Homecoming - Chapter Seventeen

Kaori was so enraged she could barely speak. She was shaking, but not from the same rage. The rage was just there to mask the fear.

They’d dropped off their bags and gone through security without a glitch. It was at the passport control that it had gone to hell.

The border control officer had told them to step aside, then two uniformed police officers, one male and the other female, had come to fetch them to escort them back outside the terminal. There they promptly separated them, the female officer taking Noemi from her, while the male officer locked her in a sparsely furnished room, not unlike an interrogation room seen in movies.

When she’d demanded to see her daughter, she was told she wasn’t to have contact with anyone until his superior came to talk to her. When she demanded to know what she was accused of, if she was even accused of anything, he said something about theft and left.

She’d been alone in the room for almost an hour, her fear growing, mutating, turning nearly debilitating. Fear of what was going on.

She didn’t much care about what would happen to her; she was worried sick about her daughter. Who knew what might be happening to Noemi when she wasn’t there to prevent it? Or what the authorities intended to do with her little girl.

Had Kuroda pressed charges? Was he trying to take Noemi away from her again? She’d rather kill him and spend the rest of her days in jail than let that psychotic bastard use her daughter for spare parts.

She couldn’t even demand a phone call, because no one bothered to come talk to her.

She had plenty of people she could call. On both sides of the ocean. Except one. She would never call Ryo. Well, maybe in dire circumstances, if all other contacts failed.

God, please, don’t make me call him.

She doubted she’d survive having to go through another goodbye. She didn’t want to face him again. She didn’t want to explain. She just wanted this to be over with, like pulling off a band-aid. A clean break.

Jesus, she didn’t want to face him.

The door opened, and there he was. Saeba Ryo in the flesh, face unreadable, eyes swirling with—

She didn’t bother deciphering what was in his eyes; she could never really get it, but he was there, arms crossed over the muscular chest she’d been kissing and licking only hours ago, and he was obviously in on whatever was going on.

“You bastard,” she screeched and flew at him, fists raised. “You fucking bastard.”

He caught both her wrists in his hands and stared down at her as she writhed, seething.

“Let me go,” she hissed. “How dare you?! How dare you have me arrested?! How dare you take Noemi away?!” She started gearing up for a kick. “And what’s this about theft? I didn’t steal anything, and you know it!”

“My heart,” he told her calmly, stopping her kick of death before it was fully formed.

She stood there, stock-still, her wrists still trapped in his hands, gaping at him like a guppy. She must’ve looked ridiculous, but he wasn’t laughing. Oh no, he was completely serious.

“What are you talking about?” she demanded.

He shrugged, letting go of her wrists, and stuck his hands in his pockets. “You stole my heart. I want it back.”

She stared at him, at his signature Saeba pose, and shook her head. “No.”

He arched an eyebrow, a corner of his mouth curling upward. “No?”

“No, you don’t get to come in here talking nonsense.”

“What are you talking about?” he parroted.

“Well, I might’ve stolen your heart in the past, but you already got it back.” And she couldn’t believe she was going along with his hyperbole. “You told me that you loved me. Past tense—”

“There’s no past tense in my feelings for you, Kaori,” he interrupted her softly. “I love you. Present tense.”

She could feel tears gathering. She’s been waiting her whole life, it seemed, to hear those words from those lips. But it was too late now. Seven years too late. She shook her head.

“So, you still have my heart,” he reiterated. “And I want it back.”

“I—I can’t give it back,” she whispered. It’s been seven years, after all.  “I don’t know how.”

Another nonchalant shrug. “Fine. Then give me your heart. It seems only fair.”

Tears filled her vision, and she could feel her lower lip wobble. Did he have to say all these things? Couldn’t he see how difficult it was for her? Didn’t he know how excruciating it had felt leaving him this morning? Leaving him forever?

“Ryo…”

He brushed a stray tear away with a single fingertip. Smiled. “My timing sucks, I know, but I also know that if I let you go now I’ll never see you again.” He slammed his fist against his chest. “You’re in here. Inside me. You make me happy. I haven’t been happy in these last seven years. I pretended to be happy, but I wasn’t. I’m only happy when I’m with you.”

She sniffed, and he brushed yet another tear away.

“If these past seven years have proven anything, it is that I can live without you. But I don’t want to. You took that choice away from me when you last left. Don’t take it away again. Please, Kaori, stay. Stay.”

Oh, God. She took in a shaky breath, swallowed, and prayed for strength. This was going to hurt like hell.

“I can’t,” she whispered and watched as his eyes shuttered and his features rearranged in an impassive mask. “I can’t,” she repeated a little louder. “There’s not just me. There’s Noemi. She comes first, no matter what.” No matter what I might want or feel.

“I love her because she’s yours,” Ryo told her, his gaze warm and tender. “And because she’s yours, she’s mine. Some bonds are stronger than blood or family ties. We’re living proof of that.”

Hope was starting to blossom in her chest, but she firmly squashed it. “Ryo, she—”

“Approves,” he said softly.

“What?”

“I talked to her before I came for you,” he answered. “Asked her permission, you know.”

Kaori smiled through her tears. Of course he would ask Noemi first. This was Ryo. “Permission to do what?”

“To marry her mom, if she’ll have me. For us to be a family.”

Tears forgotten, Kaori stared into his beautiful eyes. “And what did she say?”

“She asked what took me so long,” he replied with a lopsided grin. “And then she threw herself into my arms and called me ‘papa’.” His eyes shone. “It choked me up. Like mother, like daughter, you both have me wrapped around your little finger. I love it.”

She opened her mouth, but he stopped her.

“And before you come up with yet another excuse, she doesn’t mind living in Japan at all. And her Japanese sounds better than ours, by the way. Very proper. Apparently, Auntie Nikki took her to lessons, and she wanted to surprise you.”

“You knew, didn’t you? That first day in the park.”

“I suspected,” he corrected her. “And now stop changing the subject. If you can’t, or won’t, give me my heart back, will you give me yours?”

“It’s always been yours, you jackass,” she admonished. “You just never took care of it properly.”

He took her hands and brushed his lips across her knuckles. “I will from now on, I swear.” Then he met her gaze squarely, his eyes completely clear, so she could read everything in them. Everything. “I love you, Makimura Kaori. Will you stay with me? Will you marry me?”

She grinned, threw her arms around his neck, and pressed her entire body against his. “Yes,” she whispered, before she kissed him.

The door suddenly opened. “Yay!” Noemi cried, barreling into the embracing couple, latching onto Kaori and Ryo’s legs. “We’re staying!”

Reluctantly breaking the kiss, Ryo sighed and pressed his forehead against Kaori’s. “We’ll continue this later,” he promised in a murmur, then let her go, crouched, and caught Noemi as she threw herself into his arms.

He lifted her and, supporting her with one arm, brought the other around Kaori, who was already brushing her fingers down her daughter’s cheek.

“Are you sure about this, sweetheart?” she asked, making him frown.

Noemi nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, Mama, this is why I wanted to come to Japan in the first place.”

Both adults looked at her. “Excuse me?” they asked in unison.

Noemi smiled sheepishly. “I knew about Ryo. I mean, Papa.” She smiled up at Ryo, who winked at her. She leaned her head against his chest, grasping her mother’s fingers. “I heard you telling Auntie Nikki about him one night, so I decided to come to Japan and find him for you. Lucky for me, he found us first.”

Kaori swallowed past the lump in her throat. “Oh, sweetheart.”

“This is your home, Mom. You’re happy here. I want you to be happy.”

Kaori kissed her daughter’s forehead. “I love you so much,” she whispered, then looked up at Ryo. “I love you both so much.”

“That’s good,” he replied with a small smile. “Because I love you both so much as well.”

“Me, too,” Noemi chimed in. “I’ll finally have both a mom and dad. And maybe a little brother or sister soon as well,” she finished with a sly look. “Right?”

Kaori gasped, turning crimson, while Ryo merely laughed.

“I like the way you think, kiddo.” He nodded sagely, grinning down at Kaori. “She’s mine, all right, no doubt about it.”

Kaori shook her head. He was incorrigible. And so, apparently, was her—their daughter.

“But first things first,” he amended, booping Noemi’s nose. “We have to get a ring on your mother’s finger as soon as possible, and then we can start working on that brother or sister of yours. Hey, maybe both.”

Kaori groaned and hid her flaming face against his throat as he and Noemi started making plans for her immediate future.