Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Pennsylvania
“Left hand, green.” I cackled as I watched Dean try to maneuver around Rita and Matteo.
“This isn’t going to be pretty, guys.” He smacked the plastic and promptly elbowed Rita in the chest.
“Hey! Watch it, or you don’t get to have time with the girls.”
“Mom!” Matteo was well and truly scandalized.
Owen was sitting beside me, in charge of spinning the arrow. Olivia wanted to play Twister, but had only lasted three moves before her short limbs forced her out. She’d taken to her role of referee well.
Loud music started playing from Rita’s pocket. “Shit, I have to get that.”
“Bad word.” Owen whispered it so low, I swore it was only for his own ears.
“Forfeiting?” Dean crowed. “I will be victorious.”
Of course Rita wasn’t one to be petty…yeah, right. She stood and pushed him over, making Matteo the winner.
“Cheater!” Dean yelled as Rita answered her call and left the room.
Gideon descended the stairs and took the seat on the other side of Owen.
“Hey, buddy.” Owen laid his head on Gideon’s arm.
He was looking a lot better. No swelling, bruises were healing well. He still wore a bandage on his hand, but he said it was so the skin didn’t get irritated while he used it.
“Uncle Gid, I won.” Matteo plopped next to him.
“This game is rigged!” Dean laughed and took a seat on the other sofa.
“Gideon.” Rita returned, her face ashen.
“What is it?” Gideon stood, followed by Dean.
“You know how my nonprofit runs out of the office building on Hax Avenue?”
“Of course.”
“That was Marcy on the phone; she’s my assistant.” She told me that part as she looked at me. “Anyway, someone broke in, trashed the place. Likely stole files, important documents. The police need me there right away.”
“Lorcan,” Dean growled.
“Trying to coax us out,” Gideon agreed.
“I get it. Gid, going anywhere isn’t an option, and Marcy told the police I wasn’t feeling well. They said I need to go there tonight, or I have to go to the station in the morning. Either way, I’m going to have to have to leave this house.”
“No, of course.” Gideon started texting. “You don’t go alone. Danny, Alex, Jeff, and I will go with you.”
“I’m going too,” Dean wasn’t leaving room for argument.
Rita glanced at me. “I can watch the kids. We’ll watch a movie or something.”
Her eyes softened. “Thank you, Penn.”
While the three of them talked, figuring out logistics, I checked in with Matteo, Owen, and Olivia.
Each was clearly nervous since their parents were all leaving the house after they’d been told doing so was bad.
And with what happened to Gideon the last time he’d ventured out, they were so worried about him, gravitating to him every chance they got.
Gideon leaving instilled them with dread—there was no hiding that.
“Matteo.” He shifted his attention from his parents to me. “Know what would be cool?”
“What?”
This was something I’d loved doing with Tenny when I was younger. I’d never done it with any other kids, though, and I remembered always wanting to.
“Since the adults are leaving, how about we make the biggest pillow fort ever? Then the four of us eat popcorn in it and watch a movie.”
His eyes brightened, and Olivia giggled. I peeked at Owen, and he had a little grin on his face, too.
“Heck, yeah! Come on O and Liv, go get all the pillows you can from upstairs.” The three of them ran off, and I looked at Gideon, Dean, and Rita.
“You should get out of here before they come back. Be safe. You three are all these kids have.”
Rita came over to me, I stood, and she hugged me tightly. Dean patted my shoulder and Gideon…he held my head in his hands and kissed me breathless.
I was pretty sure Dean and Rita had known we were hooking up, but we’d never really been affectionate around anyone else. This was a declaration, almost.
“Thank you, Penn.”
I was speechless. I simply watched as the three of them flanked by Danny, Alex, and Jeff, left the house.
Nothing better happen to them, or I’ll revolt.
We were halfway through Shrek eight hundred billion when a flash of lightning illuminated the room followed by crashing thunder.
Olivia gasped and scrambled onto my lap, and Owen grabbed my arm. Matteo appeared nervous, but I could tell he was trying to be brave.
“Don’t worry, we’re safe in the fort.” I smiled at them.
I remembered one night in Sunshine House, there had been a few kids in the small game room at the time a storm hit, and they’d all freaked out.
I hadn’t understood, and of course because I wasn’t crying or afraid, I’d been ridiculed.
It was one of the many times I’d wished I could be afraid, be normal.
It was at about the fourth strike of lightning that the power went out, and pandemonium erupted. Olivia screamed, Owen started crying, and Matteo was repeating. “Oh no, oh no.”
Gideon had men in place around the house, and I thought inside, so I was sure it would only be a minute before someone came and got us.
“Hey, it’s cool. We’re in this fort, and sure the power went out, but it’s fine, really. Here.” I moved back, bringing Owen and Olivia with me. “Matteo, come on.” I lifted my arm, and he scrambled over.
“Tenny used to always say that when the skies rumbled with thunder and the clouds lit up like fireworks it was because there was a huge tournament going on up above, in heaven.”
“What kind of tournament?” Matteo asked, a quiver in his voice.
“Bowling, of course.” I laughed. “I thought she was so silly. But if you listen, it sounds like a ball hitting pins.”
“Why lightning?” Olivia whispered.
“To celebrate the player, maybe a strike…I dunno, Tenny and I were unclear about that part—like maybe you need to be up there to know all the rules.”
“Like Mommy.” Owen’s tone was soft and yet louder than the storm outside.
“Maybe your mom and Tenny are putting on a tournament for us.”
Olivia gasped. “Cool!”
I peeked through the opening of the fort, surprised that none of Gideon’s men had come to check on us. But we were okay, and once the next clap of thunder came Matteo shouted, “Great job, Auntie Ella.”
My heart ached for them, their loss. I missed Tenny like a person would an arm, but I was an adult, and I understood this sort of thing.
The next crash of thunder had Olivia standing in the fort. “Yay, Tenny!”
Owen chuckled and smashed his face against my chest. He was truly the sweetest kid in the world.
I heard footsteps and peeked through the fort opening only to freeze. I didn’t recognize the two men. I grabbed Olivia and pulled her to me.
“I need you three to do everything I tell you to do.”
Matteo’s eyes widened. “What’s wrong, Penn?”
“In a moment, bad men are going to open the fort. I need the three of you to hide.”
“Penn,” Olivia whimpered.
“It’s okay. Under there?” There was an opening under the sofa that she and Owen could fit. “Get there now, please, sweetheart.”
The footsteps were getting closer, but Olivia and Owen did exactly what I said.
“What about me?” Matteo asked, and I pulled out my cell phone and handed it to him.
“I’m going to hold them off. You run, get into Uncle Gideon’s office, hide in his closet, and call him.”
He swallowed, fear evident on his face. “Run, hide, call.”
“You got it, big guy.”
A second later, the fort was torn apart. There were only two men, so I knew I’d be able to keep them at bay. I stood, punched the one closest to me in the face, and tackled the other one.
“Go, now, Matteo!”
He raced passed me toward the stairs. I saw one of the guys trying to chase after him, so I grabbed a vase, chucked it at his head, and watched him go down.
My victory was short lived. When I spun around the other guy was up, sneering.
“Where are the twins?”
“Go fuck yourself.”
“Oh, I’ll find them.”
I chuckled darkly. “Do you think you’ll find them before Gideon returns?”
I enjoyed the flicker of doubt that crossed his face. “Owen, Olivia, you better come out or I’m gonna shoot Penn’s pretty little face off.”
“Kids, do not move. He won’t kill me.” I narrowed my eyes. “I don’t think your boss will like that too much.”
“One.”
“Ignore him!” I hoped they’d listen.
“Two.”
“Do not move, kids. Trust me!”
He stepped closer and pressed the barrel of the gun to my head. “Orders were for the kids, not you…I don’t think the boss gives a shit what I do to you.”
“You’ll never get off this property alive.”
He smirked. “Three.