I kept sneaking glances at Rain and laughing. Every so often, Darcy would reach over and jab him to make sure he wasn’t disappearing.
“Who’d have thought the Wizard of Oz would be a child’s nightmare?” Rain chuckled.
I laughed as I dished up Wade’s dinner, although he’d eaten three ribs, a scoop of slaw and two corn on the cobs already.
“He eats like his father,” Rain accused, and Shotgun chuckled again. I glanced at Shotgun’s laden plate compared to Rain’s and shook my head.
“How are you going to work this? One called Dad and another Daddy?” I asked.
“Not something I thought about,” Rain replied thoughtfully.
“Dad,” Shotgun claimed immediately, and Rain scowled.
“Papa? Pop? Cool dude?” Rain mused.
“Pa,” Wade said with a nod.
“We have a winner!” I cried and threw my hands in the air. “Dad and Pa. That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
Darcy clapped her little chubby hands together, thinking we were celebrating something, and Wade took a huge bite of a rib. The kids were filthy, but it didn’t matter. Clothes washed up easily enough.
“Did you bring a clean change?” Shotgun asked.
“Yes. That’s the first thing I’ve learned since becoming a mother again. Keep at least three sets of clothes around. The twins are like dirt magnets,” I said.
“How’s work?” I asked Rain.
He frowned. “They’ve upped security, and it’s tighter there than it was. There are a lot of worried people. Two more houses have been turned over. Somebody’s definitely looking for something.”
“You’re working on a major project,” Shotgun said. That hadn’t been a question, and Rain nodded.
“Yeah, it will be worth a lot of revenue, but it’s also a threat to some current profit-making medicines out there,” Rain replied.
“Oh. I guess that means they’d want to destroy the formula so they can continue charging through the nose?” I figured.
“Bingo. It’s happened before in other labs. ENS is tight, a decent company to be employed by. They take their employees’ safety seriously. Unlike those other fuckers I used to work for.They let Matthews work there knowing what a pig he is.” Rain seethed.
Who was Matthews?
He added without being prompted, “Sorry. Matthews was my old boss. Loved taking credit for other people’s ideas. He was also a homophobic, racist bastard and a bully. Crude, rude, loud, and obnoxious. Matthews made life a living hell. I was damn relieved when ENS Pharmaceuticals offered me a lifeline.”
“Wow. When was this?” I asked.
“Just before we all got together, around three years ago,” Rain replied. I nodded. Interesting.
“ENS has a great work environment. Corporate has security for the team and is taking this threat seriously.”
“Is the danger real?” I inquired, worried. “You’re a scientist.”
Shotgun and Rain exchanged a serious glance before looking at the kids.
“Okay, kiddos. Let’s put a film on,” I suggested.
Rain nodded, got up, and found a cartoon to watch. We cleaned the twins with a wet wipe as best we could, tucked them up on the couch, and returned to the kitchen to clear up.
“Thalia is my eldest sister. This dates back to when Thalia was searching for us. I was the last to be located. My ex-girlfriend had hit a loan shark and done a bunk. Asshole came after me, and I refused to pay. He was there when Thalia arrived. The loan shark wanted the formula I was working on; it was worth millions, if not more. Shit happened, and Thalia sacrificed her freedom to help me escape. She was captured.”
Rain sucked in a deep breath and stared out of the window, and I braced. He was about to say something disturbing.
