Fateful Hindrance

7. The Mother Of All Insiders

Chapter 7

The Mother Of All Insiders

 

 

“Again, sorry about the boys,” Ryan went on as he led me down the hallway.  “They’ve just been hearing about you for a few weeks, so their curiosity got the best of them.  They – hopefully – wouldn’t be bothering you again.”

“It’s fine.”

 “There you go again with the ‘fine’ answer.  You know, no one will buy that when you say it every time someone asks you how you’re doing.”  He smirked, running a hand through his hair before shaking his head.  “Aiden and Sterling, though…they’re going to be around a lot.”

I couldn’t help my own curiosity of the two little boys.  “Are they brothers?”

Ryan seemed pleased that I was actually engaging in an actual conversation.  “No, they’re not, though they were born on the same day, just hours apart.  I’m not surprised that you think that, since they’re pretty much attached at the hip.  Aiden is Juliet and Theo’s and Sterling is the adopted son of a family friend who also lives here with us.”

“Aiden is…Juliet’s son?”

Just like when Theo said he was married to Juliet, I still couldn’t fathom the idea of Juliet actually being a mother. 

“You seem surprised…again.”

I stared at him with a blank look.  Surely, he could understand just why I was.  With everything she’d done in the past…and in the present…a motherly instinct couldn’t run through that woman’s body. 

“And Sterling?  He’s adopted?”

He nodded, eyebrows furrowed like he was trying to think of how to explain something without giving too much away.  “His dad died before he was born while on the job…”  I assumed ‘on the job’ meant dealing with something with the Knights.  “And his mother died when he was about a year old.  His adoptive mother has had him ever since, though she was close to him before.  She…um…she lost her children about three months after he was born.”

He said nothing more on the matter, but focused more on guiding me through the twists and turns of the hallways, finally bringing me toward another staircase, a different one than the one we’d taken upstairs.  But once we got to the ground floor, he just led me down another hallway, this one only made up of wood-paneled walls that led to a set of double doors that seemed to tower over the both of us. 

Ryan glanced back at me just before we reached the doors.  I hated that my curiosity was peaking when I heard muffled voices from behind.  I needed to remember that I didn’t want any part of whatever plan the Knights had or were coming up with. 

Though the doors looked ancient, there hinges didn’t make a sound as Ryan opened one, gesturing me inside.  I couldn’t help it.  My jaw dropped when I saw just what the room was. 

It was basically the most gorgeous library I’d ever seen, even though it was in someone’s house.  The room itself was open, taking up all three floors.  Tall windows draped with red and gold velvet curtains were on the wall opposite us, looking out to the back of the house.  Balconies where the second and third floors were circled the room and ever wall was lined with shelves and shelves of books.  I wanted to walk slowly past them all, looking at the new, old, and older titles, pulling out to read the ones that looked too interesting not to, though I was pretty sure that would be most. 

I couldn’t keep my attention away from the small gathering of people.  They were seated around a long wooden table, situated in front of a fireplace where a fire burned brightly.  They hadn’t looked up when Ryan and I walked in, but did when we stopped at the end of the table opposite of Juliet, who was sitting at the head.  Six pairs of eyes, including Juliet, glanced up at Ryan before landing on me.