Page 31 of Marx

Taking the path toward my cabin I pause, watching the big man who just found out he has a whole family out there. Moving closer I stand beside him, staring at one of the vacant trailers.

“How you getting on, big guy?” I murmur. Judge is one of the quieter brothers. Well, when he wants to be. For the most part he’s measured and thoughtful. I can’t imagine what today was like for him.

He lets out a long, deep sigh. “I’m not sure, Lovely. For years I just thought we lost touch. I mean, what I did was shitty, but that woman was my best friend. One day she was there, the next, poof, she was gone. Packed up, moved out of town. Then all of a sudden she’s back, with two kids in tow and she never told me.” His shoulders slump and I can tell how much this is eating him up. “Did I really hurt her so bad that she would rather parent twins on her own than tell me?”

I let out a breath and move a little closer to Judge. He’s never struck me as a touchy feely person, so I don’t want to hug him or do anything to make him uncomfortable. Instead, I stand close enough to feel his body heat, and I hope he can feel mine, to know I’m offering comfort without the pressure of touching him.

“You were both young, Judge. I’m sure there’s more to the story than you think. The best thing to do would be to talk to her. I know you were best friends once, but you’re different people than you were at 18. Talk to her, get to know each other again, and open up.” He nods quietly. “Did she agree to come to the farm?”

“Yeah. But she’s pissed about it.”

“Well, I would be too,” I chuckle.

“But yeah, she said to give her an hour to pack up, and she’ll be here.”

“Is that why you’re standing outside an empty trailer?”

He turns to look down at me, a smile playing on his lips. “That’s funny.”

I pull back a little, to look up at him, a frown on my face. I feel like I’m missing something. “What’s funny?”

“You can read the whole situation with me and what I’ve got going on. Offer advice. Hell, you even figured out why I was standing here, and yet you can’t figure out Marx’s feelings for you.”

I scoff, before side eyeing Judge. “Marx doesn’t feel anything for me. Perhaps gratitude for making sure he wasn’t hurt that day, but that’s about the extent of it.”

Judge’s lips tip up even further. “if you say so.”

I frown deeper at him until he lets out a laugh. He seems in a much better frame of mind so I decide my job here is done.

Heading into my cabin I beeline for the shower. In a matter of minutes I’m washed, dried, clothed and on my way to the nursery. Stepping inside I find the whole Girl Gang lying on the bean bags or on the beds snuggled up with their babies. Little Bee is starfished out on a bed, her dark hair a bird’s nest around her face, fists clenched shut. I gaze at her for a moment then climb in next to her, maneuvering her body so that we’re cuddled into each other.

“Job well done today, ladies,” Chewy whispers, not wanting to wake Laney or Chomper who are both asleep in their respective beds.

“Yeah, I thought it was pretty successful myself,” Blanche agrees from the rocking chair. She has Tess in her arms, gently rubbing circles on her tiny back. Cove, Jovie and Elio will be out on the farm somewhere. They seem to spend their time here living like wild children. I’m not sure if my sister has noticed, but the childhood her younger kids are living is a lot like ours was in Eden’s Keep.

“When do you think we get to do it again?” Vi asks. Like me, she is cuddled into a toddler bed with Juno.

“Well, considering we didn’t even plan this one, it kinda just fell into our laps, I have no idea.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” she agrees with a snort.

“Ladies, I think the question we should be asking ourselves is who to target next?” Pops offers. He’s lying in a recliner, eyes closed but ears wide open. “Think about it. We have three enemies. All of them bad bastards to differing degrees. We’ll leave Serpiente to the boys. But that means we still have five men sitting in my office who know things. We also have the sheriff.”

“Dibs on not doing the sheriff. Moss wouldneverlet me hear the end of it. I’d have to put up with the jokes and the jibs about killing his boss. No thank you,” Vi says, holding her hand up high in the air.

“We also can’t get rid of that Joseph guy, Sniper called dibs on him along with Marx. There’ll be nothing left of him once they’ve finished,” Chewy says.

“It’s kind of heartbreaking that Sniper is happy to deal with his brother. And by deal, I mean kill,” Mira adds in case we didn’t quite get it.

“I don’t know. I can understand that,” Blanche says, quietly.

Rolling my head to the side, I take in Blanche. She’s gazing down at Tess, but she has a faraway look on her face. She killed a lot of people that day at the Keep, including some of our brothers and our father. I always wondered how she could take a life so easily, but I’m starting to wonder if it’s not as easy as she makes it out to be.

“OK. We can’t get rid of Joseph or the sheriff. So that leaves four other guys,” Remy says.

“And that Renae woman,” I murmur.

“Huh?” I’m sure all eyes are turned in my direction, but I can’t see them as I bury my face in Bee’s dark hair, trying to think of a plan. Clearly I’m no Chewy.

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