I’d Give Up The World For You - Chapter 245

Roselia, always too smart for her age, narrowed her eyes. “Why?”

Daisy really hadn’t wanted to talk about this but she should have expected it would happen sooner or later. That book series was very popular so running into it wasn’t so strange.

At least she was lucky enough for this to have happened when she was doing her one-on-one time with the girl. Explaining this with the younger kids around would have been much worse. They had stopped at the library on their way back from getting ice cream together.

“We can talk about this in the car,” she said firmly, not wanting anyone else to overhear.

Roselia put the book down and nodded, following her out after silently checking out her books. Once they were inside she looked at her mother expectantly.

Daisy sent up a silent plea to the heavens that she would be able to explain this properly. This was what she got for falling in love with a fictional character. That brought some rather unique parenting challenges among other things.

She didn’t want her children to have the same sort of identity crisis their father had when he found out his “destiny” was predetermined by the person who wrote him into existence. His anger at Juliet had largely passed but to this day he still insulted her whenever she came up.

“Rosie, the universe is full of a lot of mysterious things,” Daisy began. “You already know that other worlds exist. But sometimes those worlds have certain parallels to other ones. That doesn’t make them any less real.

“I’ve been to your dad’s world. It’s where I first met him. It’s every bit as complex and alive as this one with tons of people doing their best to live out their lives. It just…also happens to be the setting for a couple of books here.

“We don’t know how it happened. Even the author of those books was surprised how much was going on there that she didn’t write about. Her imagination may have sparked the creation of that world but it developed a life of its own.

“The people weren’t puppets. They had free will and did things their own way. Your dad was one of them. The choices he made were not what that woman wrote about and that’s why he hates having it brought up.

“When I met her I didn’t believe what she told me about him because it was nothing like the person I had come to know and fell in love with. She was wrong about him, Rosie. So no matter how curious you are, I’m going to ask you not to read those books.”

Her daughter looked at her thoughtfully. “What DID she write about him?”

“She wrote him as a villain,” Daisy said trying to keep the edge out of her voice. “A very two-dimensional one at that. Someone who was just evil without any complex motivations. That isn’t your dad at all.”

Now a look of shock crossed Roselia’s face. “Dad? A villain? Has she met him?!”

“That’s exactly what I told her. She didn’t know him for real. She carelessly wrote a story that happened to need a villain so she made one without realizing he was a real person with feelings in another world. The man I know is nothing like she described.

“She may have been the one to write him into existence as a person who lost everything but that doesn’t make him bad. From there he made his own choices to become the person he is today. And I happen to think that person is pretty great.”

“He’s the best!” Roselia exclaimed in a highly offended tone. “He never gets mad when we mess up the way some of my classmates’ parents do and he always takes time to help up even if he’s busy with work. He’s smart and nice and he loves us. That author is wrong!”

Daisy smiled at her daughter’s vehemence. “Exactly. Dad IS the best so that’s why we need to ignore those books.”

“Humph! As if I’d want to read lies about Dad. That lady’s a real jerk! But Mom, do you think this means that every book here has its own world somewhere too?”

Ah, this girl! She had been asking hard-to-answer questions since she first learned how to talk. She had always been the thoughtful, intelligent type. Sometimes she forcefully reminded Daisy of Ira. Whenever she did, there was a pang of sadness that went along with it.

“There might be. I honestly wouldn’t know.”

“How did you go there, anyway? I want to see Katalya! The way Dad talks about it makes it seem like the most beautiful place in the world,” Roselia said with eyes shining with curiosity.

Daisy smiled sadly. “I’m sure it was. I never got to see it. I don’t know how I got there exactly but it happened after I got into a car accident and was in a coma here. Only my soul traveled there and took over the body of someone who had recently died of an illness.”

“Oh. Then how did you get back? And how did Dad get here?”

She wasn’t equipped to answer these questions! She did her best to remain calm. “The body I was in died from a bee sting. They don’t have the same kind of medicine they do here over there. My soul went back where it belonged and your dad used his magic to find me.”

Roselia understood immediately. “He followed your soul’s heat signature, didn’t he? He taught me how to check those a while back.”

Daisy nodded. “He did. I don’t think it’s possible to travel between the two worlds at will. We have to live here but that doesn’t mean we can’t carry the memories of that world in our hearts.”

“Is that how you lost Uncle Ira?”

Her heart twisted painfully. “Yes. He continued living in that world while I live here. I might not be able to see him anymore but I’ll always remember him and always love him. You actually remind me of him a lot sometimes. Both of you are way too smart.”

Roselia cracked a smile. “You’ve told me that before. He wanted to be a doctor, right?”

“Yes. I’m sure he became the best doctor that world has ever seen.”

Daisy believed that with all her heart. If nothing else, her death would have driven Ira to try and find a way to cure everything and take the primitive medical field there to new heights. She simply hoped he had found happiness along the way. He had lost two sets of parents in his young life. He deserved to be happy every bit as much as Rukelion did.

“Hey, Mom?”

“Yeah?”

“I won’t tell Dad about any of this. I might have questions but some things are better left unanswered,” Roselia said, surprising her.

That was an oddly mature outlook coming from a girl who craved knowledge. Daisy was proud of her. Dredging all of this up would definitely make things worse so she was grateful for the chance to avoid that for now. It might happen again someday with one of the younger kids but if Roselia could curb her curiosity the rest probably could.

Daisy reached out and squeezed her hand. “A wise choice. Thanks, Rosie. I love you.”

“I love you too, Mom. Thanks for telling me.”

And just like that it was over. She saw no reason to tell Rukelion what had happened today since it would only serve to upset him and possibly make him backslide.

He was ashamed of what he had done and never wanted their children to know. He never said so in words but she could tell he wanted to remain a hero in their eyes. Knowing he was the villain of a novel might change that.

It hadn’t for Roselia though. Her love for her father had outweighed her curiosity and that was a testament to how good a parent he was. His children knew how much he loved them and that was all that mattered when it came down to the wire.

When they got home the girl went straight for him and hugged him tightly. She looked up at him with her usual levels of adoration and told him she loved him.

Daisy’s heart melted. She was such a good girl! Normal pre-teen angst aside.

Rukelion smiled warmly at her and kissed the top of her head before telling her he loved her too. After that she went on her merry way and ended up joining her siblings in a rather intense game of Twister.

“Did you guys have fun?” he asked once the two of them were alone in the kitchen. Daisy needed to get started on dinner preparations so he had decided to help her as usual.

‘Fun’ wasn’t exactly the word she would use for that rather emotionally charged conversation but before that she had been enjoying herself. “Yeah. We got ice cream then went to the library. A pretty low-key outing but you know how Rosie is.”

Occasionally, when she had her mom to herself she wanted to go to museums but for the most part she preferred to get a treat and sit around talking. Daisy didn’t have a problem with that. She loved their little chats.

Rukelion smiled. “Yeah. She’s a great kid.”

Thinking about how Roselia had acted earlier, she was inclined to agree even more fervently than usual.. “She really is.”