She turned to the voice.
Beside her was a tall muscular man with pale blond hair and bright amber eyes. He had a scowl on his breathtaking royal features. His soft lush lips were downturned and not happy looking.
Her eyes strayed from his stunning regal face to the butter yellow wife-beater tank top and his blue shorts with their oddly cheerful yellow rubber duckies. On his feet were dollar-store teal color flip flops.
It was so incongruous with his serious handsome face that she almost laughed, but she couldn't be that rude.
He was most likely the boy's father. They looked very similar.
Devin turned to stare at the man with angry eyes. He turned back and buried his face into Talia's shoulder.
"Devin." The man called out again.
The boy ignored his brother's voice and latched onto her neck with his grubby chubby arms. He began squeezing her with such ferocity that she nearly toppled over.
"Oh hi! You must be his father!" Talia grinned.
The man shook his head without saying a word.
Ooops. This must be his brother then.
Talia began to feel her stress rising higher. This man didn't seem all that friendly, but at least his clothes indicated that he wasn't such a stiff-shirt.
"I'm glad I didn't get lost driving to your place. It's a bit out of the way."
The man continued to stare at her without saying a word so Talia filled in the awkward silence between them with random chatter.
"Devin was running around without a stitch of clothing on when I picked him up so I bought something for him to wear. Consider it my gift to him for being such a good little guy all night long."
She had spent half her $100 bonus on Devin, so it was a substantial amount for her, but the man didn't need to know that. He didn't look like he would be too receptive to poor people wandering around his property.
The man looked over at the white tee shirt and red shorts she had bought at the General Store for Devin; his face, inscrutable.
If it wasn't for the fact that she had heard him call Devin's name out, she would have thought that the man was deaf or mute, or both.
Talia smiled again, trying to establish some sort of human connection with the man as she reached out and rubbed the child's blond head.
"It's okay. Devin's just being a bit of a cranky pants because he just woke up. He fell asleep in the car after he ate three pieces of chicken nuggets." She looked up at the house.
"He's a bit gritty so he's going to need a bath as soon as possible, and maybe some food that's a bit better than fast food fried stuff."
The man's amber eyes regarded her cooly.
"Devin." The man called out again.
The boy completely ignored the man this time and did not even bother to look at him. His arms were latched onto Talia's neck and he was squeezing so hard, Talia was starting to see stars.
"Sweetheart. You're choking me." She grinned with some hesitancy.
He ignored her and continued his chokehold of her.
"Loosen up a bit so I can breathe Devin." She chuckled as she patted him on the back.
"Maaaaamaaaaamaaaaaa." He warbled, squeezing her even tighter.
"Devin, would you like for your brother to hold you for a bit? I'm sure he was very worried about you while you were gone from the house."
"No-no-no-no. Maaaaamaaaaamaaaaaa!!!" He turned his face into her neck.
The man sighed and looked up into the sky. Large drops were starting to fall again. If they didn't move inside, all three of them would turn into drowned rats.
"Please come in. Perhaps once he is inside, he will behave a bit better."
Talia smiled.
Finally, the man was able to string a coherent sentence together. She was starting to think he wasn't completely normal in the head, or could only say one word at a time.
"My name is Talia Fabian. It's nice to meet you."
He looked at her as if it was an obligatory meet and greet.
"I'm Cedric." He turned towards the doors. "This way."
She nodded and followed him, with Devin clinging to her like a little frightened monkey.
The moment that Talia walked in through the front doors, she realized she was walking into a palace fit for a king. The mansion only looked fairly large from the front.
In reality, it was palatial, with wings that extended on all sides and to the back. At over 13 feet in height, the ceilings seemed to float away. The doors were so tall she felt like a midget walking through them.
He took her through the main rooms until they reached the bedroom areas.
"This is Devin's suite of rooms." He pointed to a door that was painted a cheerful blue.
A man in a dark brown suit stepped out from another part of the room.
"Ah! You must be Devin's father." Talia smiled. "It's nice to meet you. I brought him back the moment the weather calmed enough for me to return. I'm sorry for making you worry."
The man's mouth opened and shut a couple of times. He must be speechless with worry about his son, she thought. But then he nodded and reached out to open the door.
"Bring the boy this way," he indicated.
Devin refused to be unhanded so Talia carried him into the bathroom.
A maid was standing inside the bathroom with a tub half-filled with steaming warm water. She reached out to take Devin from Talia's arms.
"Aaaaahhh!!! No, no, no!!!" He screamed and started to cry.
"Devin. Let's get you bathed honey."
"NO!!!" He howled in protest.
"Yes!" Talia insisted.
She waved the maid away and carried Devin over to the bath tub. Sitting with him on the edge of the tub, she began to stroke him and murmured soft words of reassurances.
"Don't worry. I'll be right here. I'm going to bathe you myself. Okay?"
With her assurances, he began to loosen his death grip of her neck and allowed her to undress him and place him in the tub.
Then, for the next half hour, she and Devin sang the 'Raining Wolves' song over and over as she cleaned his body and hair with baby soap and shampoo.
Once he was cleaned and dressed in a pair of cotton onesies, she carried him into his bedroom and placed him on the bed.
"How about you take a nap?"
He shook his head. The thoughts shining from his amber eyes were clear. If he went to sleep, she would run away.
"How about we both lie down and take a nap."
Devin nodded and burrowed his body into the pillows. Talia snuggled onto the pillows with him and his hand immediately reached out to clutch onto her shirt. It was increasingly looking like she was going to have to keep him company until he fell asleep.
Talia's honest intention was only to lie with him until he slept and then she would leave for home.
But then exhaustion blind-sided her and next thing she knew, she had fallen asleep beside him.