Chapter Ten
Shaw
It was a shame we had to wait almost a week to get together again, but work and being a dad responsible for keeping the home fires burning took up most of my time.
After running into Gatlin at the store, I still had all the other Saturday jobs to take care of if I was going to have a functioning week.
And Sebastian was still adjusting to our new home, so routine was important to him.
It helped me, as well. But halfway through the week, I was asking myself why I didn’t figure out a way to go sooner.
Sebastian woke up before dawn, on the following Saturday. It was all I could manage to do to get him to climb into bed with me and snuggle until he fell asleep again for a while. Usually his even breathing and warm little body lying next to me would put me right out again. Not on this day.
Because as soon as I had him settled and out again, my brain kicked into high gear.
We had agreed to meet at the ticket booth of the zoo at ten o’clock…
only five short hours away. Easing away from Bastian, I headed for the kitchen to do a little Saturday housework and hopefully distract my busy and fretful brain from the idea of spending the day with my son’s father and the fated mate who had gotten up and left without a word after a night I had thought was the first one of our new life together.
I was glad we were meeting there because until I decided when—and there was a slight chance of if—I shared the information about our son, best he not have my home address.
He did have my phone number, of course. Even with the worry about Sebastian, I couldn’t stop myself from being eager to go, and when my little one toddled into the kitchen hugging his teddy, I picked him up and gave him a big kiss on the cheek. “Where are we going today, my big boy?”
“Zoo!” he crooned. “Teddy wants to see bears.”
“I bet we will see lots of bears, and what other animals would you like to find at the zoo?” Our conversation about the zoo continued while I cooked and served him his hot cereal and got us both ready for the day.
It soon turned into a game where we had to think of as many beasts and birds and other creatures we might encounter on our big adventure.
My son was so excited to go that I promised myself we’d make sure to do it more often.
We’d been a couple of times in our old city, and my dads had brought Sebastian while I was at work, but we’d never been together.
Not that it was unfamiliar to me. As we rode the tram from the parking lot to the front entrance, memories of my childhood flooded me.
The cars in the lot had changed, but the colorful animals on the signs we passed, the topiaries shaped like all sorts of birds and beasts, even the ice cream cart near the gate…
it could have been twenty-five years ago.
With one exception. The boy who came here then had not met his mate and had a child with him. A child who dropped my hand and ran up to grab the one of his alpha father—despite the fact that neither of them knew about the relationship.
My eyes filled with tears that I dashed away, struggling to maintain my composure before I took the strides to join them beside the booth shaped like a giant sloth.
That was new…at least since my last visit.
Lifting my lips in a smile I hoped wasn’t overdoing it, I joined the two of them.
Sebastian was explaining which areas Teddy wanted to see first, and Gatlin had pulled out a map.
He looked up and flashed me a grin. “I got it with the tickets so we can plan our adventure.”
“You bought the tickets already? You didn’t have to do that.”
“I did.” He turned that smile down on Sebastian beaming up on him. Dang, their smiles were even the same. One side slightly higher than the other, same twinkle in their eyes. Maybe I wouldn’t have to tell him anything. “I invited you, after all.”
“Next time, my treat.” I took Sebastian’s other hand. “Ready for the animals?”
“Flaminnos first,” he said, towing us both behind him, which involved some shifting to get through the turnstiles as Gatlin held up the tickets for the laser reader.
Also new to me. Last time I was there, an ancient fellow with so many smile lines his whole face looked like a map, had done that job. “C’mon, Daddy. Mister.”
“You can call me Gatlin, son,” his alpha father said. “It’s friendlier, I think.”
“It is that.” I tried not to let him calling Bastian “son” get to me any more than it needed to. “So, where are the flamingos?”
The long-legged pink birds were exactly where they’d been last time I went. Right inside the front gate, in an artificial lagoon, and they were gorgeous. My dads had old me once they never even got past that point, with Sebastian just sitting down on a bench and watching them until lunchtime.
Today, we stayed there only a few minutes because our little tour guide eschewed the map to take us all his favorite spots. Many of the enclosures were bigger and nicer than in the past, I was glad to see, for the animals’ sake.
The whole time we went from area to area, Bastian held one or the other of our hands, seeming comfortable for it to be either of us, and I’d never seen him so comfortable with someone he barely knew.
“What shall we see next?” he asked Bastian after we left the penguins.
“Birds!” My son bounced. “The birds talk!” And so off we went to the aviary for the show.
Some of the parrots did talk, and they were all beautiful or amazing to look at, but my mind was locked on the two of them as they had a great time together.
And finally, somewhere between lions, tigers, and bears, I admitted to myself that I couldn’t tell him in front of Sebastian anyway, and gave myself permission to just enjoy the day.