Page 15 of Defending Our Ever After

“That hurts,” he says, grabbing his heart with a big old grin on his face.

“Put your hands back in the air,” the unseen man yells, and my head snaps back toward the barricade when I notice the tone of his voice has completely changed. Adams immediately complies. “Good! Now,wave ‘em like you just don’t care.”

“And if you like fish and grits and all that pimp shit!” Adams attempts to rap the response, but his voice chokes up a little. “Shit, Reese, is that you, man?”

“Must be the fucking end of the fucking world if rednecks are using Outkast as a fucking password,” Javier yells, stomping his foot into the ground repeatedly, missing the first view of Reese.

This time, I don’t try to hide the grin on my face.

Not during times like this, when one of my friends takes off running—into the arms of the largest man I’ve ever seen, and he kisses the fuck out of him. Besides, considering Reese is about five shades darker than Javier, I’ll doubt there’ll be any more comments about rednecks mis-using late-90’s hip-hop.

Unfortunately, this stellar moment doesn’t last long.

Chapter 7

Shelby - December

Looking up from my current project, I see a woman I’ve never met enter the barn ahead of Julia and Eddie; I cross my fingers that it’s the nurse that Dale mentioned.

I had heard a truck earlier, and assumed it was Dale since no one sounded an alarm, but I needed to get more sand back to the hatchery that we built, as I’m not sure that the eggs are warm enough in here since the temperature has continued to plunge each night.

We only have two kerosene lamps that were small enough to heat, but not broil, the eggs. If I can successfully hatch at least half of the eggs on the trays, then we’ll be in better shape to accommodate our expanding population.

“Oh! Are you making chickens?” the woman asks after studying the area behind me for a split second. We all smile at how she phrased her question and I see Eddie turn to face her before telling me what I’ve guessed. “I saw a show about how to do this once!”

“Trisha’s a city girl.” He moves his lips distinctly, and I notice the glint in his eyes. Julia tries to catch my attention, but I have a feeling that she’s up to some mischief and I ignore her.

“I am! That’ll be more and more obvious the longer I spend in this barn,” she answers warmly, not at all upset over being teased so soon after her arrival. “You must be Shelby? I freaked your ex-husband out earlier when I thought it was Julia who was pregnant.”

“I’m sure you did,” I reply, without thinking to look directly at her.

Ed instantly signs what I’ve said before I continue, this time wiping my hands on a nearby cloth and moving to face her so she can read my lips.

“What’s easiest for you? Reading lips or Eddie signing?” I ask her directly.

“I appreciate you asking. As long as I’m notworkingor there aren’t too many people talking, I can read lips,” she says, before smiling at Eddie. “He is good, and even knows some slang signs that my sister doesn’t. For your initial exam, let’s keep it just us, but when you’re giving birth, I would like him to be present. I won’t be able to keep an eye on what’s happening and your mouth at the same time. Do you agree?”

“Absolutely. Eddie?” I say his name in question when I notice the color drain from his face.

“That hadn’t occurred to me. I mean watching you give birth.” His hands almost moving faster than his spoken answer. “I guess I have some time to prepare for it and maybe I can be angled so I don’t see your cootchie.”

Trisha outright laughs, but I know him well enough to tease him a bit.

“Great, I wouldn’t want my delivery to distress you in the slightest.” The moment the words leave my mouth I feel like shit, belatedly remembering that Sara’s mother didn’t survive the birth. “Oh God, Eddie. I never even asked, were you there when…”

“No. I was on a supply run and didn’t get back until the next day.” His response is softly spoken, yet his hands remain still this time. “There was just an older lady with her, we didn’t have anyone with medical training left by then.”

“I’m sorry,” I tell him, crossing the distance between us to give him a hug. “If you want to talk about it sometime.”

“All good, Shelby,” he says. “Aiden beat you to it. We had more than a bit of whiskey one night and, well, he’s one hell of a good listener.”

“He is and I’m glad you two get along.” Stepping back from him, I turn to face Trisha. “Has he told you how happy we are you’re here? You are staying, right? I suppose I should have asked that first.”

“I want to. I didn’t want to assume you all automatically would accept me just because I’m a nurse, but honestly, I don’t have any place left to go,” Trisha answers, and I appreciate her directness. “Of course, I know there are a lot of people who feel that way now.”

Eddie signs something to her and the two of them share a grin, but neither explain what he said.

“No fair!” Julia says, speaking up. “How am I going to learn if you two keep secrets?”

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