“Warren?” My trembling lips form his name.
But it must be more than a dream, because Cornelius says, “Go on, son. I’ll keep watch over this son of a bitch. Go see to your wife.”
Then Warren is here. Cold and wet and in front of me, holding me so tightly I can scarcely breathe as he presses hard kisses over my hair. And here in his embrace that smells like fire and rain and home, the shield around my heart drops and the tears begin to flow. “You found me.” Mywords hit his shirt, but he hears them all the same. “You finally found me.”
“Always, wife. I’ll always find you, no matter what. I’m sorry it took me so long. I got here as soon as I could. Please tell me you forgive me.” Pained desperation coats his words as his heart pounds frantically beneath my ear.
I squeeze him as tightly as I can, not caring that his clothes are wet. “There’s nothing to forgive. You’re here now, and that’s all that matters.”
He pushes me back enough to look me up and down. “Are you hurt anywhere? Did you do that to him? Let me look at you. Your hair’s all undone.”
Satisfaction dulls my tears. “We’re all right, I promise.” Mostly. “And yes, I did. He expected me to be the Mara he knew before, but I’m not that woman anymore.”
“That’s for damn sure,” he says, and the pride in his tone warms my insides. Then he stiffens. “Where’s Emmaline?”
“With Sullivan.”
He bristles and abruptly puts me behind him. “Sullivan? Who the hell is he?”
I grab his arm to keep him from reaching for the gun he’d put away to hold me. “No, Warren, he’s only a boy.”
“Don’t worry, brother.” Jed almost sounds amused. “I think this Sullivan’s doing a mighty fine job of keeping her safe.”
Sullivan doesn’t know that these strange men with guns are good instead of bad like Montgomery, but he stands in the corner, holding my sleeping baby protectively to his chest with thin arms and as fierce a glower as he can muster. All three Shay men visibly soften at the sight.
“Well, how about that?” Warren says with a little smile at Sullivan’s glare. “So he is.”
Poor Sullivan doesn’t know what to think, so I movetowards the son my husband doesn’t know is going to be ours yet. Holding Emmaline seems to be a shield for him, and with my hands contaminated by Montgomery’s cock and blood, I don’t mind letting it continue. She seems to be as much comfort to him as he is to her. “It’s all right, Sullivan. This is my husband and his family, and they’re here to help us. They’re not like Montgomery. They’re good men, I promise.”
The boy’s thin shoulders relax just a touch as Warren joins me. “So he’ll be living with us, too?”
Warren rocks back on his heels and raises a dark eyebrow at Sullivan’s question. “Yes,” I answer both of them, watching man and boy process my words. “He’ll be living with us, too.”
Barely a second elapses before Warren accepts my proclamation with no hesitation. “What happened to your parents?” he asks, keeping his voice gentle as his sharp eyes run over Sullivan’s small frame.
“Don’t got any. And I won’t take up much room, mister,” Sullivan mutters, absently patting Emmaline’s back when her legs jerk in her sleep. “I already got a blanket so I can sleep in a corner somewhere and you won’t have to get me none.”
My heart threatens to break into pieces at his wary hopefulness, and Warren’s fingers press into my waist in response. Now my husband’s strong reaction to finding me sleeping on the floor makes much more sense, because all I want to do is give this child a safe home and clean blankets on top of the biggest bed he’s ever seen.
Warren tsks and drops down to Sullivan’s level. “That’ll never do. Everyone who lives in my house sleeps in a bed. Especially a brave boy like you who protected my wife and baby until I got here. What do you say? You wanna come livewith us and be part of our family?” Neither of us misses how the little boy instinctively pulls Emmaline even closer. “I’m thinking she sure would love to have an older brother like you.”
I discreetly sniff away the stinging in my nose. Just when I think I can’t love my husband any more than I already do, he proves me wrong by saying something like this.
Sullivan side-eyes him before leaning over to me and whispering loudly, “Does he mean it?”
“He does,” I whisper back with a bittersweet smile. “Believe me, he does.”
“I mean everything I say. Shake on it, man to man?” Warren holds his palm out and waits as Sullivan adjusts his grip on Emmaline. Then a small hand disappears completely into a much larger one as the agreement is sealed.
“If I’m her big brother, does that mean I’m gonna have a momma and papa now?”
“Sure does.” It sounds like there’s a big knot in Warren’s throat at Sullivan’s innocent question. “And grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. A whole big family that’s been waiting for you to find us.” Warren stands and reaches for my hand, but I pull away, feeling uncomfortable. How can I touch him when my fingers were just around Montgomery’s disgusting cock? I can’t dirty his hands like that.
A hard question storms in his eyes as they cut upward to mine, but he tucks it away as he turns back to the young boy. “How about you carry Emmaline outside on the porch with your grandpa so Uncle Jed and I can clean up in here? Won’t take us long, and then we’ll head on home.”
Sullivan waits for my affirming nod before adjusting his hold on Emmaline and walking off towards Cornelius, whoholsters his gun and hunkers down to introduce himself to his newest grandson.
“All right, wife,” Warren says, crooking his hand. “Let me see.”
