Page 35 of Slice

“Let’s talk to Faith, and maybe we can figure out a time. How about you get your brother, and you guys can have a special thirty minutes of video games for helping so much with the move-in?”

Isaiah whooped and ran to grab his brother. It was Sunday evening, and Slice was exhausted. They’d spent the majority of Saturday packing up Faith’s stuff and also Rose and Tasha’s. The twins had moved into one of the suites in Locks’ house until they left on their trip.

This morning, they’d spent unpacking, then ran over for Sunday lunch with everyone. Sprite and Roam had taken the boys after lunch so that everyone else could help them unpack.

Slice considered it a win that they had all the beds made and clothes put away, so they’d be okay for getting ready for school tomorrow. He needed just a little time with Faith to propose. Regina had chatted with him about what his bride-to-be wanted, and Slice was all on board. Regina also suggested that they plan a honeymoon for this summer once Faith was off for the break, and all the issues with custody of the boys should be resolved by then.

He stood in the doorway of their bedroom and watched the woman who had made all his dreams come true hang her shirts up. He walked in and dropped to one knee in front of her.

“Faith Grimes, from the instant I saw you bringing your car to the garage, you interested me. Then, on Christmas Eve, you welcomed an abandoned newborn into your home along with the scruffy biker who’d found him.

“Your heart is one of the many things I love about you. The fact that huge heart is all wrapped up in a sexy package that makes me hard at the most inopportune times just makes me love you more.” He waited for her to quit giggling before he continued. Not only were their kids little cockblockers, but so were his brothers. Everyone was sleeping in their own beds tonight because Slice needed his woman.

“I know our courtship hasn’t been the most conventional, and I still owe you a lot of firsts, including your first motorcycle ride and our first movie date. But if you say yes to being my wife and my Ol’ Lady, then I promise to work my hardest to make all your dreams come true. Faith, will you be my Ol’ Lady and my wife?” he asked.

Faith smiled that smile that made his heart beat faster, then put her hand out toward him.

“Yes, Gabriel, I would love to be your Ol’ Lady and your wife. You’ve made every dream I’ve ever had already come true,” she said as he slid the ring on her finger. He’d gone for a one-caratdiamond surrounded by yellow sapphires. The smaller yellow stones represented all the lives Faith touched through her foster care and teaching.

He stood up and pulled her into his arms, claiming her lips, letting the world fall away while he fell under Faith’s spell.

Yelling from the front room had him pulling back a little. “Sounds like our little sweeties are fighting.”

Faith smirked, then gave him a push. “It’s your turn. I dealt with them when they fought over which twin bed they wanted in their room.”

Slice kissed her forehead, then headed out to break up a fight. Even when they were fighting, he loved his little ones. And if they got on his nerves too much, there were so many people who had claimed the boys as their family that he and Faith could always get a break.

Faith was giving LB a bottle while Slice was helping the boys take showers in their new bathroom. Because it was the bathroom the boys would use the most, she’d let them tell her what type of theme they wanted. It wasn’t a big surprise that they wanted a video game theme.

She’d placed an online order late Friday, and everything had been delivered today. Now she only hoped they could work through getting custody of the boys and figure out how to have custody of LB too. She wanted him to have a real name.

A knock at their door had her standing up and grabbing a blanket to throw over LB as he drank his bottle. It was too cold for his face to be in the cold air when she opened the door.

War, Remi, Sarah, and Scoop were at the door.

“We need to come in and talk about something,” War said.

Faith’s heart stalled at his tone. What thing was he going to say to blow up her happy little family?

Slice walked out. “Boys are done with their showers. I got them settled on our bed with the TV on loud, watching a show since I didn’t know if they should hear what you came to say.”

War nodded. “Let’s all sit down.”

War waited until everyone sat down.

“Ambush called. Faith, he’s one of the brothers in our Texas Chapter. He was driving through Oklahoma and stopped at a gas station. When he went into the store, a young girl was asking any trucker that walked in about getting a ride to Bluff Creek. Hearing our Chapter’s town, he listened, then went to talk to her. She’s fourteen and told a fairly fantastic story about living in an apartment that was actually half of a house modified. She talked about needing to check on a baby.”

Faith gasped. LB’s mom was only fourteen. Would she want him back, and what was the poor girl doing trying to hitchhike on an interstate by herself?

“There’s more,” Remi said. “Ambush got her something to eat and drink at the rest stop. She basically started crying and poured out her life to him, which isn’t surprising. Ambush has that way about him that people just talk to him. She and her brother lived in St. Louis. Her parents had died six months before. Before that time, she’d never met her brother. He took custody of her. One weekend, he had a lot of friends over and fixed her something to drink.

“She didn’t remember anything after that. The first thing she remembered was her brother waking her up for Mondaymorning school and her stomach, arms, and chest hurting. Her brother told her she’d had the flu and her fever had broken during the night. She went to school, and that’s the last thing she thought about it until two months later when she couldn’t shake a stomach bug.”

“Oh no, oh no,” Faith said. She knew where this was going and wasn’t sure she could handle knowing more, but she really didn’t have a choice. She hadn’t had to endure it.

Remi nodded, then let War continue for her.

“Once her brother figured out she was pregnant, he told her they’d need to move. He had them move late one night. She thinks she was drugged again because she doesn’t remember the trip. He told her that bad men were after them and that’s why she couldn’t go to school or see people. The reason you thought she’d moved was because he didn’t let her look outside.

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