vehement

6

     I smile. "Okay."

     "Mama." Enzo says. Archer snaps his head down to my son, the momentary confusion being replaced by something I can't decipher as he looks at him. "Mama!"

"What's wrong?" I ask, standing and abandoning my tea.

"Milk please." He says sweetly.

     "Okay." I walk back into the kitchen and warm some milk up, pouring it into a small cup before giving it to Enzo.

     "Thanks mama." He says. I kiss his cheek as I round the table. It's only when I'm sipping my tea that I forgot to tell my son who, exactly, the random man standing a few feet away from him is.

     "Enzo." I say. He looks over at me and smiles. "This is Archer."

     He turns around to look and giggles. "Hiya."

     Archer smiles. "Hi."

     "Him and his sister Alexandra stayed the night." I tell him.

     "I wanted to talk to you about that." Archer says. I look up at him. "If we're married, shouldn't I stay here? Won't your society thing want proof?"

I frown. "I didn't think about that." I whisper. I sigh. "It's not fair for me to ask you to move your entire life around, is it?"

"I can." He says quickly. At my furrowed brows, he adds, "I mean, I don't mind for a few months."

"What about Ally?" I ask.

"What about me?" Alexandra asks as she walks into the dining room.

"You want to live here for a few months, don't you?"

She furrows her eyebrows. "Why would we do that?"

"Because.." Archer glances at me, "Amalia and I are married."

     She snorts. "As if."

     He scowls.

"I'm not staying in some random house, away from all my friends that I just made!" She exclaims.

Archer sighs. "It's just for a little bit, kid."

"Why are you trying to ruin my life?" She shouts.

His eyes soften. "Ally." But she's already stomping out of the room. A few seconds later I hear her door slam, and I wince.

"It's okay, Archer, really—"

I'm cut off by the sound of knocking at the door. I stand and walk over to it, opening it and widening my eyes when I see Silas there.

I stand right in the doorway, giving her no space to enter. Loudly, I say, "hey, Silas!"

She furrows her eyebrows. "Hi."

"What—what are you doing here?" I ask, glancing back inside and seeing Archer in the doorway of the dining room.

I glare at him and motion for him to scat. He furrows his eyebrows, putting his hands into the pockets of his pants. I motion for him to go again, and he does with confusion shining in his grey eyes.

I turn back to Silas. She tries to look inside, but I block her vision. She crosses her arms, "alright, Amalia, who's here?"

"Just me and Enzo." I say. "We're.. uh.. getting ready to leave."

She pushes past me, and I frown, panic swirling within me. She looks around, then walks into the dining room, where Archer is sitting with Enzo. He turns around, and I notice recognition flash in Silas's eyes before she turns to me. She looks at Archer, then at me, repeating this a couple times before shaking her head. "I knew this would happen."