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his life. God, she really
fucked things up by coming here. How selfish did she have to be to
demand time with Christian! She needed to understand that Christian
doesn't know who she is and she should cut ties. It would be the
best thing for Christian so he wasn't confused. He had been through
enough and I didn't want to subject him to a legal battle with his
birth mother.
    I drove the
couple of blocks to Christian's school, just hoping nothing more
had happened. I had half a mind to talk to that little girl's
parents myself so Titus didn't come down too harshly on
them.
    Again, waiting
outside the class was the mom I had met yesterday. I thought now
was as good a time as any to confront her about what her daughter
said. I didn't want to make a big deal out of it but I was going to
make it very clear I didn't appreciate her talking about my family
situation with her five year old daughter. I took a breath just to
make sure I was in full control before approaching the
woman.
    "Hi, Brittany's
mom, right?" I asked.
    She nodded, "I
am. How are you?"
    "I'm well," I
said with a polite smile, "Look, I don't know if their teacher told
you what happened yesterday but your daughter told my son that I'm
not his real mother and that I couldn't love him because of
it."
    She simply nodded
her head which was odd but I continued on regardless.
    "I would
appreciate it if you spoke to her about it and let her know that my
son was very upset by what she said."
    "But you're not
his mother," she said boldly.
    It took me a
second to process what she had just said. Most people feared and
respected Titus enough to never comment on our situation and those
that did comment were not being malicious, they were curious. This
woman though, clearly she held a grudge against me.
    "Maybe I didn't
give birth to him but I raised him and legally, he is my son and
that is not your concern. I am trying to be civil about
this."
    "Elizabeth,
adopting your mate's child doesn't make that child yours. Though I
commend you for stepping up to the plate, it's time you take the
backseat and give me my family back."
    My jaw just about
hit the ground. So this was Claire. This was how she knew what
Christian looked like. She had been stalking the school looking for
him. I was damn near speechless. How was I supposed to handle this?
I couldn't attack her, as much as I wanted to, I
couldn't.
    "Titus is my mate
and Christian is my son. You would do well to remember that. If I
ever see you here again, rest assured this will be a very different
conversation."
    "Titus and I have
a child together. Do you honestly think he wouldn't put that above
everything else? I'm sure you know exactly where he stands in
regards to our son. He would do anything for Christian, including
getting back together with his mother."
    Those words hit
too close for comfort. Titus had told me he would do anything for
Christian and that Christian would always come first, even over me.
I was fine with that as long as it was in Christian's best interest
but Claire was not in his best interest.
    "You abandoned
him the second you gave birth," I replied coldly, "You don't
deserve either of them and you will never have them in your life.
You had your chance and you blew it so leave us alone."
    The door flew
open and children came running out of the classroom. Christian ran
up and wrapped himself around my legs. I hugged him as usual, not
wanting to alarm him.
    "Hi, Christian,"
Claire said sweetly.
    I couldn't
contain the growl that chipped away at my carefully composed mask.
Claire ignored me and smiled at Christian. He waved sheepishly at
her before turning back to me. Thank God he clearly didn't have any
interest in her.
    "Come on, we're
going to see Dad," I said to Christian.
    "I'll see you
around," Claire said with a wave as she pulled her daughter
along.
    I knew this
wasn't my last encounter with her but hopefully she would come to
her senses and leave us alone. If she cared about Christian at all
she would