The Hours in Between - The Devereaux Case Files Book 5

Chapter 13

Reed was troubled by Kelly's antics. He wasn't sure what he was up to, but trouble was brewing. He had hoped their private chat had dealt with all their issues, but it seemed Kelly wasn't satisfied. He knew that Dicken was old enough to know that when Ayah said someone wasn't him, he knew it was true and that he could trust her. But Olivia was just six years old and Clare was gullible enough to believe anything she was told. Both girls were more likely to believe their own eyes rather than something an adult told them. So he spent the next few minutes, crouched down beside Olivia, talking her through the matter.

"And you know that daddy would never ignore you. If I saw you, even when I was on my way to a meeting or another museum, or lunch, I would always come and say hello. You know I love you." Reed tried to explain it to her as best as he could, hoping she would understand, even though it was complicated. But she just smiled at him, listening intently and nodding her head as if every single word made total sense to her.

"I know daddy. But Dicken was being silly. The man didn't even look like you." Olivia informed him gently, before hugging him tight. Reed was so pleased that she understood that he just hugged her back as tightly and smiled up at Ayah, wondering how they were so lucky to have such a smart, understanding daughter. By the time he got to his feet again, Raidon returned, holding Clare's hand, looking every bit the proud father. Whether or not he was her parent in any legal sense.

"Auntie Ayah, daddy took me to see the pretty sparkling things." Clare gushed as she transferred her hand from Raidon's hand to Ayah's, as if fully prepared to leave. She looked so happy that it was up to Reed to change the subject.

"Daddy, is it?" Reed wondered curiously. He found the new development highly intriguing, but Raidon just flushed red.

"I don't know where she got it from I swear. She just came out with it." He protested with a broad smile. He was so embarrassed that Ayah decided to help him out, by explaining what Dicken had said about it and how he figured Raidon would be his father soon. "Not much chance of that happening." He grumbled to himself, feeling his optimism draining the more he saw Faith. She just seemed to suck the life out of him all the time, with arguments and screaming and silent treatment. How was he supposed to admit to how he felt, that he had left the agency for her, when she barely listened to him?

"Well, are you ready to go now that you've seen 'Uncle Reed' and 'daddy'?" Ayah wondered, as Dicken returned to them, looked downtrodden, scuffing his feet at he walked. He just sighed.

"Yes." He muttered, as if it meant nothing now, despite how much he had looked forward to the visit before.

"Why the long face kid?" Reed asked.

"The mummies didn't have anything interesting to say today Uncle Reed." Dicken complained with a light shrug of disappointment. As if he had expected to hear some long forgotten secret. Faith didn't like that he thought he could speak to the mummies, but Reed had told her that he was still a kid and still had his imagination, there was no point stifling it. He was enjoying himself, and he felt connected to history in a special way. He would lose his inspiration and imagination soon enough. He would stop believing in fairy tales and magic all too soon, there was no need to rush him along.

Besides, Raidon thought he was simply a budding archaeologist, as he insisted that everything he 'heard' the mummies say to him, was from visual cues their bodies and accompanying artifacts had given him. "That one without a name just said she was really depressed at everyone calling her a number. She doesn't like that number; says it's unlucky. Do you think you could rename her? Maybe something with a seven would be nice?" Dicken claimed, gazing up at Reed hopefully. He exchanged a look with Raidon, who shrugged in reply to his silent question. Reed ran his hand over his mouth and then leaned down to face Dicken eye to eye.