Page 79 of Grissom
“And that’s where she’s going to stay for the rest of her life,” Grissom declared.
“Promise?” Tanner whispered, shaking so hard it brought tears to Tuesday’s eyes.
She pulled him into the new and improved McCoy family huddle, and Grissom quickly settled Tanner on his thigh. “Like your dad said, we don’t know all the details yet, sweetheart, but your other mother” —man, how she loved saying that— “will never see you again.
Tanner’s cheeks puffed with a big, “Good, cuz I don’t ever wanna see her again neither.”
“Me too,” Luke whispered, his fingers twisting a knot into the neckline of Tuesday’s sweater top. “She made my tummy hurt, and sometimes at night, I get ascared, and I hafta climb intoTanner’s bed with him. And sometimes, I have a accident and I cry, but just a little.”
Tanner laid a brotherly hand on Luke’s shoulder. “I don’t mind if you sleep with me every night. We fit pretty good in just one bed, even when you bring all your trucks. I got lots of room, and I don’t mind helping you get into clean pajamas neither. I even know how to change sheets cuz Dad taught me.”
Tuesday heard Grissom’s sharp intake of air and his whispered, “Fuck.”
“And Tanner telled me that somethings scare the crap out of all us guys,” Luke continued as if he wasn’t breaking his dad’s heart by revealing how traumatized he’d been. “And sometimes, us guys know what’s scaring us, but sometimes, we don’t know, Daddy. But he telled me he’ll always listen to me even when I’m crying. Every time. Anytime.”
Tuesday tipped her nose into the curve of Grissom’s neck where it joined with his shoulder. He was struggling to contain his feelings. She could feel the vibration of his heart cracking down deep in his chest. The words Luke had just said were important. Grissom knew them from somewhere; might’ve said them to Tanner, maybe more than once. And Tanner had wisely passed them to Luke, in his three-year-old hour of need. When monsters came lying and screaming in the middle of the night. When the closest person he had to cling to was his big brother.
Grissom buried his face in Tuesday’s hair, hiding his tears like the tender-hearted man he was. With a soft growl, he wrapped his arms around her and the boys.Their boys. Together they sat in the middle of the McCoy kitchen floor. Holding each other. Holding each other up. Just being there. For each other. Like a family.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Six days later
Man, he was tired. Home again, safe and sound, and feeling like a TEAM operator once more. Grissom dropped his gear inside his front entry and keyed in the new code to activate his security system, a string of numbers so long Luke wouldn’t be able to remember them. The little guy was smart, but he’d learned his lesson. Poor Luke was skittish now. He jumped now whenever the doorbell rang.
This mission had been an easy, quick in-and-out to spirit thirty-plus Afghan HVTs out of their now-Taliban-controlled country. Among them Arzad’s granddaughter Najela, her husband, and children. Arzad, a longtime friend of Alex, was already in America, having escaped Afghanistan months earlier. The others were Afghan friendlies who’d risked their lives helping American soldiers in the war against the Taliban. Tonight, they were safe and on their way to becoming American citizens.
God bless Alex. He never had any trouble telling the cancel culture media where to shove their toxic political agenda. With President Adams’ knowledge, he’d already funded several clandestine forays into Afghanistan, in the name of humanity, never politics. The press had a field day when they discovered that a private defense contractor, the same man who’d recently been tagged to become the country’s next Vice President, achieved what the US military failed to do. People were all that mattered. Not politicians. Alex still served America, not himself. Grissom wished more Americans were like him.
Locking his gear with its firearms, ammo, and assorted weaponry in the reinforced entryway closet, Grissom’s nostrils flared. His stomach growled.What is that delicious aroma?
He came to a full stop in the middle of his family room, overcome by how different his house felt. How good. How sweet. There was no tension in the air. No underlying current of fear or drama. No little boys’ stilted silence, either. The most amazing sound drifted down from the loft. Grissom had never heard it before. He cocked his head to be sure he wasn’t dreaming.
Tanner’s giggling?The rumble of a sloppy raspberry being blown into some little guy’s neck or tummy joined that breathtaking giggle. Tuesday had to be the maestro behind that heart-stirring music. Because that was what his boys were making—the most beautiful music a father could hope to hear.
“Do it again!” Luke chortled so hard, he coughed and choked a little, but then said in a hoarse voice, “You’re making me laugh, Too-Day! I wub it!”
‘I wub it, too,’Grissom thought, standing there frozen, like an idiot.
He looked to the loft, speechless. He hadn’t showered while he’d been gone. There hadn’t been enough time, but he was damned tempted to run upstairs and hug everyone before he hit the head. His boys would be happy to see him, and of course he’d brought a few trinkets for them. Not from Afghanistan, there were no souvenirs there worth dragging home. But from the first 7-11 store he came across on his drive home from Joint Base Andrews, where the Air Force C-130 that brought everyone home landed.
Common sense prevailed. There was no way he would crash this party until he’d washed the grit and stink of Afghanistan off his skin and out of his hair. He needed a trim and a shave. Toothpaste and mouthwash would feel damned good. Clean, fresh-smelling clothes wouldn’t hurt. He headed for his room,kicked out of his work boots, peeled his t-shirt over his head, and dropped everything outside the bathroom door, in a smelly pile he might have to burn later.
His homecoming took an unexpected turn when he closed the bathroom door and was treated to the lacy red bra dangling off the hook behind the door. His cock twitched with delight. Well, well, well. Looked like Tuesday had moved in. The army of delicate bottles, a pink crystal atomizer, a hairbrush, and cans of mousse and hairspray decorating the vanity made his smile wider and his cock harder. The pink, poofy bath sponge hanging by a ribbon from the shower faucet broke the house. Hot damn. He’d never experienced this simple act of feminine sharing before. Made him feel like he was already married—again. To the right woman.
Lifting his face to the ceiling, he whispered to The Man Upstairs, “I owe You one.”
Once in the shower, he cranked the tap to extra hot and commenced lathering. His beard was itchy and too long to be comfortable. It needed to be trimmed and washed down the drain. He had his face in the shower spray when a puff of cool air hit his backside. Just when he thought life couldn’t get any better, Tuesday stepped into the spray with him and closed the frosted glass panel behind her beautiful bare ass.
“Welcome home,” his very naked woman whispered, pressing her luscious body into his open arms and trailing her fingers over his chest.
With his blood on fire, Grissom cupped her full breasts and buried his face between them. “I’ve missed you,” he muttered, kissing and nipping those succulent tips, kneading them into rigid peaks before he sucked them into his mouth.
“I can see that,” she groaned, arching back, effectively shoving her tits down his greedy throat. “And them? Did you miss them, too?”
“If you mean these perky girls” —he gave each nipple a full-mouthed bite— “hell, yes, I missed all of you. Are the boys occupied for a minute or two?”Or more.
“I told them I was checking on dinner, but they know you’re coming home today.”
