Black Widow | 18+

29 | My Boy

Artemisia 

It had been a busy couple of months, and I couldn't wait to finally have some time off. Xavia, Selene and I had planned this holiday at the start of the year and given the chaos of raising kids and working, we were all looking forward to it. 

Ibiza had been Selene's choice and her husband had just bought into a hotel with another guy there who was also in property, so we decided that we would make the most of it. 

Xavia was with her husband George and their son Tino, Selene was with her husband Kostas and their two boys Chris and Ares, and then there was Rico and I. 

We'd arrived this morning but immediately went out into the old town for a boat trip, one that Selene, Xavia and I basked in as we handed all responsibilities to do with the kids over to their husbands. 

I looked at the way my two friends co-parented with their partners and wondered what it would've been like, but I then felt this creeping sensation of my relationship with Rico being invaded. 

I loved Leandro, I always would, but I didn't want him to know our son until Rico started asking questions. He hadn't yet, and of course he was aware that we were different to the regular family, but he really didn't seem to mind. In a way he already had two dads in Jacob and Alvaro, and they visited us as often as they could, but I also played sports and video games with him as it was everyday, so he had no real complaints. 

George and Kostas stepped up as well. The two men were both very successful, but they made time for their kids and mine, it was beautiful really, I never expected people to do things without wanting something in return. Of course there was the normal exchange of picking up the kids and bringing them back to mine or vice versa, but to help Rico on a day-to-day basis when it came to queries about boyhood was something they didn't have to do, but they did it anyway.

Seeing it happen did make me think about Leandro and Anton however, and I found myself in a small slump for a short time on the yacht. 

"What's going on up there? You're thinking too much," Xavia mused as she passed me a glass of wine 

"Just about Rico's dad," I muttered, looking down into the glass. 

"You don't talk about him," Selene observed and I nodded before bringing it to my lips, looking out over the crystal waters of the bay 

"There's not much to say," I shrugged, "he wouldn't have been able to be there for Rico whether I had left or not, he thinks he would've been but my son wasn't the product of a happy marriage. I got pregnant during an affair with this guy." 

"Does he know about Rico?" Xavia asked

I shook my head, "I had to get out of there and I found out after I had left. In a way it's for the best until Rico wants to know, Leandro only causes damage." 

"Do you hate him?" Selene asked and I turned to look at my two friends who were staring at me with intrigue 

"No, I could never. I love him, always will, but he hurt me repeatedly when he said he would stop doing it. I can't put myself through that anymore." I sighed, looking away from my two friends. 

"Do you think you'll ever move on? It's been five years since you last saw him," Selene pointed out and I chuckled to myself. 

"Maybe I never will, he has though. He's still with his wife I'm pretty sure."

I thought about my words, maybe Leandro was still married to Clementina, but that didn't necessarily mean he had moved on. I hated thinking that he still cared, because it took a lot out of me most days not to try and find him.