Page 59 of Sheltering You

Funny how children couldn’t hide their feelings. Right now, indecision played across his face. Humble himself and obey, or sit alone in the bedroom with nothing to do.

He spun, barked something in Arabic at Jasmine, and stormed into the hallway.

A moment later, the bedroom door slammed.

Jasmine’s shoulders drooped, and she sat heavily on the sofa. “I should have let him win.”

“He needs to learn to be a good sport.” Derrick set the backpack down again. “If he acts like that when he’s nine, what’s he going to be like at fifteen or twenty? Or when he has a wife and kids of his own?”

Jasmine glanced at the hallway, covering her abdomen with her hand. That was the third time she’d done that since Derrick had come out from his shower.

“Are you sick? Was it the donuts?”

“What? No, no.” She lowered the hand and started to stand. “I will go talk to him.”

“Give him time.”

“If you say so.” She dropped to her knees on the floor.

“What are you doing? You told him he needed to pick those up.”

“But I should⁠—”

“It’s fine.”

She sat back on her heels and gestured toward the hallway. “I made a mess of that. I made a mess of this. I must do something.”

“Rabie made the mess. You did exactly the right thing.”

“I did?”

“Children need to be taught. You were firm and kind. I can’t imagine how you could have handled it better.”

The way her expression brightened, all hopeful and encouraged, had his stupid heart flip-flopping.

“You really think so?” She soaked up his words like a wilting plant did water.

“It was perfect, but now comes the hard part. You have to wait him out.”

“How do you know so much about raising children?”

He shrugged. “I don’t. Just watched my parents do it, I guess. And I spent time with Daniel and Camilla when Zoë and Jeremy were little. Dan was gone a lot, but Camilla ran a tight ship.”

Jasmine’s gaze flicked to the hallway again, then the windows.

Though the sun was shining, the air was cold—he’d learned that when he’d gone out for wood—and wind whistled through the trees.

“You don’t think he’ll try to get away?” she asked. “Go out a window?”

Derrick grinned. “Even if he managed to, this place is surrounded by a fence even I couldn’t scale. But there’s a crazy security system. If Rabie so much as cracks a window, we’ll know.” He settled on the couch adjacent to her. “As long as he’s busy, let’s see if your friend has reached out.”

Derrick had spent enough time at his uncle’s cabin over the years that getting onto the VPN was second nature. He wasn’t sure exactly what Uncle Gavin did before he retired, but he got the impression it was all very hush-hush, which probably explained the whole off-the-grid cabin in the woods.

Jasmine provided her information, and he logged into her email account on one of the laptops he’d found in the basement that morning. He figured his uncle wouldn’t appreciate him showing Jasmine the whole top-secret-security setup down there, considering how long he’d kept it secret from Derrick, so Derrick had just grabbed the laptop and brought it upstairs.

Now, while he waited for the thing to connect, it occurred to him that maybe Michael knew exactly what Uncle Gavin did. They were both in the hush-hush business, after all. Did they work together? Probably not, or Michael would trust him.

While Derrick waited for the connection—the VPN was always slow—he said, “Michael wants to talk to you.”