“Yes, but she was asleep because she hit her head when she fell. So she couldn’t tell me where you were. I just knew you were in here somewhere, so I had to find you.”
“It’s a good thing you’re a good finder,” Matteo said.
“Yeah,” Leo said.
“I wasn’t going anywhere until I found you. And now everything’s going to be alright. Momma’s going to be okay, and I’m here now. Okay?”
“Okay,” Matteo said. “And Puppy,” Matteo said, with a little smirk.
Leo was resting his head against Ronan. He didn’t answer, but he did nod his agreement.
“You were both such brave boys,” Ronan said. “So brave. And I’m so very, very proud of you.”
“Momma said don’t make a sound no matter what we hear. And no matter if we are scared we are supposed to be so quiet even a Wolf couldn’t find us. We didn’t even make a sound when we were crying.”
“ And we were crying,” Matteo said.
“I want to see Momma,” Leo said.
“Me, too,” Matteo said.
“Y’all ready?” Ronan asked.
“Yes!” They both yelled and held on tight so he’d carry them.
“Do you need anything else before we go to my house?” Ronan asked.
“Got my wolf. That’s all I need.”
“Me, too,” Leo said.
“Let’s go then,” Ronan said, standing up with one boy in each arm.
“Wait! I need my heroes,” Leo said.
“Mine, too,” Matteo said.
Ronan looked back at their home. “Tell you what? I’ll come back and look after I get you settled, okay?”
“Y’all go on and get to the truck. I’ll be right behind you,” Maverik said.
Ronan set out to walk all the way back to the street separating the shelter and the park.
As they made their way past the tiny homes, Ronan realized there were several people peeking out of their windows as he went by. He smiled at a few of them, but they went right back in without acknowledging him.
“They’re not saying hi,” Matteo observed.
“No, they’re not. But that’s okay. They’re probably just not ready to be awake yet.”
“Or they heard all the wild animals,” Leo said.
“What wild animals?” Ronan asked.
“I don’t know. I think I heard a Wolf. And I heard something growling and roaring real loud, but we didn’t look so I don’t know what it was.”
“Maybe it was a Bear,” Ronan suggested.
Leo’s eyes got big. “Yeah! I bet it was! I wonder if that helped scare away the bad guys!”
