Bliss looked back at Winnie. “We’re going to need a bigger swear jar.”
Winne gave her a weak smile and nodded. Time to get this done and over. “My mother came to get me after my father was done.” She shrugged. “She took care of me. Of course, I had to listen to her constantly telling me I’d ruined myself and humiliated Father Cassian.”
Connor growled softly.
“When I recovered, Father Cassian forced me to have an ultrasound. When he found out I was carrying a girl… he said, ‘Good. At least we can recoup some of our losses.’”
Winnie gasped.
Bliss nodded. “I told him no way in hell was I letting that happen.”
Connor murmured. “Good girl.”
Bliss smiled faintly. “He laughed. Right up until the point I told him that Connor was the father.”
Connor blinked. “You did?”
Bliss nodded. “And that you worked for Sabre Security.”
Reid barked a laugh. Connor shook his head slowly.
“He must have loved that. What happened next?” Reid asked.
“He was furious.” Bliss shrugged. “With all the trouble Sabre had recently caused the Society at the Tennessee compound, he knew what might happen to him if you found out he’d mess with one of your daughters or me.” She turned her attention to Connor. “You were protecting Nori before you even knew she existed.
For the first time since she’d started her story, Connor smiled. He hugged her as best he could with Nori still sleeping in Bliss’s arms. His lips moved to her ear, and he spoke so only she could hear. “Damn straight. And I will always protect you and the kids.”
Reid grinned. “Glad we could help.”
Encouraged, Bliss continued. “He tried to get rid of us by banishing us from the Society. Which he did. “But I wouldn’t go, not right away.”
“What was the problem? Weren’t you in a hurry to leave?” Winnie asked.
Bliss widened her eyes and nodded with enthusiasm. “Oh yes, but I refused to leave without Phoebe’s daughters.”
“Ah!” said Winnie.
“Yes.” Bliss echoed, “Ah!”
Connor’s eyes softened. “And he let you take them.”
Bliss nodded. “When I told him about the paper Phoebe had signed, he realized that they were off limits, too. He didn’t know I had the only copy, and somehow I forgot to mention that little fact. As far as he knew, it was filed at some courthouse somewhere. So he threw us all out, with nothing but the clothes on our backs.”
Except for a low and quiet growl coming from Connor, the room was silent.
Winnie wiped tears from her cheeks. “I’m so thankful you called me.”
“Me too.” Bliss smiled softly.
Connor kissed her temple. “Proud of you, Trouble. I hate you went through all of that, but I’m so damn proud of how courageous you were and the way you handled yourself.” He kissed her again and added, “Except for the hitchhiking. We’ll still be talking about the hitchhiking.”
The smile on Bliss’s face had the faint look of alarm.
Reid leaned back. “Connor, I think you and I need to take a road trip to Wyoming.”
Connor nodded slowly. “Agreed.”
Bliss laughed softly. Then she looked around the cabin. At her sister and Reid. At Nori. At Connor. “Darling is the home I always dreamed of.” Connor pulled her closer. “And you’re the perfect Daddy.”
