Reyona's head jerked upward as she heard Maxwell's voice.
Then she looked sideways when she heard a growling sound.
Jerking his head from Reyona to Maxwell, Skippy's pupils had dilated so much that they almost covered his entire eyes.
His growl continued as he looked confused about where he should escape.
Reyona realised what was going on as she saw Maxwell standing at the entrance, blocking his escape route.
He felt cornered!
She realised as the dog backed away while his growl increased in pitch.
"Maxwell, move," she said urgently, and he automatically stepped aside.
The dog hopped past him in a flash.
The dog kept going without stopping at all.
Maxwell shook his head and went to Reyona. "What was that about?" He asked in an incredulous voice.
"We were building a friendship," Reyona said with a pout.
"That was friendship?" Maxwell asked in disbelief.
"Well, we were about to. Then you…do you think they do therapy for dogs?" She asked in contemplation.
Maxwell started chuckling, "Ah, ah, therapy for…" he stopped when he saw her expression. "You are serious?"
"Of course, I am serious. If humans get therapy, maybe there is a way a dog can get it too?"
Even though it was apparent that Maxwell thought the idea ridiculous, he nodded as he said: "I suppose we can ask?"
"I suppose," Reyona nodded as she adjusted the shawl on her legs. Then she looked back at him. "Why are you back so early?"
He looked above her head as he said, "Nothing. I just missed you and wanted to see you early."
"Liar." She said automatically.
Reyona looked at the time on her phone before looking back at Maxwell.
"You should still be at your meeting right now."
Maxwell inclined his head as he said "Yeah, well. It was cancelled."
*You cancelled it." She stated more than asked as she automatically moved her feet off the settee so he could sit. "Why?" She asked.
"We postponed it. We can do it anytime, like now. Axle is not going anywhere."
"You cancelled an acquisition meeting based on whim? Yeah, why not show me the winged horse flying in the sky too while you are at it?" She said with a frown.
He reached for the book on her lap, read the title and looked at her. "You have been reading this?"
"Yes,"
"That means you have not been on your phone or watched the news?"
"Maxwell" Reyona called his name with a frisson of worry treading her tone.
"It is about Thomas," Maxwell said suddenly.
When she stared at him with a passive look, he said: "He was found at his mom's." He held her hand and continued, "He is gone, Reyona. It seemed he had been dead for days. Mary and Cliff were out of town. They found him. It is all over the news, and it is trending online already. My assistant told me about it just before we started the meeting. I thought you might…" he trailed off when she just kept staring at him without a change of expression or a word.
She did not know what to feel. Was it normal that she did not know what to feel?
Reyona wondered before a thought popped into her mind. "Suicide?" She asked quietly.
"The police have not given a statement yet. People are speculating but no official statement yet." He paused then said, "But…"
"What?" She asked when he stopped talking.
"There is something I think you might want to know. I wasn't sure before…"
"So you kept something else from me." She stated simply. "Maxwell, you promised."
"And I am fulfilling that promise, I swear," he said urgently. When her expression didn't change, he hurriedly added. "Truly, I didn't think there was any need to tell you because it didn't have anything to do with you, not anymore. Nothing to do with us," he said emphatically.
"What is it?" She asked simply.
"I gave the doctor the leave to do any rest that Thomas might want to do about paternity and all just so he could stop pestering us back then. He was to do the tests for him and put the expenses on my account."
Reyona nodded.
Maxwell looked at her and continued "Lanoth did one other test. Sperm count test."
Reyona raised her brow as she said, "Okay."
"It came out zero. He had zero sperm count, Reyona. A non-obstructive azoospermia caused by testicular damage. In his case, he was never going to be able to father a child."
Reyona could only shake her head as the enormity of what he just said hit her.
Thomas would never be able to father a child. Which means if what happened had not happened, she wouldn't have been able to have children as well.
"Oh my God," she breathed beneath her breath as she thought of what that would have meant for her life.
She knew herself.
Even if she had found out later, she wouldn't have left him.
She would have bound herself with the shackles of loyalty and her "in sickness and in health" vow.
She would have given up on her dream of having a big family.
She would have stuck by him despite it all.
And she would probably have lived the rest of her life miserably while pretending that she was fine.
She still had no idea what she felt about his death, so she was taking her thoughts and feelings as they came.
"I wish you had told me though. It would have…. I don't know. I needed to know." She completed softly as she laid her head against his shoulder.
"I am sorry," he said softly as he laid his arm around her shoulder, hugged her to himself one-armed and kissed her hair. "I should have."
She patted his hand in response and said "What are we going to tell the kids? Don't say we should keep it from them. You already said it is practically everywhere. They might come across it somewhere. They might connect it. Allysyn will."
"We can think of what to tell them together. What matters is, we will protect them from any way this might want to affect them. He caused quite a scandal. I think the reporters might want to bring those up again."
Reyona nodded as she remembered how easily this could turn into a circus again. "We will protect them," She said with determination. "That means they have to be aware. We can't protect them if they have no idea of what we are protecting them from or why."
Maxwell nodded. "You are right. He left a note."
"He what?" Reyona asked as she sat straight.
"They found a note close to the body. They believed it was written by Lanoth."
"What?" Reyona said again in shock. "Then it is definitely…
Maxwell shrugged, "We can't be sure until an official statement has been made."
Yet Reyona knew. She also knew that he knew. There has always been one main reason why notes have been left with bodies.
Reyona saw something in Maxwell's eyes that made her blurt out the thought that came to her mind.
"You think the note was meant for me?"
It wasn't a question.