Page 9 of Shield
Instinctively, I wrapped an arm around her small shoulders and pulled her into my side. I could do this—I could protect someone who needed protecting. That was my job.
“It’ll be okay,” I said. “They’ll find the man.”
“What if…”What if Joe is hurt so badly he doesn’t wake up? What if the bad guys come back?I’d already put in a call to organize some security and had something in place from tomorrow. For the time being, we all needed to get home. Heloise’s husband turned up and took her away, glancing back at me with a nod.
There were a few staff there when I left, but the clinic had been closed for the day. I sketched a wave at Lazlo, who was tapping away on a computer, a cop leaning over his shoulder. Normally, we’d exchange goodbyes, shoot the breeze if we had time, but he seemed as wrecked as I felt. There was another cop on the door, and we nodded. Then it was time for me to head home, grab the SUV, and get the kids.
I needed to see my girls.
I pulled into Charles and Clare’s driveway a little after six, my hands still tight on the steering wheel. Parking the car, I let out a long breath and sat there for a moment, feeling as though I’d left a piece of myself back at the clinic. The day’s events had sapped my energy, but I glanced up as the front door burst open and there they were—my gorgeous girls. Daisy came bounding down the steps, her blonde pigtails bouncing, those clear blue eyes, so much like her mother’s, sparkling with the innocence of her seven years. Scarlett trailed behind and her darker hair, like mine, was loose in curls, but when she looked up and caught my eye, her mother’s blue gaze shone from her face and my heart twinged with a familiar ache.
I pulled my shit together, stepped out of the car, and braced myself for the impact as two bundles of energy hit me with hugs. “Daddy!” they chimed, and the weariness melted away, replaced by the warmth of their embrace.
“How was your day, girls?” I asked, holding their hands as we walked back to the car.
“It was the best!” Daisy gushed. “Clare let us help make dinner, and I cut tomatoes!”
“And I found a spider!” Scarlett added, her face alight with the day’s adventures.
I wasn’t the biggest fan of spiders, or indeed of any creepy-crawlies, but Scarlett was going to be a professor of spider-ology one day, or so she’d informed me. I knew that if such a degree existed, Scarlett would be right there at the front of the line to sign up.
“I don’t like spiders!” Daisy said and pouted.
“I didn’t show you!” Scarlett defended.
“You were gonna!” Daisy protested.
Luckily, Clare came out behind them—her arrival cutting short the building spider debate—followed closely by Charles.
“Thanks for looking after them, Clare,” I said gratefully.
She grinned at me. “It was fun. Any time.”
We said our goodbyes, and soon enough, the girls and I were driving back to the rented house we were still settling into. There was the question of whether it would become our permanent home, with an option to buy after a year as part of my rental agreement. Still, with my contract only running for two years, and with the memories of New York still clinging to me, I couldn’t think about putting down roots yet.
“Daddy, are we going to stay in this house forever?” Daisy’s question from the back seat caught me off guard. How did she know I was thinking about that?
I glanced at her in the rearview mirror. “I like it.”
“Me too,” Daisy said.
“What do you think, Scarlett? Do you like it here?”
Scarlett was quieter, her expression thoughtful. “Can we go back to New York one day?” she asked, her voice small, but hopeful. “I miss Jamie and my friends.”
My chest tightened at her question. New York was a lifetime away. “We’ll see, sweetheart,” I replied, keeping my voice even. “LA is our home for now, but we don’t have to stay in this house.”
Scarlett didn’t look convinced, but she nodded, pressing her face to the window as the city lights began to twinkle on.
“Can we get a house with a pool like Clare and Charles have?” she asked after a pause.
I smiled then. If a pool would win her over, then sure, we’d get a pool.
“Give it a year, and we’ll see.”
I knew the decision about where we’d settle down would come, as all big decisions do, in its own time. Meanwhile, though, I had Scarlett smiling at the thought of a pool, and Daisy chatting away about their day, and it was enough to forget the horrific scene I’d witnessed.
Only when the girls were in bed, everything flooded back in the silence of my room.
