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“Kills?” Ruby’s eyes fly to Tank’s. “What kind of game are you playing?” Tank can hear the blatant concern in her voice.
“They play war with laser tag vests,” Tank informs her. “All the kids of the team play when they all get together. Not to brag, but Ellie is really good.” He shakes his head, remembering the last time they’d all gotten together and played. Ellie was taking out grown men with ease. She could hide and do a sneak attack. She’d have your vest lighting up before you even knew she was around. “She can even out do the adults.” Ruby looks down at the girl with admiration before turning back to him.
“She seems awfully young to be playing such a violent sounding game.” Tank is a little concerned Ruby will think poorly of them for allowing the children to play in such a way, but this is the life they live. All of the guys and their wives are on board with teaching the children gun safety from a young age. While many people think civilians shouldn’t have guns, Tank knows from his time in service good people with guns aren’t a danger to society. It’s the criminals who are the danger. Taking guns from responsible gun owners only makes it easier for the criminals to do their evil deeds. Worse than that, it allows corrupt governments to rule the way they want without regard for their people. It’s the very reason the Second Amendment is in the Constitution. Tank believes in the constitution and the rights bestowed therein, and he’ll defend them to his dying day. However, he respects Ruby’s thoughts and opinions on the matter. He’ll just have to explain it to her and see how she feels about it. He fully intends, when they have children, he will teach them gun safety and how to defend themselves. He just needs Ruby to be in agreement with him.
“I suppose it does sound violent.” Tank begins forming his argument in his mind as he speaks. “We, meaning the guys on the team, wanted to teach the boys gun safety. So we bought a bunch of laser tag vests and guns. The kids all understand when you’re hit, you ‘die’, you’re out of the game. We show them how easy it is to accidentally shoot someone by mistake and to never aim a gun at someone or something you don’t intend to kill. If they point or handle their weapon in an unsafe manner, they are taken out of the game and made to watch while everyone else has fun. Guns are a huge part of our lives on the team. We all have our own personal protection and never leave home without it. We all keep our weapons secured, but it’s best the kids respect and understand how to safely handle them. Guns don’t kill people. People kill people. It’s our responsibility to teach children how to safely handle them.” Before Ruby can respond, Ellie pipes up.
“Yeah, Robert and Uncle Tank taught me if I ever find a gun laying around don’t touch it. Call a growed-up for help.” Ellie looks pleased with herself for remembering her lesson.
“That’s right Ellie.” Tank smiles down at the girl. “What do you do if one of your friends tries to play with a real gun?”
“Run away and get a growed-up!” Ellie declares. “Now I’m ready to go to school.” Ruby still looks thoughtful about the whole thing, but she doesn’t look totally freaked out or disgusted. He hopes she’ll be accepting to his way of thinking, but now isn’t the time to ask her how she wants to raise their future children.
“Okay let’s get your lunch made.” Tank gets the loaf of bread, peanut butter, and jelly out to make Ellie her favorite sandwich. “Ruby, will you help Ellie put some baby carrots in a Ziplock bag?” She moves to the fridge extracting the bag from the vegetable drawer. Ellie drags a chair over to the counter and climbs up to get two Ziplock sandwich bags for her lunch. They all work together getting her lunch ready. Tank’s phone begins to ring about the time they’re finishing up packing Ellie’s lunch bag. He drops her bottle of water into the bag before pulling his phone from his back pocket. Checking the screen, he sees Charlotte is calling.
“Evans,” Tank answers before putting the phone on speaker.
“Good morning, Tank.” Charlotte’s voice comes over the line. “Do you need me to come by and get Ellie ready for school?” Ellie chimes in before Tank can get a word out.
“I’m ready, Mrs. Charlotte,” Ellie yells from across the kitchen. “Ruby got me ready. She put my hair up in a ponytail as good as Momma does.”
“Ohh, really?” Tank rolls his eyes. The cat’s out of the bag. Charlotte will be all over them now. He grins as he remembers how she plotted and schemed getting Straw and Abigail some “alone” time when they were in California. Charlotte has a big heart, and she’s taken it upon herself to be the mother hen of their growing group. It’s her mission in life to get all of the men on the team married off for a happily ever after, just as she and Hawk are. He used to find it a little annoying, but if she helps him get Ruby, he’ll be nothing but grateful. “Ruby is there? Right now?”
“Yes, I’m here Charlotte,” Ruby replies her face a pretty shade of pink. “I heard about Abigail’s accident, and I thought Tucker might need help with Ellie.” Charlotte lets out a little squeal. The phone line is muffed as she speaking to someone in the back ground before coming back on the phone.
“I’m so glad you are there to help them, Ruby,” Charlotte says. “I can still come by and pick her up if you want…Tucker.” Tank rolls his eyes, well shit. Now Charlotte is going to call him by his given name, which means all the rest of the women will follow suit. He smiles. He isn’t really that upset about it. He’s happy to have these women in his life and soon Ruby will be just as integral a part as the rest of them.
“That’s okay, Charlotte,” Tank replies. “Ruby and I will take her, but we can get the boys for you if you’d like.”
“No that’s okay. I’m volunteering at the school today,” Charlotte replies. “How about Ellie comes over tonight for a sleepover?”
“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Ellie shrieks in delight as she begins jumping up and down. “Please, Uncle Tank? Please?”
“I’ll have to ask Straw, but if he says it’s okay, and I’m sure he will, then yeah, you can go.” Ellie continues to bounce around the kitchen while Tank finishes his conversation with Charlotte. When he is finished, he shoots Straw a text getting a green light reply. “Let’s go up and get your clothes to spend the night at Hawk’s.” Tank pockets his phone once more. He looks up to see Ellie dragging Ruby out of the kitchen and toward the stairs. Shaking his head, he follows the pair up the stairs to Ellie’s room. He gets her overnight bag out while the girls are getting her clothes, toothbrush, and Mr. Snugglebutt ready to go. When they finally have everything packed, he makes sure they have Ellie’s backpack, lunch bag, and her overnight bag as they head out to the garage and get into this truck.
Forty-five minutes later, he’s pulling out of the school parking lot after dropping Ellie off and meeting up with Charlotte to give her Ellie’s overnight bag. He glances over at Ruby before focusing on the road. She’s such a trooper. Charlotte had been enthusiastic when meeting Ruby again but thankfully didn’t ask as many nosey questions as Tank had expected.
“So, what do you have planned for today?” Tank asks as they approach a red light. He pulls the truck to a stop and looks over at the beautiful woman sitting in the passenger seat.
“Hank, Bill, and I are planning to get together to practice some songs,” Ruby replies looking over at him. “We thought we’d start rehearsing for the fundraiser. I know it’s a little early, but I wasn’t sure how much rehearsal time we will get, so, as they say, ‘no time like the present’.”
“Yeah, my grandpa always says, ‘make hay while the sun shines’.” Tank smiles to himself thinking about his grandparents. He makes a mental note to himself to call Grammy later today to see when he can bring Ruby to meet them. Grammy and Pa will be so happy for him. Grammy’s always complaining she’s going to die before he can make her a great-grandma. He glances back at Ruby to see she’s smiling at him.
“You have a good relationship with your grandparents, don’t you?” Her eyes look sad. Perhaps she’s thinking of her own grandparents. He wonders why she hadn’t turned to them when whatever happened all those years ago occurred and sent her on the run.
“I do,” Tank answers. “They are close to Straw, too. My grandparents took him in when his grandmother, who was raising him, passed away from cancer. We drove them crazy before we both joined the service. I’d love for you to meet them. I know they’re going to love you.”
34
RUBY
Ruby feels her face heating. Tucker has just said he wants her to meet his grandparents, which is basically his parents since they raised him after his parents died in a car accident when he was just a little boy. God, she really wants to meet them. The people who helped to mold Tucker into the exceptional man he is today. More and more, Ruby is feeling like she needs to let go of her fear. She needs to trust Tucker to be able to handle her past and her family’s business.
“I’d like to meet them, too,” Ruby blurts out before she allows herself to change her mind.
“Great!” Tucker replies. “I’ll call Grammy today and see when a good time for them would be.” Ruby nods. It’s more than time to stop hiding and start living, but she’s still afraid. Afraid of the Russos, her father, and the mess he got her into by basically selling her off to the Russo family. “I have to head to base. You want me to take you back to my house or can I drop you where you’ll be rehearsing?”
“Just drop me at the shelter. I’ll be able to catch the guys there, and we’ll decide where to rehearse,” Ruby says as Tucker makes the turn to take them to the shelter. A few minutes later, he’s turning into the parking lot. When he’s parked, he gets out to come around and help her down. He walks her to the back door of the shelter.
