“It’s great to see you again, Mrs. Weston,” I told her, smiling.
“Oh, call me Sloane or Mom. Misses makes me feel old.” She brushed her hair back and smirked at Theo, who snorted.
“You are old, Mom.”
She gasped and slapped his arm with some force. “Never say that again,” she demanded and looked at me. “Especially in front of other people.”
Theo smiled and nodded his head accordingly. She led us to her wing of the house and into a day room where she had lunch set up. Sloane began pestering Theo about every aspect of his life; work, me, his friends, his home, his health, his eating habits.
Theo babbled on, nodding his head, occasionally shoving a bit of food in his mouth.
“And this wonderful woman, how are you treating her?” Sloane kicked my good foot and smirked. I swallowed my food quickly and wiped my mouth.
“Margo’s fine, Mom.” He rolled his eyes and kept eating.
“Fine is not good enough! And she’s got this huge injury I just feel awful about it. I would have Luna Pagan come over and try to help me heal you, but she’s been on some binge lately, and it’s making her insane.” Her eyes got wide as she rolled them in the back of her head. “How is he, honey, honestly? You can tell me. I know he can be a bit demanding sometimes.”
“He’s great.” I blushed, looking at Theo through my eyelashes. The afternoon light hit his eyes, and he looked back at me with glowing orbs. Sloane sunk back in her seat and watched us look at each other.
“You two remind me of your father and me,” she doted, reminiscing somewhere in her memories.
“Where is your father?” I piped out, looking around the room for any signs of him. Sloane bit back her smile and looked down slightly. I turned to Theo, who was far away in his mind. The room itself was bright with sunshine, but it was a dark atmosphere.
“He passed away a few years ago, honey,” Sloane told me, patting my hand to comfort the grief-stricken look on my face. I opened my mouth, trying to apologize or comfort her, but she just laughed softly and smiled. “You didn’t know, Margo. There’s no harm done.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked Theo. I was trying not to be hurt by his family’s loss, but I couldn’t help but feel out of the loop.
“It never came up.” He shrugged halfheartedly. He pushed his food around with his fork, leaning over the table.
Sloane’s giggle interrupted his moping. I looked at her as she got out of her chair and skirted over to a box on a bookshelf. She brought it back and set it on the table, brushing the dishes and silverware off towards Theo. He swallowed his anger and stacked the dishes and place settings.
“Ah,” Sloane breathed out, grabbing a picture from inside the box. She held it over for me to look at. “This is Rush, Theo’s father.”
His sons were in perfect likeness to him. Sloane obviously had more to do with their personalities than their looks, although every now and then, I could catch her in Theo’s smile. Rush Weston was a large man, tall, muscular, but also well-fed. The picture was of their entire family when the boys were still fairly young; Theo was maybe thirteen.
Theo sat back, not bothering to look at the old picture with us.
“Oh,” she cheered, holding up three different photos. “Look at this, this is Rush and Theo right after he was born.”
Theo was barely born, still wrinkly and covered in pink, newborn, skin. He wasn’t crying though; he was staring up at his father with doe-eyed wonder. Rush looked terrified.
“He’s adorable,” I complimented, handing her the photo. She looked at it again, smiling slightly before putting it back in the box.
“He was a good-looking boy,” she admired, pushing the box back on the shelf.
“Still is,” I told her. Theo’s cheeks flushed with red, and he turned away. Sloane stopped and cocked her head at us, looking back and forth.
“Did you,” she scrutinized. “Did you two…?”
My face was obliviously confused, looking at Theo to clarify. He scrunched his eyebrows together.
“Did we do what, Ma?”
Sloane shrunk further into her frame, looking down. “Nothing,” she said quickly, biting her lower lip.
“Mom, what are you talking about?” Theo asked again.
“Nothing really, you two just haven’t…you know, sealed the deal yet.”
“Mother,” Theo growled angrily. I sat back, covering my shocked mouth with my hand strategically.
“Don’t use that tone with me,” she scolded, narrowing her eyes at him.
“Our mating life is none of your business.”
She scoffed, throwing her hair over her shoulders, and came to stand behind me. Her hands fluffed my hair. “I was just wondering,” she drawled. She pulled my hair back around my shoulders, and I remained still in fear. “You know, with everything going on.”
“We’re fine, Mother, thank you,” Theo said quickly and sternly. Sloane groaned loudly when Theo called her Mother.
“I heard talk of mating?” a laughing voice called as they walked into the room. Reese poked his cheeky face around the corner and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
Eli slapped the back of his head and walked into the room. “Hi, Mom,” he greeted.
Sloane kissed and hugged her boys, fixing their shirts, and telling them to comb their hair. Eli tugged at his hair and pouted before hitting Theo on the shoulder and talking with him.
“What are you up to, Gimpy?” Reese teased, throwing himself carelessly in a chair next to me.
“I’m not a gimp, you ass.”
Reese snorted and picked up a few pieces of leftover food from our plates, blowing imaginary dust from them, and shoving them in his mouth. I grimaced and fought the urge to smack the food from his hands.
“Theo, your mate really isn’t as nice as I thought she would be,” Reese noted, sarcastically surprised.
Theo coughed on his words and kissed his
