Page 71 of Better Day

“They’re only about five minutes away, so I’ll meet them outside and then bring them in. Hopefully Bessy might stay asleep a little longer.”

“You wish, I’m surprised she isn’t already up. Remember, she’s your daughter. Nothing gets past her.” We walk together toward the kitchen where I can smell that Cassie has already been up and cooking, ready for their arrival. Maybe Bessy isn’t the only one that’s excited. “I need to change Eli, so I will meet you out here after that. Don’t want to overwhelm them as soon as they get out of the car.”

As she turns and heads back to the nursery, my phone alerts me of the car coming up to the gate, and pushing the button to open it, my heart takes a little skip of a beat. I have to trust that I haven’t just let the outside world in and brought the danger with it.

I should have guessed the dogs would have picked up on the noise of the car coming down the drive. As I open the door, they are out past me and barking as they bound down the stairs to the man I have missed and the woman who has captured his heart. I can see it in his eyes.

“Ace and Bandit, do not lick them to death,” I call, trying to get them to heel like they are supposed to with strangers, but I’m guessing they can sense these two aren’t any threat.

Our back-and-forth banter is already starting as I reach forward and drag Bull into a hug. I’m not sure who needed it more, me or him, but everything we couldn’t say out loud is felt in every second of the embrace.

Since this morning there has been movement in Asha’s case, and I need to get Bull up to speed, but there’s time for that. Bringing them through the front door, it still makes me smile every time I look out at the view of the valley, through the floor-to-ceiling windows, which I never told Cassie about, but they’re bulletproof. The dogs are still trailing Asha and have attached to her already. She has a gentle side, I can already see. That blonde hair is such a contrast to Cassie, but the eyes are the same, warm and loving.

I think feeding them and some caffeine is a good start, while I start explaining about the cabin they will be staying in. After we moved into this house and Cassie and Bessy settled into a routine, we went back and fixed up the cabin, just in case one day we had a need to use it. We’d hoped it would be for visitors, but I should have guessed it would be for someone on the run. I mean, what else is this property for?

Before I get to finish settling them in, I hear her feet and know I finally get to share my news with my best friend. I just hope he can forgive me for keeping them a secret from him all this time. I’m not sure how I would feel if the tables were reversed.

“Daddy?” Her soft little voice is behind me, coming out of the hallway. Turning, I see her little brown ringlets that I adore bouncing as she is running toward me now. Putting my arms out, she climbs me like a tree and is clinging on to both her stuffed bear and me at the same time.

The look from Kurt is pure shock, which I don’t think I have ever seen from him before.

“Morning, my precious girl. Did you sleep well?” I pull her in for a snuggle which I’m not sure is to calm her or me.

Introducing her to Kurt and Asha goes well, and I can tell she is not scared one bit at having strangers in the house, chatting away to them.

“Where’s Mommy, Bessy?” Because I feel like part of me is missing in the room. Hearing her voice has me watching Kurt again. The poor guy looks like he is either going to pass out or punch me, and he can’t decide which it is.

As Cassie introduces herself and Eli to both Asha and Kurt, I almost breathe a sigh of relief, as Kurt is replying to her in our usual banter, but he makes sure he is looking straight at me as he says the last words.

“The big fella here has a lot of explaining to do later.” Kurt is shaking Cassie’s hand, and the smiles on Cassie and Asha’s faces already tell me there is a kindred spirit between them. One that they are about discover and rely on as the days in front of us get more intense.

And they always do. Nothing stays the same.

We just have to ride the wave and hope for a better day ahead.

ChapterSeventeen

CASSIE

Ican’t even describe the feeling of having another woman here the last few days. And not just any woman. Someone who understands me and my life. I don’t have to pretend with her. She gets it.

Seeing Asha and Kurt with the kids has been amazing. It gave me flutters in my stomach and a warm buzz in my heart. I haven’t seen Bessy interact with other adults like this, and it brought tears to my eyes just watching the joy on her face every single second. I don’t know how I’m going to handle Bessy when they leave, and I just hope they can come back soon. Unfortunately, I know nothing is guaranteed in this life.

Things have turned bad again for Asha and the situation she is running from, so they are preparing to go a lot sooner than we were hoping. But Ghost has promised me that no matter where they are, I can video call Asha as much as I like, and Bessy can talk to her too. He doesn’t know how much that means to both of us. I have done my best, but this is a lonely place at times. I didn’t realize how much I missed a woman to talk to until she arrived, and I feel like I’ve known Asha my whole life. It makes sense really, with the boys being so close, that naturally the women they love will get along too.

“Stay safe and give them hell. I can’t lose you now,” I whisper in her ear as I give her the last hug, knowing they will be gone in the early-morning light. I try to hold the tears in because we can’t let Bessy know, she thinks she is just saying good night. Asha is hanging on to me just as tightly as I am to her.

“I’ll be back, I promise. They won’t beat me, not with Kurt and Ghost on my side.” Looking at me one last time before we pull apart, we are then both drawn into our guys’ embraces.

I’m getting sick of life’s twists and turns. When will we be able to live a normal life? I’ve almost forgotten what that’s like. What even is a normal life?

I turn and walk away, Eli in my arms, holding him just a little tighter now. Bessy is skipping down the hallway in front of me like she doesn’t have a care in the world. I wish I felt the same. Feeling another headache coming on, I know the stress is taking a toll on me again. They seem to be getting more intense, but I’m not telling Ghost that, he’ll worry, and he doesn’t need that on top of everything else right now. Kurt and Asha are his main priority, along with whoever else he is keeping safe at the moment, because there is always someone. More accurately, there are usually numerous others. Hopefully they are all under control so he can be fully invested in this one. Ghost wouldn’t survive if something happened to Bull and now Asha too.

I don’t know all the details, and because it doesn’t involve me, I don’t need to. What I do know, though, is that come early morning, they will be gone, and Ghost will be in his bunker until it’s over. I wouldn’t expect anything less.

Wrapping Eli tightly and placing him carefully down in his crib, I give him his last kiss of the night on his forehead and send the same prayer out to the universe I do every night. That if anything should happen to me that my family will be safe. My biggest hope is that my children live a long, happy, healthy, and safe life. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone, and I hope it won’t be their whole life either.

Walking out of the nursery, I hear Bessy already reading a story to herself in her own words. She is reading a little, and I have tried hard to teach her, but I’m not a teacher, and to be honest, I don’t want to be. My little independent girl is going to need someone else to do that. She is going to have Ghost’s brains, and that means as she gets older, she will be ahead of me and what I can do to keep that mind interested. It would be easy to say that’s Ghost’s job, but that won’t work either. His work keeps him busy, and we never know when he is going to disappear into his world and not surface for a few days. And the other reason is that I have a sneaky suspicion that as Bessy gets older, or should I call her mini-Ghost, there are going to be many times that they will be butting heads. Both thinking they’re right about something and neither giving an inch. I’m definitely not looking forward to that time of our lives. Thank God that Eli is much more placid, and I hope he stays that way. Not that I can say he takes after me. Ghost will be the first to say that my stubbornness and temper will get in my way at times. Let’s be honest, it’s more than a few times, but hey, it helped me to get my man and survive the last seven years.

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