Page 133 of Distress Signal
Sleep didn’t come as easily for me, but when it did, for the first time in months, I wasn’t plagued by nightmares of a creepy, abandoned farmhouse.
thirty-seven
. . .
FINN
As badly aswe all wanted to keep chasing these new leads in hopes of bringing Lainey home sooner, everything was put on hold a few days later.
Wedding week had arrived—along with Owen, his wife, Delia, and my nephew, Jace.
They were staying in my guest house, which had been professionally cleaned after Aria’s attack. The likelihood of Reagan’s stalker coming back to the house was minimal, but one could never be too safe, so I had Trey upgrade the security system. Plus, I trusted Owen—and Delia, for that matter—to take care of themselves and their son. They’d both go down swinging if it meant keeping their family safe.
Reagan did what she could to help me prepare for their arrival, which mostly consisted of standing by barking orders while West and I rearranged furniture.
When they pulled up, we greeted them on the front porch.
“Quite the welcoming committee,” Delia joked when she got out of their rental SUV.
“Whiskey…” my eldest brother warned his wife as he collected my nephew from the backseat.
“What?” Delia asked, feigning innocence, complete with exaggerated fluttering of her lashes. “Normally the whole fucking cavalry is here.”
My brother had caught a live wire with this one, but they loved each other fiercely, and we loved her right back.
Still, I ignored them both and beelined for Jace, slapping Owen’s arm away when he attempted to give me a side hug in favor of sweeping my nephew from his hold.
Jace Leon Lawless—named for both of his grandfathers—was the perfect blend of his parents. With Delia’s dark brown hair and olive skin, and Owen’s bright blue eyes, he was the most beautiful baby any of us had ever seen.
This also happened to be the first time I’d met him, and I purposely didn’t give the rest of the family an ETA for Owen and Delia so I could have some time with Jace and not have to share him with my thousand siblings.
Delia approached with a diaper bag slung over her shoulder and reached for her son. I turned my body away from her, shielding him, which had both her and Jace giggling.
“I’ll give him back,” she promised. “Unlessyouwant to change his shitty diaper?”
I held Jace out to his mom. “I thought the smell was coming from O.”
My brother smacked me upside the head as Delia disappeared into the house. Then Owen and I moved to the back of their vehicle and began unloading and carrying their luggage inside.
Once that was done, we found ourselves gathered in the living room, me sitting on the floor with Jace, rolling a ball back and forth, while Owen, Delia, and Reagan gathered on the sofa and chairs around us.
At one point, I glanced up at Reagan, our gazes locking longer than was normal. Likely having similar thoughts.
I’d always wanted kids. Being in the Army, though, I’d neverconsidered the possibility of a family when I’d been in my twenties. War had a habit of making widows, and I never wanted to leave any wife and potential children heartbroken from my loss.
All too well, I knew how devastating it could be.
Now that my time in the service was long over, however, I was more than ready to settle down and build the kind of life my parents had given me and my siblings.
And I wanted to do it all with Reagan.
Her chin dipped slightly, excitement glinting in her eyes, telling me she wanted all of that too.
When the time was right, we’d make those dreams a reality.
“You must be Reagan,” Delia said without preamble, cutting into my visions of the future, and I realized I hadn’t formally introduced them.
“Yes,” my girl squeaked in response, which was entirely out of character for her. Delia, however, was a big personality, and she took some getting used to.
