“And besides, the girls are right,” Colt chimes in, jerking his shoulder in a shrug when I turn my glare on him. “If you really want Lanie to be part of this family, that means she needs to know when we’re under attack.”
“We aren’t under attack.” At least not yet.
Fuck.
“Daddy.” Lanie’s hands cup my face, sinking into my beard, and all my attention zeroes in on the sweet Little girl in my arms. “I may be a Little girl, but I’m also your wife. And that means if something is threateningmyfamily, I deserve to be a part of the conversation.”
Emotion wells in my chest. “You’ve never said that before.”
Her mouth dips down into a frown. “Said what before?”
“The part about you being my wife.”
She blinks twice, and I get the distinct impression she didn’t even realize she’d said it. “Well, I am. You wanted a wife and you got one, so you’re damn well going to treat me like it.”
I pin her with a stern look that has pink rising to her cheeks. “Wife or not, you’re about ten seconds from going over my knee if you keep speaking to me like that, little girl.”
“Sorry, Daddy.”
“Good girl.” Looking around the table, I meet each of my sibling’s gazes in turn, sighing when I find the same determination in my Little girl’s eyes reflected in their faces.
“All right,” I concede reluctantly. “You can stay.”
Lanie
My heart feelslike it’s about to beat out of my chest when Daddy settles back in his chair with me on his lap. Uncle Eli disappears into the kitchen, returning a few moments later with a bottle of milk and a small square of the fudge Auntie Gray bought from the candy store. Daddy glares at him, but breaks off a corner of the fudge anyway and holds it up to my lips.
“We need to prepare for the possibility that even if Sheriff Donnelly didn’t recognize Lanie this afternoon, she may still figure out who she is. And if she does, there’s nothing to stop her from notifying Lanie’s family.”
“If that happens, we’ll be ready.” Uncle Dane looks around the table and everyone nods in agreement.
Everyone, I notice, except for Uncle Ford.
And I’m not the only one who notices.
“Ford,” Daddy says, his voice calm, but in a way that has the hairs rising on the back of my neck. “You’ve been very quiet during this conversation. What’s on your mind, brother?”
Ford cocks a brow. “Does it matter? It seems to me that you've all made up your minds already.”
“Of course it matters.” Steel infuses Daddy’s voice. “We do this as a family or not at all. The way it’s always been.”
“So if I say we should let her go back to her family, you’d actually listen?”
Daddy’s entire body tenses. “Do you think that?”
Lifting his mug to his lips, Uncle Ford locks eyes with Daddy, a silent battle of wills as he sips his coffee. “I think… we should let her decide.”
And just like that, all the focus in the room shifts to me and I struggle not to simply wither under the weight of all that potent dominant energy.
But it’s Uncle Ford I focus on. His dark gaze settles on me, and he smiles ever so slightly, as if silently telling meIt’s okay, little one. Do what you need to do.
“We already talked about this, Ford.” Daddy’s voice is strained, and I can’t tell if he’s fighting back anger or tears. “We can’t just let her go.”
“Yes, but that was when we assumed she would be written off as dead once they found the empty van. It’s different if her family knows she’s alive. We don’t have the right to keep her here if she has a family, a community to go back to. And if she does tell the authorities we kept her locked up here against her will, well, we deserve whatever we get.”
My stomach twists, as if I’m about to be sick right there at the table. And I realize with a sudden, startling clarity, that I don’t want to go back.
In all my time here, I’ve barely thought about my family. Sure, I’ve missed my parents from time to time, but I haven’t missedbeingwith them. I’ve found more happiness in the days I’ve spent in this house with the Thorne family than I’ve ever experienced before.
