“Babe, I’m going to take Kit up,” Reid whispers into my ear and when I turn to look at him over my shoulder my heart melts.
He has my little girl wrapped up in his big arms, safe and sound as she drools on his shoulder. I revel in my melted heart for one beat longer before my anxieties start to rise.Ishould have been looking after her.Ishould have been checking on her, she’s my responsibility.
“She was playing with the Big Littles in the other room, Annie-Bella came to tell me she fell asleep. Neither of us knew, babe, it’s just something that happens.”
I stare up at him. “How did you know?”
“How did I know you were beating yourself up?” He smiles softly. “Joy, I’ve spent the better part of two months learning your every expression. Learning your heart.”
Said heart jumps into my throat and steals my words from me. So, instead of replying I stand and take Reid’s free hand and let him lead me to the room his mom assigned. I’ve not seen it yet as Reid wanted to give me the tour, mentioning a surprise.
I follow him up the wide staircase, trying hard not to look at his butt in his well fitting jeans but it’s a hard task. Everything about Reid is perfect to me.
“This way,” he grins, his straight, white teeth peeking through his beard.
He swings open the door and a laugh barks out of me. “Reid,” I gasp, “is this your childhood bedroom?” I spin, wide eyed as I take in the baby blue walls decorated with sports posters, ribbons from various sports, and an anatomy skeleton propped in the corner wearing a cowboy hat and boots.
“This is where the magic happens,” he snorts.
My eyes grow wider and I lean in. “You mean you brought girls here? To your compound?”
He snorts again, running a hand through his hair and then resting it on my baby’s back. “No, that was a terrible joke. You are the first girl who has been in this bedroom.” His cheeks turn pink and he’s so cute I almost can't take it. “What about you? Did you have lots of boys in your room growing up? I bet you were so hot in high school.”
I blush, and look down at the swirly, brown carpet. “Not really. I lived in a trailer, Reid. Not a nice one in a park with good people either. It was in a bad area, and my dad was out all the time. Sometimes his friends would come to visit and I would sneak out the window and hide out under the trailer until they left or fell asleep.”
He lets out a low growl and then stops when Kit rubs her face against his shoulder, before sighing and snuggling closer.
“The, ah, the way I grew up is one of the reasons I think I let Travis fool me. He was an older guy with a good job. Responsible. Caring. Or so I thought. Marrying him was my ticket out of that life. But, well, I guess I was wrong.” I flinch when my cuticle starts to bleed, unaware that I was picking at it so hard.
“Hey, you were young and in a shitty situation and thought you’d found your way out.” Reid soothes, pulling me into his chest. “I know I’m leaving tomorrow, and I have no idea how long I’ll be away, but can you do one thing for me while I’m gone?”
I lean back so I can see his face, the care written across it plain as day. “Anything.”
“Talk to my Momma. And Loyal, from The Keep. You’ll know why.” I nod, a promise that I will talk to them while he’s gone.
“Oh, there you two are, I was looking for you,” Mama Debs says softly from the hall. “All the kids are sleeping next door in the big room with me, Sage, Pops and Niko. Rhodie decided itwas easier to have them all together so if we have to move we don’t need to scramble to collect them from separate rooms.”
“Oh, ah, is that OK?”
“Is it OK withyoue hine? You are her mama.”
I look up at Reid, then at Kit before turning back to Mama Debs. “Yes, I think I’m OK with it. The idea makes sense and I guess you are only next door if I need to come have eyes on her.”
“Exactly.” Mama Debs smiles.
“Let's go lay her down,” Reid whispers and I follow him to a bunk room.
“Whoa,” I say, taking it all in. There are no discernable walls in this room. Instead, on either side are built in bunk beds. Between each set of two is a small set of stairs, no ladders like the ones I saw at Bedder Than Ever. Each one has a little light and a small shelf for knicknacks and things. It’s what I imagine a luxury yacht or a fancy family RV would house. And there are loads of them.
Reid huffs out a laugh. “So, you met Gallows and Mercy, but I have twelve other cousins between two uncles. All up including my family there are twenty one kids and we’re all what you’d refer to as Preppers. Summers were spent travelling between each other's ranches where our dads would float new ideas, trade resources and all that.”
“Well, that explains the room with twenty bunks,” I snort. “It sounds like an amazing childhood.”
“It was. If you can call twenty kids with shit tempers all crammed into one room. Then imagine nineteen of them are red heads. Poor Mercy used to get so upset that she had her mother’s dark hair. Especially when it turned out she had the shittiest temper of us all.” He laughs softly, only biting back his chuckle then he leans forward to gently deposit Kit on a bunk next to Laney-May.
“I like Mercy. She has a calm nature.”
He gives me a sad smile. “She’s had to work really hard at that. She had a shitty time on her last deployment, but tonight is the happiest I’ve seen her in a while.”
