22. Kennedy
Kennedy
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Present
NEW ORLEANS
"Are you ready to go home?" Ernest asks softly, gently stroking my cheek and waking me from a nap.
The first sensation upon waking is one of sheer panic, as I vaguely remember having King in my arms.
"Oh my God, he could have fallen!" I say, propping myself up on my elbows, and when I manage to do so, I see a completely asleep Hades sitting near the crib.
His head is leaning on the railing, and he looks so exhausted that not even our conversation woke him up.
His hand holds my son's . . . I mean, if what he claims is true, he holds our son's tiny hand, or maybe it's the other way around. King seems to cling to his father, his tiny hand wrapped around Hades’ immense finger.
I attribute the way my throat tightens as I watch the two of them to the fact that I'm still very emotional, my body completely drained by hormones.
When I turn to look at Ernest again, he shakes his head. "You love your enemy." It's not a question; it's a statement.
"I don't remember loving him or hating him, but I need to hold on to the latter hypothesis. I can't love him," I whisper. "Hades wants to keep me away from my boy."
"He didn't know about King's existence until now."
"I don't think it changes anything. Pam was his ward. I'm the monster who took her life."
"You didn't do that, Kennedy."
"Deep down in my heart, I know I didn't, although I can't recall that night yet, but how am I going to prove it?"
"You haven’t remembered everything, then?"
"No. Only up until the moment I was telling you I was going to move to New York. I remember you saying you would follow me."
"And I did, but I stayed at a distance, thinking you were okay."
"I only trust you and Delores. The only two people in the world I'm sure love me."
"And your son, darling. He will grow up and understand what a wonderful mother he has."
"I don't want to talk about this here and risk Hades overhearing and exploiting my weakness," I murmur. "But it terrifies me to know that there's a good chance that, just like it happened to me, King will grow up without his mother around."
Hades
I wake up at the moment Kennedy says, "I only trust you and Delores. The only two people in the world I'm sure love me."
"And your son, darling. He will grow up and understand what a wonderful mother he has."
"I don't want to talk about this here and risk Hades overhearing and exploiting my weakness, but it terrifies me to know that there's a good chance that, just like it happened to me, King will grow up without his mother around."
I feel the warmth of King's hand wrapped around my finger, but I don't move, both because I don't want to embarrass Kennedy by making it clear that I heard the conversation, and because having him holding me calms my inner hell a little.
Only when they fall silent for nearly a minute do I open my eyes.
I look at Kennedy, who doesn't immediately meet my gaze, instead looking at Ernest. He strokes her hair, and the mother of my heir leans into his touch.
"I only trust you and Delores. The only two people in the world I'm sure love me."
"I don't want to talk about this here and risk Hades overhearing and exploiting my weakness, but it terrifies me to know that there's a good chance that, just like it happened to me, King will grow up without his mother around."
"I'll take you home," I say, more abruptly than I intended, getting up, although at this moment the anger I feel is directed at myself.
"Don't worry about it, Mr. Kostanidis," Ernest replies.
"It's not up for negotiation, Ernest. I'm ensuring my son's wellbeing."
Kennedy looks at me, seeming fully awake now. When I entered the room over an hour ago, she had dozed off with King in her arms. I put him in the crib and went back to the bed. I spent a long time watching her sleep and had to force myself to move away because the desire to touch her was too intense. I didn't even realize I had fallen asleep until her voice woke me up.
"As for that, I'll authorize the DNA test to make sure," she says.
"It's just a formality. I know King is mine."
"How can you be so confident based on a birthmark?"
"Because it's been in our family for generations. Besides, he looks just like me. Why do you still doubt it? Hasn't your memory come back? You should remember everything by now."
I see her cheeks turn very red, not sure if it’s because I was too direct or because Ernest is present. Maybe a little of both.
I didn't mean to embarrass her, just to seek the answers I still don't have. Although, after thinking about it a lot, everything seems to suggest that Odin's theory is right. But how does Kennedy fit into this story? I was drugged, but she, I assume, wasn't, so she must know what happened. How we made King.
"Not entirely. I remembered only until Mrs. Vina and . . .” She stops talking, and I see tears welling up in her eyes as she turns her head away from me. "I only remember up until I left New Orleans. Now, please excuse me and, if possible, call the nurse? I need to change. I want to go home."
"I'll wait in the hallway."
"If you can, ask the nurse to bring the DNA kit as well. I asked her this morning how it would be done, and she explained the procedure to me more or less."
I nod and leave the room without looking at either of them.
Kennedy sounded defeated. In all this time that I hated her and wanted revenge, I imagined her facing me as she did in the past, but she doesn't show any emotion.
Not even her hatred. Perhaps she thinks I'm not worthy of it.
"You don't need to come in."
"Are you going to start a war every time I want to see him?"
"No, but the results haven't come back yet," she says as I walk beside her.
"They will come any moment now. I paid an extra fee to have it done more quickly."
Ernest is a little ahead of us, with King in his arms.
Although patience and sensitivity are not my strong suits, I'm not an idiot. Until yesterday, I was the last person Kennedy wanted to see. Maybe I still am, and if I come demanding my rights to my son, there's a chance she'll manage to get the lawyers to prevent me from seeing King.
What we have is not a simple case of paternity recognition. We are two enemies who, together, made a child. I am the one who hired a team to assist the prosecution. Kennedy is the woman whom, until recently, I was certain I wanted to see locked up for the rest of her life for the heinous crime I thought she had helped commit.
My doubt is not about King's paternity but about the conversation I had with Odin and his belief that I was drugged by Pam. Only that would explain my having slept with Kennedy and not remembering.
If it's true, all my convictions will be shattered. If Pam did this, if her intention was to drug me to seduce me, maybe even get pregnant on purpose, what else might she have done? What other lies might she have invented?
Yesterday, right after hanging up the phone with our cousin, I asked Ares to collect all the bottles of whiskey from the library in our grandfather's house and test them. The chance that the supposedly spiked whiskey is still there is small, but if there's a possibility, I won't stop until I'm sure.
I asked him to specifically look for incapacitating drugs that leave a man functional.
He didn't understand a damn thing, I'm sure, but he said he would have an answer by today at the latest.
We all have contacts in various areas, and money opens doors and finds solutions in the blink of an eye.
Kennedy moves ahead and enters the house, while I walk a little behind with her luggage and King's, which Ernest brought to the hospital.
As if my thoughts emit some kind of silent call to my phone, the screen lights up, and on it, the message I read begins to unravel a nightmare and bring to light another: that I made the greatest error in judgment of my life.
Ares: "A modern drug that renders a person conscious and responsive but unable to recall anything the next day was detected in all whiskey bottles, not just one, as you thought. Now are you going to tell me what the hell is going on, Hades?"