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“I’m sure he’s gonna like that,” said Ruby. “Y’all hungry?”
“No, thank you,” smiled Barb. “I’m going to get the girls back to our cabin and just enjoy one another for tonight. Thank you all for what you did for us. We’ll never forget it.”
“Bye, Mr. Dex. Bye, Mr. Kane.”
“Bye, Mr. Spook!” yelled Adelaide. The men just laughed, waving at the girls, then turned to Mama Irene.
“Irene, did you send that woman to poor Peter?” asked Kane.
“Why do y’all always expect the worst from me? That boy is all alone, and he was part of our family. He is part of our family. We’ll be makin’ sure that he does alright. If it works out with Barbara, then great. If not, well, things have a way of happening at Belle Fleur.”
“Oh, Mama,” laughed Gaspar, hugging the tiny woman. “You’re too much sometimes, not enough on others, but most days, you’re just right.” He kissed the top of her head and wandered off to his room to shower and change.
“Too much? What do you think he meant by that, Ruby?”
“I got no idea, hun. I don’t think either of us is too much. ‘Cept maybe around my hips,” giggled Ruby.
“You boys go shower and hug them girls a little tighter. We’ll handle the food. Come down in an hour.”
“Yes, ma’am,” came the echo of voices.
“When do you suppose we’ll ever stop obeying that little, tiny, old woman?” asked Nine. Trak looked at his oldest friend and grinned.
“With luck. Never.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Nine sat on the edge of the bed, watching as Erin walked around their room, dressing and brushing her hair as if she hadn’t just been inches from death. Gripping her hand, he pulled her toward him.
“Nine, I’m okay. Trak was there. All of you were there.”
“You were saying goodbye,” he whispered against her belly.
“No. I was just telling you that I love you, and I trust you. I wasn’t scared, Nine. After spending so much time being afraid, I wasn’t afraid. My girls had my back,” she grinned, looking down at him. He frowned, staring up at her.
“Don’t look so shocked. They all came back because I forgot that stupid jacket. All of them. Don’t you see, Nine? You’ve all taught us how to watch out for one another, how to protect one another. Lena was doing her thing to save Peter, Sara, Lauren, Tory, and the others were protecting her and me. We all did just what you taught us to do.”
“It was too close,” he growled.
“Nine, did you forget that you also gave us all weapons?” He stared at her, raising his brows, then lowering them. “We all had our weapons, but it was too risky to pull them at that time. Even if Frank had taken me, I had my gun and my knife from Trak. He was injured, weak, and wouldn’t have been able to fight me. The others had them as well. Sara and Tory are more than capable of handling one man. At some point, you all have to stop worrying so much about us.”
“Never. As long as I’m alive, I’m going to worry about you.”
“Same.”
“What?” he asked with surprise.
“We will always worry about all of you as long as we’re alive. Every time you walk out the door. Every time you take a case. Every time you tell us it’s just routine. We worry, we’re scared, and we don’t breathe easy until you walk back in the door.”
“Every time?” he whispered.
“Every. Damn. Time,” she said definitively. “Nine, we’ve been over this for decades now. We understand that it’s who you all are, but it doesn’t make it any easier for us. You were out there, chasing two armed men with the threat of floods, torrential rain, and freezing temperatures closing in. Yet we agreed and said, ‘go get them.’ We know it’s who you are.”
It was as if realization slapped Nine in the face. This feeling he was having, not for the first time, was the same feeling that the women had to go through every damn time they left the property.
“We’ve been so fucking selfish,” he said.
“No. No, you haven’t. You’re the complete opposite of selfish. You worry about everyone other than yourselves. It’s who you are. You are all willing to risk your lives for strangers, people who may never see your faces. It’s why we married you.” She laughed, but Nine’s stoic face said he wasn’t amused.
