Page 73 of Cold Foot Croc

He pulled her hand up to his lips and kissed the inside of her palm, then twitched his head toward the road.

She turned to find a newly-carved wooden sign that readSwamp.

She didn’t understand. “Where did that come from?” They were almost to the main road from the one that led down from the cabins.

“We made it.”

He turned by the sign, and sure enough, there was a newly-beaten one-lane dirt road.

“Who is we?” she asked, but she didn’t need to. Garret pulled into a clearing, and she gasped as she saw the huge pond. Earth-moving equipment was lined up on trailers to the right of the clearing, and the area around the pond had been cleared and leveled completely with the machinery.

There was a structure that looked like a small house across the pond, and beside it stood every single member of the Cold Foot Crew, and also Dylan.

“Me and Dylan came up with the idea,” Garret told her. “You told me your town had a fenced-off pond for you to Change inwhen you were younger. You shouldn’t have to plan a camping trip every time you Change. It shouldn’t be that hard for you.”

She couldn’t stop staring at the inviting water. There was steam coming off the top. “How is it not frozen?”

“Wreck invested in a pump that heats the water. We did some research on the comfortable temperature for crocodiles. And look.” He pointed way down the oval-shaped pond toward a structure that covered a big chunk. “It’s a heated bath house with water access, in case the air is ever too uncomfortable to Change in. We rushed in all the equipment and supplies. The Crew has been working their asses off to get it done for your first Change.”

“That’s where you’ve been disappearing to,” she whispered, tears burning her eyes.

“I took the week off work,” he admitted. “I’ve been out here.”

“And you got Dylan out here, hanging with the Crew,” she said with a thick laugh.

“He’s got to be involved. He’s my brother. He wants to be here.”

“I’m so happy,” she was barely able to whisper through the emotions clogging up her throat.

“Wait there, let me help you out,” he told her as he parked the truck in front of the small house. It was some kind of tiny home on wheels.

The ladies of the Crew were up front, waiting, and the guys were hanging loosely behind them, talking amongst themselves with Dylan. As Garret opened her door, she felt like every single thing was right with her world.

The effort that her people, her family, had put into this would never be lost on her.

Garret helped her out, then opened the back door and pulled Breah out, wrapped her in a blanket, and pulled her little beanie farther down her forehead. He handed Breah to Raynah andpressed his fingertips on the dip of her lower back, guiding her to the people she was beginning to truly love.

She couldn’t stop tearing up. Maybe it was the hormones still, or maybe it was the intensity of an open heart after having to be shut down for so long. The fight-or-flight survival part of her life was really done. It was really through.

The girls—Katrina, Timber, and Sasha—met her, and hugged her gently around the baby. They were all teared up too, and God, this moment. This moment.

The guys came and hugged her one by one as she uttered her thanks over and over. Dylan was last to hug her, and she nearly broke down in his embrace, just because of the look on his face as he beheld his niece for the first time. Oh, he was already wrapped around her little finger. “Can I hold her?”

She placed Breah gently in the cradle of his arms and stepped back, clasping her hands in front of her face as tears of happiness streamed down her cheeks. He couldn’t stop looking at her. Garret made his way to his brother, gripped his shoulder, and shook him gently, and Raynah could see it. Both of those men wore the same emotional expressions on their faces.

“Is the house for you?” she asked. “For when you stay out here with me?”

“Yes and no,” Timber said. “Want to see it?”

“Yeah. Give me the tour.”

“Okay. We all chipped in and got this in case you want any camping nights with Garret, or girls’ nights out here drinking canned margaritas and hanging out.” Timber pulled the door handle of the little house. “But…we mostly got it for Breah.”

Confused, Raynah climbed the narrow stairs behind Timber, following her inside.

And now she got it.

Where a couch would’ve gone, there was a baby crib. The place had electric and heat, and there was a little sign above the crib that said Breah’s name.

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