Page 53 of Defending Our Ever After

He’s right. In trying to protect him, Rachel, and Julia, we’ve done them a disservice.

“Aiden, can you please get the snowmobile and go pick up Lee?” I ask the man who has been my rock. “We need to put all of our cards on the table, and whatever we decide will affect him, so he should be here also. Tell him he should plan to stay the night.”

Chapter 18

Eddie

I hear the door open and instantly know it’s Trisha, so I stay still, holding my daughter as I continue to look out of the window. Coming up behind me, she cozies up to my left side where my free arm can slide around her.

“It’s one thing to know it might happen one day, it’s another thing to see it,” she whispers, looking up at me as she reaches up to run her finger up and down Sara’s leg. “He would have killed you.”

I feel the surge of adrenaline in my blood again and turn from her, putting Sara down in her crib. Thankful that she was oblivious to today’s events. Holding my daughter usually calms me, but I need something more tonight and looking back to Trisha I simply hold out my hand to her, tilting my head toward the bed.

“Are you alright?” Trisha questions me, but she must know my answer because she’s already removing her sweater and turning off the light.

“If you wouldn’t mind doing all the work?” I sign in return before I undo my pants and sit down on the edge of the bed to remove them.

I’m not going to lie. My entire body aches, and I drank nearly as much water as I ate food once I got back here, but more than that, my soul hurts.

Trisha, slides down on top of me, our fingers intertwined as that’s the only support I can offer her right now. I look down to where our bodies are joined and smile as I shift my gaze over her body and our eyes lock.

As she rides me, our eyes hold each other, relaying the feelings that we’ve yet to put into words. Seeing the connection, that I feel reflected in her eyes cements our fledgling relationship in my mind, more solidly than anything I’ve ever experienced before.

It’s only when her eyelids shift to half-mast, then slide all the way down, that I realize she’s about to come. I smile and thrust my hips upwards, trying to help her climax even when pain courses through my leg. I know I won’t be joining her tonight, but I’ve already found my pleasure from feeling this tied to a woman such as her, even in the midst of all this darkness.

Later, when I’m mostly asleep and as she’s curled into my side, Trisha’s lips press against my chest, and she whispers words I’ll never forget. “Don’t feel guilty. You came back to us, like you promised you would.”

*

Rolling over the next morning, I feel the warmth from where Trisha recently vacated her space by my side and am treated to a sight that makes my heart expand within its confines.

Trisha is sitting in the old rocking chair, cradling my daughter in one arm as she holds a bottle with her other hand. It’s Sara that notices me watching them and stretches one of her little hands in my direction—only briefly, as she’s enjoying her bottle too much.

“Good morning,” I mouth the words when Trisha looks at me and she sends me a wink.

“I got up to pee and this little princess was reaching for the duck,” Trisha tells me, tilting her chin over her shoulder to indicate the mobile that Mike had found stored away in one of his outbuildings. “She’s obsessed with that one.”

She’s right, the duck is the animal that Sara always reaches for when she’s in her crib. I open my mouth to ask her to bring Sara to bed in between us when someone knocks heavily on our door.

“There’s movement on the road. Alert Two.” Aiden’s tone of voice relays the importance of his message and I instantly sign, ‘alert two’, to Trisha.

The playfulness in her eyes instantly changes to show she understands this isn’t a drill. We’ve had many of those, with different actions taken based on which of the three levels of alert that the messenger carries.

Alert Two tells me that there’s a well-armed force of people approaching and that their numbers are greater than our own.

Trisha bundles Sara up before pulling on her own layers, and the second I’m dressed, I pull the baby’s go-bag out of the closet. Reaching my hand around Trisha’s head, I give her a hard kiss.

*

Reaching the door, Mike hands me a small pack, that I know will have food, water, and weapons in it. Everyone’s face has similar grim expressions and I know this is still a lot to take after yesterday.

“Are you alright if you have to fight?” Mike asks me and I assess my body, knowing that they’ll shift me out to cover the barn with Dylan if I have any doubts.

“I still hurt, but I can take the blind I had planned on,” I answer. It’s a hell of a climb up there, but until yesterday, I was the best shot here and had always planned on taking our snipper post.

“Dad ran through the plans with us last night, so we’ll stay out of your way,” Max tells me. “Besides, we’re excited to see what toys Lee brought over here.”

“Where’s Rachel?” I ask, looking around.

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