Chapter 31
Kyle
Rory doesn’t take as much time off as I think she should, but she at least agreed to stay at our house for the few days she did have off. Today is her last day off before going back to work, and she’s finally gathered up the courage to file for a restraining order. We’ve been doing research on how the process goes and what kind of order to ask for, so we have everything lined up. Now we just need to drop off the forms.
“Did we decide who’s going to serve him?” I ask.
“Charli said her brother Thomas will do it. He wouldn’t be called as a potential witness for anything, and he wants to help.”
“That’s right, I forgot his name.”
Rory looks at me, a knowing smile appears on her face. “You did not. You’re just distracting me.”
I put on my most innocent look. “Who me?”
She laughs and shakes her head at me. I give her a hug and we grab Wes on the way out of the house. We both decided to take time off along with her, so we’re keeping together to support her. Rory hasn’t said much about it, but with how often she pulls us close, I’m pretty sure she appreciates our presence. We pile in the car, the folder of documentation in Rory’s hands, and head down to the courthouse. The process is efficient, and the judge doesn’t even question the need for a quick issue of the order after seeing the medical reports and photos of the damage Nathan did.
I breathe a sigh of relief. I was a little concerned that the process would be worse than it is. The judge asks Rory a few questions, is kind while clearly being no nonsense, and assures Rory that the law is on her side. We let her know we have a person to serve Nathan, but she advises we let the court agent handle it, so we go with her recommendation. The last thing we need is someone getting hurt because they were trying to help us.
With a sigh of relief, Rory leans into me as we exit the building. I wrap my arm around her and tuck her close to my body. We walk out, wrapped in each other, and pause on the sidewalk. It’s a sunny day and Rory leans her head back with her eyes closed. I take a moment to admire the view. She seems as though a weight has been lifted off her, and I suppose it has. There’s protection now from her nightmare and she can breathe knowing he can’t get to her unless he wants to face legal action. There’s no way that coward will pursue anything now. He wants the easy win instead of working for it. Rory’s grown into a difficult target, thankfully, and she’ll stay that way if I have any say about it.
“Feeling good?”
She looks over at me. “Yeah, feels like I can breathe a little easier.”
“Good, you deserve to breathe easy. I want to do everything I can to make you happy and help you to breathe easy.”
“That would be nice.”
“We’ll do everything we can to make sure it happens as long as you’ll let us,” Wes adds.
“Let’s go do something this afternoon. I want to make the most of this feeling,” Rory suggests.
“What would you like to do?”
“I want to smell the flowers. Literally. Let’s go to the park.”
I drop a kiss to her temple and lead her toward the car. Glancing at my watch, I note that it’s about time for school to be out for most kids, and I know one person who always brings a smile to Rory’s face. Once we’re all buckled in, I turn to her with my idea.
“What would you say to grabbing Claire?”
Her eyes immediately light up. “Yes! Let’s go see if she wants to go to the park for a bit!”
Rory plugs the address into my GPS, and we head toward her mother’s house. After a few minutes, we pull up to the house and park. Rory hops out of the car, me and Wes not far behind. We start towards the front door, but a voice from behind stops us.
“Aunt Rory!”
Rory turns and sees Claire at the end of the driveway, jogging toward us. Her smile is huge, and she looks over the moon to see us. Rory turns and opens her arms wide.
“Hey sweet girl! Sorry to drop in unannounced.”
“I don’t care! Grandma’s not home, so it was gonna be a boring afternoon anyway.”
“Wanna come with us? We’re going to go to the park and literally smell the flowers.”
Claire laughs. “Uh, sure, I guess?”
“Let’s head out then! Boys?”
Rory leads Claire to the car while Wes and I head over as well, Wes taking the passenger seat since Rory and Claire have already claimed the back with much giggling. Wes and I smile at each other before I steer us onto the road toward one of the public parks. Wes’ hand reaches for mine as we drive, and we intertwine our fingers. Claire is giving Rory all the school gossip and is still somehow going as we park in the public lot.
“I didn’t realize the intricacies of fifth grade social circles until now,” Wes comments as we exit the car.
“Wes, it’s not a joke. Margo is definitely crushing on Chad, and he has no idea. It’s, like, breaking her heart!” Claire insists.
“Hey, my heart is broken for her, I promise,” Wes says, hands up in surrender.
Rory cuts off that line of conversation before it escalates. “Claire, guess what?”
“What?”
“I have some really awesome news.”
“Did they propose? O. M. G. wait until the girls at school to hear about this!” Claire’s voice rises to a pitch that I’m pretty sure only dogs can hear.
Rory laughs at the enthusiasm. “Well, not quite that awesome.”
“Oh. Well. What is it?”
“Nathan isn’t going to be a problem anymore.”
Claire stops in the middle of the grass and looks at Rory, her eyes welling with tears. She launches herself at Rory and holds her tight.
“Do you promise?” I hear her softly say, sniffling.
Rory’s arms go around her, and she lays her head on top of Claire’s. Her eyes start to leak tears and she takes a moment before answering.
“Yeah, I promise,” she chokes out, holding back her tears as much as she can.
Claire starts crying in earnest. Wes and I look at each other, the pain in Wes’ face likely reflected in my own. I had no idea that Claire was so bothered by him. If I had known, maybe we could have made more of an effort sooner to help. Dwelling never fixed anything, though, so I breathe in deeply and watch the girls as they talk quietly.
I’m not sure what all is said, but after a few moments of hugging, they separate and walk hand in hand for a while. Their quiet conversation continues, and we stop at a patch of flowers that have been artistically planted near a sign. Claire latches back on to Rory, and I’m guessing she just learned what happened over the last few days. I clear my throat, trying to keep my emotions from overwhelming me as I watch these two wonderful women connect and love each other. Part of me sees Rory doing this with her own child someday, and while it feels fast, it also feels right. We’re nowhere near ready for a step like that, but I can envision it.
The girls eventually turn to lighter topics, and we meander around the park some more. There’s a heavy debate on if BTS or N’Sync is the superior boy band. I’m surprised that there is so much passion for this topic. I suppose it’s a classic old school versus new school argument, though. I glance at my watch, and when I realize it’s getting close to dinnertime, I nudge Wes.
“We should figure out food,” I tell him.
He nods in agreement, but before we can bring it up to Rory, Claire’s phone rings.
“Shit,” she says.
“Claire!” Rory admonishes.
“What? You swear! Plus, the only person who has my number is you, Grandma, and Dad. We all know Dad doesn’t call and you’re here, so that means Grandma came home early.”
“Let’s start heading back then.”
Claire picks up the call as we walk, and I can hear her mounting exasperation with her grandmother, but I’m impressed with how levelheadedly she answers the questions. I turn to Rory with an eyebrow raised, but she shrugs and shakes her head. Well, I guess we’ll see what happens. Rory isn’t quite sure what the outcome is going to be. Claire hangs up the phone shortly after we buckle in and sighs.
“Grandma wants me home for dinner, and she wants Aunt Rory there too.”
Rory’s head hits the headrest behind her. “Let’s at least go talk. I don’t know if I’m up for dealing with her over an entire meal.”
“Whatever you want, sweetheart,” I tell her.
“Thanks guys. I’m sure this isn’t exactly how you wanted the evening to end.”
“It’s not over ‘til it’s over, precious,” Wes tells her with a smile.
Claire chooses that moment to imitate Gollum and we all laugh, thankful the tension is broken. I glance over at Wes.
“That does kind of sound like you,” I tell him.
Wes just laughs harder and gently shoves at my shoulder. We all work to keep the mood light as we drive to drop off Claire.