“Yep.”
“Why? I’m the annoying neighbor with crazy red hair and freckles.”
I stand her on her feet and hold her shoulders so she’s facing me eye-to-eye. “You may have crazy red hair and freckles, sweetheart, but you are not annoying. Wipe that from your head.”
She chews on her bottom lip for a moment while I stare at her. When she releases it, she sighs. “They’re going to grow exasperated if my father causes trouble.”
“They won’t. We’re family. We protect what’s ours. And you’re ours now, Rebekah.”
She launches herself at me, throwing her arms around my neck and climbing fully onto my lap to straddle me. Fuck, I love her.
I rub her back, cup her bottom, and stand, keeping her right where she belongs. I don’t care if anyone sees us. They can bite me if they don’t like it. “Are you ready to go downstairs?”
She nods as she leans back, and then she grabs my beard and kisses me. “I didn’t even know this place had a basement.”
“Yep. It’s an important part of the property.” I carry her over to the pantry and open it. It’s a huge walk-in filled with survival supplies. In the event we should ever get trapped up here because of weather or any other reason, we will not run out of non-perishable food. There’s a similar pantry under this one. I’m about to blow my wife’s mind.
“Uh, what are we doing in the pantry?” she asks.
I walk to the back and reach around behind some canned goods to set my thumb on the small pad. What appears to be a solid wall at the far end pops open, and I grab the corner of it to pull it wide.
Rebekah squeezes my neck tighter and gasps. “What the…?”
I chuckle. “Basement,” I say as if this even begins to explain things. We’re facing a stairwell, and I flip on the light, step onto the landing, and pull the door closed behind me before descending.
“Why is it hidden?” she asks, holding on to me as if I’m taking her through a portal into another dimension.
“It’s a full underground saferoom. You’ll see.” At the bottom of the stairs, I step out into a living space with the same footprint as the first floor of the house.
“Wow…”
“It’s like a bunker. Everything we need to survive for a long time is down here.”
“Are you thinking the world will come to an end?” she asks skeptically.
I chuckle. “Not necessarily, but if it does, we’ll be prepared.”
When she squirms against me, I lower her to her feet and take her hand. “How about a tour?” Her eyes bug out and her jaw drops as I show her the living room, kitchen, gaming room, bedrooms, offices, control center, and bathrooms. She’s mesmerized and stunned.
I don’t show her the ammunition closet. She doesn’t need to see that today. Soon, though. Part of keeping her safe will mean making sure she knows how to fire a weapon and is confident to do so in an emergency.
After pushing open the door to the control room, I step back so she can see inside. Adrian is in there. The room has a dozen monitors, and several of them switch to another view of the property every few seconds.
Rebekah lets go of my hand and wanders in to get a closer look.
Adrian spins around in his chair. “What do you think?”
“It’s like I’m on a spaceship,” she says with no humor in her voice.
I chuckle. “I guess it is sort of like that.” The truth is, she’s simply never seen anything so high-tech. Her world is changing. Joining our family means learning about things she’s never dreamed of.
Rebekah shuffles closer to the monitors. “What am I looking at?”
Adrian points to a control pad. “There are cameras all over the property. We only fired all this equipment up to test it out this morning. We’ll be able to see anything that happens damn near anywhere on this homestead while it happens. We should be fully operational in a few days.”
Rebekah stares in awe. “Asher would have discovered me a lot sooner if this equipment had been working.”
Adrian nods. “Definitely. Instead, Asher stumbled upon you while he was patrolling. After he discovered you, he marched down here and started barking orders that we needed to get this equipment up and running. We’re rushing to get this system online. He doesn’t like the idea of someone sneaking up on him. Or any of us.”
