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“D-dead?” At first she seemed like she couldn’t believe it. “Really dead?” she asked Slade.
“Unless it has another brain somewhere on its body,” he remarked, looking at the thick, muscular tail. “Does it?”
“Does an alligator have two brains?” Brandi said, as though she was trying to get the idea into her head. She gave a jagged little laugh. “No…no, of course it doesn’t.”
Then she burst into tears.
Chapter Seventeen
Slade went to her without thinking—though if he would have considered it first, he might not have. He would have assumed that Brandi wanted him to keep his distance. But all he could think of now was her fear—all he could see was that she needed comforting and he needed to comfort her.
Kneeling beside them, he gathered both Brandi and Emmie into his arms.
Both of them clung to him, Brandi with an arm around Emmie too, while their canine, Charlie, pranced and barked excitedly around them.
For a long time Brandi simply sobbed into Slade’s shoulder but finally she managed to put her thoughts into words.
“Oh, Slade,” she gasped, her brown eyes filled with tears. “If you hadn’t heard me through our link…if you hadn’t come just when you did…’
“It’s all right, sweetheart. It’s all right,” Slade soothed her. “I did come. And everything is going to be okay.”
“But after I sent you away…after I told you to leave us alone…” Brandi shook her head. “Why? Why would you still come?”
“Told you,” Slade said roughly. “You’re mine to protect. I couldn’t let anything happen to you or Emmie.”
“Daddy-man!” Emmie, who appeared to be over her fright, placed a smacking kiss on his cheek. “I knew I’d find you here—even though I didn’t find the river.”
“Why would you come out here in the first place, Emmie?” Brandi demanded, her eyes still swimming with tears. “You scared Mommy so bad. It’s really, really dangerous out here!”
“I know that now.” Emmie hung her head. “But you kept saying that daddy and Daddy-man got sent down the river. And I thought if I followed the river into the woods, I could find them. And look—I did!” She pointed at Slade as if confirming her find.
“Emmie,” Slade growled. “I wasn’t in the woods—I came down from the Mother Ship to find you because your mother was very, very frightened for you. Never come out here again.”
“Okay.” Emmie looked suitably chastened. “I’m sorry Daddy-man. I won’t.”
“I’m just so glad you’re safe.” Brandi hugged her daughter tight and then put one arm around Slade as well. Looking up into his eyes she said, “How can I ever repay you?”
“By giving him another chance!” Emmie shouted, right in her ear, making both of them jump.
“Oh! Emmie-bear!” Brandi put a hand to her ear and winced. “Not so loud!”
Emmie shrugged. “Sorry, Mommy. It’s what the Goddess-lady told me to tell you. And she said to make sure you heard me so I had to shout.”
“All right.” Brandi looked around. “Can we get out of here please? There might be more gators in that pond.” She shivered.
“Wouldn’t be surprised. With a grunt, Slade rose to his feet and helped her up as well. “Come on—let’s get back to your place.”
“I’d like to go to your place, too.” Brandi looked at him shyly. “I mean, not right away but soon, maybe.”
Slade was startled.
“You want to come up to the Mother Ship?”
“Maybe just for a tour?” Brandi suggested. “Just to see what it’s like? I was, uh…” She coughed and her cheeks got red. “I was kind of distracted the last time I went up there.”
“I remember, sweetheart,” Slade sent through their link. “But do you mean it? You really want to come up?”
“I want to get to know you better—all of you,” Brandi told him. “I want to take Emmie’s suggestion and give you another chance—if you’ll give me a chance too, that is.”
Slade couldn’t answer in words. Pulling her close, he kissed her—not caring that both of them were wet and muddy and dirty and there was a giant dead gator lying only a few yards away.
Brandi reached up to tangle her fingers in his hair and stood on her tiptoes, kissing him back as hard as she could. Around their feet, Emmie and Charlie danced and barked and Emmie kept saying, “Eeeww, kissing!” in a tone of horrified delight.
At last they broke the kiss and Slade looked down into her eyes.
“Baby, you’re welcome on the Mother Ship anytime you want. Or I’ll come here. I don’t give a damn where we are as long as we’re together.”
“The Mother Ship…the Mother Ship,” Emmie sang. “Can I come too, Mommy? Can I? Huh?”
“We’re not going today,” Brandi said. “I’m too shaken up to go anywhere except for home to get a shower.”
“And some galaxy pancakes?” Emmie’s eyes widened. “Please, Mommy—say you’ll make galaxy pancakes! And say Daddy-man can have some too. Pleeease?”
