Page 105 of Gideon
“Fuck is right. Twelve adoptions, all taking place within the next month,” I answered.
“Jesus Christ,” Levi uttered, his voice whispered, heavy with the weight of such a revelation.
“Yeah. That news hit both Naomi and I heavily. One minute we were sitting there, listening to the news, and the next she passed out.”
“She passed out?” Ollie asked, concern written on his face.
“Yeah. Fell clear to the floor, unconscious,” I answered.
“Zeke, got anything stronger than this?” Ollie asked. He was slumped over in his seat, wearing the same expression that the rest of us exhibited. Dread. Pure, unadulterated dread.
“Yeah,” Zeke muttered, pulling out a bottle of whiskey and glasses for each of us.
“Twelve. Twelve fucking adoptions,” Ollie muttered.
“What are we supposed to do with that?” I asked, looking to Levi for answers.
“I don’t know,” he replied, looking into my eyes.
“You’re not supposed to say that. You’re Levi. You always have the answers,” I argued.
“Not this time, brother,” he muttered.
We sat in quiet after that, each of us digesting the news. Twelve girls had been kidnapped, and likely recently.
“Jesus fuck,” Malachi muttered.
“As we’ve already said,” I huffed.
“If there are twelve girls to adopt, then how many did they take?” The question rooted within me like an icy knife.
“I hadn’t thought—” I cut off, feeling bile rise in my throat. “How many kids have they kidnapped?”
It was a question none of us wanted the answer to.
“Gideon?” Talia’s voice called from the doorway of the kitchen.
“Talia,” I answered, walking over to her. “How is Naomi?”
“She’s shaken up, but she’s okay. She’s asking for you.” I looked behind her, seeing my sisters-in-law standing there. I nodded, pushing my way past each of them and walking into the living room where my wife sat curled up on the couch. She turned to me, a watery smile on her face when she saw me standing there.
“Gideon,” she called, holding a hand out to me. In an instant, I was there, pulling her into my arms and cuddling her close.
“Hey there, love,” I answered, feeling my own tears pricking at the corners of my eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered against my shoulder.
“Hey,” I whispered, pulling back enough that I could see her beautiful face. I stroked the hair back from her face, brushing a few fallen tendrils back behind her ears as I spoke. “There is absolutely no reason for you to be sorry.”
“I shouldn’t have reacted so strongly,” she began, but I wasn’t about to hear all that nonsense.
“Trauma is a fickle thing, love. Your reactions are not bad and should not be shamed. My own stomach flipped at the thought, and I’m not the one who lived through it. I’m here. We’re all here, and we support you,” I answered honestly, leaning in to kiss her forehead gently.
My brothers and their wives joined us quietly.
“What are we going to do?” Naomi asked, looking around the room.
“I don’t know, but we need to get to the bottom of this,” Levi answered with firm resolve.
