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“It’s like they came back from basic training,” Rogan said.
Brady snickered. “Did you give them my CBD edibles? That’s the only way they’d act this chill.”
Maurice put a hand on his hip and gave us a sassy look. “They’refarmore well-behaved than before. Now that they’re manageable, I spent the day teaching them manners. Isn’t that right, little ones?”
“Yes, Uncle Maurice,” the three children said in unison.
“Don’t you have something for your daddies?” Maurice asked.
The children all smiled and calmly walked over to the dining room table, where a stack of drawings stood. Each child took a piece of paper and handed it to their father.
“I had them draw what their fathers were doing,” Maurice explained. “They’re very creative!”
Cora’s drawing was carefully rendered in colored pencils. It showed a blond Asher sitting in a bunker, looking through a pair of binoculars.
Micah had drawn a lush forest in green and brown. Rogan frowned at it and said, “Where am I?”
“You’re wearingcamouflage,” Micah said, as if it was obvious. “That’s why you’re invisible.”
“Oh. Very good, son.”
Dustin held up his drawing. “My dad is fighting a monster! He’s winning! Can you tell what the monster is?”
Little kids aren’t good at drawing animals. That’s just a fact. Dustin’s monster looked like a Frankenstein monster of claws, tails, and fur.
“It’s, um… a bear?” I asked.
“Look at the tail,” Brady pointed. “It’s totally a tiger.”
Dustin groaned. “It’s abearcat. Part bear, part cat. They’re real. June on TV says so.”
“Oh, well, of course it’s a bearcat,” Brady said, giving me a secret wink. “It’s a really big bearcat, too!”
“Actually, it’s a small one,” Dustin said, matter-of-factly. “If it was a big one, you would be losing.”
“I don’t know. I bet I could beat a big bearcat.”
“Trust me, dad,” Dustin said. “It would kick yourbutt.”
Maurice gave me a hug. “I heard about the kidnapping on the news. Honey, are you okay?”
“I’m all right,” I said. “I, uh… have a lot to tell you.”
“We’ll take over from here,” Asher said while scooping Cora up. “You two can go relax in the man cave if you want. And Maurice, this place looksamazing. Thank you for cleaning up.”
“The children did most of it,” Maurice explained. “They were very well-behaved. I turned it into a game.”
“I can’t believe you got them under control all by yourself,” I said.
An expression crossed Maurice’s face that I knew well. It was how he looked when he hadn’t told the full truth about something.
“Maurice…”
“Well, I wasn’t exactlyalone.”
A door opened down the hall and another man emerged into the living room. Like my three men, this guy was absolutelyjacked. He was wearing a grey tank-top which showed off the muscles in his shoulders and neck, and he had a flop of perfect blond hair.
“You brought someone over?” I hissed at him. “To watch the children?”
