Page 17 of Protective Phlox

“Mom, it’s been a really long and traumatic day already.”

She stood and grabbed my hands. “Please. I won’t take up too much of their time. I’m just so excited. Did you get her a ring? Can I arrange another ceremony here? Have the two of you talked about what school Cutter will go to?” I brought my mom’s hands to my lips and kissed them. At least someone was happy about this. “I’m rambling.”

“How about this? I’ll take you up, but let’s try to keep the visit to fifteen minutes.”

Mom squealed like she was a child and yanked on my hand. “Yes, let’s go. Hurry up.”

Her enthusiasm was infectious, and I couldn’t help smiling as she pulled me along with her. I hadn’t taken the time to enjoy the thought of having a son or finally having Savannah under my roof after dreaming of it for so long. It had been all fear and then anger since Goran first showed me his phone.

We walked up the stairs to my wing of the house, and I could hear Cutter laughing before I reached his bedroom, which was only a couple of doors down from mine. There were thundering feet, and then he squealed and laughed as we stepped up to the door to see Savannah toss Cutter in the air and catch him.

As she looked at me, my gut tightened, and all the air in my lungs came to a complete standstill like I’d forgotten how to breathe. Her blue eyes were bright with laughter, her hair piled on her head in an adorable messy bun. She was wearing some of my sister’s sleep clothes that I’d brought in for her. The red and white kitten shorts and t-shirt showed off her long legs. My mouth watered at the sight of her. Savannah put Cutter on her hip and stared at us, but I couldn’t seem to form words.

My mother gave my hand a light smack. “Don’t be rude, introduce us.”

“Oh…um….”

Savannah saved me as she padded over, her bare feet showing off the tattoo of an ankle bracelet that I didn’t remember her having before.

“Hi, I’m Savannah Free…I guess now, Mikhailov,” she said, holding out her hand to my mom.

“Hi there dear, I’m Helena, Nate’s mom, and you are stunning.” Savannah blushed. “And this must be Cutter.” Mom gushed and shook Savannah’s hand before turning her attention to Cutter. “Oh my god, you look like Nate did when he was just a boy. It will be so nice to have a child in the house again.”

“Hi, I’m Cutter.” He held out his hand like he was introducing himself at a business meeting. “It’s nice to meet you.” My mom looked over her shoulder with a smile so wide that she lit up the entire room.

“Nice to meet you, Cutter. Aren’t you quite the gentleman?”

“My mommy says that it is always best to be polite. Do you speak Italian? I was learning Italian in school. Come sta?”

Mom laughed and shook her head. “No, sweetheart, I don’t know Italian, but I can teach you some Russian if you want?”

“Really? That’s cool,” Cutter said, and nothing was stopping the stupid lopsided grin from pulling at the side of my mouth.

“Cutter, Helena is Nathan’s mom, so that makes her your grandma,” Savannah said, and he pursed his lips together as he thought.

“Okay. Do you want to see what I found,” Cutter asked Mom.

“Oh, I don’t think that….” Savannah started, but my mom patted her hand.

“I’d love to see what you found,” Mom said. Savannah put Cutter down, and he grabbed Mom’s hand and dragged her across the room.

Savannah turned to look at me. “Well, it looks like one member of this family doesn’t want me to die. Point for me,” she said and pushed the wild strands of loose hair out of her face. I’d always loved how her hair did that. It was as untameable as the woman herself. “I told Goran I wanted to speak to you to find out what room is mine. I’m going to sleep in here with Cutter for now until he gets used to being in a new place, but I’ll need one at some point.”

“You’ll stay with me. Where else would you stay?”

Her face twisted into a confused expression, and I couldn’t understand why she’d be confused when I married her. What the hell did she think was going to happen?

“Mom, come see what grandma showed me,” Cutter called from the other side of the room as Savannah opened her mouth.

“Well, like I said, I’ll stay in here for now. I don’t want Cutter to wake up scared in a strange place.”

Standing there and watching them, I felt out of place and decided to leave. I needed a shower, sleep, food, and to get some work done. The first thing on my to-do list was changing Cutter’s name, and then I would hunt down Aldo. As long as there was an active hit on Savannah, they weren’t safe. I could only imagine the fight I’d have when I said that Cutter couldn’t go to the beach or playground or she couldn’t leave the house. One problem at a time, I’d start with the shower.

Chapter

Eight

SAVANNAH