Page 95 of Out of Peril

“Do you guys have any questions or concerns about that?” I asked.

Dante shook his head. Then reconsidered.

“How do you seal a bond?”

“Oh boy, that's a question for another day when you're much, much older. Next,” Walker said in a panic.

“Well,” Maya started. “I guess I kind of do. I mean, what happens if he bonds with you? Will anything change? Can we still live with you guys? I like it here.”

Before I could say anything comforting, Dante interrupted.

“Don’t worry Maya. We're going to be fine. And they've already bonded, not just with each other, but with us too. Right, Walker?”

His mouth dropped open to speak but stalled in shock.

“Well, yeah,”

“See. They already sleep in the same bed and this place is already becoming our home. And they both already take care of us and love us and stuff. The only thing that's really going to change is that we have a dad now, officially.”

Maya lit up. “Can we call you Daddy, then?” she asked excitedly.

“I don't know,” he blurted out. “I'll leave that up to Lindsey.”

They both turned hopeful eyes towards me. This wasn't something we'd ever talked about.

“I guess if he doesn't mind, then that's okay.”

It stung a little to watch them attack him with hugs and kisses. I was happy for them, but they were my kids first.

Dante left Walker to hug me instead.

“We're going to be a real family now, Mom.”

“Mom?” I whispered.

“Well, yeah. I mean, Maya and I already call you that, just not to your face.”

“It's weird. I don't remember much before you,” Maya confessed. “So to me you've always been our mom and even though I know he's not my real brother, we've always been your twins.”

“And now we don't have to just think of you as our mom, we get to call you that too,” Dante said with absolute assurance.

They'd asked Walker if they could call him Dad, but they didn't need that assurance from me because they knew I would always be here to protect them. Tears pricked my eyes, and I tried desperately not to cry.

“It's okay, Mom. We're all going to be okay as long as we stick together as a family,” he continued, then leaned in closer to whisper in my ear. “I've already seen it.”

Those words had settled into my heart and brought me comfort through the night. Maybe not as much comfort as Walker's hands on my body had later that night after the kids were fast asleep, but a different sort of comfort, I supposed, that brought added calming to my soul.

I was still thinking about them the next day as we tried to instill a bit of normalcy to our crazy life. Shelby picked the kids up for school, but this time, I got up and made their lunches for them. And then Walker headed off to work, but not without hesitation.

“I can delay until after the Challenge.”

“That's not necessary. Besides, I want you to be there so we know exactly what the plan is. There's so much riding on this. You have so many people counting on you.”

“Me? You're the one with the tough job.”

I scoffed. “It's just a wolf. I could eat her for a midnight snack. I'm not worried about that.”

“I love you,” he said. “And I hope you have a great day. If you need anything at all, just call me on that new fancy cell phone we picked up at the store yesterday along with everything else we never needed.”

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