Chapter 10
Havoc went outside to wait for Analise and the kids, while Giada did her best to concentrate on work.
Twenty minutes later, Analise pulled into the parking lot and smiled at Havoc as he waved her into a spot near Ronan’s beater truck.
She parked, turned off the car, then before she could even open the door, Havoc was opening it.
He leaned in to kiss her. “I missed you.” He kissed her twice more.
“I saw you a few hours ago,” Analise said, taking his hand as she got out of the car.
“Yeah, but I’m always happy when you come home. I hate it when you leave.”
“Aw, that’s sweet.”
“Okay, so…” Havoc said, beginning to tell her what she needed to know.
“Oh, Lord,” Analise said, rolling her eyes.
“What?”
“When you start with the ‘Okay, so…’ that means you’re up to something.”
“Kinda, but not really. But it worked, so it’s a good ‘Okay, so’.”
“What worked?” Analise asked, her hands on her hips and her hip cocked out while she waited for his confession.
Havoc glanced at his kids strapped into their car seats, knowing they were listening to every word their parents said.
He closed the door and led her away a few feet.
“So, Giada was still steady pushing Ronan away. Wouldn’t even give him a chance.
But he could tell she liked talking to him.
So we set it up where she’d think he was going away to school, and she was not happy about it. ”
“You tricked her.”
“No, all I said was that I wanted to see him before he left for school and he was supposed to be here, so did she see him? Eventually, he came out of the back, they talked and she was all, ‘I can’t believe you were just going to leave and not even say goodbye’.
And he was all, ‘Giada, you’ve made your feelings clear.
Why would I say goodbye when you don’t care if I’m here or not?
’ And she was all, ‘It’s not that I don’t care! ’”
“Havoc, get to the point, baby,” Analise encouraged.
“Long story short, she cares and now she knows she cares. They got a date tonight, and Ronan told her the kids could come, but I said she should let us watch them so they can talk about adult things and not have to worry about little ears overhearing something they shouldn’t.”
“And that means it worked?”
“Yeah! They got a date. She cares.”
“Hmpf.”
“Don’t hmpf me woman. You know what I’m saying and that it worked.”
“We shall see. In the meantime, you wanted me and the kids here so she could meet us, and we could see how the kids get along.”
“Yep. I said that on the phone didn’t I?
“You did.”
“Okay. So, anyway, she knows he’s going to school at Tulane now, so it’s not like you have to lie or anything.”
“No, because you already did that.”
“We did not lie. We just said things that could be misinterpreted.”
“On purpose.”
Havoc grinned at her as he stepped around her to open the back door and get his son out. “Come on, Ruger! Let’s go make some new friends.”
“I want new friends, too,” Lola said.
“Of course, you do. And you’re going to get some,” Havoc said.
He handed Ruger to Analise then leaned across the seat of the car to Lola’s car seat and released her from the straps so she could walk across the seat to him, rather than going around the car to her side.
When she got close enough, he picked her up and backed out of the car.
He closed the door, and Analise used her key fob to lock the doors.
“Alright, now, this nice lady is a friend of ours and of Uncle Ronan. She’s got two little boys and we’re going to be nice to them, right? ”
“I’m always nice,” Lola said.
“Yeah, I’ll be nice,” Ruger said. “I won’t bite them or nothing.”
Havoc opened the door and held it for Analise with Ruger on her hip to walk into the reception area of the shelter. He followed her as he lifted Lola up to ride on his shoulders. “The gang’s all here!” he cried.
Giada looked up and smiled at them through the window. “Hi! I’m Giada! I’m coming out there,” she said, as she disappeared from view. A few moments later she was hurrying across the reception area toward them. “Thank you so much for coming by. I hope it wasn’t too much of an inconvenience.”
“Not at all. I’ve been wanting to come back by and see how things are going. I just get so hectic with the kids,” Analise said, gesturing toward Lola and Ruger. “And we’ve got an eleven year old. She’s in seventh grade and going through all the growing pains.”
“Oh, gosh. Yes, I remember those pains. They were no fun at all,” Giada said. “But you know, you said you’d been planning to come back. I think I’ve met you before — I know I’ve seen you here.”
“I’ll be honest, I haven’t volunteered much time at all since the shelter’s very inception. I was traveling a lot for work, then I had these heathens, so I’m not here as much as I should be.”
“You do not have to explain to me. If I wasn’t able to bring my sons with me, I don’t know how I’d do it. I don’t think I’d be working here. It’s overwhelming when you have little kids and you’re alone.”
Analise gestured at Havoc. “It’s overwhelming when you have little kids and you’re not alone.”
“You said I was going to have new friends,” Ruger said.
“You are,” Havoc said. “If you’re not rude.”
“This is Ruger, he’s four. And this is Lola, she’s three. Our eleven year old is Harley, but she’s in school today. I’m Analise, and I’m guessing you know Havoc?” Analise said.
“Yes,” Giada said, smiling at the kids. “I am so happy to meet you guys. My boys have been hoping for some kids their age to play with. It seems like everyone that comes through our doors is either older or much, much younger.”
“Like babies?” Ruger asked.
“Exactly like babies,” Giada said.
“I don’t like babies. They cry a lot.”
“Sometimes they do,” Giada said. “But it doesn’t take very long until they get old enough to stop crying all the time.”
“Where are they?” Lola asked.
“My kids? I’ll run get them real quick. I’ll be right back,” she said to Lola, but looked up at Analise and Havoc.
“Take your time,” Havoc said.
Giada nodded, but was already rushing out of the reception area.
The minute she was gone Havoc looked at Analise. “What do you think?”
“I like her. I really do. I get a good, honest feeling from her. I think she and Ronan could be really good for each other.”
“Me, too. And she didn’t even lose her temper today when I was being me,” Havoc said.
Analise laughed, and he leaned over and kissed her. “I love you.”
“You already said that when I first got here,” she teased.
“And I’ll say it probably ten more times before we get home.”
“Good. I love hearing it. I love feeling it. I love you, my heart.”
Havoc kissed her again as Ruger and Lola tried to climb his legs.
He grabbed them and swung them up, each on a shoulder and pretended like he was a giant and was going to drop them from the highest mountain — his shoulders.
They squealed and wrapped their arms and legs around his head and each other.
Analise was laughing, and just happened to glance toward the door Giada had gone out of.
Giada was standing there, holding the hands of each boy, as she watched them.
The moment she realized Analise had noticed her, she apologized.
“I’m sorry, I should have said I was back.
I just got caught up in watching you. You have exactly what I’ve always hoped for.
It’s encouraging to see that it actually exists, even if I wasn’t meant for it. ”
“Don’t say that,” Analise said, moving toward her. “You don’t know what life is going to bring.”
“I’m pretty sure I’ve already figured out what it’s bringing,” Giada said.
“You didn’t know it was bringing Ronan. And you don’t know what he can offer you.”
“He’s sweet. So sweet.”
“And handsome,” Analise said.
Giada’s eyes widened. “Sooo handsome! But he’s also younger than me, and I come with a lot of baggage.”
“Don’t we all?” Havoc asked.
“Not like mine,” Giada said softly.
Havoc looked at Analise, and Analise nodded, then focused on the kids. “Hi! I’m Ms. Analise. This is my husband, Havoc, and these are our kids. This is Ruger and that’s Lola.”
Leo and Matteo smiled politely, but stayed very close to their mother.
“Do you know that Ronan is my little brother?” Havoc asked.
“He is?!” Leo asked excitedly.
“He is. And Lola and Ruger love to play with him. He’s really nice,” Havoc said.
“We like Ronan,” Matteo said.
“What are your names?” Analise asked.
They both looked up at their mother, who nodded at them.
“I’m Leonardo, and this is my brother Matteo,” Leo said.
“Like the Ninja Turtles?” Ruger asked.
“I guess so,” Leo said.
“That’s cool. I like the Ninja Turtles.”
“Me, too.”
“I like Phineas and Ferb. Ronan told us about them and we played their game,” Matteo said.
“You have a game of them?” Ruger asked.
“Yeah. It’s a video game.”
“Can I play?” Ruger asked.
“Sure. It’s in the playroom,” Leo said.
“I want to play,” Lola said.
“You can play, too. And we got trains and puzzles and all kinds of things to play on. We’ll show you,” Leo said.
“Can we Daddy?” Lola asked.
“Sure. I’m going to come, too. Mommy and Miss Giada are going to have an adult conversation.”
“You’re an adult,” Lola said.
“That’s not what Mommy says,” Ruger said as they followed the kids out of the reception area.
“You mind if I go with them?” Havoc asked.
“No, go right ahead.”
“Listen to what Analise is going to tell you. I was a real asshole, and came with an unbelievable amount of baggage, and she chose me anyway. You never know how your life is going to turn out.”
“Is that what that nod was about?” Giada asked.
“Yep. Just making sure it was alright with both of us to share it with you,” Havoc said, then jogged lightly toward the double doors as he hurried to follow the kids to the playroom.
Giada watched him go then turned to Analise. “You have a beautiful family.”
“Thank you. They mean more to me than anything in the world.”
“I can understand that, especially after seeing you all together.”
“There was a time that I didn’t believe Havoc and I would end up together, in fact was so sure of it that I didn’t come home for six years just in case he and his daughter were here.”
“I thought she was your daughter,” Giada said.
“She is now. But back then she was the result of an affair he had when we were teenagers. We’ve known each other since we were babies.
Our families are like family themselves.
We’d always been very close and very special to each other.
When we were in high school, he cheated on me.
She flaunted it in front of me, and then she turned up pregnant.
He was as devastated as I was. I applied to colleges as far away from here as I could get, and planned to leave.
I just couldn’t look at him, much less them together, and our families live in the same private neighborhood.
He found out about it and refused to allow me to be driven out by his actions.
He took her to live with his sister’s family in Missouri.
I went away to college anyway, and stayed away.
He stayed away, too. Eventually, she deserted them, but he stayed in Missouri — he’d built a life there.
When Harley was about 6, he decided to come home for Christmas.
I did, too. Neither of us knew the other would be there.
I defended Harley against her mother in town before I ever made it home and didn’t even know who she was.
That was when he walked into the store. We had to learn to deal with each other that Christmas because both of our families were so excited that we were there.
Long story short, he broke my heart. He broke my soul.
But our love was still alive somewhere under all that pain.
And we found our way to each other again.
Harley is as much my daughter as if I’d given birth to her.
I cannot imagine my life without her. If he’d never cheated, we wouldn’t have Harley, and that’s just completely unacceptable.
So, if we can find our way through all our baggage, and believe me, I had more than my share, too — trust issues after the fact I had to overcome, then anyone can find a happily ever after despite their baggage.
And if you might somewhere in the back of your sub conscience wonder if Ronan might be able to look past your baggage — he already has.
His age is only a factor if it’s a factor to you.
Nobody else has even considered it. He’s a good male.
He’s Havoc, but without all the craziness,” Analise said laughing.
“If you think you might even be a little interested, don’t miss this opportunity.
There is nothing you can say or do that our families haven’t had to deal with before.
You will not ever have to face anyone that’s hurt you, or even wants to hurt you.
The males in our family don’t allow their females to stand in harm’s way. They’re a unique kind of protector.”
“I thought I was being protected before, I was being controlled, and abused, and forced into what he wanted me to be.”
“Our males aren’t happy if we aren’t happy. We do what we want to do as they stand beside us and offer support and cheer us on. If anything or anyone becomes a danger, that’s when they step in. Otherwise, we kind of drive the relationship car where we want it.”
Giada nodded. “Sounds too good to be true.”
“It does, doesn’t it? I mean, don’t get me wrong, we have our fights and disagreements just like everyone else. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve locked Havoc out of the house with just the clothes on his back — and sometimes that’s just his underwear.”
Giada laughed.
“But there’s no violence. They respect us. We respect them. We are free to live our lives, as are they, knowing that we are loved and treasured and have the best cheering section. It’s the way things should be for everyone, and it’s very distressing that it’s not.”
“Yes, it is,” Giada said. “Love is disguised as so many things that it’s not meant to be.”
“It is indeed. And I’m not telling you what to do, but if you think you might be even slightly interested in Ronan, don’t miss this opportunity.”
“You said that before,” Giada said with a slight smile.
“I want to be sure you heard me. I love Ronan. I want him to be as happy as Havoc and I are, and I think you might be the one to give him that.”