Tear Down These Walls (54 page)

“You can start studying in the office then,” Kellen suggests. “I will
make sure she doesn’t come around you.”

“Honey,” Teagan starts. “It’s not just that.”

Kellen puts his hand on her cheek. “If you don’t like staying with me,
I’ll put a guard on you when you are home.”

Now, Teagan starts laughing and pushes her hair off of her face. “That’s
ridiculous! Kellen, you have me all wrong. I LOVE living with you and sleeping
next to you
and
having Kya wake us up at ungodly early hours.” She puts
her hand on his chest. “I love that you can keep me safe; I love that you can
kill someone forty different ways. I love that you are strong, but I want to be
strong, too. I don’t want to live in fear. I should be able to stay at my
apartment by myself and not be scared.”

“I have to ask, am I overbearing?” Kellen asks. “Have I turned into that
guy?”

“No, not at all,” Teagan replies. “I would tell you if you were.
Honestly, I want to be able to do it on my own, survive on my own. I don’t want
to have to depend on you.”

He nods his head. “Okay, let’s continue your training then. I’ll make
sure you can kick ass.”

“Good.”

“Left, right, kick,” Kellen instructs, holding up the pad. “Ready?”
Teagan nods. “Go.”  With as much strength as she can muster, Teagan
attacks him.

Later that night, Teagan is chewing on a pen as she reads. The rattling
of the office doorknob breaks her concentration. She looks up. There is more
rattling and then, “Eggen!”

She exhales and then stands up. Walking over, she opens the door. Kya is
standing there with a huge smile. “Hi, Kya,” Teagan laughs.

Kya grins even bigger and holds up a piece of picture. “Icture for
Eggen!”

“Wow!” Teagan exclaims. “That’s so pretty!”

“Una-orn,” Kya declares proudly.

“That’s the prettiest unicorn I have ever seen,” Teagan replies. “You
should go show your dad.”

“Icture for Eggen,” Kya states seriously.

Squatting down next to her, Teagan says, “Thank you, Sweetie. I love it,
but I need to study now.”

“Study?” Kya inquires, with a confused expression.

“I’m in school,” Teagan explains. “I have homework. I have to learn new
stuff.”

“Kya,” Kellen groans, coming up the steps. “I asked you nicely to leave
Teagan alone.”

With a smile, Teagan says, “It’s fine. I needed a little bit of a break.”

“Dah-dah,” Kya squeals. “Una-orn!”

“It’s beautiful,” Kellen replies. “But you and I are going to go
downstairs.” He bends over and picks Kya up. “We’ll watch cartoons on the big
TV.”

“K!” Kya yells. “Bye Eggen.”

Teagan smiles, “Bye, Kya.” Kellen rolls his eyes and turns to carry Kya
downstairs. “I should only be another two hours,” Teagan assures him.

“We’re going to the office in a little bit,” Kellen says. “I thought I
would grab Chinese from that that restaurant that you like.”

“Ooooo, lo mein for me,” Teagan chirps.

He turns around. “I know. We’ll be gone for a while, so you’ll have some
peace and quiet.”

“Thanks,” Teagan says. “I have this big test on Friday. I need to ace it.
I didn’t do so well on the last one. The night that I was supposed to study, I
found myself wrapped up in a set of sheets.” She gives Kellen a devilish smirk.

A chuckle comes from Kellen before he says, “I think it was worth
skipping an hour of studying.”

“You sir, are a bad influence,” Teagan snorts.

“I know,” Kellen states nonchalantly. “We’ll see you later.”

“Thanks!” Teagan calls out. “Love you guys!”

“Luv ou Eggen!” Kya yells back over her dad’s shoulder.

“I love both of my girls very much,” Kellen shouts, as he reaches the
bottom of the steps.

Smiling, Teagan turns back into the office. She shuts the door and gets
back to studying. About a half an hour later, she hears the front door slam.
Kellen and Kya can be heard outside. Biting back down on her pen, Teagan starts
to reread a chapter. She is startled when the phone rings; she jumps. Quickly,
she answers it. “Grayson residence.”

There is silence and then, “Oh…..it’s you.”

Teagan’s blood runs cold. Finally, she politely replies, “Hello Celine.”

“So, you have dug your claws into him, huh? Spending my money?”

With a heavy sigh, Teagan says, “Kellen isn’t home right now. Can I take
a message?”

“Where is he?” Celine demands harshly.

“He’s out with Kya picking up dinner. Can I tell Kellen that you called?”

“No, that’s all right,” Celine laughs. “I’m on my way over.”

“He isn’t home!” Teagan snaps. She quickly calms down. “I’m not letting
you in here, either. I’m sorry, but it’s what Kellen wants. You may not enter
the house without him being in it.”

“What say so do you have in it anyway?” Celine retorts snidely.

Sitting up straight, Teagan says, “I’m currently living here, so I can
make the decisions while Kellen is gone.”

“You’re living there, in my house, with my husband and my daughter!?”
Celine screams.

After taking in a deep breath, Teagan politely replies, “I’m not trying
to replace you.  Kellen and I are very much in love. I also love Kya to
death, but she is
your
daughter, and she has been asking about
you
every day. So, the question is, when are you going to see her because she
misses you?”

“I have been busy,” Celine states. “I will see her soon.”

“It’s been three weeks,” Teagan sighs, rubbing her forehead. “Kya doesn’t
understand you not being around. She has Down syndrome and doesn’t process
things as quickly. You have to know that. She needs you Celine.”

“What do you know about it?” Celine growls. “You don’t have any kids. You
don’t have a retarded child.”

Teagan stands up so fast, that the chair flips backwards. “DID YOU JUST
CALL HER RETARDED!?”

“Well, she is,” Celine says with a blasé attitude.

“Come here Celine, come here right now. There is something I want to show
you,” Teagan seethes.

“Whatever,” Celine draws out. “Just have
my husband
call me.”

Teagan centers herself and says, “Celine, you know very well he sent you
the papers.  He’s even leaving you with a little bit of money.”

“It’s a ridiculous amount,” Celine scoffs. “I deserve much more than
that!”

“Let me tell you something,” Teagan replies. “The only reason you are
even getting a little bit of money is because of me. It took a lot of
convincing to get Kellen to give you anything. I felt that you shouldn’t be
homeless. You are Kya’s mother. I just don’t think you’ll be able to afford the
place you are in now. I can give you the number to the apartment complex I live
in. Rent is pretty cheap.”

“So, I can move into your crappy apartment and you can move into my
gorgeous house,” Celine remarks back. “That’s ridiculous!”

“Your marriage is over,” Teagan declares solidly. “What Kellen and I do
is only our business, no one else’s, but to put your mind at ease, I’m not
living here permanently.  Hopefully, I’ll be going back to my own place in
the next couple of weeks.”

“He will grow tired of you,” Celine snarls, her voice wrapping itself
around Teagan, echoing in her ears. “You just wait! I know Kellen.”

With a smile, Teagan replies, “I think I know him rather well now,
probably better than you ever did.”

“Whatever.”

“See, Kellen actually loves me. I’m sorry that bothers you, but I’m the
first person he has ever loved. I plan to be in his life for a very long time.
You’ll no longer be in the picture unless you want visitation with Kya,” Teagan
states. “Now, I will tell Kellen that you called.  Have a nice evening,
Celine.” With that she hangs up the phone. Exhaling in relief, Teagan dials
Kellen’s phone number.

It rings and then he answers, “You’re calling me from the house phone?”

“Am I on the speaker?” Teagan asks, as she picks up the chair.

“No, we’re in the office,” Kellen declares. “Kya is running around with a
flash light. I was thinking of hiding and jumping out at her, but I think she
would cry for a week.”

“That’s so mean,” Teagan laughs.

“What’s up, or did you just miss me?”

With a snort, Teagan replies, “No, your lovely ex-wife called here.”

A groan comes from Kellen. “What did she say?”

“Well, do you want to be annoyed or angry?” Teagan asks.

“What did that bitch say?”

Pausing, Teagan wonders if telling him the truth is a good idea. “She
wouldn’t say why she was calling. We just got into it. Celine said she was on
her way over, but I don’t think she really is. We got into it a little bit, and
I told her I was staying here. Kya came up, and I told her she should see her.
We went back and forth and then……”

“And then what?” Kellen asks seriously.

“Then Celine called Kya retarded,” Teagan whispers. There is dead silence
from Kellen for a few seconds. “Baby, are you still there?”

“Yes,” Kellen states in a tone that sends shivers down Teagan’s spine.
“If she shows up, tell her to get off of our property.”

Sighing, Teagan replies, “Kellen, I really don’t have the right.”

“You’re staying there. You’re my girlfriend. Teagan, you have every right
to defend my daughter.”

“Defend her?”

Kellen lowers his voice and whispers, “I have continued to have Celine
watched because I thought she was the one who trashed your car.”

“What!?” Teagan gasps.

“Yeah, that was my biggest suspicion, but she has shown no interest in
following you or finding you. I honestly don’t think Celine would have a clue
on how to find out where you live.”

“That’s good….I guess.”

“But in the meantime…well…I have discovered that she is a lot more into drugs
than I previously thought,” Kellen murmurs. “Like, the hardcore stuff.”

Teagan’s eyebrows rise. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah,” Kellen exhales. “I’m going to go for sole custody. I don’t know
how much of this she was doing around Kya. Now I know why she needed more
money.”

“That’s horrible,” Teagan murmurs in shock.

“So, honestly, I don’t want her around Kya,” Kellen states. “I know
that’s going to hurt Kya, but I have seen what drugs can do to people. Celine
has been driving to the bad parts of town. I really hope she never took Kya.”

Sighing, Teagan says, “I won’t let her around her then.”

“I would appreciate it. If she shows up, tell her to leave. If she
doesn’t leave, call the police.”

“All right, I will,” Teagan replies. “Do you think she is on her way over
here?”

“No, Celine is all talk,” Kellen declares. “Either way, we’ll leave right
now. Dinner should be ready for me to pick up.”

Teagan nods and says, “All right, I will see you when you get home.”

“By the way,” Kellen whispers. “Kya’s birthday is next weekend. We need
to come up with something exciting because her mom usually makes a huge
celebration. One of the good things that Celine did, there weren’t many, but
that was one of them.”

A huge smile spreads across Teagan’s face. “Well, I know it’s two hours
away, but there is a live Dora the Explorer show. I was going to mention it
earlier.”

“Would you go on the Internet and buy us tickets please?”

“Of course, I will do it right now,” Teagan states, opening up the window
on the computer.

“Okay, see you soon, Baby,” Kellen says cheerfully. “Love you.”

“Love you, too, Honey,” Teagan replies. “See you in a bit.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.” Teagan hangs up the phone and puts the venue into Google, and
presses search.

*            
*            
*            
*             *

“So,” Victoria starts. “You’re really going to sit through a live action
kids’ show?”

“I will survive,” Teagan laughs. “Kya’s going to be so excited.”

“I bet.”

She pulls up to the front of her apartment. “I have to carry her present
upstairs and wrap it.”

“Why did you buy her such a big present?” Victoria asks. “Kellen will buy
her anything.”

“It’s a horse that moves around and talks,” Teagan replies. “She will love
it.” Turning off her car, Teagan puts her stuff in her purse and throws it
under her seat. “Now, my mission is to carry it upstairs to wrap.”

“Why don’t you wait until Kellen can take it up there or wait until Kya
is sleeping?” Victoria inquires.

Teagan snickers, “Kellen would make me return it. This way, it’s a
surprise for everyone.”

“You know he is going to be pissed you are at your apartment by
yourself,” Victoria points out.

“It’s daytime, and nothing has happened in weeks,” Teagan replies. “I will
be fine, but I really have to go. Kellen’s sister is dropping Kya off in a half
an hour. I need to wrap this and get over there.”

“All right, have fun carrying that upstairs,” Victoria snorts.

“Thanks,” Teagan laughs back. “I will see you later tonight.”

“Awesome!” Victoria cheers. “Talk to you later.”

“Okay, stay out of trouble.”

“I will! Bye!”

Teagan shakes her head in amusement. She gets out of her car, shoves her
phone in her pocket, and opens the back door. The box is big and cumbersome.
Teagan grabs it and huffs. Closing the door with her foot, Teagan carries the
box to her apartment building.  When she gets there, a guy comes out,
holding the door for her. Teagan smiles and says, “Thanks.” Though when she
walks past him, she suddenly gets a shiver. Turning, Teagan looks at him. The
guy locks his eyes on hers and grins. She smirks back. Taking out his cell
phone, the guy walks outside. Mumbling to herself, Teagan whispers, “Gosh
Teagan, get a grip.”

As she takes the first few steps up, Teagan’s cellphone starts to ring.
It’s Kellen’s ringtone. Teagan huffs and continues up the steps. When she gets
to the first floor, her cellphone starts ringing again. “Geez, Kellen,” she
snorts. “I’ll call you back in a minute.”