Chapter 21
ANT AND ERIK
Ant and Erik enter the main lobby of the Wimberley office. The last time they were here was over ten years ago, when the building was being dedicated.
The Wimberley crew had bent over backward to make sure they had every resource available to help them raise their difficult, lovable child.
Silas was the reason for the extra wrinkles around their eyes, along with a bit more salt and pepper in their hair than their contemporaries, but to Erik and Ant, it was worth it. He was worth it.
They had always been able to see his humanity, despite what he had been created to be. Despite how he had been raised before he met them. Despite how he had been found.
Even so, raising Silas had tested everything they thought they knew about parenting. Hell, it tested what they thought they knew about themselves. But they decided early on that it was the three of them against the problem, never them against their son.
Even though they weren’t as close as they once were to the Guardians, they’d always thought their friends had their backs.
But not now. Maybe not for a long time.
As the Wildlings embraced Silas, Ant and Erik watched their friendships fracture. Sides chosen.
Eventually, they realized they were on the outside. They just never realized how far outside of the circle they’d been thrown.
Silas, so sensitive to his parents’ situation, hadn’t even been the one to tell them what went down in his apartment. He never would have.
Even Oakley had stayed quiet.
In the end, it was Rami who called Hedy yesterday, upset by what he saw.
“It’s the supposed adults who let this split develop, and none of you called it out. Fix it.”
Rami has always been pretty levelheaded, and Ant is proud of him for saying something.
That said, Ant isn’t entirely convinced reconciliation is possible, but he and Erik are willing to try. For their son.
They enter the glass-encased conference room overlooking the gorgeous property. Standing around the long, polished table are Ronan, Thane, Hedy, Edison, Oakley, and Silas. The tension in the space is already an uncomfortable, shifting thing, and Cupcake is glued to Silas’s leg.
Ant’s gaze immediately tracks Ronan, standing near the far end of the room. Ant steps forward, wanting to talk to the man who wore a gun to confront his son, but Erik holds him back.
“Let’s keep to this end of the room,” Erik says in his soothing Nordic accent.
Ant swallows down bile and tears. It hurts to share space with Ronan, but he endures it because Hedy once moved heaven and earth to take care of Ant’s family and bring to justice those who’d sold him as a little boy.
She is the only reason he’s willing to try. Well. Her and the Wildlings.
Edison and Silas have their sunglasses on, and it sets off an annoyance Ant’s always had with this place. Silas has been working here for years, Edison for decades. They still can’t work out something equitable with the goddamn lights?
He just wants to see his son’s eyes, for fuck’s sake.
“Can we lower the lights?” Ant finally asks, hoping he’s kept the attitude out of his voice.
Hedy moves to stand, but Edison beats her to the punch, stilling her with a gesture. “Of course.” He thumbs a gesture between him and Sy, explaining to Ant, “We’re used to it. But yes, it’s more comfortable without the overhead lights. I’ll make sure we can still see everyone’s expressions.”
Hedy sends him a grateful smile. Going to the fancy panel by the door, Edison lowers the overhead lights and uses the shade option on the glass to minimize sunlight. He and Silas remove their sunglasses, blinking until their eyes adjust.
In this exchange, Ronan hasn’t stopped staring at the floor. He also hasn’t acknowledged Ant’s and Erik’s presence. Thane steps forward and extends his hand to Erik, who shakes it.
“Thank you for joining us today. Both of you.”
Ant wraps his arms around his chest. Thane, always good at reading the room, doesn’t push the issue.
Hedy swallows audibly. “It is clear that emotions are running high. Yet we have all come in today. I think that’s pretty important to acknowledge.”
Ant presses his lips together. He doesn’t know what the fuck he’ll say otherwise.
The final person walks in.
Indaja.
Tall. Gorgeous. Built like a goddess. Her aura fills the room.
Hedy brought out the big guns.
Ant doesn’t know Indaja well, but he knows she’s reserved for heavier traumas. Her being here demonstrates how seriously Hedy is taking this. He also appreciates how Indaja’s presence immediately lightens the tension in the room.
“All right, everyone,” Indaja says, smiling, “breathe easy.”
Everyone automatically inhales deeply and exhales slowly. Even Cupcake seems to marginally relax.
“Why don’t we sit?”
They choose their places, and Indaja grabs the pitcher of water from the middle of the table. Empty glasses sit in front of each seat, so, moving deliberately, she walks around the table, filling them one by one, allowing the temperature to drift down out of the stratosphere.
After completing her circuit, Indaja takes the seat between Edison and Hedy, equidistant from the two sets of fathers and directly across from Oakley and Silas.
Despite the fact that they’re no longer hiding their relationship—which was never well hidden to begin with—the two younger men aren’t touching each other. They look anxious.
Ant hasn’t spent much time with Oakley, but he knows Silas blames himself whenever anything goes wrong. He’s always hoped Silas would find someone, and his chest aches with the thought that they might not be able to move past this issue with the fathers.
As annoyed as he is, Ant silently vows to at least listen to what everyone has to say.
Ignoring the parents, Indaja reaches across the table, and Silas reaches back. She grips his hand until his eyes, so reluctant and dark, meet hers.
“This is not your fault.”
His chest hitches and his eyes flatten. It’s a brief loss of neutrality, which he quickly regains control of.
Still holding Silas’s hand, Indaja turns her attention to Oakley. “This is also not your fault.”
Oakley wipes his hand across his mouth, then surreptitiously wipes his eyes.
She releases Silas and turns to Ant and Erik. “I have followed Silas’s case from the moment he was rescued from that lab. While Edison has been an incredible mentor, his efforts would have been for nothing without the stable, loving home you provided him.”
Ronan shifts uncomfortably at the other end of the table, his chair squeaking against the floor. Indaja ignores him for now, focusing on Ant instead.
“Silas shared with me your one rule. Would you mind sharing that with the table now?”
Ant hesitates, then uncrosses his arms. He reaches out, tracing the wood grain of the table with his finger. His jaw sharpens and tears spill. He ignores them.
“Our one rule is that Silas is loved no matter what he does. That he would be loved no matter how successful or not our interventions were. The rule is that he is loved regardless. Because a child always deserves love.”
Indaja turns to Silas. “Did you believe Ant and Erik when they introduced you to this rule?”
Silas reaches down to pet Cupcake, avoiding eye contact with his fathers. “Not at first. Not for a long time.”
“But you believe it now?”
“I kind of had to.” He gives a wry smile, returning his hand to the table. “My dads are pretty stubborn.”
Erik gives Ant’s arm a brief squeeze. Sy only addresses them by their names, but he always calls them his dads when he’s talking about them to other people.
Maybe that doesn’t sound like much to the casual observer, but to Ant and Erik, it’s everything.
“What led you to believe them?”
Silas takes a sip of water. He sets down the glass and considers it for a moment before answering.
“Well, I guess I kinda discovered that there’s a hidden rule in love.”
“Which is?”
“Trust.” He thumbs away a drip of condensation. “My dads found safe ways to trust me. To show that they believed I was doing the hard work.”
Ant presses his hands over his heart. That was exactly what they’d done.
“What’s one of the ways they trusted you?” Indaja asks, her tone encouraging.
Silas’s eyes glisten. Sending a small grin to his fathers, he gives a one-word response.
“Blueberry.”
Ant and Erik are visibly touched by this answer. Erik kisses the top of Ant’s head. Blueberry had been his idea.
It had been a big gamble, introducing Silas to their horses, given his history with animals. They weren’t, however, operating on blind faith. They run an equine therapy center, and their horses are trained in both therapy and search-and-rescue. They remain calm even in the trickiest of situations.
“Tell me about Blueberry,” Indaja asks.
Silas’s hand returns to Cupcake’s velvety head.
Indaja doesn’t push. Instead, she waits patiently for his answer.
“Blueberry failed at search-and-rescue.” Silas grins at this fact. “She was a bit of a diva about the heat.”
He rubs his hands together and exchanges an amused look with his fathers.
“She was amazing in therapeutic spaces though. They only used her for the most difficult trauma cases.”
His answer is slightly interrupted when Ronan shifts in his seat again. Ant grinds his teeth, and Erik wraps his long arm around his husband’s narrow shoulders.
Indaja finally turns to the other end of the room. “You seem uncomfortable, Ronan. Would you like to tell us the source of your discomfort?”
Ronan, who still has not looked up from the table, fidgets, pulling on his fingers. His hands are shaking.
“I don’t think my opinion is welcome here,” he finally says, his voice soft.
“Say it anyway.”
His hands go still as he at last makes eye contact with Indaja.
“Silas harms animals. I can’t imagine endangering an animal just to teach a kid like that a lesson.”
Ant stands, and Erik grabs him, pulling him back down, barely keeping him in place.
Indaja turns to Ant and holds up her hand, effectively ratcheting down his anger.