A suspicious scurrying.
She turned.There.
The hair was distinctive on Tylers.They werebeneaththe table behind Marin’s.No wonder.The chairs had been taken somewhere else.
Claudia ignored Ransom Weatherby for a moment; she texted Auggie quickly to let her know she had the girls.
Then she turned to the three persons of interest.They were most certainly up to something tonight.Interrogation time.“You three.Out.Time to face the music.”
Avril came first.“Hey, Aunt Claudie…what’s shakin’, copper bacon?”
“Your kid bacon is about to be cooked.You three wandered away again.”Of course they had—they were a bit feral.Bruce Tyler hadn’t paid a moment of attention to the girls, unless they were getting inhisway.Family rules, and even the norms of public behavior, were something the girls were still learning.Claudia knew the truth—herding Tyler girls was even harder than herding cats.
She made a decision.There was a large crowd of guys coming right at them, and they were most certainly inebriated from the beer that flowed a bit too freely tonight, including that ass Jacob Neilson.She swung Avril up onto the bench next to Rex.Then followed with Tobi.She pointed and motioned at Jules, who climbed up after her sisters, a sulky look on her face.
The girls stared at the Weatherby brothers.Suspiciously.
Claudia took the seat directly next to Ransom-the-Jerk and tried to ignore the feel of him pressed so close.She looked at the Weatherby brothers.“If you’ll excuse us, gentlemen, we’re going to borrow your table until the crowd thins.”
Tobi eyed the big men around her.She looked so tiny next to Rex, right there.“Are these safe peoples, Aunt Claudie?They are not bad guys going to taked you or our big sisters away?”
“No one is going to take anyone away tonight.But when you wandered away you really scared Mommy Aug, Junie, and Em.You know you have to tell one of them or me where you are going.That is the rule.”
“They don’t hit little kids, Aunt Claudie?”Avril asked, still looking at the Weatherbys and Brandt.Claudia didn’t miss how the men started a bit at that.“You are really, really sure about that?”
“I am very sure about that.Ransom and Rex put the bad guys in jail for hitting people.Especially little kids.Just like I do.So…tell me…what’s going on?Why were you hiding?”She leveled at the one she knew would be the first to break under questioning.“October Grace?”
“We don’t want newdaddies.Daddies hit really, really hard, Aunt Claudie,”Tobi said, a little too loudly.“And Wonkus McBubbles wants our Em, and Jules said his brother mens probably want to do the gross kissing and that other naked stuffs with Mommy Aug and Junie ‘cause they are so beautiful and nice.And then the mens would be our daddies after.Just like Daddy did it with Sheila, and she was there to be our mommy, but she went to heaven instead.And left us Baby Mae-Mae.And we don’t want new daddies.We gotta make them go away before that happens.So we did.”
Claudia almost looked to the ceiling and prayed for guidance.This was…heavy stuff.And it should be Auggie talking to them about this.“Oh, girls…”
“Tobi, you weren’t supposed to tell what we talked about or what we did,” Avril this time.That girl…she could never keep a secret.Thankfully.
“Just what exactly did the three of youdo?”Claudia asked.“Julianna.Spill.”
“Are we going to be in big trouble?”Her lower lip wavered.Claudia hesitated.She knewbig troublewas a trigger phrase for the girls.Bruce had used it before he’d…abuse them.
Of course they were terrified of men.How could they not be?“You might be in a little trouble, depending on what you did.I suggest we go find Mommy Aug and explain, okay?”
“Will they make us go back to Garrett?”Avril asked, a worried tone in her words.That was her biggest fear—going back to Bruce.Claudia had held her through a nightmare about that very thing the last time she’d stayed over with Auggie.“In Garrett we just did whatever we wanted all the time.We can’t do that here.There are all these rules.I don’t like the rules; they are too hard to remember.”
“But Mommy don’t hitted us ever, Avril.Or Em or Junie.I don’t want to go back to Garrett.We’ll get hitted again there,” Tobi said, obviously gearing up to fight with her sister.
“Girls, you arenevergoing back to him, or Garrett.I promise.I won’t ever let it happen, either.No matter what.”Claudia stood.She looked at Marin and Marin’s new pals.Saw the knowledge in their eyes of what these precious girls had faced.“Thanks for the loan of the table.We’re going to go find Mommy Aug and have a chat, I think.”
“Anytime,Aunt Claudie.We can talk later, if you like,” Marin said.Marin had been saying things like that lately.But…the idea practically froze Claudia when she thought about it.What was there even left to say?Nothing would change what Claudia’s father had done to Marin.Nothing would change what had happened to Claudia since then, either.And she just didn’t want to deal withcatching Marinup, either.She just…didn’t.
Claudia just nodded noncommittally as the girls climbed down.She reached out when the climb was a bit too much for Tobi and Rex helped steady the little girl.Claudia lifted her closer.Tobi’s little arms went around her neck, and she clung.Claudia kissed the precious little girl on the forehead.There wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do for these three little monsters.“It’ll be ok, Tobi, I promise.I promise.”
Tobi just laid her head on Claudia’s shoulder as she carried her through the crowd.“We just don’t want new daddies, Aunt Claudie.Daddies are just too mean…”
Her heart broke for these baby girls once again.“Not all of them, sweetie.I promise.But you will never have to go back to him again.Ever.”
16
Cal stayed close.He didn’t know why he wanted to rescue her tonight, but…he did.He shot a glare at Slater Davis, until the guy got the message.The other man held up his hands quickly in a gesture of understanding and surrender.
“This really hasn’t been a great night,” Davis said.Then disappeared into the crowd.For some reason, the back of the guy’s pants was wet now.
