She chuckled. “So? And you think you don’t?”
“I handle it better than he does.”
Again, she laughed. “If you say so.” She reached in picking Martha up. “Come on, sweet girl, let’s get you ready to meet the grandparents.”
He watched as the two left the room, and Damian wished with all of his heart that Betty was the one.
She wasn’t, and he hated that more than anything.
****
Oliver drove them toward his parents’ house, wondering what the hell to say. No one had ever accompanied him on the drive back home. The stupid curse, or the legacy as his dad and uncle liked to talk about, meant he didn’t entertain women willingly. Sure, he used them to get his rocks off, but that was it.
Ruby’s window was down, and she was staring out of the window, not saying anything. What kind of woman didn’t say a thing? He didn’t get it. Was she comfortable? Did she want anything? He was having a hard time actually dealing with the silence.
“The weather is good,” he said.
“Yeah, it’s a little cold, which I like. I’ve always loved the winter.”
“Why?” he asked.
“It was always a fun time. I got
to wrap up warm, go out into the cold, make snowmen. Lionel would take time out of work to have a snowball fight.”
“Lou lost her brother as well. Riley. He was a good guy.”
“I know. I met him.”
“You did?”
“Yeah, I watched a couple of the fights that the Moores set up. It was bad business.”
Oliver didn’t like the twist he felt in his gut. “You ever fight there?”
“A couple of times. I got my ribs cracked a few times.” She winced. “That hurt.”
“You didn’t tell anyone.”
“I know a bent doctor. He helped fix me up without anyone knowing. Like I said, you come to know the right people if you’re willing to find them.”
“And you were?”
“Hell yeah. I’d lost my family, the only life I ever really knew. I wasn’t really thinking about anyone or anything, Oliver.”
“Now?”
“Now I don’t know. I can’t regret what I’ve done. It’s not in my nature to do that. I wished I’d known what Lionel wanted.”
Oliver wished she was a little more vulnerable. She was so strong, mentally, physically. He’d never known a woman like her in his world.
“Speaking of growing up, and having to change who you are, you went into the foster system?”
“Yeah, I got picked up from the street about three weeks afterward. Got thrust into the system, and I had that ID on me. I remembered everything my brother taught me, and how secrecy is important. I never let them know who I really was.”
“Did any of those foster homes have trouble?”
She was silent for so long that he had no choice but to look at her. Ruby was staring right at him.