Page 194 of The Defiant Curse

“Sure.”

Now, she was staring at him.

“Are you possessed?” Elizabeth asked. “Because that wasn’t an Ethan answer. That was a Callen answer. When I say ‘can I have…’, he immediately makes it happen, no matter how crazy the request,” she admitted. “Remember when I asked for an autographed Bible as a joke, and he legitimately tried to find one until he realized that was not possible?”

Yeah, well, Ethan tended to be less willing to bend while Callen was a willow in the breeze. His brother was also so much happier in his life because he didn’t let things bother him.

Ethan aspired to be like that.

“I was going to ask for some goats,” Ethan stated. “I figured you couldn’t say no if I offered up another dog,” he added.

She stared at him.

“Jesus. You’re possessed. Farm animals?” she asked.

He shrugged.

“I think I like making the goats fall over. I’m not sure if it’s just because it’s so ridiculous, or if it’s because when our kids see that…we win the parent awards.”

She laughed.

He wasn’t wrong on that one.

“Did you find out their names? That makes it funnier,” she admitted.

He shook his head.

“No. What are their names?”

She laughed.

“Michael named them after the Marines. All of them,” she said.

He found that amusing.

“I mean, they are prone to do dumbass things. Look at Demeter.”

It wasn’t like he was wrong.

“We’ll discuss goats later,” she stated. “Snoop, cookie, nookie, sleep, goats—in that order,” she said.

He was amused.

“I’m good with that.”

Getting out of bed, she pulled on a robe, and so did he. Then, they got on their slippers, and hand-in-hand, they crept down the stairs, and to the kitchen.

Once there, Ethan grabbed a cookie for each of them and smiled when his wife told him there were more in the cow cookie jar.

Ethan realized one thing.

This was kind of nice.

Blackhawk couldn’t recall the last time they did something in the middle of the night that didn’t involve taking a call regarding a case or profile.

He could get used to this.

Together, they ate their cookies and headed toward the foyer. Once there, she turned on a light and stared at the painting above the fireplace.