"He's leaving. Emrys why didn't you ever tell Lean or me about this? Why are we just now hearing that Amy is our granddaughter?
"Not now, Aunt Ray. After I talk to Ochre I'll tell you everything. Just please pretend like nothing has changed for Amy's sake," Emrys hung up the phone before her aunt could say anything else.
Putting her phone away she walked back over to the pirate ship where Toya was playing with the girls. Toya looked at her as she walked over.
"Amy," Emrys called her daughter over. She kneeled in front of the little girl, "Toya is going to take you and Saffron home. I have to go somewhere but I'll be home in time to tuck you in tonight okay?"
"Okay, mommy."
"Everything okay," Toya asked as Amy went back to play with Saffron.
"Yeah. Just the time of reckoning has come. I asked Aunt Ray to play dumb for now but if you think they can't, take Amy to our hideout."
"I know," Toya said heading back to the playground.
"Toya?" Emrys called.
He turned back to her, "Will it cause trouble with you and Hunter? If you have to disappear?"
"You're my sister Em. Don't borrow trouble until we have to," he smiled at her.
Ochre frowned at her when he answered the door.
"Well hello to you too," Emrys said and stepped inside.
"Were you ever going to tell me I have a daughter Emrys," he asked.
"With all the time you spend away from home how was I ever going to tell you in the first place?" Emrys asked her own question.
"I've been back over the last five years so don't tell me there weren't opportunities to tell me before this."
"Enough," Emrys said and pushed past Ochre and into the house. "If you hadn't disappeared the day after I probably would have told you as soon as I found out, but when you didn't come back after three months I left the house."
"Why would you leave the house?" Ochre asked sitting on his couch.
"I don't know? Let's see...how about I was pregnant or maybe it was because I didn't have a boyfriend anymore," Emrys said sarcastically as she sat on the next to him.
"Right," Ochre sighed and slumped on the couch.
Emrys looked him over in confusion. "You're not yelling anymore. Are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah. I was angry earlier but honestly I already knew why you wouldn't tell me. I was a coward and a jerk when I ran away while you were still asleep. I just couldn't handle what I thought was a betrayal of my mom's trust."
"What does my Aunt Ray have to do with anything between us, Ochre?"
Ochre sat forward and turned to her, "my mom is your aunt. We've been family all our lives and even though intellectually I knew that there wasn't anything wrong with what we did, I still somehow thought it was wrong.
"Mom's been great and while she's never made me feel any less loved than Hunter or Saffron I've always been aware that my name isn't O'Malley. When I woke up and saw you sleeping next to me, for a brief moment, I thought it was a dream. And while I looked at your sleeping face I imagined what the next sixty years would be like.
"But then I remembered it wasn't a dream, you are an O'Malley, younger than I am and it felt like I was taking advantage of you in that moment," Ochre finished speaking and looked down at his hands which he clasped together in front of him.
"You can be such an idiot at times Ochre," Emrys murmured taking one of his hands in hers, "I couldn't care less what your name is. I've loved you since the day we met when you showed me to the playroom where the children's violin was. Since my parents died music was the one thing I missed most about my old life. While I know that wasn't anything big to you it meant everything to me on that day."
Emrys looked down at the ground, "I never meant to keep it secret I was just so hurt when you disappeared the way you did. Then when I found out I was pregnant I was scared because I thought you didn't want anything more to do with me. A baby would tie us together in a way that can't be broken. So, I decided to keep it a secret."
"But Toya knew," Ochre said.
"Huh?" Emrys asked.
"At the house. When you two were leaving, he said congrats as he walked past."
Emrys dropped his hand and stood up.
"Emrys?" Ochre asked.
She paced over to the window and looked outside. Emrys wrapped her arms around herself for comfort as she remembered that period of her past.
"Toya followed me when I left the house. He stayed with me during my pregnancy. He thought Ritchie was the father and I let him believe it at first. But around the sixth month I started getting really sick. I had a seizure once and my doctor tried to convince me to agree to an emergency abortion. The impact it had on my health made it too high risk to continue with the pregnancy.
"When I refused I knew I had to tell him in case I didn't survive the birth. I asked him to bring the baby back to you, Aunt Ray and Uncle Lean."
The couch creaked as Ochre stood up. After a moment she felt heat at her back so she knew he must have walked up behind her. She hunched her shoulders away from his warmth.
"If it was so dangerous why did you go through with it?" he asked.
Emrys turned around but after a glance at his face she looked to the away.
"It was your baby. Despite the way you left, I still loved you and couldn't stand the idea of never seeing our child."
"I'm sorry, Em," Ochre said.
Emrys looked up at him then. She could see in his eyes that he was sorry for what she had gone through. "I'm not. I have a beautiful daughter and a small piece of you no one else could ever have."
Ohcre took her hands in his, "Then I'm sorry that I wasn't there. That I was so selfish and unreliable you couldn't come to me for help when you needed it."
Random Ramblings
Yet another scene I've been looking forward to for ages.
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