Page 32 of Emergence: Prequel
They all stood up as if they had a silent signal. “We’ve given you a lot to think about. We’ll keep in touch. Ramzi will send you our contact numbers. Call if you ever need anything,” Cahir stated.
“I will. Not sure whether to say thanks or not about all the information you dumped on me. Keep in touch, family is always welcome.”
With a nod or a chin lift, they slowly filtered out, and for the first time, I got a good look at their patch: a black melting skull with wings and black flames on an orange background, with the words ‘Cursed Skulls’ circling it.
Cahir reached the door, and I knew I had to ask because it would bother me if I didn’t.
Pointing towards the glassed-in tapestry, I asked, “Do you know what that says?”
He grinned, his teeth flashing white behind his beard, “I should, I wrote it.”
With those words and a soft chuckle, he left me to my thoughts, still none the wiser on what the tapestry said. Cash came back not long after they’d left my office.
“They’ve gone. Fuck, Roman, that was an information dump that I’m not sure what to do with,” he sighed.
“Me either, brother, me either,” I replied, lying my head back against the back of my chair. I still didn’t know what to think after I’d filled Stacey in on the visit we’d had today. I wanted to get her take on it. I’d found that I loved having her to talk to; she was a great sounding board, and she always offered a different perspective.
“Is there anything that you can do to change the news they gave you?” she asked quietly in the dark of our bedroom. We seemed to do most of our talking late at night while wrapped in each other’s arms.
“No.”
“Do you trust them?”
“Funnily enough, I do,” I replied. “They’re familiar in a strange way.”
“Then trust in what they’ve told you. It will all work out in the end. I have faith. I’ll miss Maggie, Tinman, and their family, but the Skulls are right; Tinman is slowly fading away with grief. Maggie’s worried about him. Now that I know the history, I can understand some of it. It will be good for them.”
“Okay,” I agree. “I’ll let fate have her way.”
Turning over, I situated myself between her legs, “Talking about fate,” I hovered over her lips, smiling as Stacey wrapped her legs around my waist.
“You were saying,” she whispered huskily, flicking her tongue over my lips.
“According to history, it seems we were fated to be together.”
“Is that right?” she grinned at me. “Well then, we shouldn’t interfere with fate. Kiss me, Roman.”
I did. We spent most of the night showing fate that she was right.
STACEY
As we slowly drifted off to sleep after Roman had filled me in on our ancestry and how our lives had always been intertwined, I couldn’t help but say a little thank you to fate for bringing him into my life. Even with everything Grudge had put me through, I found that I didn’t regret a single bit of my life, as it had brought me full circle to a man who loved me like I was the very breath he needed to live.
He'd also fulfilled my silent wish for a large family. I’d gone from two children to two bonus children, and I knew that if he found others who needed us, he’d make sure that they found their way into our homes or at least into the Queens Wraiths.
Life over the next few years wouldn’t be boring, that’s for sure.
EPILOGUE
MAESTRO
The morning after the Skulls’ visit and my talk with Stacey, I walked into my office and came to a stop because there, hanging on the wall, was another tapestry also encased in glass, but this time in English.
I had no idea how they got into the clubhouse; Hard-Drive found no breach, but I also knew that Ramzi likely had found a way around our security.
Above the tapestry was a piece of wood with words burned into it:
TIES FORGED IN WAR ARE TIES THAT BIND