Page 9 of A Burning Rage

“Hi, Mom,” I say when she walks into the kitchen holding Luke’s hand.

She kisses my cheek. “Good morning, sweetie.”

After helping Luke back into his chair, Mom leans down to kiss the top of his white-blond hair. And then she turns her attention to Ava, who’s seated in her highchair, chasing around little pieces of pancake and blueberries with her tiny fingers.

“How are my little angels this morning?” Mom leans down to kiss Ava’s tousled curls.

“Ava’s good,” I say, “but she’ll likely need a diaper change soon. Luke is hungry, as always.”

Cooper hands me a plate of food and says, “Sit down and eat, young lady.”

“That’s an awful lot of food for one person,” I say, eyeing a huge stack of blueberry pancakes.

“Then eat what you want and leave the rest.”

“I’ll finish what you don’t want,” Sam says as he waltzes into the kitchen, dressed in ripped blue jeans and a gay pride T-shirt. He’s in the process of securing his long red hair into a topknot.

Cooper smiles at him and pulls him close for a quick kiss.

Since I have way too much food, I grab a second plate and divide the pancakes between the two. I hand one of the plates to Sam. “Here you go. Eat up.”

“I should be home by three,” I tell my mom as I join her at the table.

“So, what’s on the agenda for today?” she asks.

“We’ve got a busy day at the store, prepping for two author signings this weekend and a slew of new releases.” I point at Luke. “Listen to Mimi when she tells you it’s naptime.” To Mom, I say, “If he doesn’t want to sleep, he can play quietly in his room while Sissy sleeps. Luke, do not wake your sister up. You know how she gets when she hasn’t had a good nap.”

“Okay,” Luke says sullenly, his lower lip sticking out as he pouts. “But I’m too big for naps. Aiden doesn’t take naps.”

Sam walks past Luke and ruffles the child’s hair. “That’s because Aiden’s a big kid. Besides, you’re never too old for naps, isn’t that right, Cooper?” Sam winks at his husband, who’s in his late fifties, considerably older than Sam’s early thirties.

Cooper nods. “Right.”

Luke laughs. “Cooper’s too old to take a nap.”

Cooper brings a cup of tea to my mom—her favorite English breakfast tea, along with a pitcher of milk. “Ingrid, would you like something to eat? There’s plenty.”

Mom shakes her head. “Thanks, but no. I ate before I came.” She adds milk to her tea, stirs, and takes a sip. “Thank you for the tea.”

I manage to eat most of my half of the pancakes before I excuse myself to finish getting ready for work. When I return to the kitchen, Mom has both kids in the family room, seated on the sofa with her as she reads them a book about a bright green caterpillar.

I kiss my kids goodbye. “Be good for Mimi.”

“We will,” Luke says. As I walk out of the room, he yells, “Bye, Mama! See you soon!”

“Bye-bye,” Ava says, waving at me. It’s one of the three words she can say—ma-ma, da-da, and bye-bye.

“Have a good day, sweetie,” Mom says to me as she turns the page and continues reading.

* * *

Joe Rucker, my driver, is parked out front in a black Escalade. Pretty much every vehicle in Shane’s fleet is an Escalade. Joe’s vehicle is bulletproof. So is Cooper’s.

I climb into the back seat, and Sam sits up front with Joe.

“Good morning, Joe,” I say as we back out of the driveway.

“Good morning, Ms. Beth,” Joe says in his deep bass voice. He meets my gaze in the rearview mirror. “And how are we doing today?”