***
“So where’s Jeremy?” Gloria asked quietly.
“Ryan had to whisk him away,” Philip responded.
“Alright, can I have a chat with you, Enzo?” Gloria smiled and then gestured at a door in the conference room.
“Sure.” Enzo stood with Sylver in his arms and followed Gloria into an inner room even as the people who remained in the conference room finally began to converse.
“So you actually told my son you wanted to take his son,” Gloria said with a chuckle as she took a seat on a plush couch.
“Well, I meant I was going to take him for a day or two.” Enzo sighed. “Your son didn’t even allow me to complete my sentence. Of course, I know that no parent will be comfortable with their kid going away for a few days but…”
“Try with a complete stranger,” Gloria muttered.
“I wouldn’t harm him,” Enzo said. “I just…” He let out a deep breath.
“I understand you. But put yourself in the shoes of the parents.” Gloria said softly. “Of course they know you wouldn’t harm Sylver. I mean Ryan did whisk my son away without a thought even though you had Sylver, right? They know you won’t harm him. So that’s not the issue at all. We both know that no parent will want to part from their baby. If he’s old enough to be mated off, no problem at all. But he’s just a baby. At this point the last thing a parent would be thinking about is mate. Am I making sense?”
“You are.” Enzo sighed. “But your son is psycho, ma’am. For real. What was that? Did you see what he did to our helicopter? And those bloody red eyes. I guess what we’ve heard is all true.”
“He was obviously very angry,” Gloria said.
“Yeah well, to be fair he was already angry before all that.” Enzo chuckled. “Which still baffles me because I really don’t know what I said that was so bad in the beginning to make him angry in the first place.”
“Tell me what happened.” Gloria leaned in to wipe the drool from Sylver’s mouth.
The little boy played between the adults as Enzo narrated everything that happened in the conference room earlier, to Gloria.
“Oh, boy.” Gloria chuckled when Enzo finished. “It was an innocent question but…” She shrugged.
“Which one?”
“You wanted to know whether he would have taken it lightly if Ryan’s father had refused to…”
“Oh, so the man hadn’t wanted to give him Ryan huh?” Enzo raised an eyebrow.
“Far from that.” Gloria drawled. “He wanted both of them dead.”
“Oh shit.”
“Long story.” Gloria laughed. “I’ll tell you all about it one day. But you and Jeremy clearly got off on the wrong foot. You need to make peace with him before you leave.”
“I don’t have a problem with him, ma’am.”
“I know but you need to let him understand that you meant nothing bad by your suggestions. I’m sure that Ryan will be working on him right now, which will make your work easier. That’s your father-in-law, darling. So you just need to make things right. The fact that you’re older doesn’t count.” Gloria added in a teasing tone which drove both of them to laughter.
“God, he has a temper.” Enzo shook his head.
“Expect worse from…” Gloria gestured at her grandson.
Enzo looked down at Sylver and groaned. “I guess you’re right. I mean he did throw my uncle earlier. Must be something in the water here…”
The two dissolved into laughter again.
“What are we going to do about him though?” Enzo asked softly when the laughter subsided. “What if he keeps coming to me? I don’t know how far he can teleport but…”
“Knowing this boy, he can go to Ziguinchor and back.” Gloria chuckled.
“That powerful huh?”
“You have no idea.” Gloria sighed. “And he’s as stubborn as his father…maybe worse. So I won’t be surprised at all if he keeps popping up wherever you are. We need to do something. I’ll have a chat with Deloris. She should know what to do.” Gloria stood up.
“Thank you very much, ma’am.” Enzo picked up Sylver. “I appreciate the talk. And I’ll make things right with Jeremy before we leave.”
“Good.” Gloria hugged Enzo and then opened the door to the sound of laughter from the people in the conference room. “Imagine.” She chuckled, watching as chefs arranged assorted finger foods and drinks on the conference table. She signaled to Deloris and Joel as she pulled Philip aside.
“Dig in, folks,” Philip said as he followed Gloria to a corner. “Apparently they do eat real food too so…”
“Great.” Gloria laughed. “Listen, Philip, I need to have a quick meeting with your father, Del, Jeremy, and Ryan. It’s about Sylver. We’ll be back real soon.”
“Alright. Is Jer okay?” Philip asked worriedly.
“I just communicated with Ryan,” Gloria said. “He’s fine. See you soon.” With that, the three elders disappeared from the conference room.
“Yo, Enzo my man?” Stan held up a glass with a naughty grin. “Look what I got you. A bloody fucking Mary. Bloody.” His teasing laughter, however, was cut short when the glass in his hand tilted of its own accord and poured into his shirt. “What the…” He trailed off when Sylver began to laugh delightedly. Everyone who noticed what had happened dissolved into laughter. “You did this, you naughty little…”
“You swore, Stan.” Enzo cut him off with an amused chuckle. “His dad has told him that it’s not good to swear.” He added, kissing the chackling baby on the forehead.
“I’m pretty sure that’s not why he did it, Enzo.” Paige chuckled as her amused eyes turned on Stan. “He did that because you were teasing his mate.” More laughter followed. “I mean he’s never done anything like this to us even though we swear around him all the time. He was a wolf after all…” She shrugged when Enzo frowned.
“Well, now he’s a kid so you guys had better watch what you say around him.” Enzo gave a mock growl.
“Yes, grandpa,” Stan muttered, earning himself an elbow from Enzo.