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“I’d love a shower.” Almost too giddy with the idea of being cleaned up, she gathered up what she would need while talking to the little girl. “If he wakes up, just call for me. I can come right out if he’s fussy. Otherwise, just let him lay there until he cries. Which he doesn’t do much, but he might if—”
“Ms. Rusty, please go take a shower before he wakes up.” They were both laughing when she went to the bathroom. Closing the door, she decided to leave it open just enough that she could hear Belle if she needed her. After brushing her teeth three times while the water got warm enough for her, she stepped under the powerful spray.
Just letting the water roll over her felt like heaven. She’d been getting washed up for the last few days instead of a full shower, and this was much needed. Her long hair needed a good scrubbing, too, and there was some lovely-smelling shampoo to do that. Rusty felt so good that she washed her hair three times before she decided it was as clean as it was going to get.
Losing track of time, she hurriedly dried and wrapped the towel around her body. Slipping into the bedroom to tell Belle how sorry she was, Rusty encountered a man sitting in the rocking chair, talking to her son. He looked up at her just as she was ready to scream the house down.
“My name is Barron Cross. My brother Gibb lives here with his wife, Maddy. They have three children, who I love too, by the names of Thad, Belle and Maria. I’m not going to hurt either of you. I came up here to see if Belle needed something, and she said that you were taking a shower.” He spoke to her in a calm, soft voice; however, he looked at Joey. “He started to fuss a little bit, and I didn’t want to make you end your shower if you weren’t ready, so I’ve been telling him about the mountain that he was living on as well as some of the things that I’ve gotten done today.”
“He’s staring at you like he’s listening to every word.” Barron laughed and said that he’d been thinking the same thing. “I’m sorry that I took so long. It’s just that it felt so good to be clean.”
“I understand. Sometimes, when I’m working, it’s all I can do to make it home and get cleaned up. It’s really nice, too, just to shower so that you can wash all your worries off your shoulders. I’m thinking that you have a lot of that, too.” She said she did but wasn’t stressing about it so much coming here. “Good for you. I’ve spoken to Howard, Joey’s biological father—just so you know, he doesn’t have any idea where you are, but I wanted to talk to him about his wife’s father. She is trouble.”
“You’ve no idea.” She heard her belly growling and knew that he’d heard it too. “I’m betting that I missed dinner. That’s my own fault for taking a long shower. Belle did tell me that they were having burgers.”
“They’ve waited on you. And to be honest, you weren’t in there all that long.” He finally looked at her. “Why don’t you get dressed, and the three of us will head to the dining room. There is another bassinet in there for you to have Joey close in the event that he needs you again.”
“I’ll have to change him.” Barron said he’d done that already and that he’d put him in a warm sleeper. “Thank you. You didn’t have to do that. You guys have already opened your home for me. I don’t want to think you have to take care of us too.”
“It was my pleasure to help out. He’s a cute little man, I think. And lucky for both of us, since I’ve never changed a baby before, there were instructions on the box on how to do it.” She laughed with him, telling him how she’d had to refer to the box as well. “That made me feel better. Hurry up, and we’ll head down.”
She closed the door this time as she stripped off the towel. The clothing that she’d brought in with her was nice, nicer than she would have purchased for herself. As she was brushing her hair, she heard Joey fussing and nearly went out to take care of him when Barron laughed.
“He’s just telling me that he’s pooped this time. Little bugger. I’ve got him.” The whistling startled her. What man would willingly change a poopie diaper on a child that he didn’t know? But then, she knew that the Cross men were supposed to be the nicest men in the world. She only heard that about a million times since coming here.
Maddy was drying her legs when she felt a bump under her skin. Trying to see what it was nearly had her falling on her head, so she decided to get help from Barron. Knowing full well that he’d not find a woman who had only just given birth a week ago sexy, she made her way out to him with her shirt and panties on.
“Can you tell me what this is?” He just stared at her, so she gave him a little shove. “This thing here. They told me when I woke up after the implant that they’d accidentally cut me. It’s always been there, I guess, but now I worry about what it could be.”
“Yes, sure. I can do that.” Rusty turned around when he asked her to. His warm fingers touching her flesh made her warm all over and also embarrassed her. When he asked her if she’d had surgery recently, she told him again what they’d done when she went in to have the insemination done. “It’s a device.”
“What sort of device?” He asked her if he could take it out. “Yes. Do you know what it—ouch. That fuck…that hurt. What did you do?”
“I cut it out.” When she turned to yell at him about warning her next time, she looked at the pill-shaped thing that was in his hand. “Do you know what this is, Rusty?”
“No.” She looked at his face. “But you do, don’t you? I mean, you cut it out of me without figuring out what it is, so I’m guessing that it’s bad and that you know just what it is. It’s something bad, isn’t it?”
“Not now, it’s not.” She nodded and waited. “It’s a tracking device. You said that they put you under when they did the procedure, correct? My thinking is that someone, Paige, more than likely had them place this under your skin so that she could keep track of you. Not just where you are, but I’m betting that if we have someone look at this, they’ll tell us that it’s also something to track your health. Like your heart, the baby. Even if you’re well or not.”
Rusty sat down on the bed. Her thoughts were all jumbled up, but it was clear that Paige had had this done to her. But why? Up until last month, she’d been—
“Don’t worry about it right now. I’m going to have it looked at, and then you can make a plan as to how you want to handle this. All right? Get dressed, and we’ll go down and have a meal with my family. Then and only then will we worry. It’s there. It’s been there for at least nine months, so there is no point in getting worried about it after this time.” She looked up at him when he stood over her. “Come on, Rusty. No one will hurt you or Joey. Get dressed, then we’ll see what we can find out.”
Nodding, she made her way back to the bathroom to finish getting dressed. Turning to look at Barron, she thought of the one thing that had been on her mind since he’d told her it was a tracking device.
“I don’t know why, but I believe that there is an explosive in that, too. So that…so that I can die if I don’t play well with her.” He didn’t say anything, and that worried her more. “She wanted me to terminate my pregnancy when I spoke to her last month. My due date had been less than a month away. Paige told me that I either get rid of the baby or she’d get rid of us both. She honestly meant that, I think now.”
“Get dressed, honey. She can’t hurt you now.” Nodding again, she went into the bathroom, suddenly afraid to shut the door behind her. As she pulled on her pants and socks, she tried her very best not to think about Paige. The woman was off her rocker if she thought that she was going to kill her little boy. There wasn’t any way that she’d cause harm to someone who was innocent in all of this.
Chapter 7
Maddy wasn’t entirely sure that she liked having the little people around all the time. It wasn’t that they weren’t helpful to her and the kids while Joey was gone, but they were just too helpful, too. Like she had wanted to wash a load of towels to be able to hang them out on the line.
“Where are the towels that were in the washer?” They also vibrated loudly when asked something. It didn’t matter what it was; just asking would get them excited. “I was going to hang them out on the line today. It’s warmer than it has been, and I thought that it would feel good to use them.”
“Oh, my lady. We’ve dried them with magic and put them away for you. It is our pleasure to do so for you and the others.” Strawberry was the one that seemed to be in charge. Though, if you asked her if she was, she would say that it was a collective decision. Like that show from a long time ago that was collectively taking over people’s minds. “I can get them wet again if you wish for us to hang them outside. Though, that would make them stiff, don’t you think?”
“It’s all right.” Maddy knew that they’d do that too. Mess something up when she’d been about to do it. “Where are the kids? Are they still doing their homework?”
