Peppermint Omega

29

He had taken me to a place called Top Tier. It surprised the hell out of me when he already had a reservation and made me a little mad because this wasn't the type of place that you would come casually dressed.

The waitress came and gave us the heavy leather menus. Something told me this place was not going to be just 13.99 for a plate of chicken covered in red sauce - not that I couldn't afford to buy a fancy dinner, but why? Dino nuggets tasted so good and were easy. But I was the type of Mama to make my own French fries. No one and I mean no one has ever impressed me with a good sweet potato fry.

I opened the menu and grimaced. No prices were listed. I opened the menu flat in front of me while I tucked my hair up into my usual messy bun. None of the French menu items made any sense to me. So, I closed the menu and handed it over to him. Lucian's green eyes looked amused.

'Have you chosen?'

'Nope. I think you should do the alpha honors and pick for me. I feel like you have eaten here a time or two.'

His slow grin filled his face as he brought the menu up to his lips. 'I have.'

'Some guidelines: No snails. I ate those before - don't ask - I won't do it again. And I don't like egg plant.'

'Allergies?'

'None yet, or that I know of.'

'What about Moonie?'

'For a while, she was allergic to carrots,' I answered reaching for a glass of water. 'I micro-dosed her. She can handle them now. But I wondered if me switching to making my own baby food instead of buying it made the difference.'

The waitress came and took the order from him in complete French. Later, someone else brought out a wine for him to sample, then poured two glasses. 'Tell me everything. I want to know all about her. I hope you like this.' He indicated the wine. 'It will pair well with the meal.'

'Well..' I sighed and gulped down some of the wine. It was a little sour to my tastes. 'She was born early and spent time in the hospital. I thought she was going to.. be special.. and of low status.

So,' I drank rest of the wine down and shivered at the sourness, but there were some floral notes in the aftertaste, 'I worked with her.. I worked with her a lot. I know the world isn't always kind to my kind. I'd want her to experience any kind of hardship because any kind of disability. You know?'

My eyes were wet when I looked back up at him from staring a long time at the linen napkin ring. 'She was just so precious and so.. so.. tiny. I just wanted her to have a fighting chance.

But.. she,' I sniffled and gave a small smile that spread into a larger one, 'developed beautifully into the wonderful, annoying, amazingly smart and mature angel you've seen today.'

He was quiet for quite some time. It was long enough for me to pull myself together. Lucian took a sip of his own wine and gestured. Someone came and refilled my glass. Pointedly he looked at me, staring me deeply in the eyes.

'And you did that completely alone? You single handedly dealt with this..' His tone sounded bitter, slightly angry.

'Pfft,' I scoffed. 'If she wasn't normal, Lucian, do you think you would still be so grateful to know you have a child?'

He didn't say anything. 'You want to be mad at me for keeping her from you, but if she was disabled in anyway, do you think you would still be able to sit there with that glowering possessive ass look on your face?

I don't think so. Do you really think that you at fucking 17.. 18 would have been able to completely drop your immaturity when it was needed?

You should be grateful that you weren't there, being stressed and scared.. that you never had to see so many tubes come out of her.. Not being sure that she was even going to make it to the next day..'