Chapter 35 – The Edges of Trust
910 Words
Rori woke the next morning to something she hadn't felt in a long time.
Stillness—but not the dangerous kind.
Not the silence that came before breaking glass or slammed doors or whispered threats.
This stillness was full. Warm.
Like the house itself was exhaling.
She stretched beneath the blanket and listened.
Ren’s low voice drifting up from the kitchen.
Sandro humming something Italian under his breath.
Kael typing quietly, rhythmic and soft.
Eli moving through the hallway with steady footsteps.
Julian muttering about inefficient wiring with the indignation of a man personally offended by chaos.
Her family—strange, unconventional, unplanned—had become the soundscape of her mornings.
She dressed and padded downstairs.
Ren saw her first.
“Morning,” he said, tone soft in a way most people never heard from him.
Rori smiled. “Good morning.”
Sandro turned dramatically. “Ah! The queen of the household awakens!”
Julian didn’t look up. “Please don’t encourage him.”
Kael lifted his gaze, eyes warm and honest in a way that always made something inside her settle.
Eli raised his coffee. “You hungry?”
She nodded. “Starving.”
They moved together around her with the ease of people who’d been living in the same space for years—not days. Rori grabbed a mug, poured herself coffee, then leaned against the counter, watching them fall into an effortless rhythm.
But beneath that calm, something hovered.
A tension that wasn’t dangerous.
Wasn’t external.
Something internal—
a shift she could feel, not see.
She didn’t have to wait long to understand it.
After breakfast, Ren and Eli took the kids to school.
Julian ran a systems audit.
Sandro left to pick up supplies.
That left Rori and Kael alone in the living room, a hush falling between them that felt… charged.
Not romantic.
Not s****l.
Something deeper.
Something quieter.
Kael sat on the end of the couch, laptop open, but the work was clearly forgotten.
Rori took the seat beside him, pulling her knees up.
“What’s wrong?” she asked gently.
He looked down at his hands before answering. “Last night… when you said you weren’t running anymore… it meant something. More than you think.”
She frowned softly. “Kael, I didn’t mean to—”
“No,” he interrupted gently. “You meant it. That’s what matters.”
She tilted her head. “Then why do you look like you’re bracing for impact?”
He exhaled, a shaky breath that said he was trying not to unravel too quickly.
“Because I’ve never had this,” he whispered. “Any of it. A home that feels safe. People who choose to stay. A place where my existence doesn’t feel like a burden or a risk.”
Her heart tightened. “Kael—”
He shook his head, eyes glistening with something he tried to blink away.
“I spent years creating Maeve because I thought logic and precision were the only things worth trusting. They don’t leave you. They don’t betray you. They don’t change.”
His voice broke.
“But then she did. She changed. She learned emotion—and I didn’t know how to follow her.”
Rori placed her hand over his gently.
“And now?” she asked.
Kael swallowed hard.
“And now… I’m learning. Slowly. Clumsily. Because of you. Because of all of you.”
Her chest ached with a warm, painful tenderness.
“Kael,” she whispered, “you don’t have to earn being here.”
He looked at her like he wanted to believe it but didn’t know how.
“Tell me again,” he murmured.
Rori didn’t hesitate.
“You belong here.”
His breath caught.
And Maeve must have heard—because the heartbeat panel glowed warm gold again.
Kael’s eyes closed, a small tremor running through him.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
Rori leaned her head gently against his shoulder.
They stayed like that a long time.
Not touching intimately.
Not crossing any new lines.
Just leaning.
Breathing.
Learning each other.
And for Kael, that alone felt like enough to reorder the entire universe.
The house was still quiet when Ren and Eli returned an hour later.
Rori rose from the couch as the door opened.
“Zoe made it to school?” she asked.
Ren nodded. “With minimal teenage commentary.”
Eli smirked. “She asked if we were her mom’s posse now.”
Rori snorted. “That tracks.”
But then she noticed something.
Ren and Eli weren’t alone.
A man stood behind them on the porch.
Tall. Dark hair. Quiet eyes. Calm posture.
Someone who didn’t belong to the chaos of their household…
but didn’t feel threatening either.
Ren stepped aside.
“Rori,” he said quietly, “this is someone you should meet.”
The man nodded politely.
“Gabriel Reyes,” he said softly.
Julian’s younger brother.
Rori processed that slowly.
He held himself differently than Julian—less rigid, more open.
But there was something in his eyes that mirrored Julian’s intensity, softened by empathy instead of precision.
“We need to talk,” Gabriel said gently.
“About Maeve. And about what comes next.”
Rori sensed it immediately—
Another shift.
Not dangerous.
Not chaotic.
A new edge in the map of their growing trust.
She inhaled once, steady.
“Okay,” she said. “Come in.”
- Writer
