Reflection (Book #2)

Chapter One

In my doorway stood the man who had been Dion's best friend, with his hand on Alex's seven year-old shoulder. He'd grown so much in the almost two years since I'd seen him.

"Kyle," I said curtly.

Ben stumbled in behind me.

"I don't mean any harm. I'm sorry for attacking you a few months ago. It's what Dion asked of me." He sighed. "I wanted to bring Alex to you. Can we talk?"

Ben seemed to be having trouble breathing, his eyes locked on the child who had just entered our home. "Who's Alex?"

I gulped. "Alex is my son." I turned to gauge the reaction. It was better than I had expected.

Ben's nostrils flared. "You have no idea how fucking mad I am right now." He started to storm off towards the bedroom, but then he turned back around. He was too curious to leave.

I stooped to my knees and gathered Alex into my arms. "Hi, baby. It's been awhile."

He smiled. "Hi, Mommy. I missed you."

I squeezed him tightly, feeling faint because I was so happy. My son, my only child was finally home. I shed a few tears as I held him. "I'll never let you go, again," I whispered.

Kyle smiled at us. "We need to talk," he said, giving me a stern look.

I stood, pushing Alex towards my bedroom, picking up the suitcase Kyle had sat in the doorway. I laid the suitcase on our bed and smiled at Alex, trying to accept how grown-up my baby looked. "What have you been doing for fun lately?"

He pulled out a notebook and pencils from his suitcase and jumped up onto the bed. "Drawing," he said.

"Okay. Mommy, Ben, and Uncle Kyle need to talk for a little bit. It's going to be boring adult talk. The bathroom is right here across the hall if you need it, okay?"

He nodded.

I kissed the top of his head and watched him draw for a moment, not wanting to let him out of my sight. I gnawed on my lip while I looked at Ben. He was fuming, sitting with his elbows in his knees looking straight ahead. I sat beside him gently. "I... am so sorry," I whispered, unsure of what to say.

His face told me he was very upset, as he shook his head. "No way. No way you continued to lie to me! You hid from me that you have a child! How old is he?"

Tears stung in my eyes as I realized that sarcasm wasn't going to get me out of this one. "He's seven." I gulped.

Ben looked at me, his jaw agape.

"Delilah..." Kyle said.

I looked at him, begging him with my eyes to give me good news.

"Do you have any idea what's going on?"

I shook my head. "Dion attacked us. He's gone now."

"It is so much more than that."

I sat back, and looked at Kyle. "Did something else happen?"

"A lot more."

"Okay," I said, nodding. "Tell me."

Kyle leaned forward, making eye contact with Ben for a moment, then looking back to me. "At first, Dion's plan was no big deal. I thought he was just joking. But... He became more and more obsessed. He drafted this elaborate scheme to confuse you. He told me about the different things he would say. He was driving to different towns to meet with different psychologists to throw them off. He knew that once the psychologists' reports got to him," he snarled at Ben, "that someone would be around to protect you at all times. So he tested their defenses several times. They were pretty solid, but he was absolutely convinced that if you just saw him, you'd go back with him. He wanted to bring Alex. He knew that Alex would be the deciding factor, but he was terrified that he might get hurt. He couldn't predict how your Safi protectors, or you, even, would react when he arrived. I'm sorry that things ended this way."
He heaved a heavy sigh, but then laughed at something that must have been funny about his palms. "I lost my best friend when he lost you, but he was no good for you, Delilah." He looked up at me with honest eyes. "You will be much better off without him. He was so controlling and I know he could be abusive at times. And, of course, the cheating. Alex and I talked about what happened, and he said he was really happy to get to be with you again. He knew all along that something was going on. He may have been young, but you knew he was smart. He knew that something was up when you left. And then after Dion's incident, Alex lived with me, and he was always so calm."

I gulped. "Incident?"

He took a deep breath. "He attacked a woman in the city, for no reason. He told the psychologist that she looked like you. It was the craziest thing. So they made him see a psychologist, and Alex came to live with me. I didn't want Dion to fill his little head with that nonsense."

"He attacked someone? Did she...?"

"She died."

"How did he get a different name on the reports?" Ben asked, changing the subject.

"Baya are aware of your company, so they changed the name on his reports for his 'safety'. He played so many games with them over the past two years."

Ben cleared his throat at that moment. "We were aware of the threat to Delilah for less than a year before you attacked her."

Wesley burst through the door and I collapsed to the floor, sopping with tears. Kyle reached toward me but I jerked away and walked down the hallway. I wiped my face dry and opened the door to the bedroom. I once found Kyle so comforting, like a best friend to myself as well as Dion, but he felt like a traitor now.

"Alexandros, how would you like to go for a walk with Mommy?"

"Maji," he whispered.

I smiled. "I can take you to the maji." As I opened the door, I said, "Kuna mkondo wa karibu."

Ben stood. "What?"

Kyle laughed. "She's speaking Swahili. She told him there's a stream nearby. They're going for a walk."

"You speak Swahili?"

I nodded.

He sat down, huffing. "Yet another thing I didn't know."

"I wasn't aware that I had two children."

Alex chuckled, pulling my hand. We stood outside and I tried to ignore the sound of Ben pacing through the house.

I shook Alex's hand to bring his attention back to me. He was listening to Ben, too. "How is it living with Uncle Kyle?"

"There are kids there to play with," he said cheerfully.

"Uncle Kyle has kids? How many?" Kyle didn't seem like the fatherly type when I'd been around him. He didn't have patience for children. He'd been nice to me, but even then I could remember his patience wearing thin from time to time.

"Three. They are all younger than me, but at least they're boys."

Kyle had had children while Dion and I were still together then. I didn't even know he was dating someone. He'd been keeping that a secret. How strange.

"Hmm," I said.

Alex took off from me and ran to the creek, splashing his hands in it. "Mama! Maji!" He shouted excitedly.
A grin spread across my face so wide I hadn't felt in like that in ages, if ever. I crouched down and played in the water beside him. "How long have you been living with Uncle Kyle?"

"A year, I think. Ive had two birthday parties there."

"I wish I could have been there for your party last week. If I had known you were with Uncle Kyle, I would have asked him if I could come over."

My son turned to me and wrapped his arms around my neck. "Mama, I'm sorry," he whispered.

"For what, baby?" I asked, leaning back to meet his eyes.

"Daddy shouldn't have treated you that way."

I squeezed his little body in a tight bear hug. "Oh, no, honey! That's not your fault at all! You are wonderful! I love you, so so much."

He smiled at me. "I love you, too." He kissed my cheek. "Is it okay not to miss, Daddy?"

I gritted my teeth. "I'm not sure yet. We'll talk about it, okay?"