Page 20 of Defending Our Ever After

“Love ya, Firecracker.” I see the flash of his white teeth before he continues down the passageway.

I stop on the way back to the barn door. If I open it to look out, Lee could see me from the house. If he does come to the barn, the best thing would be for him to find me working; giving me a chance to waylay his suspicions.

In less than the five minutes I had given him, Russ is poking his head out of the storage room and crosses to join me.

“Come on, you get to muck the stalls and I’ll listen while you do that,” I say quietly, suddenly paranoid of being overheard.

“It’s just a bunker,” Russ tells me. “Bunkrooms, a common area and the rooms I told you about. No people in cages or dead bodies. I guess it doesn’t shock me that he has one.”

“No, I guess not. And it’s not like there’s any reason to have told us about it, we all know how private he is.”

“There was a door down at the far end with a combination lock. I was tempted to put in the same code as the one for the storage room, but it occurred to me that I had walked in the direction of the house and the last thing I wanted was to open the door to find Lee aiming a shotgun at me.”

“Truth,” I answer him.

“How do you want to play this?” he asks me next.

“We know nothing, we say nothing, and we keep our ears and eyes open.”

“Agreed,” he says. “I’ll finish this, then I’ll carry the milk to house. You get the chickens and pigs taken care of then wait for me to come back and get you.”

“Looks like Gramps is going to get some intel, after all,” I murmur.

Eddie

“Just to be clear,” I say slowly, trying so hard not to crack a grin as I lean back in my chair, and look at Mike. “You don’t have a bunker?”

“No, I don’t have a bunker.” Mike throws up his hands in annoyance. “My wife never got on board with that. And to be honest, most of the supplies—like the materials for the fence, were things I bought after she passed.”

“Well, I’m out,” Aiden deadpans, throwing his napkin on his plate and getting a chuckle out of Dylan. “I’ve been sticking around hoping that there would be a really cool secret lair or something. Julia, do you think Lee will take me in?”

Julia had briefed us all on Lee and his setup over dinner, while Russ and Jace took guard duty.

“Welcome to the club. I knew it was going to be a lame apocalypse as soon as I realized there weren’t any zombies.” Dylan nods his head solemnly, doing his best to look sad and most of us at least crack a smile when Aiden pats his shoulder, as if trying to console him.

Seeing Trisha looking confused, I start to sign the story to her, but Shelby reaches for my wrist. “God, no! She’ll think we’re all insane and flee.”

Julia leans forward so Trisha can clearly see her lips, “There’s too much snow to escape, she’s our hostage now.” Before laughing and rubbing her hands together.

“Darn, I had hoped to be on the road before you realized those weren’t birth control pills I gave you.” Trisha smiles serenely as the color nearly drains from Julia’s face and we all start laughing.

“Wait, you are kidding, right?” I sign to her as she puts the last bite of the chicken pot pie in her mouth, savoring it along with her first foray into messing with the Hughes family. I’m fairly certain the wink she throws me is a ‘yes’, but she’s enjoying the reception of her wit too much to say anything else.

“Rachel and Dylan, you’re on clean-up,” Mike gently reminds them to get everyone moving, but I know the bunker topic is far from done.

“Gramps,” Julia cocks her head to look at them, “Lee said he was going to talk to you. I’m done trying to find out why you two aren’t on good terms, but I want to ask you to try to put the past aside. I think it’s more important that we move forward together.”

“You’re right, honey. It’s well past time for that.” He sighs, and a shiver courses through my body.

My eyes dart to the door to see if it had opened, hoping that a draft was responsible for that sudden feeling, but the old saying about ‘someone walking over your grave’ pops into my head and I stand; suddenly eager to pick Sara up from her cradle, and wonder whenshebecamemysecurity blanket.

Having tuned out the ongoing conversation behind me, I gently rock my daughter in my arms as I stare into the fire.

I sense Trisha’s approach before she slides a finger into Sara’s tiny fist.

“Are you alright?” she asks me.

Not having had time to work through what suddenly bothered me so much, I simply nod my head and smile at her. Instead of being put off by my silence, Trisha stands with us; bringing her finger toward her mouth to kiss Sara’s fingers.

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