Interstate Blues

Chapter Forty-One: The Boy Who Went Away

August 25th, 2020
Ouray, Colorado

Ash glanced down at Lee, laying in her bed, sweaty and exhausted, in complete awe. He never imagined his first day as a father could be met by so many ups and downs. Both Lee and their son were close to death more than once, but they were both survivors.

A knock at the door tossed him back into reality, and he remembered for the first time that he had friends and family downstairs, all anxiously waiting to hear good news. He got up to answer the door without disturbing Lee and the baby, both of whom had just gotten to sleep, but a light hand brushing his arm stopped him cold.

"No. Don't leave. Stay with us," she murmured quietly, cradling their swaddled son to her chest.

"I promise I'll be right back. I've gotta go give them all the good news. You just rest. Reggie's right outside, so if you need anything just let him know. Should I send your mom in?"

Lee shot him a dark look. "I don't need a bodyguard. But I would kinda like to see my mom."

Ash smiled and leaned down to place a gentle kiss on her forehead. "It wasn't my call. Besides, even if we asked him to stand down, I doubt he would actually listen. Your cousins never do. I'll go send everyone home, so we can spend the next two months locked away together."

Lee scowled and started to protest, but Ash slipped out of the room before he heard a single word she had to say about it. She didn't like that he was planning on cooping the three of them up for so long on the new compound they'd purchased about an hour's drive deeper into the mountains. Ash was determined to see it through, though. As an Exterminator, he was bound to be away for long periods of time, but he didn't want to miss any of those first few months.

"Georgia, Lee would like to see you now," Ash announced when he reached the sitting room where everyone was waiting.

"Oh, wonderful!" she exclaimed, out of the room and heading upstairs before Ash had even found an empty seat on the couch beside his mother. For a blind woman, Georgia Lockwood was quick.

"Ash! They wouldn't tell us anything! Is it a boy or girl?" Marcia turned to shake him a little bit, jolting him out of his thoughts.

"We have a son. Kit. Kit Grayson Slayer. He's perfect." He glanced around the room at all the smiling congratulating faces, looking for the one he knew he wouldn't see.

His mother hugged him tightly. "Congratulations, son. We can't wait to meet him. But you look exhausted, so we'll get out of your hair. Say your goodbyes, Marley, we're leaving soon."

Marley waited until almost everyone else shook his hand or hugged him before taking her turn. He'd been so busy with work and the new baby, he hadn't spoken to her in nearly a month. She jumped into his arms and squeezed him tighter than everyone else, though.

"Awe, Ash! I'm so happy for you! Our family needed a new addition. Especially one so cute!" She smiled happily as he set her down, and Ash couldn't help but smile back.

"Thanks, Mars!" He was quiet for a few seconds before asking, "How are you doing, really?" He lowered his voice so no one else in the mostly empty room could overhear their conversation.

The smile slipped off her face, but there was a brightness in her eyes that he hadn't seen since before they lost Jack. "Better. I think. It's not easy. Sometimes, I wake up in the morning, thinking he's still alive, and then I realize he's gone, and I just feel so... alone." Marley's eyes filled with tears for a few seconds before she blinked them back. "I just keep trying to remind myself that he said everything will be okay. He was so damn sure about that."