Page 124 of Smooth Sailing

“Thank you,” I heard her whisper the first words she said to him.

And the new look on Eight’s face both gutted me and restored my faith in humanity.

“My honor, little one,” he muttered.

Oh shit, it was happening again.

I was going to cry.

I jumped when Hugger slung an arm around my shoulders and tucked me to his side.

We watched as she did the same with Muzzle but with Linus, Core, Dutch, Jagger and Roscoe, who she didn’t know as well, she just waved.

Muzzle was the last out the door, but he left his head inside it and said to Maddy, “Every second you live good and strong, babe, you beat them. Keep kicking their asses, Maddy. You got this.”

Maddy emitted a soft sob.

Elias wrapped his arms around his girl.

Muzzle disappeared from the door.

Hugger and I were at our respective sinks in the bathroom, each of us brushing our teeth.

Why did I love looking in the mirror and seeing Hugger at my side with toothpaste foam in his beard?

“Di?”

At Maddy calling my name from the bedroom, I turned to look at Hugger in person, before I spit, rinsed, wiped, and left the bathroom.

Maddy was standing just inside the door.

“All good?” I asked, going to her.

“Can I ask you to do something?”

“Anything.”

When I said that, something washed over her face, something warm and wonderful, and sad and sorrowful, before she reached out and took my hand.

She fiddled with my fingers while she watched.

But she didn’t say anything.

“Maddy, you okay?” I asked.

She lifted her head. “Don’t get up and say goodbye to us in the morning.”

I felt like I’d been punched in the sternum.

“Maddy,” I whispered.

“I can’t say goodbye to you, Di.”

Damn it!

I’d managed to hold them at bay when the guys left, but I wasn’t sure I could do it this time.

“We go to sleep, like normal, except Mama and Daddy are here,” she stated. “Then you wake up, and I’m gone.”

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