Chapter Twelve
“You want me to go seeyour parents?”Tania asked as she settled Carter on one hip and looked down at herself.She wore his t-shirt and a pair of his sweats, both of which were huge on her.She could put on the things she’d worn to the store this morning, but just the thought made her skin crawl.She didn’t want to think about why.
“You look fine.”Smokey cupped her face with one hand.She appreciated that he didn’t care what she looked like, where Rod had insisted she look perfect, all the time.It had been more than exhausting.During the worst days after Carter had been born, she’d been lucky to put on clean clothes before Rod made it home.Then she had to deal with the baby, her hormones being totally out of whack, leading to random crying jags, and Rod telling her how worthless she was because she couldn’t even manage the house, and that was her only job.
She shook her head, trying to clear the fog that filled it every time he touched her.“I can’t go like this.”She tried for a smile, but knew she’d failed.“I love your mom and I won’t disrespect her by showing up looking like some homeless ragamuffin you picked up on the streets.”
She met his gaze as he watched her for several seconds.When he nodded and stepped back the tension she’d been holding, preparing to have to stand her ground, drained out of her.
“Give me a couple minutes.”Smokey turned and left the room, closing the door behind him.She wondered for a moment where he was going but she soon turned her attention back to Carter.If Smokey was going to take him to see his mother, then she needed to make sure he was clean and dry.
She’d just finished changing Carter’s diaper and pulling his pants back up over his tiny butt when a knock sounded on the door.Tania frowned.Who would knock?Smokey let himself in and no one else had been by since they’d taken the pictures of her bruises earlier.Picking Carter up, started for the door, then hesitated.
“Who is it?”she asked, thinking she should have done that before getting too close to the door, just in case.Not that she thought any of the Angels would hurt her, but what if someone got past them all?
“It’s Taylynn, I have some things for you.”
The ball of dread that had been forming in her belly vanished.Tania went to the door and opened it, revealing the other woman.
“Smokey said you don’t want to leave this place in his clothes, which I totally understand.I packed a few things here.It’s not a lot but it will do for now.After you get back the two of us can sit down with a laptop and order a few things.At least that way we won’t have to worry about three or four of the guys hanging around as you shop for underwear.”
“Thank you.”Tania looked down at the grocery bag Taylynn had brought.“That’s really nice, but I can’t order anything.I don’t have any money.”
“Don’t worry about that.”Taylynn waved one hand in a dismissive gesture, then she pointed at the bag Tania had set in the recliner to go through when Taylynn left, so she could change.She hadn’t seen Smokey’s mom in way too long and she’d been disappointed that she couldn’t go before.“There are a couple of tops in there for Carter too.”Taylynn pointed at the bag.“Not sure exactly how they’ll fit but Raven said something about ordering more now that there’s someone to wear them again.”She shook her head.“Anyway, I’ll leave you to change.Smokey’s downstairs rounding up the guys to go with you.”
“Go with us?”Tania frowned.
“Yep, new orders.No one goes anywhere alone.Angels travel in groups of three, and women are supposed to have at least three brothers with them when they leave the compound.”
“That seems, I don’t know, excessive?”she wasn’t sure how she felt about having to have at least three men, at least two of which she would barely know, going everywhere with her for the foreseeable future.
“It’s only until they figure out what’s going on and how to put an end to it,” Taylynn said.“And because they don’t want anything to happen to us.”Taylynn patted her arm.“You’ll see.Now get changed so your man can go show off his son.”She didn’t wait for an answer but turned and left, pulling the door shut behind her.
“Well, what do you think?”Tania asked Carter.She knew better than to expect an answer, or at least one she could understand but she’d read everything she could find on pregnancy and babies while she’d been carrying him.She didn’t remember which book but somewhere she’d read that you need to talk to them.Include them in conversations, even when they couldn’t answer back.So she’d started talking to him, even before he’d been born, and it hadn’t stopped.Many days, he was the only one she talked to, well, other than Rod.And some days Rod was so surly and snappy that she’d wished he hadn’t bothered to come home.
Shaking herself out of her musing, she opened the bag and started pulling things out.A couple of long-sleeved t-shirts, a beautiful cable knit sweater in a shade of dusty mauve that made Tania smile.It was one of her favorite colors.The sweater was so soft, it took a lot of willpower to keep from smashing her face in it and rubbing just to see if it stayed soft.Setting the sweater aside, she kept digging, pulling out two pairs of black fleece lined leggings.While they weren’t the height of fashion, they were at least better than Smokey’s baggy sweats and they would help keep her warm.
