“That’s better than tryin’ to jump off a roof,” Nat said under her breath. “Remember when our dumb asses did that onto a trampoline in high school?”
Yep, and they were damn lucky only one of them had ended up with a broken ankle and not all three of them paralyzed or dead. “If you tell June that story, I’ll kill you.”
“What story?” June yelled as Owen piped up with his agreement, babbling along.
“The one about turnin’ invisible with the right tool,” Nat said. “Maybe your necklace is the right tool.”
June’s eyes widened as she stared down at it before placing it over her head. She squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her fists. “Can you see me?”
Owen answered for them, laughing and pointing at her as he babbled a string of incoherency.
“Maybe we just need to polish it a little bit,” Nat said. “It’s pretty old.”
“Okay, I’ll give it a bubble bath.” June nodded definitively, certain in the way only four-year-olds could be.
Asher turned down the street toward his sister’s house, still expecting to see his sister and brother-in-law sitting on the porch steps out front to greet him like they always did. Instead, he found a car he didn’t recognize parked along the curb and a woman standing at the door, her hand raised to knock.
“Who’s that?” Nat murmured.
“No idea.” Asher pulled the car into the driveway and killed the engine. “You got June?” he asked, his eyes still on the stranger.
In his line of work, even if he wasn’t a household name, he’d still seen enough that he’d learned to be apprehensive and skeptical because you never knew someone’s intentions. And now that it wasn’t just himself he had to worry about, that distrust was amplified by a thousand.
“Yep.” Nat opened the door, her gaze just as scrutinizing as his. She’d always been protective of those she loved—him and Nash, especially, as well as her family, but it seemed that had been extended to his niece and nephew, too.
At the sound of their car doors shutting, the woman at the front door turned around before stepping down the porch steps toward them. “Afternoon,” she called, her hand braced above her brow to shield her eyes from the May sun.
“Hi. Can I help you?” Asher asked, holding a squirming Owen in his arms.
She strode toward him, a smile on her face though her demeanor said all business. He’d place her in her early forties if he had to guess, with her straight brown hair, thin wire-framed glasses, and drab if functional wardrobe. She held out a hand for him to shake. “Yes, I’m Sheila Cummings, a social worker with Department of Social Services.”
Asher’s eyes widened, and he glanced at Nat, fear and panic gripping him.
“No, no. Nothing to worry about. This is standard practice in a case such as yours. I called and left a couple messages about this appointment.”
“Ah, yeah, sorry about that. I…” He shook his head. “I haven’t really had a chance to go through messages.”
Cole had already prepared Asher for this meeting taking place, but that didn’t mean he liked it. While they didn’t have anything to worry about, the thought of letting someone into the house who had the power to take the kids away from him churned his stomach.
Sheila nodded. “Very understandable, considerin’ the circumstances.”
“Nat,” June said, tugging on Nat’s arm. “I wanna do the magic tests! Let’sgo.”
“In a minute, Junie B.” Nat placed her hand on June’s head, all the while maintaining narrowed eyes at the social worker. She liked to say she didn’t have a maternal bone in her body, but he’d seen some mama bear instincts come out more than once since she’d been there, now included.
Sheila smiled down at June and clutched the handles of a canvas bag in front of her. “A magic test? That sounds exciting!”
“Yeah!” June smiled and held up the necklace that hung excessively long on her short torso. “Nat says these might be magic ’cause they’re so old.”
“It sure is pretty. Where did you find it?”
“At the old store that smelled funny.” June shrugged, glancing back down at her necklace.
Asher breathed out a laugh at the same time Nat clarified, “An antique store over in Parkersville.”
“Wow, y’all’re brave to take little ones into a place as full as that!”
“Yeah, we didn’t exactly think that one through,” Asher said, but as soon as the words were out of his mouth, he wished he could take them back. What an idiot, admitting to the person with enough weight to get the kids taken from him that he hadn’t thought something through when it came to them.
