Never Tear Us Apart - Complete

Chapter Nineteen

"Mom?" I said apprehensively as she stormed into the diner, the bell on the door jingling angrily in her wake. She approached our table, standing with her hands on her hips in front of Abe and me where we were seated.

"Janine!" Abe said, standing and plastering a huge smile on his face. "What a delightful surprise! You haven't changed a bit!"

My mother looked at Abe as though she'd willing rip his head off without a second thought. She turned and faced me, her expression angrier than I had ever seen her.

"I should have known! The questions! The sudden interest! You're behind this, aren't you?!" she growled, causing half the diner to turn and stare at us.

Abe's Guardians were up and trying to insinuate themselves between my mother and our table, and Dimitri was right behind Mom, ready to pull her back from us if that was what was required.

"Why don't we take this outside?" Abe suggested with gritted teeth, throwing some money on to our table and the one at which his Guardians had been seated. "The humans don't need to hear this," he hissed under his breath, appealing to my mother's professional side.

She gave a single nod; her jaw tensed as the six of us left the diner, walking out onto the street. As soon as we were outside, she spun to face Abe.

"What are you doing here?!"

"I wanted to see Rose," he said, giving me an encouraging smile.

There was silence for a moment - my mother was flummoxed! My eyes met Dimitri's, and he was looking confused and alarmed.

"Abe," my mother warned, her voice low and threatening, "whatever you think you're doing here, you need to leave."

"Thanks for the advice, Janine, but I'll go wherever I want," he growled, stepping closer to me. Dimitri saw his movement and mirrored it, moving defensively to put his body between Abe and me. The two men regarded one another uneasily.

"Abe Mazur," my father said, holding his hand out to my Russian God.

I could see the wheels turn in Dimitri's head. He wasn't sure what was going on, but in the end, his good manners won out.

"Guardian Dimitri Belikov," my love declared in his most formal, dispassionate voice, meeting Abe's hand with his own.

"Abe is... an old friend," my mother offered, her lips stumbling over the final words.

"Abe is my father," I rebutted, meeting my mother's eyes firmly for the first time since her arrival.

"Your father?" Dimitri gasped, his eyes almost bugging out of his head.

"There's nothing to prove that," my mother squealed in alarm.

"I'm sure a DNA test could clear things up quickly enough," Abe announced laconically, raising a lackadaisical eyebrow at my mother.

"I won't agree to it," she said smugly.

"Rose is eighteen, Janine - and I was some time ago. We don't need your permission. Not for a DNA test or to get to know one another. The cat's out of the bag. I don't know why you kept Rose's existence from me all this time, but I know, now."

My mother's face fell as the truth of his words sunk in.

"How did you find him?" my mother shrieked, turning her anger toward me again. "You have no right to force this on me!"

"Leave her alone," Abe growled furiously, causing even my enraged mother to pause. "I found her! I met one of her classmates in Russia. They were telling me how the Academy had been attacked and how a Novice, Rosemarie Hathaway, got molnija being part of the defense. I recognized the surname and then did the math. I didn't think she'd be mine, but I did a little digging out of curiosity. As soon as I saw a photo of her I knew. Which is why I am here. She is mine, isn't she?"