Page 63 of Absolute Valor

If all men were just, there would be no need for valor

“You tell that son of a bitch when he gets here, he is never touching me again.” Claire has been in labor for six hours. She wasn’t due for another three weeks, and insisted the guys take on one last mission before they were grounded for a while. Dylan fought hard to stay, but she had insisted she would be fine, and probably go past her due date.

When the guys sat us down and told us what they wanted to do, I was scared shitless. What if they got hurt or arrested? The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized they could get hurt right here in town. Priscilla and Dean raised these guys to give a fuck about the people around them—to do more than complain about a problem, to fix it.

Chase had sent me a text a minute ago, their plane had landed and Carson had called in a favor to have a police escort bring them here to the hospital. Claire, however, was not impressed; she started the name calling of her poor husband around hour two, being a real bitch to the nurse who came in to check on her.

“Oh dear, God, where is he?” She moaned as another contraction hit her. It had been like this for a while, one minute she hated him and the next couldn’t live without him.

“Right here, Momma.” Dylan bursts through the door, dropping his bag to the ground as he raced around to be at Claire’s side, kissing her face, and belly, as she reached for him. His face and clothes were filthy, looking like he had crawled around in the mud to get here. “What’s this I hear about me not touching you? Now that ain’t right, you know we got a few bedrooms to fill.” And just like that, Claire found her focus and Lainie and I left the room.

Carson and Miss Georgia were filling Austin and Chase in on Claire’s progress, and had little William sleeping soundly in his car seat. Lainie had given birth to a baby boy a month earlier, winning the bet of who would be first. William Dean Morgan has his father’s eyes and his mother’s smile.

During the last mission, Carson had tagged along in Austin’s place. As they hunted for the man they were hired to find, they came across a little girl, abandoned in a bombed out building. Carson took her in, cleaned her up, fed her, and then spoke with the local orphanage, who had no record of her. After asking around, it was determined her family had been killed when an explosion rocked the building. Carson contacted Miss Georgia, who threatened him within an inch of his life if he didn’t bring the baby with him.

Lillian Margaret Carson, was a dark haired, dark eyed beauty. She seemed overwhelmed at first, the drastic change from a tiny village in a third world country, to a big city like Charleston. She found the television to be frightening at first, until Uncle Austin gave her an iPad with a few games loaded on it. Now, she is an excited, full of love and life, two year old.

It took the better part of six months for the city to fix the park across the street from Clifford’s burned out house. All the money raised from the bike run went to purchase new equipment. Many of the residents in the neighborhood banded together, with the drug house destroyed, they formed a neighborhood program to clean up the streets. The guys were already busy planning this year’s run, minus the surprise wedding.

Dean and Priscilla purchased the lot where the house once stood. Claire and Priscilla planned to build a women’s shelter, giving refuge to the women who couldn’t fight for themselves. They planned to have counseling, job placement, legal assistance, and even a health clinic. A sign has already been erected, the future home of Southern Justice, a Forrest Vanburen Memorial Center.

“Hey, Sweetness.” Chase closed the distance between us in a hot minute. I’ve missed him this time, my raging hormones keeping me up late at night. “How are you?”

He circles his arms around me, at least as far as he could. My eight month belly got in the way of everything, well, not entirely everything. “We’re fine, missed you, but fine.”

Chase worried when I didn’t get pregnant the first month we were married. I tried to reassure him even though it seemed most girls could get pregnant by looking at them, it really was a miracle in the making. The first time I vomited on his bare feet after he shoved a cup of coffee under my nose, he stood with me as I peed on the pregnancy test, and then dropped to his knees as he swore to be the best Daddy in the world to our child.

When I went for the ultrasound, he told the technician we didn’t want to know the sex, however after seeing the peanut on the screen, he changed his mind. We’re having a boy, due in a few weeks. We decided to keep the name a secret, as Dylan and Claire don’t know what they’re having and can’t agree on a name.

“I got a call.” He didn’t have to explain any further; we all knew what it meant when they said it. “A soldier this time. Came home to his wife and baby missing. She packed the house up and took off with a guy she met on the internet.” I could tell he was holding back, so I waited until he could collect his thoughts. “He’s been recovering in Germany for a while, and unable to reach her in almost a year.” A gasp left my mouth, catching Austin’s attention. With Will in his arms, he came to stand with us. I knew Chase and his friend Zach had been tying up final details for him to come to Charleston, joining the guys in this underground mercenary company they’d formed.

“Sweetness, Tombstone is like a brother to me. I have to help him, at the very least send a team to investigate. I won’t leave you and the peanut; I’d planned on calling a friend who just got back into the states. He’s an honest guy and he knows Tombstone.”

God how I loved this man and his sense of valor, always doing the right and just thing. “No man deserves to be treated like that. If he needs someplace to stay, you know we have room.”

The light sparkled in his eyes, he loved when I rode his brainwaves, able to say what he was thinking. Pulling out his phone, his eyes remained locked with mine.

“Hey Reaper, Diesel here.” He winked at me, causing me to smile at the memory of when he told me how he got the name; I couldn’t agree more, he certainly could spark a fire in me. “Hey man, I hear you’re back stateside, you busy?” His smile growing impossibly larger as he let out a head tossing laugh. “That’s incredible, good for you.” He listened with interest as he rubbed my belly. “Well, Tombstone needs our help and my wife is about to deliver any day. Can you drive to Charleston and lend us a hand?” Pulling me closer, he kissed my lips and forehead. “Okay, Reaper, see you in a few days.” Austin bounces a fussy Will, as Chase pockets his phone. “Reaper is on his way, so I can stay with Audrey.”

The brothers reach out, wrapping their hands together, their thumbs interlacing.

“Let’s do this.”

The End, well…sorta.

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