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“This is so pretty,” I tell her, letting her pull it from my hands when she grows reluctant to give it up. “Thank you, Sutton.”
“Me!” she says, the paper fluttering to the floor as she once again presses her palm to her chest. “Me!”
Luca comes over next, handing me a coloring sheet with Batman on it.
“I missed you. I didn’t think you’d come back,” he says.
I thank him for the thoughtful gift and pull him in for another hug. I stop short of promising him I’ll always come home because I wouldn’t want him to feel betrayed if there ever comes a time that I can’t.
“I love you, Luca.”
“Love you, too,” he says, but in the next breath, he’s distracted by a toy another kid is playing with.
“They didn’t have Spiderman,” Jace says, sadness in his voice as he walks up to me. “But this is the other side of Luca’s so it makes a full scene.”
I hold both pages up to each other, side by side. “I love it. Thank you. It was so thoughtful of you to color this for me.”
His cheeks turn a light shade of pink, and it kills me that the child doesn’t know how to be praised for doing something for others. I know it’s something Vincent has been working on. He told me once that Jace looks a little scared when he does anything, probably afraid he’ll get into trouble for doing something wrong. We’ve been cognizant enough to praise him often and to make suggestions on how to change things if he makes a mistake. He’s come a long way in the last month, but he still has a way to go.
“Is it okay if I go back to the toys?”
“Of course,” I tell him, growing surprised when he wraps me in one more hug before running back across the room.
“Gigi said they didn’t give her any trouble,” Em says when I cross the room to her. “Jace demanded to know where Sutton was sleeping and even made her take him in there so he could approve her accommodations before settling down himself the first night.”
“He’s a little nurturer,” I say, watching all three of them play. Even Luca is waiting patiently, playing with another toy until the other child is done with the one he wants. “I hate thinking about all the things they’ve gone through.”
“Children are resilient, but I would urge you guys to finalize the house plans. It’s a little unorthodox for them to live forever in the clubhouse.”
I blink in her direction. “Finalize?”
She takes a deep breath. “Stormy hasn’t spoken with you about it? Men, I swear.”
“We get distracted easily when we’re alone,” I confess.
She chuckles. “If you’re lucky, that doesn’t go away either.”
She winks at me conspiratorially.
One thing I have noticed about Cerberus men and women is that they love fiercely. I feel it from Vincent every time he’s near. His eyes are on me, and his hands are reaching for me if I’m too far away.
I love him. It hits me like a ton of bricks. I love him with a fierceness that has the ability to crush me under the grief if there ever comes a day when he doesn’t come home to me. I never wanted to be that vulnerable. Honestly, it’s a disservice to the kids if it ever happens.
I know Janet felt the same way. I know if she had to choose between leaving this earth with Carlen or staying behind, she’d choose Carlen without hesitation. Janet loved her kids dearly, but she always loved Carlen more.
I know I couldn’t crumble and give up, and maybe that’s the difference between my older sister and me. It doesn’t scare me any less, the risk of losing him, considering just how dangerous his job is.
“They’ll be home shortly,” Em says with a comforting pat on my back before she heads off to break up a tiff between two toddlers.
Chapter 35
Stormy
“This is the best we could do?” Kincaid snaps, his eyes dead ahead on the farmhouse just over a quarter of a mile away.
The highway patrol officer who’s standing in front of him looks incredibly annoyed but at least he has enough respect for Kincaid that he doesn’t pull rank. Technically, the highway patrol has jurisdiction. It’s a privilege for Cerberus to even be allowed within a mile of the roadblock.
We have it on authority that two of the four Keres MC members are in violation of their parole for leaving Missouri. That’s the reasoning behind the state police getting involved. If they weren’t in violation, the best that could be done was them being followed until they attempted to do something bad.
