“Sweetheart,” Diego said aloud, “she has four grandsons. Raoul is just plain psycho and she knows it. He goes by ‘Gator’ and thinks he’s funny. She had no idea what he was doing half the time when he was growing up. There’s Wyatt. You’ve met him.”
“He seemed very nice.” Leila eyed Nonny warily. She really liked the woman. Nonny exuded warmth and had welcomed Leila and Grace into her home immediately. She had taken Grace onto her lap and talked to her softly, exclaiming over having the same name. Grace had taken to her instantly. The last thing Leila wanted to do was upset her by calling her grandsons wild.
The entire house was a monument to family. Going up the stairs were photographs of the boys as they grew. At the bottom of the stairs were two hand-carved chests containing handmade quilts and other precious things for her grandsons’ wives. Diego had explained what a hope chest was. Traditionally, a woman had a hope chest to collect linens and other items in preparation for marriage. Nonny had longed for great-grandchildren, so she’d had each grandson carve a hope chest for his future wife. Nonny then filled each with handmade quilts and other things she thought their brides might want. Leila loved the idea and silently vowed she would have one for Grace.
Nonny sighed and gave Leila a resigned grin. The expression made her look like a very young woman. “Unfortunately, Diego is tellin’ the truth. My grandsons are a wild bunch. Good, steadyboys, but tryin’ to get them to go to school and stay out of fights was impossible.”
“But they take their responsibilities seriously,” Diego said. “And they are the best with children. The absolute best. I hope to parent Grace the way Wyatt does his girls.”
Nonny beamed. “He is a good dad, but we have a lot of help here. Remember that, Leila. I know the boys can be intimidatin’, but each of them helps with the children. They contribute knowledge and various other needed skills. They’re all good with the girls.”
Leila had met many of the men on Diego’s team. She was used to being around enhanced soldiers, and she wasn’t exactly intimidated. Still, trusting her daughter to strangers was not in her nature. That would have to come with time.
“It’s quite beautiful here,” Leila told Nonny. She had never been to Louisiana before. She’d trained in a multitude of environments, but this swamp wasn’t one of them. No one was going to send a soldier into known GhostWalker territory and risk losing them just for training.
Nonny preferred to sit outside on her porch where she could look at the river and forest, as well as watch the children in the play yard the men had constructed for them. If Leila had such a view, she might live on her porch. The breeze came off the river, cooling the heat of the swamp. At night, a million stars were on display. There were no lights to outshine them. The sounds of branches and leaves whispering in the wind added natural music to the character of the swamp. The sunsets and sunrises had to be spectacular.
“I’m envious of this spot, Nonny,” she admitted.
Diego leaned into her and brushed a kiss along her cheekbone. He did that often. He liked touching her. Holding her hand. Kissing the top of her head or giving her a more intimate but chastekiss on her lips. Each time he did, her heart reacted. Her nerve endings rushed to life. Her entire being seemed to reach for him.
Leila sat in the rocking chair beside Nonny, switching her gaze from the play yard to the river to the forest and back to Nonny. Diego stood just to the right of her chair and a little behind her. His hand was on her shoulder. Occasionally, his fingers would do a slow massage, easing knots she hadn’t known she had. He did that without fanfare, yet she was very aware of the flow of energy between them.
Support. It was silent, but he was there, standing with her, his touch a solid commitment, a promise that he would be there for her in the difficult times. This was all new to her. She had taken a giant leap of faith, not only for herself but for her daughter. It was a risk, but love sometimes required risks.
She couldn’t call her decision a sacrifice, but it felt a little like one simply because she was so scared of the unknown. Love required sacrifice. In many ways, the sacrifice was his. He was taking on her daughter as well, and doing so without hesitation. Already, he had spent a great deal of time wooing Grace. He was unfailingly gentle and soft-spoken with her daughter. He carried her close to his body, relaxed but protective. Grace had taken to him right away.
Contentment. Peace settled into Leila. This was what she’d always longed for but hadn’t been aware of. She hadn’t even known it could exist, but she wanted this kind of life, not just for herself but especially for Grace. For any future children.
“You haven’t had a chance to see Diego’s home yet,” Nonny said. “It’s beautiful, built of cypress and treated to last, even with all the insects and weather.”
“You have a house?” She turned her head to look up at Diego. The look on his face caught at her, made her reach up and cover his hand with hers. No one had ever looked at her that way, with thatfocused intensity, with something very close to love etched into his hard, masculine features.
“I told you I had a house,” Diego said. “But until you and Grace are in it, that’s what it is. A house. We’ll make it a home together.”
“It’s really beautiful,” Nonny said. “Rubin and Diego took me there to see it. Their houses are next door to each other, just set back far enough from the river, like this one is.”
“Swamp and waterway exits in an emergency,” Diego said. “Plenty of cover for us, but at the same time, we’ll see anything coming at us.”
She had to smile. How many women would want to be reassured they had emergency exits if they were attacked? Her first thought hadn’t been the river might flood and they’d need to evacuate, it had been,What if soldiers come to try to take Grace?Soldiers from Pillar or Whitney. Before she could voice her concerns, Diego had already indicated the house could be protected, and they could get out several different ways should they need to.
“Drawback,” Diego said. “Living next door to my brother.”
She felt his amusement and knew he was teasing. “That could be a problem,” she agreed soberly. “But he is married, and you said his wife is sweet.”
Nonny lifted her unlit pipe to her mouth, chewed on the stem for a moment and then indicated Diego with it. “That boy is a tease, Leila. He keeps that straight face of his, so you don’ always know what he’s up to, but half the time he’s full of…” She broke off with a laugh.
Diego’s eyebrow shot up. “Full of what? Really, Nonny, I can’t believe you just told my woman that.”
“On your side, boy, always,” Nonny assured. “Your woman has a good sense of humor. You need that when you make a life with someone. Long-term relationships are full of compromise and sacrifice. Berengere, my man, and I had a few ups and downs, buthumor and commitment always got us through those tough times. We turned to each other, never to anyone else, for emotional support. Always look to each other just as you are now. Times will get rough, but you both have what it takes for the long run. At the end of the day, it will be well worth it.” Nonny stuck the stem of the pipe back in her mouth and bit down, as if adding an exclamation point to her brief words of wisdom.
Diego’s fingers brushed through Leila’s hair. “She definitely has a sense of humor. We were in some fairly sticky situations, and she always managed to make me laugh. It didn’t matter how dicey the situation, she found humor in it somewhere.”
The way the pads of his fingers moved in her hair, barely there but skimming down the back of her head, somehow massaging her scalp, sent a rush of heat through her. A rush of awareness. She wanted that connection with Diego for the rest of her life. In that moment, sitting on Nonny’s porch with the wind skipping over the river water, turning the surface to diamonds and ruffling the leaves in the trees, she knew it was always going to be Diego. She knew it with absolute certainty.
“Relationships can be hard, but if you rely on each other, don’t turn to others for emotional support but to each other, if you’re willin’ to hash things out, even if that means being upset, you’ll do just fine.” Nonny continued her advice. “Watched these boys and their women struggle at first to become good at a relationship when they really had no road map. But they are committed.” She leaned toward Leila. “If there’s one thing I can guarantee about my boys, they know what absolute commitment is.”
Everything in her settled. Leila knew herself very well. She was the type of woman who needed and wanted certain things in her life. In her man. Everything was right here. In this place with this man. She nodded toward Nonny, but her attention was centered on Diego.
