Part Forty Nine

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"Willie knows you, we have all prepared him to meet you someday.  Cassidy would show him photos and tell him stories.  She told us if anything ever happened to her, she wanted you to raise him." She said.

Blaine shook his head.  "That's bullshit, if she wanted me to raise him, she wouldn't have hidden him away from us."

"She felt the danger would die with her and you would adopt him with Ciara. Nobody would know, and he would be safe with you." She said.

"My sister was mentally ill." He suddenly said, and I almost gasped.

"How could you say that, Blaine?" Savannah asked.

"Because of her behavior.  The paranoia about her own family, the alias, the secrets, and her need to reinvent herself, even after she was safe.  It's insanity, and trying to put it together is almost even more insane." He said, but he's not wrong. 

"She was scared." Savannah defended.

"Of what?  Bertinelli assured her she was safe, but she insisted on keeping up this charade.  My God, you were raising her son, then suddenly she wanted him back?  Poof, let me be a mom again? Maybe it had something to do with the aneurysm, I don't know, but I'm done.  I can't keep chasing her ghosts when there is a child here that needs his family." He said.

I actually agree with everything he just said.

"Do you think it's as easy as that, Blaine? Just magically appear, and he's going to jump into your arms and ask you to take him home?  He's almost ten years old, he just lost his mother, and if that's not difficult enough, you want to pull him away from everything he knows?" Corey asked.

"You need to stay out of it. You might have married my aunt, but that gives you no right to speak to me right now." He looked at his aunt.  "This is how it's going to work.  I'll meet him today and come back tomorrow.  You will make plans to go back home to Scipio, where I will visit him as much as possible, and, slowly, we will introduce him to the idea of living with me in New York." Blaine said.

She didn't argue. 

"What, no argument?" Blaine asked.

"We were headed home anyway.  Cassidy wanted him with you, so there's nothing to argue about, not unless you're looking for another argument." She said.

"What time does he get home?" Blaine asked.

"Three-thirty," Savannah answered. 

"We'll be back before he comes home.  Are you ready, Cora?"  I nodded and stood when he did, then he took my hand, which again, earned us some strange looks. 

He didn't even say goodbye, and we walked out the door.  He has that cold look again, which I expected, since, once again, someone he cares for deceived him.

As soon as we got in the car and shut the door, he looked at me.  "Are you angry?"

I shook my head.  "Not with you," I said.

"You don't think I was too harsh?"

I couldn't help it, I laughed.  "You only said the f-word one time, I think you're fine."

He shook his head.  "About Cassidy."

I took his hand.  "I agree with everything you just said.  At one point or another, she must have snapped.  I don't think she was of sound mind.  Think about it, Blaine.  I lived with her for six years and never suspected she had another life.  She played it off too well, something was wrong. Do you think there was still someone after her?" I asked, and he shook his head.

"I don't know, but we will keep precautions in place until my investigators can clear us.  I can't believe its almost over.  We've lived like this for a decade, and that's another thing that pisses me off.  She lived unguarded, free to live however she wanted, while the rest of us looked over our shoulders.  We lost our freedom because of her choices, but she had hers back all this time." He said.

"Did she really?  If she was this paranoid, I don't believe she had the freedoms you think she did, Blaine." I said.

"Maybe she was a prisoner of her own mind." He said.

I shrugged.  "We may never know," I said. 

Blaine had his driver take us to a toy store, where neither one of us knew what the hell we were doing.  We looked for what felt like forever, until his eyes saw the one thing that put a smile on his face.

"Blaine, that would be evil," I said.

"Why?" He's smiling ear to ear.

"Keep in mind he will eventually live with you.  Don't get him anything you wouldn't want in your own home." I said as he's still staring at the drum set.

"Do you know how crazy this would drive them?" He chuckled.

"Yeah, then we have to hear it," I said, and he looked over at me with an even bigger smile.

"Is that a yes?" He asked, and I laughed.

"No, it's a warning, because I plan to visit," I said.

"Visit? Just move in with me." He said.

"It's not even been a whole day yet, " I laughed.

"It'll be forever." He leaned in and kissed my cheek.

"Things will fall into place, I promise," I said, and he nodded.

"You're right."

We kept walking and looking at everything until all that was left is electronics.  "Maybe he wants one of those game consoles." He said.

I shrugged.  "Do you want him playing outside or staying in his room?" I asked.

He scratched his head.  "My place doesn't exactly have a yard."

"My place does, maybe one of those handheld ones." I pointed, and we walked over to look through the glass case. 

"I have no clue." He said, and neither do I, so I suggested we ask a salesperson.  A young man walked up, probably just out of high school, and Blaine asked a million questions before he settled on a Nintendo Switch.  He spent an ungodly amount on a child he has never met, so hopefully, the kid will be happy. 

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