Page 194 of The Woman By the Lake

“Told you, you and Gia would never let anything happen to us,” he declared.

Christ, he loved his kid.

Riggs kept him held tight to his side as he walked to the front deck where Nadia was standing.

Ledger and Gia squeezed around her, but Riggs took her in his arms, gave her a tight hug, got one in return, and he kissed the side of her head.

After that, they went in.

“Hungry?” she asked.

He was…and beat. He needed sleep.

“Yeah,” he told her.

“Eggs or pancakes, or something else?” she inquired.

“Whatever, honey,” he muttered, taking a stool at the kitchen.

Ledger climbed up on the one beside him.

Gia slid onto her belly at his feet.

“Eggs, they’re fastest,” Nadia mumbled.

She set a cup of coffee in front of him before she got to work.

He took a sip, then aimed his eyes to his boy.

Ledger knew exactly what he was asking without verbally asking.

“Okay, Dad, so you were right. All the stuff going down, I was worried.”

Nadia’s hands stilled in putting the egg carton on the counter, but she got back to it when Riggs urged, “Hit me.”

Ledger gave it to him.

“Since you said it might be dangerous, I haven’t been able to sleep real good,” he admitted.

Riggs took another sip of coffee before he prompted, “Go on.”

“And remember when we were camping last summer, the day before we were going to go horseback riding, and I was all jazzed?” Ledger didn’t give him time to answer, he kept talking, “And we were sleeping outside. And I couldn’t get to sleep. You told me to count the stars, and it’d make me sleepy. So I did, and I fell right asleep.”

Riggs nodded. “I remember.”

“So when I couldn’t sleep, and reading wasn’t making me sleepy, I got out of bed to look at the stars, start counting them, and I’d get sleepy and then go back to bed. That worked the first few nights. But last night, before I even looked at the stars, I saw the lights by the lake, so I went to get you.”

It made sense.

And it seemed Ledger understood why Riggs had been worried that same thing would happen if he stayed with them.

But Ledge seeing those lights meant they caught those fuckers, so it sucked his boy had to feel that for a few days, but it was all good in the end.

Therefore, he didn’t say another word.

“You look tired, Dad,” Ledger noted, studying him closely.

“I’m wiped,” Riggs muttered his admission, and Nadia’s hands stilled in beating the eggs, then got back to it, double time.

---