So, here comes the second and last part. I hope you liked the start and I hope you like this ending. Either way, Ryder is portrayed by Forrest Wheeler. And I made a polyvore for him if you want to see. The links on profiles are not working for the moment but if you want to see it you can google 'linneagbffn' and go on collections, and 'other stories' and somewhere there you should find his edit.
"Mummy." When Ryder broke loose from our hug he wrapped his arms around his stomach and pouted with his bottom lip trembling. "My tummy still hurts and I feel ill." I hugged him again and lifted him up onto my hip. And then turned to Mike who was smiling slightly.
"Well, now when you know about Ryder I guess everybody else could know as well. Could you tell everyone to come to a house meeting in the lounge while I give Ryder some medicine for his stomach?" Mike just nodded. "Thanks Mike." He just nodded again and waved it off while I walked out of the office and into the kitchen and thankfully didn't meet anyone in the hallway. But flinched when I thought the kitchen was empty, but turned out to be wrong when I heard Harry's voice behind me.
"Who are you? Are you a new kid here?"
I stopped in the middle of the movement to reach for the top cupboard and get the medicines. And then turned to Harry who, like Ryder had his arms wrapped his stomach and a miserable expression on his body and face with a yet more miserable look in his eyes. And I could fell that he had been sick.
"Oh honey. How are you feeling?" I let go of Ryder for a moment and turned to Harry. "I can smell that you've been throwing up? You should have come and get me or Mike and we could have helped." Harry just shrugged. "Are you feeling any better now?" Harry shrugged again. "Are you feeling good enough to sit out a short house meeting?" Harry nodded. "Because Mike is gathering you all for a house meeting so I can tell you who this is." Harry nodded again.
"I'll go to the living room then." Harry moved his arms from around his stomach while slowly walking out of the kitchen and I heard his heavy footsteps continuing down the hallway and towards the living room while I picked out the right bottle of medicine and poured some in a spoon for Ryder, who hated medicines that you had to drink.
"NO." He suddenly shouted. "NO, NOT THAT MEDICINE. I FEEL GOOD NOW. I FEEL GOOD." I sent him a meaning look and Ryder sighed and pouted while I came over to him with the filled spoon. "I don't want to swallow that medicine mummy. It's yucky." I nodded to show him I understood and picked out a pack of juice from the fridge so he could drink it to get rid of the taste. "I don't want to…" I gave him a meaning look again. "Okay," he opened his mouth and quickly, before he had the time to change his mouth put the spoon in his mouth.
The taste of the medicine made Ryder heave and I quickly pushed him towards the sink just in case while I ripped the pack of juice opened and shoved the straw into the pack and then handed it up to Ryder. Who had been stuck only heaving but with the look on his face- with a real bad taste in his mouth and his eyes had teared up.
"It's okay" I took Ryder in a steady grip in my arm and crawled up on one of the chairs by the kitchen island and rubbed his back. "It's okay. It's over now." Ryder just continued sucking on the straw to his drink and washed around his mouth with the orange- tasting juice to get rid of the taste of the medicine. "Is that better?" When there was no more drink in the little pack Ryder finally lowered it. "Do you feel better now?" Ryder nodded. "Do you think we can go over to the living room and we'll let the children who live here know who you are?" Ryder nodded again and I lifted him from my lap and down onto the floor and then stepped down myself and took his hand in mine and walked towards the living room. "Okay then, are you ready?" Ryder nodded to my question standing right outside the doors to the living room. "Okay…. And here we go."
While I walked before him into the living room and Ryder continued he was looking around with big, brown eyes towards the kids and the teenagers who sat around the room along with Mike. I had told him about this place and what it was. But never told him about the children specifically since I couldn't do that because of the confidentiality. And I don't think I had ever told him how many there actually were living here and even though it might not be many people depending on who you compared to, it was loads for an eight year old.
"Everyone listen up." I said to get everybody's attention even though they were already all silent. "I haven't told any of you about him before for my own personal reasons but… this…" I laid my hand towards Ryder's shoulder. "Is my son. His name is Ryder. And I expect you all to be nice to him. And now when you all know about that I've got a son I'll probably sometimes bring him with me as long as it's okay with Mike…" I turned to Mike who just nodded with a great big smile on his lips. "So… I hope you can make some friends Ry. But… Why don't you all introduce yourself? Tell everyone your name, one fact about yourself and something you like, and something you don't like."
"Can I start?" Finn asked and I nodded. "My name is Finn McLaine. I have something called Down's syndrome. I like Fanta, but I don't like being alone. And I don't ever want to be alone again." I smiled at Finn- and hoped that he would know that being here meant that we'd make sure that he'd never be alone again. "May- Li? That Fanta you took from me earlier…" I smiled slightly… borrowed more likely. "…Was that one for Ryder?" I laughed slightly and nodded. "That's fine… as long as I get it back," I nodded again, and gestured to him that we should go on now. "Harry, you go next."
"My name is Harry Jones. And I've been here the longest of everybody here. But I kind of like it living in care. I also like giraffes. But I don't like a man named Denis. He worked here for a really short while and blamed a fire in the attic on me even though it was himself that had caused it all along. I don't like mean people like him neither." Carmen patted Harry's shoulder and Harry looked around. "Tee you go next."
"Hi Ryder. My name is Tee Taylor. I have one older brother named Johnny. And one little sister named Hope. I really like meeting my sister and brother. But I don't like that my brother now lives so far away. He got a job and moved away." Tee smiled slightly. "But the more time goes between the times we meet the better it feels when we do." Tee smiled. "John… Oh, sorry. Old habit! But Mo, why don't you go next?" Mo shined up and smiled turning his head around to let everyone see it before he turned his goofy smile towards Ryder.
"My name is Mo. I collect treasure. I really like hugging, so much sometimes my arms hug someone even though I know I shouldn't. I don't like it when people are cross with me and won't let me hug them. Do you like hugging Ryder?" A big smile formed on Ryder's lips and he nodded. "Can I give you a hug?" Mo crawled down from the back support of the sofa and then the two young boys hugged, both with their faces wearing great big smiles from ear to ear, and seeing them two like that it just warmed my heart. And then it warmed it more when they continued… and continued and continued. At last they let go of each other and Mo looked around to see who he wanted to go next. But before he had the time we heard barking and not long later Mischief came running through the living room door and ran around, jumped and seemed to try and decide who to greet first until he realized there was someone new here and came running over to Ryder, who started jumping up towards me for me to lift him up.
"MUM. MUM. GET AWAY FROM ME. GET AWAY FROM ME." As quickly as I could I grabbed Ryder under his arms to lift him up. Ryder had been bitten by a dog when he was little and since then was very afraid of dogs- mostly big ones like Mischief and I pushed him away (Mischief not Ryder) And he ran over to Ryan instead so I could put Ryder down again, even though he didn't let go of my shirt when he stood on his own two feet either.
"That's okay." Bailey stepped down from his chair and grabbed Mischief by the collar. "It's Mischief. He just wants to play. He really likes playing and children. But he doesn't like people who don't like him." Bailey glared towards Ryder and I sent him a meaning glare. "And I'm Bailey Wharton. And there's nothing in certain you need to know about me. Except I like football. But I really dislike racist people."
And on it went, Billie and Toni told Ry they were twins. Toni liked rabbits but not foxes. Billie liked ice cream but not getting in trouble. Carmen liked pink but not green and she had been here almost as long as Tee and Harry who had been here the longest. Jody was allergic to peanuts and had two older brothers- one of them whom were nice, but liked chocolate that didn't have peanuts in it and she didn't like when someone told her that she couldn't do something because she was a girl.
"Mum." Ryder looked up at me just as Jody stopped talking. "Wasn't Luke that guy who came to ours with pizza last week and asked if you wanted to have dinner or something with him some time?" I felt myself go bright red as most of the people in the room- especially Mike and Jody stared towards me- and here was that second secret! Even though I hadn't kept this one close to half as long as the one about Ryder.
"Ehrm… Well we ordered pizza and the pizza guy was Luke… Jody's brother… And he asked me to go out with him…" Mike frowned. "…I was going to tell you about it. I didn't even answer him. I said I could take his number and then talk to you and Jody about it. And that I wouldn't… go on a date with him if you and Jody weren't okay with it and…" Mike interrupted.
"It's not up to me whether you should date one of the children's brothers or not. However, you need to ask Jody about it and if she's not okay with it you really shouldn't do it." I had already planned that part. And while I turned to Jody and couldn't even get the right words through my thick throat and just raised an eyebrow an eyebrow and hoped for a certain answer.
"It feels a bit weird that you'd be dating my brother." My heart sunk. "But… I guess if you really like Luke, and he really likes you then… I could get used to the thought. And you can date my brother as it's not my brother whose name begins with a K." I just smiled and had to force myself not to smile too bright at the thought that I could finally give Luke a positive answer- and no. I'd never date anyone I knew was like Jody's brother whose name began with a K.
"Thanks Jody." I thanked. "And I think someone needs to keep his mouth shut before he reveals more secrets that I haven't had the time to tell." I glared down at Ryder who just smirked. "Oh well… Who wants to go next?"
We went on with every person in the room. Before at last everyone were looking towards Ryder for him to go too. I patted his shoulder and more demanding then gently pushed him to the side when he tried to hide behind my leg. And so he slightly though a minute of what to say before he spoke, first shyly. Then more and more secure.
"My name is Ryder Wang, I used to be a secret. But I'm not anymore." I suppressed a sigh and rolled my eyes at him. "I like the funnel cakes my mum makes, but I do not like it when I've eaten too many of those and get a stomach ache and had to eat yucky medicine for it." He grimaced to show exactly how yucky that medicine tasted and leaned against my leg and I put my hand on his shoulder. "You should make more funnel cake here mummy." I laughed slightly.
"Oh no sir! You are not having any more funnel cakes today. Not on any conditions because you already had more than enough."
"I didn't mean for me." Ryder said in a demanding tone. "I meant for all of them." He gestured to all of the others in the room. And suddenly it was eleven voices at once speaking to me in a more or less surprised tone.
"You can make funnel cakes?"
Eleven pairs of eyes, twelve with Mike's, and thirteen with Ryder's were now looking at me in a way that I just knew meant that they wanted me to make those funnel cakes. And eleven pairs of eyes were questioning and I could only guess that it was because I had never told anyone here about that I could actually make funnel cakes.
"Ryder's right." Harry agreed. "You should make funnel cakes for us to taste."
Everyone started agreeing and saying whatever pleading words to me as they could come up with and at last I had to give in. Ryder stayed at the dumping ground when Mike told me that he should and that he could make some friends. And while I was at the store I called up Luke, but he either didn't hear or just didn't pick up the phone. Because he didn't answer.
"Look mummy look." When I came back to the dumping ground and through the hallway Ryder came running down the stairs. "Bailey thought my clothes were silly, so Kazima and Tee used whoever's clothes to give me a makeover. But don't worry. I'll still use my own clothes mostly." I looked up at him, and couldn't help but laugh when I saw how unlike himself he looked with hair spiked with what looked like a whole bottle of hair gel. Camouflage printed jeans and a way too big sleeveless hoodie. The things went well together- they just weren't my Ryder. "But I'll go wash off this hair stuff now. It's itchy." He had been itching his head all the while he stood in the middle of the stairs. And continued while he went up the stairs and probably afterwards as well.
I lifted the grocery bags again and just as I put them down on the kitchen bench I felt my phone buzzing in my jeans pocket and when I pulled it up and saw Luke's name reading over the screen I felt my heart beating faster and harder than ever. Until I picked it up and at the same time as there was a knock on the kitchen door.
"Just hold on a minute… Luke." As soon as I had opened the door I recognized his somewhat shy smile and brown, short thatch. "There's someone waiting for me at the door." I was still talking in the phone. "I have to take it." Luke just smiled brightly and hung up on the same time as smiling in that very special way that made me feel all weak in the knees. "What are you doing here?" I spoke quietly, almost whispered so not all the children would hear and come running. And so I held the door open and stepped away so Luke could get in.
"I just finished job for today. So I figured I'd come here since I figured you were here and that was why it was kind of hard to find a time when we could both talk." He smiled again. "So, what are you doing?" He looked over the things in the grocery bags. "It looks as if you're baking something. What are you baking?"
"Funnel cakes."
"Oh that's fun." I showed him to be even more quiet- I seriously didn't need everyone to come running. "So… That date? Maybe we could take a couple of cups of coffee here and now and talk a bit?" I hesitated, the children were pretty impatient when they wanted something and right now they wanted the funnel cakes that I could make. But my God, Luke's brown puppy eyes were just too hard to say no to and I had to give in.
"First there's something I need to tell you. I've been keeping it a secret to most people I know for years but. I want to tell you about it and everything about it because I don't want you to make me love you and then you leave me when I have to tell you. So you're gonna know my very deepest secrets, the darkest and…"
"I won't leave." Luke interrupted. "How bad could it be?"
"I have a son." Luke's chin dropped. "His name is Ryder, he's eight. I had him two days after I turned seventeen. He was the result of a rape… My stepfather and him hating the boyfriend I had." Luke raised an eyebrow and even though I knew I shouldn't have told him. I didn't regret it. "And if you'd ever put an ultimatum and make me choose between you and Ryder or whatever and Ryder. Then Ryder is always going to go first. Because I can lose everything I have, but if I lose Ryder I have nothing left."
I didn't have the time to say anything else when Luke just embraced me and held me still like that for God knows how long.
"What are you doing?"
"May- Li… If you have a son. Then sure as hell I'll love him if that's what you need. If you were one of those teenage mums than sure as hell I'm going to accept that as long as you do and if your stepfather raped you because he hated your boyfriend then… F*CK HIM!" I couldn't help but smile- if he only knew how many times I had wanting to say that but hadn't had the guts to. "And I will never ask you to choose in between Ryder and me because choosing between family and family is a decision I wouldn't wish for my worst enemy. I was the only one taking care of Jody remember?" I nodded. "And kids, I love them. And ask you to choose or whatever. GOD, I'm not Kingsley for Christ's sake." I smiled. I knew that very well. "And if I was Kingsley. I wouldn't check if this is okay with you…"
Luke now stood very, very close. Everything it would have to take was for me to raise, just a tiny little bit and lift my heels from the ground to make myself just a little bit taller and then I could kiss him. But with what his head I nodded slightly and lifted my hand and put it on his shoulder to support myself when I raised on my toes.
"It's okay."
I didn't have to do or say anything more. When I said it was okay and raised slightly Luke's lips tenderly met mine and I was in seventh heaven. And damn it my heart was beating hard, and damn it I had never been as in love as I was right now.
"That might have been a bit early!" Luke stated. "But damn… Did it feel as good to you as it did to me?" I didn't have to feel what he felt. I just nodded. "So, is that a yes about if you're up for dinner or coffee some day?" I nodded again.
"Now and forever."
"What?"
"Just something I used to tell Ryder since he was little."
"So that kiss… did it feel so good you're up for a second date."
I smiled. How could I not give a positive answer to this? And I guess Luke kind of felt that I would say the same thing as before. Because suddenly we said it at the same time, both of our voices in sync. And I was more in love than ever.
"Now and forever."
First of all- May- Li and Luke makes May- Luke and they're super adorable, just so you know! (I mean come on, it was just obvious it was something in between them when they met in Jody in Wonderland.) And that's everything you need to know. Except if you've been reading this from beginning to end I love you so, so, so, so much. And hugs to you all. Because- as JK Rowling said… No story lives unless someone wants to listen.
-Linnéa
