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“When I got drafted, I couldn't…I couldn't stand the thought of leaving Leah alone.” I look towards Grace, knowing my words will hurt her but not wanting to. “I was afraid to after the way she reacted to Grace being drafted last year.”
Like I knew they would, her eyes fill with tears.
“So, we ran.”
Those tear-filled eyes widen with absolute alarm. “You what? You…”
“I had to. But we got caught, and the president told me either Leah would come down here in my place, we would both be sent to prison, or I could put on a smile for the cameras and come down here as I was supposed to. I chose to come down, with the understanding that Leah would be allowed to go home and receive the money due to her. But I didn't trust him. I told Leah to run if she felt they were going to do anything to her. I don't know. Maybe she tried to run, and they caught her. Maybe he never even let her leave the processing center. Maybe—" I run my hands down my face. “I don't fucking know what happened.”
“Whatever it is,” Warzo begins, “it sounds like it's their fault, not yours. For Kayo to do something like this, he had to have found her in a very bad situation.”
“Something like what exactly?” Linc questions.
Olex answers. “He killed three men to, as they put it, take her.”
“Leah must be terrified.”
“Kayo would never hurt her,” Nicole is quick to tell me.
“I know. I mean that she has no idea what's going on. That all she knows is what our government has told us. There's no clue about where they even are?”
“We have looked everywhere,” Olex says. “We can only wait for Kayo to bring her home.”
A baby cries and I look towards the noise.
“Go, meet your nephew.” Linc gently nudges me. “I will come in a minute.”
“I'll join you ladies,” Nicole states, helping me out of my chair on suddenly very unstable feeling legs.
Linc gives me a smile as we walk towards the cry. Grace opens the door and inside of a wooden cradle is the cutest baby I have ever seen. Dark grey skin, a black tongue sticking out with his wailing. I expect two teeny tiny horns at his hairline, but instead I find the beginnings of horns forming all along the top of his head, in a circle, forming a crown of sorts, black hair in the middle of it, spilling over it. His eyes are closed, light gray tears on his chubby cheeks.
“Oh, did my little man have a nightmare?” Grace coos and I start at hearing her speak in a voice that I haven't heard her use since Leah was a newborn. It brings so many memories rushing back.
She picks him up, and Nicole smiles at him over her shoulder, and he immediately stops crying, just fussing in her arms.
“I have someone very important for you to meet,” Grace says with a smile. “You remember I told you about your aunt Keri, that if anyone ever bothered you, she would beat them black and blue for you?” I chuckle as she continues, “Well, she agreed to give your uncle Linc the privilege of her staying, so she's here to meet you now.”
She extends him to me and I'm suddenly afraid to hold him. He's so small. I haven't held a baby since I was a toddler myself.
“Are you sure?” I whisper.
“Of course I'm sure.” Grace gives me a soft smile.
I take my nephew from her and cradle him in my arms. His eyes open, completely blue, a piercing blue that makes my own eyes widen at how stunning they are.
“I know.” Grace giggles. “I had the same reaction the first time I saw them. They're…striking, to say the least.”
“Utterly beautiful,” I add. “All of him, utterly beautiful. Was labor hard?”
“Hardest thing I've ever had to do.”
“But you're already ready to do it again,” Nicole snickers.
“Don't tell your son that.” Grace chuckles.
Then, whatever else they say gets lost as I stare into Bazin's eyes, and think of when I'll be holding mine and Linc’s baby.
Chapter 10
