Between Two Rourkes

Chapter 6

I squeezed my eyes shut so fast I nearly gave myself whiplash.

"Oh my God—"

"s**t—" Luca released me immediately, and I heard the sound of fabric rustling as he scrambled to retrieve the towel. "Okay, okay, don't...just give me a second."

"I'm not looking!" My voice came out strangled. "I am NOT looking!"

"Yeah, I got that from the way you are plastered against the wall with your eyes shut."

"Are you decent?" I demanded, still not opening my eyes.

"Define decent."

"Luca!"

"Okay, yes. Yes. You can look now."

I cracked one eye open cautiously. He had pulled on a pair of jeans, mercifully buttoned but was still shirtless.

I kept my eyes fixed on his face.

"You—" I jabbed a finger at him, trying to regain some semblance of authority. "You need to explain why you were on the phone with Cassian?"

"Because he called me out of the blue, for the first time in like six months."

"And you just... answered?"

He grabbed a t-shirt from his suitcase and pulled it on. "He wanted to know if I had transferred schools okay. Standard family check-in bullshit forced on him by our father."

"You were about to tell him something. You said that 'something crazy happened today.'"

"I was going to tell him about something campus-related."

I searched his face for any sign of deception.

"You weren't going to mention my name."

"No."

"Or Eleanor's resemblance to your family."

"No."

"Or the fact that I'm your brother's ex-wife who disappeared two years ago."

"Definitely not." He crossed his arms. "Look, I get why you are paranoid. I do. But I gave you my word."

Trust had become a luxury I couldn't afford.

"You're a Rourke."

I settled on saying instead.

"Unfortunately." He said it with such genuine distaste. "But that doesn't mean I'm like the rest of them. I'm wayyy hotter."

I sighed and ran fingers through my disheveled hair.

"I...I was making dinner, I came to let you know that."

He wrinkled his nose.

"Smells alright but takeout will do."

I crossed my arms. The insolence of this young male.

"You'd prefer takeout to a home cooked meal? That is a waste of money and time."

He shrugged. "I'm a college student. Wasting money on takeout is basically in my DNA."

"You probably have more money than sense."

"Ouch." He pressed a hand to his chest in mock offense. "That actually hurt a little."

"Good." I turned toward the door. "You can join us or not. Your choice."

______

Dinner was surprisingly... normal.

Eleanor had taken an immediate liking to Luca, chattering about Bubbles and her grandmother's 'scary music' and how she had eaten a crayon last week.

"A purple crayon?" He leaned back in his chair.

"That's bold. I respect that."

"It tasted yucky." Eleanor slurped on a strand of pasta so hard I thought it would cause her to choke.

"Most crayons do," he agreed, equally serious.

I watched this exchange while twirling pasta on my fork, trying to reconcile the tattooed, pierced grad student with the playful person entertaining my daughter. Even though he didn't seem to like kids.

Something... random came to my mind. A question I found myself leaning over and asking.

"Luca...do you know if Cassian... remarried?"

He groaned, shoving a forkful of pasta in his mouth.

"Yeah. Seraph...his secretary turned wife."

I felt a little sting in my chest.

"Cool. Do they...have any kids?"

I found myself hoping for a positive response despite my feelings. If he had children with this...Seraph. then Eleanor would be of no consequences to him.

Luca dropped his fork.

"Don't you know?"

"Huh?" I raised my head. "Know what?"

"Cassian—"

The doorbell rang, cutting him off.

Eleanor looked at me, all smiles.

"Granny?"

I tilted my head. I wasn't expecting Mom so soon, but well. I wiped my hands with a napkin and made my way to the door. Twisting the door knob, I opened it.

But where my mother was a brunette, this woman was an ash-blonde.

"Hello...are you looking for someone, ma'am?"

The giant fascinator she wore shielded her face.

"Is Luca here? The private investigator says that he lives here."

Private investigator?

"I swear I didn't knock anyone's daughter up—" Luca paused halfway, he dropped his fork hastily and took long strides to the door. "Mae..Maelis? What are you doing here?"

She took off her fascinator and held it in her hands, a scowl present on her face.

"Save it Luca. I'm not here for you."

I wondered who this woman was.

"Lyra," she turned to me. "Where is my granddaughter?"

That snapped me right back into reality.

"Your—" The word stuck in my throat. "Your granddaughter?"

Maelis Rourke pushed past me and stepped into my house uninvited, her sharp eyes scanning the interior.

"Don't play coy with me, dear. The investigator was quite thorough. Eleanor Edevane Murray Carter. Two years old, born nine months after you disappeared."

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"Lyra—" Luca started, but Maelis cut him off with a raised hand.

"The investigator also provided photographs." She pulled out her phone, swiping through images that made my blood run cold. Eleanor at the park, Eleanor at daycare. Eleanor outside the grocery store. She looked up at me. "Do you still want to play coy with me?."

I was stunned, afraid, shocked.

"How did you..."

"Find you?" She tilted her head. "The investigator I hired has been monitoring all Rourke family transactions for months. When Luca's rental agreement appeared with your name attached..." She smiled, but it held no warmth. "Well. It wasn't difficult to put the pieces together."

Luca looked like a gladiator right now. An angry seething gladiator.

"You were stalking me? What the hell Maelis?"

"You need to leave my house." I moved to block her path. "Right now."

"I'm not leaving without seeing my granddaughter."

"She is not your granddaughter. I divorced Cassian before leaving, I am a single mother and my child only has one living grandparent."

Her maternal grandmother and that was it.

"I won't repeat myself again Lyra."

Eleanor had crawled under the table like I had taught her anytime I was arguing with strangers.

And my hands were spread out. Stopping Maelis from looking past my shoulder.

"Are you seriously denying me access to my own granddaughter?"

"Yes Maelis. I am."

She scoffed, a wicked smile on her lips.

"Well, let's see what Cassian has to say about that."