“What?” I asked quietly.
“His trauma is devastating. Fractures all over his small body. Injuries healed wrong over time.” Michael narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists. “All of the boys are… wrecked and damaged.”
“Hey, they’re not wrecked and damaged.” He looked up and nodded.
“You know what I mean,” he murmured.
I was quite familiar with what “wrecked and damaged” meant in this context.
“I do, and it’s unfortunate, but you saved them and are going to help them recover along with Aria and their mother.”
Michael huffed out a laugh and then rolled his eyes. Their mother wasn’t of much use. Michael had a lot on his shoulders right now.
“I’m here to help. And I know Sawyer will help too. Whatever you all need, you can count on me.”
“Thank you, Taylor.”
Dinner was awkward, to say the least. Michael tried to start conversations with the kids, but they were all still acclimating to their new environment, so they were naturally quiet. Alex kept dropping his fork, each time drawing a stern look from his mother.
“Aleksander! Control yourself with his nice plates and apologize!” Anna barked at him as he accidentally dropped his fork again.
Jensen picked up the fork and stabbed the green beans with it and then handed it to Alek.
“He can’t help it,” Jensen said quietly.
Michael definitely had his hands full.
After dinner, I followed Michael to his den. I took a seat across from his desk as he rounded it and sat in his cushy executive chair.
“Sawyer is going to arrange a meeting for Daniel to come here. I need to get a good grip on things.”
“That’s a good idea,” I said. I suddenly felt stupid for having not brought my portfolio to make notes.
“Sorry about dinner,” he said.
“What? Oh, no, don’t worry about it. The kids are still getting used to things. It’ll get better. Are Cooper and Belle getting along with them?”
“Yeah, they’re doing great. It’ll help once I get Aria’s family in a nearby house. I just need to see some improvement from Anna first. She hit Jensen this morning and told him to tell the doctor the marks on his body were from fighting with his siblings. Jensen wouldn’t agree to it.”
I smiled because I could picture brave little Jensen standing up for himself.
“He likes Sawyer,” Michael said.
“Sawyer carried him across the bridge. He was very good with Jensen.” I paused and focused on Michael’s desk as I was taken back to that crucial moment of rescue in Solsidan. Jensen was so weak and terrified that his knees buckled under his weight. “Sawyer was very gentle and caring. Very understanding. Protective.” I gathered myself when I realized I had been reminiscing about the terrible situation and looked at Michael.
“Sawyer is exceptionally understanding.” Michael smiled at me and leaned forward, resting his arms on his desk. “He wanted to kill my father. Came close a few times. He even put himself between me and my dad. He was always protective. He’s a good listener too. You should give him a try sometime.”
I wish.
I smiled politely and nodded. Telling Sawyer anything personal would be damaging. Michael stood and walked around the desk to sit in the chair next to me.
“Taylor, I have so much going on right now. I have a wedding to plan, placing Aria’s family and helping them get settled into their new lives, on top of everything going on with work and Wade Sorenson. I plan to promote someone whom I can trust to bear some of the burden in protecting my family.”
“I understand.”
Internally, I prepared for the blow of being told that I was good but not good enough.
“Ideally, the candidate would need to work alongside Sawyer.”
