The Rebel's Own(30)
I love you, Ryan mouthed to her. She blew him a kiss and restrained herself from doing the jive. She was happy. She was finally happy.
• • •
“I think it might be time to go.” Kennedy said an hour later, as she looked at the tired sleeping little boy hanging off his father’s wide shoulders.
“He’s out like a light, isn’t he?” Ryan whispered.
“He had so much fun today, thank you.” Kennedy rose on her tiptoes and kissed Riley’s cheek, then Ryan’s.
“No problem.” He smiled back at her. “Matt has gone to get the cars for us. I would drive with you and Riley, but Dad had a little bit too much to drink, and my truck doesn’t have a car seat.”
“It’s okay. He’ll sleep the whole way.”
Kennedy took Riley from Ryan and followed him as he tried to help his father walk to the valet station.
“You did good, Son. My son is the MVP.” Ryan senior kept on repeating as he hugged Ryan.
“Jeez, if I knew you would be this emotional I would have won the Super Bowl a long time ago.” Ryan chuckled. “Matt, will you help me strap him in.”
Ryan handed his father off to Matt and followed Kennedy to the black Rage Rover. “Here, let me.” He said as he took Riley from her and strapped him into his car seat. “I’ll be right behind you. If you need anything just put your hazards on, I’ll come to you.”
Kennedy nodded and smiled. You’d think she had never driven home alone before. But this time she had Rebecca, Elizabeth, and Riley to keep her company, “I’ll drive under the speed limit.”
Ryan flashed her a smile and shook his head. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to mother hen you.”
“We’ll be fine Ryan,” she said, and he bent over and gave her a quick kiss. Kennedy’s breath hitched in her throat. She could get used to this married couple business.
“You and Ryan seem to have a wonderful marriage.” Elizabeth pointed out as they drove on the highway headed for home.
“Yes.” That was all she could say without misleading her. Truth was she didn’t know what kind of marriage she had with Ryan. It didn’t seem like something her mother-in-law would want to hear.
“What’s this business of Riley wanting to be called RJ?” Rebecca asked, a bit of steel in her tone.
“Riley just wants to be like his father,” Kennedy said, praying that her mother would drop the subject.
“I hope not,” Rebecca mumbled.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Elizabeth turned to look at Rebecca who was in the back seat with Riley.
“Mama, please don’t.” Kennedy hissed a curse when she slowed down at a red light. More than anything she wanted it to change. They were ten minutes away from home, but she wasn’t sure her mother could hold her tongue for that long.
“Lara, I noticed you don’t like my son. I would like to know why.”
“Trust me, you don’t,” Rebecca said curtly.
“What does that mean?”
“Can we talk about it when we get home?” Kennedy piped up. “It’s been a long, exciting, good day. Let’s not ruin it.”
“No, Ken. I want to know what your mother meant.”
“It’s Kennedy, not Ken. And it’s Riley, not RJ. You people can’t just come in and take over, hours after you have arrived into our lives,” Rebecca said, her voice louder than necessary, “I was the one who was there when Kennedy was pregnant, when Riley was born. My husband was the one who named him Riley. We were there when Riley was brought home from the hospital, when he had his shots, when he took his first steps, when he said his first word, when he had the flu, when we found out he had leukemia. You are just coming in when all the hard work is done. If it wasn’t for the fact that we needed your son’s money—”
“What!”
Kennedy drew in a breath of horror. Her mother-in-law now knew she was a gold digger. When the light turned green, she was so anxious to get home that she didn’t see the truck coming.
• • •
“What the hell is going on in that car?” Ryan leaned forward as he tried to make out what was happening in Kennedy’s car. It seemed like his mother had her body turned towards the back, and Rebecca was leaning forward. But he never saw any movement from Kennedy or Riley. “Dad! Dad!” But all Ryan got were incoherent responses, “You are such great help, old man.”
Ryan put his foot back on the pedal when the light changed. But something caught his attention from the corner of his eye. There was a rig barreling fast down the road. He didn’t seem like he was slowing down for the red light. He looked at the Range Rover again, but he didn’t think that Kennedy had noticed the rig as the car slowly rolled forward. Ryan didn’t think his next move through. All he knew was that he had to get his family out of the way. Pushing the gas pedal all the way to the floor, he took off. The last thing he remembered was the impact of his truck and the range rover.