Ethan chuckled.“He’s got nothing to worry about if he’s done nothing wrong.”
“Hence why I’m worried.”Lauren sipped her wine, her bravado back now the rest of the team were busy preparing dinner.
“Thanks for telling us.”Ethan went outside with Noah to light the barbecue while Rhys and Connor chopped vegetables in the kitchen as if they hadn’t spent the past few hours working hard in the garden.
Dobby brought over a glass of wine for Mila.“You ladies sit there and enjoy.We’ve got dinner sorted.”
Chelsea waited until he was busy in the kitchen getting more drinks before she asked, “Are they always like this?”
“You mean, do they always cook and take care of others?”Mila said.At Chelsea’s nod, she smiled, “Always.It took a bit of getting used to.They have their own rhythm after working together for so long.”
“Do you ever feel you’re intruding?”
“Never.As soon as they realised Dobby and I were together, they accepted me.”She smiled.“It helped that I found Ethan.”
Chelsea lowered her voice.“Are you allowed to tell us about it?”She glanced at Lauren.“Ethan was caught in the tsunami last year.”
Her eyes widened.
“I’m not sworn to secrecy like these guys, but I know what I should and shouldn’t say.”Mila sipped her wine.“My mother is a major-general in the army.”
Interesting.“What can you tell us?”
“I was volunteering on an island in Indonesia late last year when the big earthquake struck.I ran into this lot.They were looking for something and I pointed them in the right direction.Then the tsunami struck.I was caught up in it and so was Ethan when he was separated from his team.”She shuddered, taking another sip of wine.“I clung to a tree to stop being dragged back into the ocean and then searched for Ethan.He was badly injured.”
“It must have been terrifying.”Chelsea squeezed her hand.“He was lucky you found him.”
“He helped me.I knew the team would be back for him, so I flagged them down, we found a stretcher and moved him out of harm’s way.”
“And then you were extracted?”
“Eventually.”
There was more to the story than Mila could tell her.Chelsea tamped down the urge to ask for details.Being with Ethan she would have to get used to not knowing things.She might not even know which country he was in.
“Is it hard?”she asked.“Not knowing what Dobby is doing and where he’s going?”
“It is,” she admitted.“But I take comfort in knowing he’s got all these amazing men around him who will do all they can to protect each other.”
She could see why.They’d come here to help her because Lilydale had meant something to Ethan.That was a genuine family.
Not long afterwards, Ethan and Noah brought the meat inside.Lauren stood.“I’d better go.I might be able to get away tomorrow afternoon to help.”
Chelsea hugged her.“Call me.We might have had enough by then.”
Lauren waved goodbye to the others and Chelsea walked her to the door.“Thanks for telling me about Leyton.”
Lauren shrugged.“If he’s behind this, then he deserves what he gets.I’ll call Josh when I get home.”
Chelsea waited until she drove away and then closed the door.She smiled at all the people who sat shoulder to shoulder at the table.Aunt Maggie would have liked to have seen her kitchen full.
“Here’s the plan,” Dobby said when they were eating.“Mila will stay in the house with Chelsea and Connor.The rest of us will make a show of leaving after dinner.It will be dark, so if anyone is watching, they won’t see who’s who.”
Chelsea frowned.“And what are you going to do?”
“We’ll park the cars and double back, taking up the positions we identified today to watch for trouble.”
“Whoever is doing this would be stupid to come back now,” Chelsea said.Surely the fact they stopped the fire from destroying the house would be enough to dissuade them.
