Page 39 of Painting Together a Family
“Okay. I’m good. I can watch the boys.” Marley was shaking so badly that he knew better.
“I know you can, but I won’t go until Jennie gets here. In fact, because she’s coming, do you want to come with me to look out for your dad?” That way, he could keep a close eye on her, helpher deal so she didn’t have to keep being strong for everyone else.
“I—Can I?”
“No. No, Marley. Please! I don’t know the other person! I need you here in case someone comes back!” Juni was melting down.
He took her back into his arms and held her tight. “I’m not going anywhere until Jennie gets here and then you can meet her and we can decide then, okay?” He was just trying to do the right thing for all of them.
His boys were just sitting there wide-eyed, clearly not sure at all what was happening, but picking up on the girls’ moods.
“There you go. Let’s—” Marley took a shaky breath. “Let’s go watch a movie. Something fun.”
“Wonderful idea.” He tried to remember if the front hall looked okay, decided it would be good enough and led the kids out to the living room with its huge couches and the big TV. “What do you guys all want to watch?”
The boys were wide-eyed, but Marley smiled. “Have you guys seenRobin Hood? It’s an old movie from when my granny was a kid.”
Bless her, Marley was a trooper.
“Okay,” Dylan said and Micah nodded, willing to go along with whatever his big brother wanted.
Juni grabbed hold of his hand, squeezing tight.
He smiled at her and held on, sitting with the four of them on one of the couches as Marley got the movie going. It took the attention of his boys and Juni well enough. He sighed inwardly and tried not to worry too hard about Dev, but now that he knew the kids were as okay as they could be, his thoughts kept going to Dev and the bruise coming up on his face, the paleness of the skin around it.
The house phone rang, and Marley answered it. “Your friend is here, I think, but you should answer it.”
He nodded and took the phone from her. “Hello?”
“Bryan. It’s me. I’m here. With tacos, as promised.”
“Jennie. Thank goodness. Come on up.” He looked to Marley. “Is there a button I press or something?”
“You tell the security guy it’s cool.”
“Okay.” He spoke back into the phone. “Jennie, put security on the line, please.”
“Yes, sir?”
“It’s cool. Send her up.”
“Yes, sir.”
Okay, that was handy as hell. Honestly. It was just too bad the security guard had let Grant up without calling up first.
He slid off the couch and went to the door to let Jennie in.
She was like a breath of fresh air, honestly, flowing in with bags of tacos and cookies. “I’m here!”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you. I owe you big-time, lady. Come in and meet the girls.” He led her back to the living room. “Hey, girls, this is Jennie. Jennie—Marley and Juniper.”
“Hey, ladies. Thanks for letting me come over. I was craving tacos.”
“Marley burned the tacos, and Daddy went to the hospital,” Juni said, and Marley’s eyes went wide.
“The two were not related,” he assured Jennie. “We had an unwanted visitor who spoke with his fists.” He leaned in and whispered, “Grant,” to her.
It was Jennie’s turn to go wide-eyed. “Oh, hell no.”
