Thalia’s pov
By the time I walked back to the bedroom both Brandon and Kendra were fast asleep. I moved Kendra away and checked if Brandon was breathing. I understood why he was not interested in a new machine but he was being selfish for choosing death when there was another solution. I had no idea how many hours, days, months, or years it was going to take to find a cure but it was worth trying.
Dr. Wison was making progress but I needed to give him time. I was not going to move on and neither was I giving up. I watched over him as I kept wondering whether he was going to accept my proposal. He proposed marriage to me which was sweet but he needed to do one last thing for me.
I informed Nestor about his refusal, he was as disappointed as I was. He suggested talking with him but I thought it was better not to pressure Brandon. It was hard enough that he was not talking or asking about the rescue.
I knew he felt like a failure, Brandon always wanted to be in charge, and seeing Josh and Victor saving the day was already hard for him. Those were the flaws I accepted about him, so I did not let it bother me, we had a new chapter and that was putting him in my new machine.
I already had it brought in the house and what was remaining was assembling it.
Kendra was the first to wake up so I quickly gave her a bath in the bathroom and when I returned I found Brandon awake, he was staring at the ceiling like he was counting something. I could not help but feel like he was disappointed he woke up, especially since he did not acknowledge my presence in the room.
“Good morning,” I said to him, receiving no response.
I intentionally put Kendra on his chest and finally got his attention.
“I want to make a truce with Josh, I want a new chapter for my daughter..”
“Thalia, I am not asking for forgiveness from Josh. In fact, he should be thanking me for making him human,” he replied. I raised my eyebrow in shock. He finally turned to face me.
“I reformed that meathead, at least he is going to be a good father.”
“It’s ok, I just wanted to ask if you wanted to talk to him,” I replied.
“No, I’m not interested, not even in thanking him,” he replied and looked away. I wasn’t surprised that he did not even want to thank him for saving our daughter.
“Can you move?” I asked, changing the subject.
“No,” he replied
“It’s time for your session,”
“Just give me a minute, Thalia, I just woke up,” he replied.
“Okay, I will ask Nestor to come to help you. But I wanted to inform you that I want to grant Josh half custody,” I replied and kissed him on the forehead.
Nestor walked in informing me of Josh’s arrival. He was waiting for me in the living room. I picked up Kendra as I received degas from Brandon.
“Is the old man with him, please tell me there will be no family reunion in my living room?” Brandon complained.
“No, he came alone,” Nestor assured him.
I walked out and headed downstairs, Brandon was in a bad mood, and staying longer in the room was only going to lead to fights. Whether I liked it or not, Brandon would rather burn in hell than make a truce with Josh. He loved hurting Josh, he once lived on that thrill.
I walked to the living room and Josh immediately got up as soon as he saw Kendra.
“Good morning, did she give you trouble sleeping?” he asked.
“No, she actually slept like a baby. I guess she was very tired,” I replied.
He grabbed her, while I took a seat. I noticed he was looking around, probably searching for Brandon.
“Can I offer you a cup of tea or something?” I offered not knowing what to say. It was going to take forever for him and me to be comfortable around each other.
“No, I’m fine, thanks,” he replied.
The room became quiet as he played with Kendra. I had no idea where to begin and he was not making things easier for me by staying quiet. The silence stretched, then I remembered Jessica’s fate.
“We do not have to worry about Jessica or seeing her in court because she is going to rot in a Mexico courtroom,” I announced, receiving raised eyebrows from him. He could not believe how possible that was but I assured him Brandon was good at making the impossible happen.
“What happens to her child and what about my divorce? She never signed?”
“With her child trafficking, she is not going to be allowed near the baby, Victor can go and claim the child and for your divorce, we can make her sign the papers,” I assured him.
“You have really gotten good at this?” he replied.
I knew exactly what he meant, I had gotten used to inflicting pain on people. I did not feel offended even though I wanted to but the s*ank trafficked my baby and she deserved worse.
“What about your father? I thought you were going to budge in here with him summoning me or something?” I joked
He chuckled and looked away; “You do not need to worry about my father, I thanked him for saving my daughter but I asked him to bark off.
It is going to take time for me to get used to the fact he impregnated my wife and tried to pass the child as mine so I requested him to leave you alone” he replied.
I quickly closed my mouth not knowing what to say. I castrated him but yet there he was speaking to me. I cleared my throat twice, he noticed I was struggling to let my words out but opted not to come to my rescue. He wanted me to say and mean the words.
“I am sorry for what I did to you Josh,” I finally let the words out with difficulty.
He kept playing with the baby, avoiding eye contact.
“I know my apology will never reverse what I did to you but I have realized I went extreme and please be assured that everything that happened to you was by my approval.”
Another spell of silence stretched before he spoke.
“Thalia we can not change the past,” he finally replied, his eyes still on the baby. “We both did inhuman things to each other, I signed off my fate the day I agreed to marry you for the sake of my father’s revenge,” he added.
I quickly interrupted him; “Maybe if I had a brain back then I would have not made it easier for you. Maybe if I had not signed anything without reading it or maybe if I used my head for once all this mess would have been avoided,” I cried out. “Everything started with a s*upid girl…”
He interrupted me for a second and finally locked his eyes on mine.
“Our Fathers started this, maybe if your father chose a different career or a different country to outshine my idiot of a father or maybe if my father worked hard enough or appreciated friendship or maybe if my mother loved me enough not to fall for a life of alcohol or drugs during hard times. A lot of maybes but we will never know, that is life,” he replied.
“No Josh I did this, I even once requested Brandon if I could kill you, I hated you so much that I wanted to make you suffer when in actual fact I was at fault too.”
“Thalia, any woman in your shoes would have pulled a trigger for the s*it I did to you. I should be dead while you should be on the run or locked up.”
“Does this mean you forgive me?” I asked him. I was overstretching a bit but I was desperate. I wanted to close the revenge chapter of my life.
He kept quiet for a few seconds then looked up at me, “Time will tell Thalia, I have started being comfortable around you unlike when I always wanted to strangle you,” he confessed, which was a step in the right direction, small baby steps, no rushing but we were heading in the right direction.
“What of what I did to you? Would you forgive me for betraying you?” he asked.
“Yes, I forgive you, I want us to start a new chapter for the sake of our daughter and our own selves.”
“Our daughter?” He chuckled. “What of the p*ycho?” he inquired.
“Are you ever going to stop calling him that?” I asked.
“No, come on, you know he is not okay upstairs, I’m very sure you have questioned his sanity before,” he replied.
I only smiled and looked away. Everyone around Brandon had probably questioned his sanity so I was not going to go there.
“He is probably watching and listening to us, isn’t he?” he added.
“Probably, Brandon is a nice guy, yes in a weird way. But one day you two will laugh over beer bottles and steak.”
“Hold on and back up a bit, that would certainly be with a gun to my head,” he joked.
I burst out laughing, yes Brandon would certainly force him to do that, or even worse.
I drew my hand out for a handshake, “is it a truce then?”
He glanced at my hand, “what about custody?”
“Oooh about that, you are free to visit Kendra or pick her up any time you want. And Nestor’s mother has agreed to be our new nanny so no worry about any more kidnappings.”
He glanced at me surprised, I could only guess he was not expecting me to share custody with him but it was the right thing to do.
“Are you saying I can take her for sleepovers?”
“Yes, I’m talking about equal custody and about her name. I did not intentionally name her after Brandon’s mother to spite you,” I explained. “We couldn’t find a name for her because every name including Amber are names of women Brandon has slept with before.”
He stared at him with his jaw hanging,
“So I suggested his mother’s name knowing he would have kept with a girl by that name and looking back at the fact that he saved my life and he is dying, I felt it was only proper to name her Kendra.”
Silence stretched again,
“Calling her by two names is confusing, especially because different people are calling her different names. I hope you understand.”
“There are literally thousands of girl names, how many women has he slept with?”
“How many have you slept with?” I asked him, forcing him to look away.
I stood up, I was not going to force things, I drew my hand for a truce again and he shook it. I had no idea if it was genuine but all I could do was hope he had changed for the better.
I excused myself and left him to spend time with Kendra while I walked back upstairs to Brandon. I found him on his tablet probably listening to my conversation with Josh. He was really annoying but I ignored it.
“You can put me in a coma,” he announced as soon as he saw me. I stared at him surprised, I had only gone to check if he was doing his session.
“What changed?” I asked.
“Just do it before I change my mind,” he replied and began counting. I had no idea what number he was counting to so I began panicking.
“Okay, okay just give me a minute,” I requested but he kept on counting. I quickly called Dr. Wilson to begin the arrangements. Brandon was definitely a drama King and he liked stressing me out. He completely denied telling me why he changed his mind however he promised to tell me once I woke him up.
What was weird was the fact that he was not interested in knowing about my new machine. Every time I tried he changed the subject so I stopped trying.
By the time Dr. Willson arrived, Josh had already gone and we all gathered in his room. Maggie arrived in time to say her goodbye but all of a sudden Brandon requested to be transferred to the beach house.
He wanted to be placed in a coma in his porn house. I felt like strangling him but I did not want to irritate him.
So we quickly transferred him and granted all his requests like his last meal, watching a carton with Kendra, and lastly seeing me completely naked.
Brandon was definitely a p*ycho, seeing me naked was his last wish. He wanted his last image to be me naked so I granted his wish as i watched him sleep forever with no hope in his eyes.
