Growing Up

**5 Years Later**

“Mummy! Wow! You’re here early today!”

“Yes! I am…” I called out cheerfully before crouching down with both my arms outstretched.

I watched with a mix of pride and joy as I watched a very cute and smiley red-haired boy run straight into my outstretched arm. He hugged me and I hugged him tightly in return.

“Hi, Ryder. How was your day at school?” I asked as I gazed into his beautiful eyes. At least, he has my eyes.

“It was awesome!” he replied energetically.

“Cool! Well, it’s time to go home. Daddy will be back early today too!” I said excitedly.

“Wow cool!” Ryder exclaimed excitedly as he raced off ahead towards the parking lot.

“No running! Ryder!” I called after him and surprisingly, my little boy stopped in his track and waited for me to catch up to him in my wobbly high heels.

“You’re such a good boy these days, huh?” I teased as I caught up to him.

I offered him my hand and he dutifully took it and held it tight. We walked side by side towards the parking lot where I had parked my car. Edward and I tried our best to find time to pick up our children from school. Of course, there were many days when that couldn’t happen due to our work or other responsibilities. On those days, we would have one of our butlers or drivers come to pick up the children.

I personally loved picking up the children from school because they just looked so happy to see me waiting for them at the end of their school day. For someone who never had a complete family like me, being able to build a complete family of my own with Edward was a dream come true.

“I’m trying…so please tell daddy that I’ve been good, ok?” Ryder said as he smiled up at me.

“What secret deal did you cut out with Edward this time?” I asked suspiciously.

“…If you’re good and help me out, then you’ll find out” Ryder replied with a calculating smile.

Although Ryder has red hair and my eyes and did not look anything like Edward, no one could deny that his personality and mind were a direct duplicate of Edward’s. Those two got along so well and Ryder was closer to Edward than any other father and son duo that I knew of.

“What will I get if I help you out?” I teased back.

“Umm…maybe I’ll ask daddy to bring you along on our trip…” Ryder said with a bright smile.

I felt like I was looking at a mini version of Edward.

“Wow…sounds amazing!” I said excitedly before bending down to hug him.

Ryder’s appearance and coloring that resembled his biological father so much had caused quite a lot of drama both within the Rosenhall family and the public when he was born. I only realized that Edward had probably told a big fat lie to Lucien about the parentage of this child when I saw the look of pure shock on Lucien’s face the first time that he saw baby Ryder.

The look he shot Edward was deadly, but Edward just smiled sheepishly and shrugged. Honestly, I didn’t think that Ryder would turn out so much like his biological father. Lucien could tell right away that Ryder was not Edward’s child and that he had been lied to.

It all started to make sense how Edward managed to convince Lucien to allow our marriage. He probably told Lucien that I was pregnant with his child and that he was willing to take responsibility.

Edward never told me about any of this, but I was quite convinced that I didn’t get it wrong this time.

When the press started questioning if Ryder was even Edward’s real son, I was very stressed and scared because I was afraid that the truth would be exposed. I wasn’t afraid for myself, but I was afraid for Ryder. I knew that one day perhaps he deserved to know the truth about his biological father but if that day ever came, I didn’t want him to hear it through some gossip magazine, website, or social media. I wanted him to hear it from Edward and me.

When I raised my concern to Edward, he laughed it off like some bad joke.

“Ryder is my son. Period. I’ll keep on saying the same thing until the whole world believes it. It’s as simple as that,” Edward stated without a care.

“I don’t know. I just don’t want them to publish any crazy theories…” I said as I voiced my concern.

“The only problem they have with him is that he has red hair and neither of us has it. So, we’ll just tell them that your grandmother or someone has red hair, ok? That’s it, done,” Edward said, brushing off the whole matter.

He made it all sound so easy. Perhaps it really was that simple and I was just over thinking things, but I was really worried about Ryder. I bet if we were a normal couple no one would be double guessing if our child really was ours or not like this.

“I don’t know…” I whispered still unconvinced.

“Stop worrying, Princess. I’ll deal with it,” Edward said as he hugged me from behind. I leaned my head against his chest. I trusted Edward but I just couldn’t help worrying.

So many ‘what if’ scenarios filled my mind as I worried endlessly. I knew how much rumors could influence children and also the reactions of other people based on my own personal experience, and I wasn’t willing to take even the slightest risk of that happening to my child. Growing up, I was the darkest of the black sheeps in the Rosenhall family and the mean words written and spoken by the reporters only made my situation worse.

I had graduated from all that but was it too much to ask that my son shouldn’t have to go through such a haunting experience?

…

We arrived home earlier than expected due to light traffic which made me feel so fortunate. Work had been busy as always but now I have a team that helps me at work. Slowly but surely, I have been climbing up the corporate ladder and now I lead a small team of my own. I have found my passion in event organizing, so now I lead a team that focuses on organizing public events and managing PR for the company.

“Madame, dinner is ready. Should we start arranging the table?” a maid asked me.

“That would be good. Edward should be back soon,” I replied.

--To be continued…