Then I opened them and whispered, “Yes.”
He tipped his head to look at the ceiling, muttering, “Shee-it. Circe warned me this crap happened.”
“Pop –” I started but he tipped his head back to me.
“So why the f**k you come home?”
I blinked. “What?”
“You went to the doc, there was time. You coulda had that kid you’re carryin’ taken care of…” I knew my eyes flashed at the very mention of abortion when he pointed right at me. “That. That right there. You want this kid. That ass**le didn’t force that child on you; you’re carrying it for him. You made that baby and you liked doin’ it. Am I wrong?”
Oh God. Seriously. With my Pop, I didn’t want to go there.
“Pop –”
“Answer me, am I wrong?”
“No,” I bit off.
“I f**kin’ knew it,” he clipped.
“Pop –”
He interrupted me again. “So why’d you come back?”
“It doesn’t matter why,” I returned swiftly.
“It sure as f**k does ‘cause you, Circe, girl, you… you are the product of your mother and me. I didn’t love that one before death and all this time after it for foolish reasons. I did it ‘cause you got a love like that it does… not… die. And I’m tellin’ you, darlin’, I took that bullet instead ‘a her, she would be lookin’ at you with that same dead in her eyes as I’m lookin’ at you with now. The same dead that’s in your eyes as you’re lookin’ at me. We Quinns, we don’t fall in love. We fall in love. And you, girl, you’re in love so what I wanna know is, why the f**k you used up all your magical power, pixie dust and shit and came home when you got his baby inside you and you couldn’t know that you’d ever get back?”
I couldn’t hold up against his words so I didn’t. I just told him because I might as well get it over with.
“He found out I wasn’t from his world.”
“So?”
“He thought I was… wrong. A changeling. He thought I bewitched him. They’re different, primitive. But even here… it’s only because you’re you and you’re my Pop and you love the way you love that you got it with Circe and what happened with me. Any other man, the Circe that came here would be screwed. Not you. She was lucky. I…” I sucked in breath and finished, “was not so lucky.”
“So he don’t listen?”
“He listened, he just didn’t believe me.”
“So you told him and then what?” Pop asked.
“I… well, I guess I spirited myself away.”
“Right then?” Pop pushed and I blinked again.
“No, um… maybe a few hours later.”
He shook his head. “Right, well, gotta say, girl, as much as I don’t wanna give that ass**le nothin’, this I can see. This shit… it’s f**kin’ nuts. Took me a few days to sort my head out when Circe told me what was goin’ on. Thought you’d gone ‘round the bend. You think for a second to give that ass**le a day or two to come to terms with this shit before you hightailed your… pregnant, I might add… ass outta there?”
I stared at him and I did this because no, no I had not.
He shook his head but his eyes never left me. “No, you didn’t. Not my Circe.” He looked to the ceiling and said, “Shee-it,” again before his gaze came back to me. “You’ll never change. Always leadin’ with your heart, lettin’ your emotions get the better of you and not thinkin’ with your head.”
I’d heard that before.
“Pop –”