AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Twenty-Four
The kids were going to be the death of him. After the first five days, Nick knew without a doubt that this was the hardest thing he had ever signed on to do. Someone always needed something—even Noah, although he tried to be as self-sufficient as possible. Hell, he was just a kid. Noah weighed all of ninety-two pounds, his voice was changing, and he almost constantly tripped over his own far-too-big-for-his-body feet.
Nick was starting to adore the little punk—but he kept that to himself. It would scare the kid off in a heartbeat. Noah felt adrift—it wasn't hard to see that. He was definitely accustomed to taking care of his sister. Have Nick to do that instead made him feel a bit useless, Nick thought. And Noah didn’t quite know what to do with his time when he wasn’t watching over Nova.
He made a point of spending at least half an hour just doing something with Noah each day and each evening. No Nova. After she was tucked into bed, he and Noah played video games together as well. Vintage ones. Nick's hope was that eventually Noah would use that time to open up and talk to him. To learn to trust him.
He'd made appointments for both kids with a child trauma counselor one county over. Noah was resistant to the idea, but Nick had convinced him to give it a shot. So that Nova would. It would take time, but they were going to find their way through this.
Nick had two days until he had to return to work. Everything would change again then. He thought he had things ironed out, but he was damned nervous.
Anything could happen with the two of them when he wasn't there. Anything.
They had already had one trip to the emergency room this week when Nova had fallen off the slide at the playground and landed on her arm. From the way she’d screamed and screamed, he’d been convinced it was broken. He’d bundled her and Noah into the truck and rushed them to the hospital.
His niece Perci had been working the emergency desk when he'd carried his daughter in. She and her husband—the head of the hospital—had taken care of Nova and reassured Nick and Noah she'd be just fine.
He'd been terrified.
He wasn't used to the sheer run of emotions having two kids dependent on him kept bringing.
Only his nightly phone calls to Robin had kept him sane. Even if he was just telling her he wanted to check in on the office. She knew the truth.
That woman saw right through him.
"How are they doing tonight?" she asked through his cell late Friday night, one week after he’d gotten his kids. "How is her arm?"
"She's using it just fine. Nate said it was just a bruise. And then I think the man was laughing at me for panicking."
"He probably was. He likes to give all you Tyler boys a hard time."
"Perci definitely was laughing. But I think they were commiserating, too.”
“From what I've seen of her, their Ivy is pure hell on wheels."
"Perci always was, too. All of Phil's daughters were terrifying."
"I wish I could have seen them then. Phoebe was around seven when I...left."
"You were...missed...around here." He tried to imagine what it would have been like. If the next time he came back on leave a few years later—if their paths had crossed.
She'd have been twenty-one or so. Older. Or even a year or two after that. All she would have had to do was look at him out of those eyes of hers. He’d have been a goner.
He wouldn't have been able to stay away.
Nick was all caught up in her now after only a week of having her in his office every day.
"I missed home so much. I think that's why I married when I did. I wanted the kind of life Becky had. That didn’t quite happen."
"He wasn't a good guy, was he?" She’d told him a little about her husband. About how the sonofabitch had been insanely jealous, had forbidden her from contacting her sister more than once or twice a year. Said she’d feared the consequences if he’d found out she’d written her sister letters occasionally.
Nick suspected it had been a lot worse than Robin had said.
"Doug was very insecure. That made him...controlling, Glenna called it. I didn't even realize it at first. By the time I did, we had two kids about ready to enter elementary school. And he made it clear I wasn't leaving him, Nick. Not with the kids, not without a major fight. Then...I got pregnant with Becky, and I agreed to stay, to try again. He was gone three months later."
And the world of hurt was still in her voice. Robin was skittish—he wasn’t lost to that. If he could have met Douglas Benson, he’d have beaten the tar out of him, for her. Nick would have fought for her.
Easily. Without hesitation. "You are home, now."
