I thought I might warn my ex at the birthing class, but Indi did not seem very receptive to conversing with me.
Even though I should have been focused on Astrid, I couldn’t stop looking at Indi.
If it hadn’t been for my. . .indiscretion,could that have been my baby in her belly?
I clamped down on that thought as hard as I could and buried it deep with superhuman strength.
That way lay madness
I would just keep my head down and try to stop thinking about Indigo.
But when I saw Finn sweep in on that ridiculous hot air balloon I couldn’t contain myself anymore.
As the rope ladder dangled down in front of her, for only the second time in my life, I reacted entirely spontaneously.
“Indi, you cannot!” I said earnestly. “I can’t let you do this!”
Finn growled in annoyance as I locked eyes with my ex-wife, willing her to understand.
Indi was absolutely glowing from the birthing class, her hair flowing like rippling waves of auburn around her face. In the wind from the hot air balloon, it was swirling around her face like she was a goddess emerging from the foam in a Renaissance painting.
Simply magical, like she always had been
“And what right do you have,Dr. Hargreaves,to have anything to say about who I get married to?” Indi asked, coldly and evenly.
The tone of her voice was absolutely terrifying to me. Indi was the sweetest woman I had ever known, all sunshine and light. She cared for every life form down to a little worm on the sidewalk. I don’t think I’d ever heard her say a harsh word, and just the cold uncaring tone in her voice was enough to make me weak at the knees.
“Butt the fuck out,” Finn warned from the rope ladder. “I’m going to kick your ass, Ambrose!”
Just then, Astrid clutched at my suit jacket.
“You must stop them, Ambrose!” she cried out shrilly. “Finn is just under some sort of spell!”
“Astrid, you need to move your delusional ass, too!” Finn said, finally hopping down from the ladder.
But when Finn stumbled down the last steps I cocked my fist and pasted him a good one on the nose. Perhaps it was not the intellectual approach, but the time for words had passed.
Finn looked absolutely murderous.
He staggered back a bit, then swung at me.
I was able to miss the worst of it, but he still caught me on the chin.
“God, stop, both of you!” Indi cried.
Astrid began to scream, entirely uselessly, using an ice scraper from the car to wallop me on the back.
Presumably she was trying to break up the fight, but it hurt like hell.
Indi’s face looked white with horror, two big spots pink with embarrassment on her cheeks, and Finn put me in a headlock as I attempted to punch him in the gut.
Quite the crowd had begun to gather, several of them with their phones out taking video footage but, just then, my own father leaped up the rope ladder and began to climb.
He then blew a whistle very loudly.
“Stop all this!” he bleated, the rope ladder swaying wildly underneath him.
“Harold, get down this instant!” my mother gasped angrily, but he continued to blow the whistle until Finn and I broke apart.
