Page 50 of The Forbidden Sitter
I put her down and went to whisper in Braiden’s ear a little secret that only he and I would be privy to. The smile I wore hid so much behind it. But Brooke smiled back at me without a clue as to what I’d told myson.
“You like cabbage?” She pulled out some light green stuff out of thefridge.
“Not sure.” I went to smell it. “It doesn’t have a smell, doesit?”
“When you cook it, it does.” She wrinkled her nose. “On second thought, not a good idea. My brother gets very gassy after eating cabbage, and I have to sleep with youtonight.”
I laughed and smacked her ass. “Are you insinuating that I would stink you out of thebedroom?”
She laughed and nodded as she put the stuff back up. “I bet you would. My mom made cabbage rolls one night when we were kids. Later that same night, Brad stunk us out of the den a few hours after dinner. We were all watching a movie on T.V. when that cabbage went to work on him.” She pulled out a yellow thing and tossed it to me. “There, you chop that up, and we can mix that in with the chicken breasts that you will also chop up, and we’ll have us some good old-fashioned stir-fry fordinner.”
The smile just refused to leave my face that night as we made dinner and acted like a real family. She was what made us a family. Without her, there would just be my little boy andme.
Chapter31
Brooke
Another nightof the three of us sleeping in Gannon’s bed had me waking up with Braiden’s feet wedged into my back. As I moved, a groan came out of me as I found my body felt a bit beaten andbruised.
Seems the kid slept on the restless side and I had gotten his feet in the deal while Gannon must’ve gotten the softer side, his head. I rolled off the two inches of mattress that I’d been forced onto and stood up, stretching and yawning and feeling the most exhausted I’d ever felt upon wakingup.
When I turned around, rubbing my eyes, I found the bathroom light was on, and the door was wide open. Then I saw an empty place on the other side of the bigbed.
Gannon wasgone.
Padding to the bathroom, I thought I might find him in there. But I didn’t. What I did find was a wet towel that told me he’d showered and some empty hangers that told me he’d dressed. But where the hell washe?
I went back into the bedroom to grab my cell to see if he’d left me a message, but I found he hadn’t. I also found it to be ten in the morning. I had no idea how Braiden and I both had slept solate.
I suppose the night of kickboxing had worn little Braiden out. And my night as his punching bag had done me in too. Gannon must’ve escaped the battle we had and had gotten up on time and was most likely somewhere in the house, talking to Samson orJosh.
When I opened the door to go across the hall and gather us some clothes to put on, I found Josh in the hallway, sitting on a chair and reading a book. “Morning,ma’am.”
Shoving my hand through the mess of my hair, I looked down, embarrassed, as I had on one of Gannon’s t-shirts and a pair of his boxers. “Morning, Josh.” I headed to my bedroom and grabbed myclothes.
The windows had been fixed, the mess of glass cleaned up. Everything was back to normal. But I still felt anxious being in the room where bullets had zipped through only one night ago. I looked at the wall where the bullets had lodged and saw that the holes were still there. A project for that day, nodoubt.
After I gathered all of our things, remembering to grab my soap, shampoo, and conditioner, I headed back to Gannon’s room. Braiden was sleeping even harder as he had the entire bed to himself, and somehow the little thing was managing to take up most ofit.
Splayed out, he was sleeping extremely comfortably, and I felt I had a few minutes to shower before he woke up. After a speedy shower and pulling on jeans, a t-shirt, and tennis shoes, I put my wet hair in a ponytail and put only a bit of moisturizer on my face. I knew we wouldn’t be going anywhere that day either; might as well becomfortable.
As I opened the bathroom door, I found Braiden was just now sitting up, rubbing his eyes and moaning a bit. Probably all the activity of trying to kick me off the bed had him soretoo.
“Morning, my big boy.” I headed to him, picking him up and carrying him into the bathroom. “Did you sleep well,Braiden?”
He nodded and this time it came along with an “Um-hm.”
“Braiden! Oh, good boy!” It wasn’t much, just a mumble, but it was something more than a mere nod of the head. It hadn’t been long, and he was makingprogress.
I knew that being away from his mother had to be traumatizing to the young boy. And being in a new place was too. Taking in so many new things, a father, another woman caring for him, all the staff, it had to behard.
With all of that against him, the little boy was moving forward, taking things in stride and developing, despite all that had happened to him. My heart swelled with an ache as I brushed his teeth forhim.
How could his mother do what she’sdone?
People who hurt other people intentionally didn’t make sense to me. So many things happened that were bad, completely out of anyone’s control. I could never wrap my head around people who purposely decided to hurt another person. And their own child? Well, that was inconceivable tome.
The boy who sat on the vanity top, letting me clean his tiny teeth, was not only utterly adorable but sweet too. So loveable and kind-hearted.
