Chapter 39: Chapter 39

The worker’s lounge seemed to be much bigger than necessary from Ru’s perspective considering there were only two people manning the castle at a time, but she supposed it was difficult to find a normal sized room in a palace. Either enormous chambers or small spaces previously used by servants were likely the norm.

Surprisingly, the walls here were not stone, as Ru had assumed they would be. Someone had hung sheetrock, or another substance to serve the same purpose, and the room was painted a cheery buttercream color. The one window was draped in white curtains, and the round table where she sat across from this strange mother of hers had a matching tablecloth. Across the room, at least twenty feet away, there were the normal small appliances one might expect to see in such a place; a coffee maker, microwave, dorm room-sized refrigerator. A package of Styrofoam cups and some sweetener sat at the ready, but when Maggie had offered her a drink, she’d declined, choosing to sit and stare at this woman in silence for a long while instead.

Eventually, her mother broke the silence. “God, I can’t believe you’re here,” she said, cradling the cup of steaming coffee she had poured for herself between her hands as if she was cold. “It’s been… so long.”

“I know,” Ru agreed, her hands folded in her lap as she sat back in her chair. She realized her posture wasn’t very friendly, but she didn’t have any idea how to approach her, especially considering the statement she’d made to Cutter in the hallway, one he’d dismissed, likely leaving it to Ru to find out the reasoning behind it. Why wouldn’t she want to go back to Los Angeles now that she knew she could?

“I’m sure you have lots of questions, as do I,” she continued. “But I’m more than happy to let you go first. What do you know? What do you want to know?”

Ru opened her mouth, and it hung that way for a good amount of time before she realized it had betrayed her and was no longer connected to her brain. She closed it. So many questions circled each other in her mind as if it were an industrial sized dryer at a laundromat on delicates day and the machine was full. All of her thoughts evaded each other, refusing to come together into anything coherent.

“Would you rather I go first?” Maggie asked, smiling.

“Yeah,” Ru admitted.

“Okay.” She let out a small giggle and took a sip. “Well, how has life been? How are your grandparents? Did you enjoy growing up in Los Angeles?” Ru tilted her head to the side, not sure how to answer any of those questions, so Maggie continued. “You know, I would’ve given anything to be there with you, or to be with you, I should say, though not there.” The tone of disgust was back in her voice, which had a tinge of the same British accent Stew had spoken with, though not nearly as strong. She was just as put out as she had been when Cutter mentioned “home” in the hallway. “It just… wasn’t possible. But look at you! You’re so beautiful. God, I can’t believe you’re sitting across from me.” She took another sip of her coffee as Ru slowly began to shake her head, scrambling for clarity. “Take your time, Ru, sweetheart.”

“I, uh, I….” The words were starting to come together now, but putting them in order was the struggle. “I didn’t grow up in Los Angeles,” she finally spat out.

It was her mother’s turn to look confused. “What do you mean?” she asked, leaning forward in her chair. “I gave that woman specific directions. Of course you did. You had to. I told her exactly what to do.” The words were coming faster and faster, the intensity increasing as Ru didn’t cut her off and tell her she was kidding or misunderstood. “Where did you grow up?”

That question, at least, was easy. “Tarrytown,” she replied, instantly. “No, she… Liddy raised me. I grew up in Tarrytown, went to college, got a job as a teacher in Reaper’s Hollow, and… a couple of months ago, Cutter found me.”

Now it was her mother’s turn to stare in disbelief. It took her a long time to close her mouth as well. “You mean, all this time, you were just living a normal life?”

At that, Ru couldn’t help but smirk. “Not exactly.” Realizing her mom looked confused, she said, “Let’s just say… growing up as the adopted daughter of Liddy Brown was less than ideal.” Since there was no reason to dwell on the past, and she really didn’t want her mom to blame herself, particularly if that was never her intent, she vowed to sound more at peace with her past. “Anyway, I really loved being a teacher, and I’d still be doing it, too, if… if they hadn’t told me I had a chance to meet you.”

Those words seemed to melt her mother’s heart as a look of joy blended with sadness overcame her face. She leaned forward and rested her hand on Ru’s knee. “Oh, honey. I’m so glad you did. I just don’t understand what happened. I thought my directions were very clear. I hadn’t known that woman very long, the cashier, but I told her I was having trouble. I had a plan but everything was ruined, and I needed her help getting you to your grandparents. I gave her plenty of money, enough to get you there. She said she’d be happy to help, that she’d have to take her other daughters with her to fly you out, and I said that was fine. Gave her enough for airfare from New York to Wyoming and back for her family. Gas money. Money for food…. I don’t understand.”

With a sigh, Ru attempted to reconcile what must’ve happened. “She is an opportunist. She saw me as a way to get money from the state. Did you give her paperwork for me? She said you gave her the paperwork she’d need so that she could adopt me.”

The older woman’s face went ashen. “I gave it to her to give to your grandmother. She adopted you?”

Ru nodded.

“I guess you mentioned that before.” She sighed and ran a hand through her dark hair, exasperated. “Well, I guess there’s not much we can do about it now. I’m so sorry, honey. I meant for you to grow up in Los Angeles, with your kind. I just knew I couldn’t take you there myself.”

“Why not?” Ru asked, a genuine question finally popping out of her mouth. “No one there wants to hurt you.”

“Is that what they told you?” It was her turn to scoff this time. “Ru, I watched an Archangel come down from Heaven and murder your father. So did you. There was no way in Hell I was ever going back to a place full of people willing to do his bidding.”

Ru’s forehead puckered. She had been there when Raphael had taken out her father? Her mother’s wording caught in her mind. “But Larkin’s not dead,” she said, looking into her mom’s eyes. “He’s banished. But he’s not dead.”

Her eyebrows arched over her pale blue eyes, only a few shades darker than Ru’s. “Who told you that?”

“Cutter. Everyone.” Ru wasn’t sure who all had mentioned Larkin’s fate. “Thanatos.”

The first two responses seemed to hold no weight, but the third did. “You know Nat?” Once again, Ru only nodded. “And he told you that Larkin is alive?”

“He told me he was banished to Hell, continuously tortured for his actions. But yes, he said he was alive. I mean… I’m new at this, and I’m not sure I quite understand the difference between being banished to Hell and being dead. But Cutter assures me there is a difference.”

“There is.” Her mother’s words were quiet, strung together with the faintest light of hope.

“I made Cutter promise me he’d take me there,” Ru continued. “I want to meet Larkin, too. I know I won’t feel like a complete person until I see both of the people who made me.” The words came out in an assured tone, but on the inside, Ru felt the measure of each of them. Suddenly, looking at the woman across from her, a flicker of a possibility began to burn. Perhaps, someday, she really could feel like a whole person.

“Are you sure you want to do that?” Maggie asked. “I mean, I don’t blame you for wanting to see him, if that’s possible.” Clearly, she was having trouble reconciling the fact that the man she loved might actually still exist. “But… Raphael came down to get him, honey. He can’t be… he can’t be in too good a shape. It might be painful.”