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Teal could kill me.
Everything inside me said she wouldn’t just rip me apart as Bridgette had. But not having her in my life didn’t feel like an option anymore. I would take any part of her she would give me. As little or as much as she wanted.
Anything would be a treasure.
ChapterTwelve
TEAL
Wowzah!
My jaw hit the floor when we walked into my new place. I hadn’t even gotten more than five steps past the front door and could tell it was amazing. How did this happen? Nothing this great had ever happened to me and right when I needed it most—poof—one of my prayers had been answered.
When my baby was born, we would have a home.
“Do you want to see the rest of the place?” Kace asked from behind me, humor in his tone.
“Sure, if my feet will move,” I muttered softly to myself. I didn’t realize I said it loud enough for Kace to hear until I heard a deep chuckle.
We had beaten Summer and Gyth to the place but not by much because before I did get moving, I heard a lot of racket behind me and whipped around to see a mob of people in the hall. The whole gang was there, kids and all.
“Are we going in or having a party in the hall?” Alley teased.
What was everyone doing here? I didn’t know they were all going to show up. It was a little overwhelming but a pleasant surprise at the same time. Glancing over to Kace, he looked at me and then nodded toward the apartment.
“It’s your place now, do you want to do the honors and ask them in?”
A big smile split my face and joy tingled in every nerve of my body. “Please come in everyone,” I told them, sweeping my arm in the direction of my home.
The place was a good size, but with the whole gang in there it got smaller by the second. I glanced at Summer and then at her little boy who was hanging on tight to his mother’s leg. Dexter’s forehead had a good size goose egg on it and a scratch on his face. I knew Kace said he tore up his knee pretty good too but his pants were covering it so I couldn’t see. Since his mom was a nurse, I was sure he was probably patched up and well taken care of.
Gyth picked up the little boy and he and Summer made their way over to me. As they did, a hush went around the room and everyone stopped talking as if they knew something was about to happen. But what? I looked around nervously and my eyes went to Kace, someone I always seemed to seek out when I needed to ground my emotions. He just smiled which had me relaxing, knowing nothing bad was coming.
“I know we all barged in on your first day here, but we had a little surprise for you and wanted to be here to show you,” Summer said.
They couldn’t keep doing things for me. How was I ever going to repay the kindness? Reading the question in my eyes, Gyth, clearly a mind reader like all the rest, spoke up.
“You owe us nothing, Teal. Friends do things for each other.”
“Friends,” I whispered as I looked at everyone around me.
“Yes, friends, silly,” Gemma commented.
Before I could think too much about it, Embry bounced over and grabbed my hand. “I want to show her, can I show her, Auntie Summer?”
“Lead the way, angel,” Summer replied, but Embry was already pulling me toward the hall before she even finished her sentence.
Not having been through the place yet, I let her guide me where she wanted me to go. Stopping at a door toward the end of the hall, Embry paused and waited for everyone to catch up.
“Close your eyes and no peeking,” she said in a no-nonsense voice. “Mommy said peeking isn’t nice.”
I struggled not to laugh because she was too damn cute but managed to hold back as I closed my eyes. I heard her twist the knob and then she was pulling me inside the room.
“Don’t open your eyes yet,” she told me.
I could hear the little ones talking, breathing, and soft mumbling, so I figured we were once again waiting for the others.
She waited for a few beats, her small hand still holding mine, and then said, “Okay, now you can open them.”
