CHAPTER 12 FAMILY
"Rod Reiss ordered you to kill Uri?" Jas asked, unbelievingly, her eyes wide.
"Nope. 'Tweren' Rod. One o' the other Reiss's! 'Sides, Rod don' have the guts ta be king - too fond o' his whores an' his good livin'!" I laughed, sarcastically. "That's why he let his little brother take the throne, 'nstead o' himself. An' that's why he'll 'ventually offer up one o' his brats ta inherit after Uri. He's a chicken-shit asshole o' the highest order, but he's not an assasin. Nah, the Reiss that hired me were the slimey ass-wipe, who's place I took on the King's Council; after he jus' sorta disappeared", I explained.
"So you're telling me that it's true - that you and Uri did become friends only because you literally tried to kill him? You've got to be kidding! And, how is it that I wasn't there; protecting him, along with his other guards? I don't believe this!" Jasper shook her head in disbelief. "And, why did you finally take the job, when you'd already decided AGAINST killing him, because you'd seen for yourself that he was, he is, a kind man? It doesn't make any sense!" Jasper continued, leaning back and looking me straight in the eyes, demanding answers.
I love it when she looks at me like that; so fearless an' jus' holds me to account. An' I know that no bullshit answer will get past her radar. I laughed an' she punched me in the arm.
"Stop laughing, Kenny! And answer me!" she said, the flush o' indignation in her cheeks.
I slung my arm 'round her shoulders an' pulled her close ta my chest, still laughin'.
"Aaahh, I love you Owl!" I chuckled.
She pulled back. "You......love me?" she whispered, her eyes wide an' soft.
"Oohhh......ohh... aahh... well.....umm.. You see ..uuuhh.. what I mean......aaaahhh... what I ment was....." I stammered, embarrased.
"Oooohh, No you don't Kenny Ackerman. Your bullshit won't wash here, not with me. You love me?" she asked, gently.
"Well... I .. aahh", I started, as I gazed 'round us.
Her hand slid ta my cheek, as she gently turned my face ta hers; an' our eyes met.
"Yeah, I do", I whispered.
"I love you too, Kenny" she answered in a voice as warm an' gentle as a Summer's day.
My heart seemed ta burst, an' for one glorious minute; everythin' seemed ta make sense. There were no more questionin' or hunger for more. The world o' a sewer filled with rats, were gone. An' instead it were replaced with a blindin' light o' truth.
I kissed her for the first time; softly, then with a furious, greedy intensity filled with the love I had been guardin' inside me for so long, that were now allowed ta breathe. Her face were flushed an' glowin' in the moonlight, an' I finally understood why the poets an' the troubadors wrote o' love. It were for this. For these moments. An' that's why she told me earlier ta believe in love. 'Cause no matter what were to come in the future, there would always be this moment.
"I still haven't forgotten", she sassed me breathlessly. "You need to explain what you said about Uri", her eyes gently challengin' me, but misty with love.
I cleared my throat, but unwillin' ta end the moment; pulled her close ta me, engulfin' her in my embrace, existin' in the warmth o' her, breathin' in the scent o' her, as my unshaven cheek nuzzled inta her soft hair.
"Well", I began, my voice muffled inside her hair, " I don' rightly know where you were, but surely ya've noticed that AFTER Uri became king, he started ridin' out without ya all protectin' him al the time, an' that sometimes it were jus' him an' his brother, Rod Reiss that were out tagether? Didn' that never occur ta ya as strange? Like, surely, he'd be in MORE danger bein' the King, than he were as the heir? After all, there were more than one heir, but only one King. An' yet, after becomin' king he rode out with even less protection 'an before?" I quizzed her.
"Well, I just put it down to him hiring you", Jas answered. "I mean, everyone knows that you can't be beaten, and most of the time, you WERE there guarding him".
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Owl, but I weren' with him in them early days, if'n ya remember. An' it weren' me that kept the danger at bay. It were him!"
"What do you mean?" she asked, breakin' away from me slightly, ta look up at me.
I looked down at them innocent eyes an' smiled.
"Well, if'n ya let me get on with my story," I said as she opened her mouth ta speak, "without interruptions!" I smiled, placin' my fore-finger on her full lips, that she gently kissed, smilin' back at me an' nuzzlin' back inta my chest.
"Well, a few years did pass, an' what that Reiss had tol' me came true. Sure enough, a new king were crowned. An' it were Uri. An' life went on as usual. I still tracked him... an' saw you, Jas. (I gave her a sqeeze.) I were still runnin' the Mitras underworld, but had given up some o' the control o' the Undergroun' ta some loyal boys that had been with me since the beginin'. I didn' need it now I ran Mitras. An' 'cept for lookin' after Kuchel, I spent less an' less time down there now. I still checked that 'Honest Jones' were doin' what he were supposed ta, an' that Kuchel an' her bastard was looked after. An' I guess that enough time had passed, an' that's why Kuchel, 'ventually got curious an' questioned 'Honest Jones', 'bout how no work seemed ta come her way or how 'twere possible that she an' her bastard still had a room. Though she prob'ly figured that it had somethin' ta do with me; she went ta sleeazy, greasy ' Jones' who spilled the beans , as easily as he'd spilled piss all over his pants, the night I'd last seen him. An' that were the night that my quiet drinkin' at Bob's corner table were interrupted by the babblin' of a brat.
I looked up ta see Kuchel, her hair shinin', her eyes bright an' her face glowin' with health, holdin' her brat. She were tweny-three, but looked like a young girl, flushed with happiness when her eyes beheld her chil'. An' she were makin' her way 'cross the bar, straight ta me.
"Hello sis," I drawled, wishin' I were drunker.
"Hello, Kenny. This is Levi," she said, tiltin' the small child's head in my direction.
His hair were dark, like hers an' his eyes grey, like mine an' his face were flushed with the same color as his mother's. He musta been nearly five year ol' by that time, but he were so small he looked much younger. He babbled at me, reachin' for my hat. Cute bugger. For a rug rat. I waited for the torrent o' accusations an' blame, I were sure she'd unleash on me, but instead she sat down.
"I understand that you've been looking after us for the last five years. Thank-you. I don't know how we would have made it without your help, when I couldn't work 'cause I was too big or nursin' Levi. And it ment that I've been able ta spend all this time with him, teachin' him so's he'd be ready for his schoolin' and just bein' able to be a mother ta him. It's ment everything to us both, so thank-you Kenny. But it stops now. I've lived too long on your charity. Levi is my responsibility, and I need to act like it. He can start his schoolin' next month, so's I'll be goin' back ta work. I know you don't approve, but I guess that just makes us even", she smiled. "It's honest work an' it's just for a short time, 'til somethin' better comes along. So you don't need to worry about us. We'll be okay. But you are welcome to drop by", she finished.
She spoke softly, but there were determination in her voice. But the hardness that had engulfed her from the moment my former, snake-eyed boss had found out our name an' used ta hold her hostage ta bein' his whore, THAT, had disappeared. An' somethin' like her former innocence had returned when she looked at that brat. 'Twere then that I knew I'd been wrong ta tell her ta get rid o' it. That brat had bought hope back ta her, an' that were somethin' I never coulda done.
"Motherhood suits ya, Kuchel", I said, leanin' back in my chair.
"Thanks, Kenny. He makes it all worthwhile", she answered whistfully.
Again I wondered if she knew how much she sounded like me. If she realised how both o' us not jus' wanted , but how we needed ta have somethin' , someone, make it all worthwhile.
If she did she gave no sign.
She placed her hand on mine, "Be seeing you, Kenny", she said softly as she got up ta go.
An' she left. An' after that I respected her wishes an' paid for nothin', unless she were a bit short. But this time, I jus' let her do what she needed ta do. I looked in on 'em some, but mostly, I jus' became more determined ta get the both o' them outta there. An' outta the Underground.
I believed in Uri. I knew he were a kind man, so's I watched an' I waited ta see ta see if he'd be the King that we Ackerman's needed. For nearly two years, I waited an' watched Uri as king, an' watched over Kuchel an' Levi. An' I started ta realise that the other prediction made by the Reiss that had jumped me, had also come true - that life for the Ackermans hadn' changed one bit; that a good man Uri were, but a good King he were not. He were jus' like all the other kings.
That's when I found the Royal, gold ring; an' made me a decision ta contact that Reiss an' take him up on his contract.