Chapter 124

**Blue**


The door opens behind me, and Artemis walks inside with Iris next to him. His sisters are on their feet in an instant and rushing over to wrap their little sister in their arms. The three of them start to cry while Artemis stands off to the side watching them. His forehead is creased, and his jaw is tight like he isn’t sure what to do but also like he’s worried. So, I walk over to him and slip my hand in his.

“You okay?” I whisper.

He sighs. “I’m glad she’s okay.”

That’s enough for me. This is all so fresh, so it makes sense that none of them know what to say or do next.

“What can I do to help?” I ask him.

“We need to wait for the lawyer to the estate contacts us. They will let us know our grandfather’s and parent’s wishes for burial and memorial services. Then we go from there. After the funeral there will be the reading of the will, and we’ll all know where we stand in this family.” He grinds his teeth at that last part.

I may not know much about his family, but I can’t imagine that his grandfather didn’t know about Tet. If he did, he most likely changed his will to exclude him, but I guess we’ll find out.

“I’ll ask the chief to make us some food for now. I don’t want your sisters getting sick right now.” I loosen my hold on his hand, but he doesn’t let go.

He lifts my hand to his lips and leaves a soft kiss on the back. “You’re perfect, you know that?”

I scoff and smile. My face is burning up when I finally turn and leave. He says things like that now and it always catches me off guard. I also have no idea what to say back! So, I laugh it off and run away as fast as possible. Social situations can be a little tough for me still, but I’m trying to acclimate as best I can. It’s hard running a charity if you don’t have a good fake smile and laugh at the ready. That took way to long to master! Small talk is still a very tough mountain to climb. It’s so awkward and then when you run out of things to say there’s this awkward silence when your mind scatters to think of something else to say. Anything else! Ultimately you fail and make an excuse to walk away, at least that’s what I do. Thankfully the people who’ve come to know me are nice about not putting me in awkward social situations. Artemis most of all but Rhea has been known to step in as well as Abigail. I’m lucky to have so many people on my side…so very lucky!

“Mrs. Rhodes! Can I get you anything?” Our chef asks when he sees me walk into the kitchen.

Artemis made changes to the kitchen area when we took on a personal chef. The kitchen is it’s own separate space with industry size everything. It looks like a professional kitchen now and it must be magic because the food that has been coming out of here is amazing.

“Im not sure if you heard what happened, but everyone could use some comfort food right now.”

“Of course. I’ll make a few things and some snacks that everyone can nibble on as well.” He says.

“Thank you! Also do you happen to have an more of those cookies you made me? They’re amazing.”

He laughs and opens a cabinet where there is a container full of the cookies. They’re lactation cookies and taste so good that I could eat fifty of them. They’re also healthy enough to eat for breakfast while still tasting like a treat.

Chef grabs a small plate and sets two of the large cookies on it before handing it over to me. I take the plate and immediately take a huge bite out of one and groan happily. “So good.”

“I’m very happy you have enjoyed them. There are several more flavors I would like to try. Are there any flavors you do not like?” He asks.

I consider that for a minute. There are a lot of different kinds of cookies and I haven’t tried then all yet. “One I know for sure I don’t like is snickerdoodles.”

“Noted.” He actually makes a note of it on a whiteboard he has set up on the fridge.
“Thanks!” I hold up the plate and walk out with my loot in hand.

I stop short when I hear everyone talking in the living room.

“…don’t you want to wait and see what Blue thinks?” I hear Rhea ask.

“This doesn’t concern her. This is a family matter so it will be dealt with by us.” I hear Artemis say and the bite in his words hit their mark.

I start to feel a nauseous sensation making me not want to eat my cookies anymore.

“We’re involved.” I hear Max say.

“You guys are part of this. Blue isn’t. Now drop it.” Artemis hisses at them.

Thank God Lilly went to her room. I would hate for her to hear this. She probably not realize anything is wrong, but I’m still glad. Maybe I’m taking his words the wrong way or he doesn’t mean them the way they sounded but it hurt to hear. He’s not wrong though. I don’t know anything about how their family really operates, so how can I be upset that they don’t want to waste time trying to explain it to me. Besides I have plenty else to worry about, so I’ll focus on that instead. I have my babies and Lilly who can use as much of my attention as possible.

I’ll give Artemis and his family some space to talk and hang out with Lilly until they want me here. I head back through the kitchen and through the sliding door to walk around back to the other side of the house where Lilly’s room is. There’s another sliding door down the hall from her so I slip in through there and walk the rest of the way to her room. I peek into her room and see her at her desk working on something. It’s probably homework, so I knock on the wall to get her attention.

“Hey! Are you working on homework?” I ask.

She nods. “Math.”

I scrunch my face up in disgust. “I always hated math which is probably why I failed in that class. So sorry but if you have questions I’ll he just as lost as you.”

She laughs cutesy. “It’s not too hard.”

“Good. Can I hang out with you?” She nods excitedly and I walk inside choosing a pink bean bag chair to sit in.

Sometimes I help her to sit on it and she loves it.

“ Mom?”

“Yeah?”

“Do I need to be sad like Auntie Rhea?” She asks.

I push myself up and crouch down next to her. “Of course not. You should never force yourself to feel something if it’s not real for you. It’s okay not to feel sad, sometimes we don’t and that’s okay. I didn’t know them well either. I only met dad’s parents once and I never met his grandfather, so it’s hard for me to feel sad too. It’s completely fine. Okay?”

She nods. “Okay.”

“Good. Now finish up so we can watch a movie.”

“Okay!” She says before focusing back on her work.

“I’m going to check on the triplets.” I tell her.

I need to see them too. They’re my family…a part of me. So if I don’t belong in the other parts of the Rhodes family I belong with them. I carefully open the door to the nursery and don’t hear a sound. They must still be asleep. That’s okay, I still want to see them. Selene and Eros are making an unconscious attempt at holding hands which is crazy cute and my little sleeper monster Damion is spread out like a starfish on the other side of Selene. I smile down at the most amazing things I’ve ever made. Babies are so pure and innocent. They have no idea how horrible or lonely the world can be, and I hope my babies never find out.

I decide to sit on the rocking chair for a while and let my mind work through some stuff. There’s this urge to confront Artemis about what he said and tell him that if he didn’t want me a part of this family then I would go. Then I try to think reasonably but that last only as long as I don’t repeat his words in my head because when I do I feel the hurt hit hard and quick.

This is such a small thing to worry about but my mind jumps on the chance to remind me that I’m a whole lot of nothing in this world. I’m deep into self loathing when my phone vibrates in my pocket. I don’t recognize the number but that isn’t unusual. Since the babies are deep in sleep still I leave and head over to my room to answer the call.

“Hello? This is Blue Rhodes.” I say when I accept the call.

“Mrs. Rhodes, hello this is Sebastian Steel the estate lawyer for the late Mr. Rhodes.” He says.

“Oh! Hi! I’m sorry I think you meant to call my husband Artemis, I can give you the number if-“

“Thank you ma’am but I’m talking to the right person.” He says.

What does he mean by that?

“Okay, what can I do for you?”

“I would like to arrange a meeting if possible. It would be wise for the two of us to meet alone first since there is a lot of sensitive material we need to discuss.” He says this in a way that makes me think it’s very serious.

“Okay when and where?”