CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE
RUX
Rux was head over heels in love. It made him lose sleep, feel unable to concentrate, and hard to keep his hands to himself whenever Dana was around. He had never felt the sensation before and told Dana many times that it was a lot like a drug…addicting and incredibly riveting.
When she told him she loved him, Rux felt the pieces of his heart missing since he’d lost his father had been re-sewn to the core. He told Dana about his image, and as always, she accused him of being a romantic, which she loved.
They were sitting on the terrace of his penthouse apartment during the height of summer. She was wearing a one-piece swimsuit as she bathed in the sun, her long, bare limbs whispering a song to his soul.
He ravished her neck, and she giggled as he pulled her on top of his lap. He held her by the waist and moved his free hand up and down her shiny legs as she listened to his musings.
“That’s called healing, honey,” she said with a smile.
Rux kissed her nose, making it wrinkle, the cutest expression he would never tire of.
Dana had left her job at the music school, and although she missed it, she was fitting in perfectly with the Philharmonic Orchestra.
It was her dream, after all, and the place where she needed to be. Rux marveled at her hard work, staying up late and practicing until her fingers grew calloused.
It was that same summer that she had told him she loved him and the same summer that she had moved into his manor. They sometimes spent time at his penthouse when she would have to rehearse late and often when they just couldn’t wait to unleash their passion.
Rux knew it was time to show Dana exactly how he felt about her. He had all the money anyone could have ever dreamed of, with the cars, and the parties, and the dresses, and the expensive whiskey, but nothing compared to the commodity of the time he had with her.
Rux had learned that time was most valuable to him, and he wasn’t going to waste any more of it without asking her to be his wife.
Rux’s mother, Ellen, was ecstatic about the news, as was Nyssa. They both embraced him on that afternoon when he had told Dana he was at work.
They jumped up and down and held him close. He laughed as their strength surprised him and struggled for air as their happiness overflowed.
“Honey!” Ellen exclaimed. “I am so happy for you!”
They celebrated with champagne and began talking about the ring he was going to purchase. As they sat out on the patio, his mother raised a finger in the air and then went back inside. Rux shot a look at Nyssa, who was grinning like an excited clown.
“What are you two up to?” Rux said, narrowing his eyes.
His mother returned outside promptly, holding a little black box in her palms. Rux’s heart skipped a beat, having an idea of what might be inside.
“Rux, my darling,” his mother said, sitting next to him. “I am so happy for you and your sweet Dana. I have been waiting to give you this for a long time now.”
Ellen popped open the box, and Rux knew instantly that it was his mother’s engagement ring. His father had given it to her when he had proposed. It was a Cohen family heirloom.
It shined in the afternoon, a decent blend of ruby red at the center of the diamond with a black band. It was an unorthodox-looking ring, but Rux knew that it would suit Dana just fine.
He felt himself beginning to cry as he waved his hands in the air.
“Mom,” he began, his voice scratchy. “I can’t ask that of you. That was Dad’s, and it's yours.”
His mother took his hands into hers, placing the ring box on the table.
“Rux, look at me.”
He finally did. He looked at his mother, his beautiful, strong, badass mom, whose heart had felt the torture of a thousand aches before he was barely able to call himself a man. Her eyes were glassy with tears, but she was smiling.
“Your father would have wanted you to have it,” she said, letting the tears fall. “He committed himself to me, and we shared some beautiful years. Now, it's your turn.”
Rux couldn’t hold it together any longer. His face crumpled, and he fell into his mother's arms, shuddering with grief he had been holding in for years.
His shoulders shuddered as he howled for his father, for the anger he felt for his mother, and for the blessing that had walked into his life that was the magnificent Dana.