Page 91 of Forever Fallen

“Nice to meet you both,” she chuckled, smiling at the two of them. “I’m Sophie – and I believe Valkyrie would prefer you refer to his child as a baby, not his spawn.”

“Ace!” Armadillo interrupted quickly as the other man opened his mouth to speak. “Sophie is a good friend of Valkyrie and Marisol’s so whatever you’re about to say? Do us all a favor – and don’t. Hey, Soph… glad you came out.”

Ace grinned.

“Guess I’ll shut up?” Ace laughed easily as Jessica raised a skeptical eyebrow in disbelief.

“Are you scared of Valkyrie?”

“Let’s not call it ‘scared’, babe… it’s more like a ‘healthy respect for my face’. We’ve all lost our tempers with each other at one time or another. Reaper was the only person to actually take down the ‘big guy’… and that was only once.”

“Really?” both women said in unison, shocking Sophie, because Ryan didn’t seem very aggressive or hostile. He was always so collected that she couldn’t imagine the two men coming to blows over anything.

“Ayeeeeup,” Ace drawled. “Now, where’s the coffee?”

Firefly and Alpo walked up.

“How are you holding up, kiddo?” Alpo said gently.

“You alright?” Firefly asked. “How’d Reaper handle it this morning? It will be at least ten to fifteen hours before you hear back from him – it may even be tomorrow if he gets delayed. Just fill the day so you aren’t staring at the clock.”

“Thank you – and yeah, this morning was rough for both of us,” Sophie admitted. “Thank you for asking.”

“I know it will be a year before he gets leave again,” Alpo said apologetically. “He used all four weeks to come help us out – and I’m so sorry that he won’t have vacation time for a while now.”

“I’m not,” she replied honestly, feeling herself tear up a little as she smiled at the sweet men standing there, checking up on her. “It gave me a chance to get to know Ryan a little better and celebrate our wedding with everyone.”

“He’s lucky to have you,” Glory said, coming over and hugging Alpo. “Not every person would be so understanding or accepting of his military career. I know several friends that had problems because everything is great –until deployment.”

“Yup,” Alpo agreed, looking at Glory. “A certain young mechanic was crazy enough to follow me to Ghazni because she couldn’t stand me leaving… and I will never understand how I got so lucky to have her as my bride.”

“I love you, too,” Glory beamed proudly before laughing. “I don’t recommend that, by the way…”

“No,” Sophie laughed. “I can’t say that I would either.”

“He still didn’t notice me even though I followed him out there,” Glory winked, teasing her husband. “That’s crushing to your ego.”

“Nope. Had to knock her upside the head to have her finally give me a chance…” Hunter teased, but there was something in his expression that looked like regret or pain. “I’ll never forget those days and am grateful to see her face beside me every time I wake up.”

“Y’all need to stop, or I’ll start thinking of Ryan…” Sophie said tightly, feeling her eyes burn and a choking sensation, remembering what it was like to see Ryan lying in bed beside her as they talked, or the way he would smile at her.

“Yup,” Glory said gruffly, wiping her own eyes, and smiling at Alpo before linking arms with Sophie. “Let’s go peek at the nursery… because babies, you know? I mean, they are so cute and cuddly.”

Hours later, Thumper had left to drive Harley home with the baby so the two could get some rest, refresh the diaper bag with some supplies, and then he was going to pick up burgers for the rest of the team waiting.

She was so glad to be there with them all, not caring how long it took, because every moment she spent here was another away from the silent house that would be bitterly empty.

It was also another moment ticked away until Ryan returned. That was just how the next twelve months would be – a series of moments that whittled away time until her husband returned.

She was standing in front of the nursery when Valkyrie emerged from the door looking shell-shocked and had a bandage on his head.

“Valkyrie…?”

“Soph…” he uttered – and she saw his face breakdown.

The quiet, strong, stony-faced man that rarely cracked a smile… looked broken. She felt her heart stop in her chest as she realized something might be wrong.

She immediately walked over and hugged him as he collapsed almost against her, hugging her in return.

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