“Did you see how small that house is? I loved it there. This room is like a spare room. Heather’s suite is right there. She turned part of hers into two bedrooms for the girls. She wanted them each to have their own space. This room is between ours. I like being able to hear her girls at night, if she has to work late. We just put toddler beds and a crib in this one. For Miguel’skids. They stay sometimes, too. And they still do naps during the day. He couldn’t really find daycare after he was shot. He lost his spot where they went before because of his variable hours. So Summer said she’d watch them when needed. He pays her, but technically it counts as family daycare according to Texas laws. Since Emilia…and Summer are…and everything.”
“What?” Madison was confused. Then it clicked—what she’d heard in the transcripts of the night Heather and Powell and Gunnar and Daniel were hurt. About Miguel’s youngest daughter. “Never mind. I know.”
“Anyway, Raine and Jago are downstairs with Joy’s kids, but Emilia Rose had a rough night last night. She’s teething and her dad was called out to look for Dom…and well…you. Although no one really knew you were still with him, I guess. People were thinking maybe he dropped you off and then was ambushed, but…then you weren’t answering. I put her in my bed with the rails.”
Madison followed Hope into her room. It was a mix of light purples and a touch of rose. There in the middle of Hope’s bed, was a precious baby girl. Miguel’s youngest. The little girl had her rump in the air and wore a sweet pink sleeper.
Madison’s heart melted, seeing her. Especially when the baby sat up, wiped one hand over her big brown eyes and pursed her little mouth. And reached. “Mamamama. Up.”
“I can get her, if you need me to.” Madison wouldn’t mind at all. Baby Emilia Rodriguez was one of the sweetest babies on the planet. Madison had held her before.
“That’s okay. I love cuddling her. Me and Baby E—we are getting a real system down.”
The baby patted Hope on her cheeks and puckered up. “Mamamamama.”
Oh, she was precious.
Hope kissed the little girl and changed her while Madison waited. Then Hope looked at her and grinned. “Here, you can carry her down the stairs. I don’t want to risk dropping her. Em-Em, this is Mads. Can you say Mads?”
“Maaaas.” The little girl grinned as she said it. That was all it took: Madison was completely in love. She took the baby and cuddled her close. Yes, a few cavebabies would be doable.
“So…all right. Time to spill. What exactly did you do last night? With that seriously hot cave-dude? The way he is looking at you is beyond smoking hot. I know something happened.”
Well. So hot evenHope, who was totally clueless where guys were concerned, could see it. Great. “Is it written all over my face?”
“Kinda. Beard burn. At least I think that’s what it is right there. Either that or rug burn and I just don’t think so. Not that I have ever specifically had beard burn, you understand. But…come on…you think I don’t know what it is, living inthishouse?”
“Dom and I…” She might as well get it out there. Madison trusted Hope to keep her mouth shut. Hope always did when it was important. Madison really needed another woman’s opinion here. Even the self-named Perpetual Virgin Hope here. “Dom and I had sex on the couch in your family’s living room. Last night. It just happened. Twice. I took my clothes off first. I did. Then I took offhis.And now…I just know that man is going to try to pull away from me and hide. Say he has regrets and doesn’t want to screw things up, considering.”
“I am never sitting on that couch again. So…what are you going to do about that?”
“I’m not going to let him. I just don’t know the next steps. But…that man isnotgetting away. He just isn’t.”
“Wicked. Get your man. I know you can do it. I believe in you, Mads. I believe in you. Go for it, before he gets away.”
75
Melvin knewit was the Lord who had allowed Madison McAlister and her boyfriend to escape unharmed. He knew better than to say that, though.
He was under no illusions now—if he did something that threatened the security of what his friends had created here, they would…take him out to preserve it.
At one time, they had had a sort of moral code. But the money they had amassed, the number of people they had had to eliminate—they just did not care now. They were hardened by darkness. John 3 “The light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.”
Of course…they would not ever come to the light, they had spent two-thirds of their lives, most of their adult lives really, doing evil works. Covering those works. They had no incentive to change now.
But that terrified Melvin. He did not want blood on his hands now. Not now. He hadrepented.
Yet, there were men and women who had lost their lives through his own indirect actions.
He did not know how to reconcile that with the man he was now.
All he could do was go forward. Pray that God would seek his vengeance and would protect the innocents.
But he knew…the world did not work that way. Not with the evil that was in it now.
If he wanted this to stop, he was going to have to find a way to do it himself.
And be fearful of what the Lord would do now. For He did not bear the sword in vain. God said “thou shalt not kill”. Multiple times.
