe was almost positive Dante was going to trigger at that moment. He was damn near close to doing so when she had to pull him out of the room and calm him down. It was in that moment she had realized her mother was absolutely self-absorbed and fake. This was why she did not tell her mother she was pregnant with Cade.

"To be honest, she was never my mother." Roe's voice had become hoarse from crying. "I miss your mom so much."

"Yeah, me too." He kissed the top of her head. She loved this man so much she did not think she could stand to be separated from him again.

Dante was not perfect by any means, but that was not the point. He was overly cocky sometimes, but he was being himself. He also had a bad habit of leaving things laying around with no intention on picking them up, which annoyed her to no end, but he was good at fixing problems. Dante was also very bad at remembering anniversaries, but he made up for it by distracting her with mind-numbing kisses and amazing sex. What else could she expect from her half demon husband?

Well, the things he was exceptionally good at made the bad things less noticeable. His journey into fatherhood had been unexpected and very sudden, but he had accepted the challenge with all of his emotional strength. Roe had watched him struggle at first, bit he had learned how to parent quickly. He did anything and everything for his children, something that Vergil had no concept of just yet.

Dante pulled away from her and put his hands on her arms. She knew he worried. If it were some stranger on the street, he would not give a damn, but it was someone he loved. That in itself was more than Roe could ask for.

"You good?" That was a stupid question because she really was not alright, but she felt better having cried it all out. "Do you need vodka? Wine? A cold beer?" She giggled and rubbed her tears away as he smiled at her. He knew her so well.