Epilogue, Friday January 10th Pt. 2
“It was during his return that things became more active in his case. Alpha Demetri made the trip with his mate to the Shadowlands pack. Turns out she’s an empath and was very sick with silver poisoning. They were able to save her and to the best of my knowledge he returned to Crimson Dawn around the beginning of the year.”
“He did it? He made it home?”
His face lights up like a child on Christmas day.
“Yes, he is with his mate in the protections of Alpha Demetri Black. Unfortunately, his amnesia has not yet resolved and as a precaution, in order to obtain custody of Cole, Alpha Black had to agree to restrict his movements until his mental health improves.”
“He’s a prisoner there?”
I had a feeling he would take this part hard.
“Not necessarily. Considering what little I know about the hell he lived through next door and his encounter with the alpha of Purple Mountain, I don’t see where he’ll have the desire to leave that territory any time soon.”
He nods his head a little more relaxed.
“This is the file that has been compiled so far of his escape from Red Fang. Tina is interested in building a case against Charles to ensure that he and possibly Kristoph will never see freedom again. If you would like to look through it, that’s why I requested it. Now, that brings me to the second piece of news. One that does require action by you.”
I pause to allow him to switch gears.
“There are many reasons why immediate notification did not happen. It was important to Alex that Cole’s child was properly identified before any additional actions took place.”
Andre sits up suddenly, cradling his son so as not to throw him to the ground.
“When? When did the red stork land?”
I sigh as the information given to me wasn’t easy to take in.
“Melinda’s twins were born December 21st.”
His mouth drops open, speechless towards the news.
“As you were aware, Kristoph and Sara Mae Redmen were both released from the council’s custody two days before Thanksgiving. Why they kept Charles was never shared. According to statements made by Sara to Alex, Kristoph got tired of Melinda’s scent not changing and became violent around the fourteenth. He brutally beat and raped her for days until she became unconscious.
Your mom knew what was going on but was helpless to stop him until he physically left. She called the council and he was arrested and taken back into custody while she accompanied Melinda to Red General. Melinda was immediately placed on life support as they had little hope of her surviving the bleeding and swelling in her brain but they hoped to keep the twins alive inside her as long as possible.
Unfortunately, both pups went into distress during the early morning hours of December 21st. They were born via cesarean section within an hour. Both pups were essentially stillborn but the doctors managed to revive both of them. DNA tests were done on both to identify the father of each child.
Your mother was allowed to be with the first born child which she named Kevin. He suffered numerous broken bones and brain injuries due to Kristoph beating Melinda. The second born child is your brother Cole’s child. While he was born with a broken arm and leg, he has fared much better than his twin, Kevin.
The night we retrieved your twins from Red General, I slipped away with Alex and made arrangements for the pup, affectionately being called CJ, to be flown the next day to Redding Children’s hospital. While you have been working on recovering from your trauma as a family I have been making daily trips to the hospital giving Cole’s pup the much needed skin to skin care that he needs.”
Andre is in complete shock as I expected. What I didn’t anticipate is his tears, falling silently.
“How is he?”
“One of the strongest, most resilient pups Redding has had in a long time. While they anticipate that he will need to remain in the hospital’s NICU until his due date in April, they do not believe that he will meet his demise.”
“What happened to Melinda, to Kevin?”
He asks nearly in a panic.
“Melinda had been pronounced brain dead the day before her twins went into distress. Her parents were contacted as Kristoph had never claimed her as his mate and was in jail for her assault. They made the decision to donate her organs and cremate her body afterwards. Her ashes were turned over to her mother a week later.
Kevin managed to hang on for ten days but the injuries he sustained from his father’s assault on his mother was too much for him to deal with on top of his prematurity. He had passed away in the early morning hours of December 31st. It was late that day that Alex alerted me to your kids being in the hospital and the need to get the paperwork drawn for transferring CJ. He reassured me that your mother does not know that CJ is alive. It’s the resilience of this pup that has prompted the council to move so quickly with my request. To my shock, they have already returned an answer.”
“What answer is that?” He asks nervously.
“As we have planned the entire time since finding out that Melinda and Sasha were pregnant, we collected the evidence and turned it over to the council. While Kristoph’s assault on his mate was enough to prove his hatred for the child, doing this by the book was critical to getting the results that we have but….”
I pause as I have no idea how he’s going to react.
“Considering the unforeseen circumstances of your own children needing you and the reunification causing a dip in your own mental health, I didn’t feel that you were in a place where you could take on the challenges of caring for a very premature baby.”
“What does that mean? Are you giving him to foster care? While that’s better than being raised by Charles or Kris he deserves to know about his father.”
“Calm, Andre.” I completely understand his panic.
“That is not at all the arrangement. I could never do that to you after all you have done. The modifications I made, that the council has very quickly agreed to, is Luna Elizabeth and I will foster Cole Jr. until he can be united with his father.”
“Cole Jr?” He questions the name given by Dr. Carter.
“Yes. As soon as he was able to confirm that Cole was the father they started calling him CJ, short for Cole Jr.”
“He would never want his child named after him let alone carry the Redmen name.”
“I agree that his name needs to be changed. It would be way too easy for him to be found if he were to keep the name Cole Jr. I would like to take you there to see him. Perhaps seeing and holding this little guy can inspire a proper name for him.” He nods slowly.
“Julian.” His whisper can barely be heard.
“What was that?” I finally ask.
“I don’t need to meet him to know a proper name. Without you, without Alex, he wouldn’t be alive. Neither of them would be. His name is obvious to me.”
“What might that be?”
“Julian.” He repeats with a bit more excitement. “Julian Alexander Stoneman.”
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