‘What have you got?’
‘A picture.’
‘From me,’ the lilting, bodiless voice came from the vicinity of the huge brown moleskin office chair. Tia’s head jerked and he realised she hadn’t even known Seth was in the room, let alone colouring in at Zeke’s ornate desk as though it were his own personal colouring station. ‘I drew it for him.’
‘Oh.’
‘It’s a rhinoceros,’ Seth confirmed, wriggling off the chair. ‘I’ve done another one for Mme Leroy. Can I take it to her?’
She swallowed. Steadied herself, her eyes raking over the picture.
‘Sure,’ she confirmed after a moment, watching their son leave the room before turning to Zeke, her voice low. ‘He loves animals.’
Zeke watched the door close behind the little boy. Marvelled at this incredible person that he—they—had created.
‘He told me he wants to be a zoo vet, and travel to places like Africa or the Arctic?’ Zeke managed.
‘Animals have always interested him.’ Tia shrugged lightly but he didn’t miss the flash of pride in her eyes. ‘I don’t know if he’ll ever become a vet but I’m not about to discourage him. Ask him about the picture and he’ll no doubt tell you that it’s a popular misconception that the rhinos’ ancestor is the triceratops.’
‘He already told me.’ Zeke wasn’t prepared for the grin that suddenly split his face. ‘He was really quite adamant about it.’
‘Yes, that’s Seth.’
‘If I remember rightly, his exact words were that a rhino shares about as much DNA with a triceratops as it does with a human.’
‘Did he mention that rhinos actually belong to the same order as horses? That’s usually one of his favourite facts.’
It was the lopsided smile that got him. Exactly the same smile that had graced the face of his son only an hour earlier, like a tiny glimpse into the purest of souls.
‘He did actually—’ Zeke laughed quietly ‘—alongside a whole host of other facts which he had clearly decided I really ought to know. Then he told me they might have been the original unicorn, so I began to explain that unicorns didn’t really exist...’
‘I don’t imagine that went down well.’ She began to chuckle and Zeke’s chest pulled unexpectedly tight.
Painful.
How much had he missed that sound over the last few years? How had he forgotten the way it had always slipped through him, making him feel happy? Contented.
Or maybe that was the point. He hadn’t forgotten. He’d merely thrust it aside, locked it in the deepest, darkest pit, and pretended that part of his life hadn’t existed. Because he hadn’t been sure if he deserved such happiness.
He forced himself to smile. But not to feel anything more.
‘It didn’t. He cast a solemn glance at me and informed me, with what sounded a lot like disappointment, that obviously unicorns didn’t really exist, but that it was possible that rhinos had been behind the original myth.’
‘Oh, believe me, I know that tone.’ Tia laughed again, a deeper sound, which he couldn’t pretend he didn’t recognise.
It was surreal.
Five years ago they would hardly have been able to stand in this room together without tearing each other’s clothes off. Now they were standing here discussing their son.
Their son.
It didn’t seem possible.
‘You’ve done an incredible job with Seth,’ Zeke managed, suddenly.
The laughter died on her lips as she chewed them uncertainly.
‘Thank you.’