Chapter Seventeen
Chapter
Seventeen
Brooke stared at the door even as Nell somehow
managed to keep it all together, despite the fact that she had just expelled a
baby out of her body.
“She’s here,” Lucy said reverently, and Brooke heard Nell
gasp and sigh as she fell back. The labor had been rushed and furious, as
though the child knew something was happening and she didn’t want to miss a
minute of it.
“Brooke, I hear someone,” Noah said, his voice still steady.
He’d been a rock all through the last terrifying moments. “They’re coming in
the back.”
“Hey, sister, don’t shoot,” a familiar voice said.
Max. Her brother was here, and he was coming in through the
back door. She hadn’t even realized there was a back door, but then Max had
spent a lot of time out here with Jamie and Noah growing up. By the time she
was a kid, they were all working so she hadn’t had the same experience. She
breathed a deep sigh of relief and ran to him.
Max wrapped his arms around her. “You okay?”
She sniffled and hugged her brother, still holding the
shotgun Henry had given her. “Shane is in the house and I don’t know where Bay
is, and Nell had her baby.”
“Shit. Is Henry handling things?” Max asked.
She nodded. “He killed the guy who was supposed to kill us,
and now he’s going to the house. He told me to watch over Nell and Lucy and
Noah.”
“Max, did you call it in?” Noah said from his place on the
hay where he was slowly bleeding out. “Nell’s doing great, but I would feel
better if Caleb checked her.”
“She’s not crying,” Nell said, worry in the words.
Brooke hurried over to her.
Lucy held a tiny baby girl in her hands. The baby opened her
eyes and stretched her limbs, but she didn’t cry. She looked around at the
world with a quiet curiosity.
“Whoa.” Max stepped back. “I did not expect to see so much
of you, Nell. You okay?”
“My baby,” Nell insisted.
“Is perfect,” Lucy replied with a massive smile. “She’s so
beautiful, Nell. Noah, I have the umbilical cut, and Nell’s and the baby’s
vitals are great. I can’t believe we did it.” She looked over at Brooke. “Are
we safe now?”
The barn door opened and a man walked in, carrying a
shotgun. “Jones? Hey, I think the boss is…”
He realized his friend’s body was on the ground and suddenly
his shotgun was up.
But Brooke was faster, and she didn’t hesitate. She fired
and caught the asshole in the chest, the sound booming through the space.
The man slumped over.
And the baby let out what almost sounded like a giggle. She
didn’t cry in her mom’s arms. She yawned again and cuddled down and started
rooting for a breast.
“Well, looks like you get the full-on membership now,
sister.” Max inspected the dead body. “This is definitely a son of a bitch, and
you shot him. You take out the other one, too?”
She’d killed a man.
And she didn’t feel particularly bad about it. Maybe later
she would discover the trauma associated with violence, but in the moment she
couldn’t care about anything but the fact that he hadn’t hurt her or her
family.
“Nah, Henry did,” she said and brought the shotgun right
back up because that door was opening again.
“Don’t…” Max began, but she already saw.
Bay and Shane were running in.
Nope. She wasn’t waiting. The minute she saw them, felt them
surround her, the trauma hit and all the emotions of the day pounded down on
her like the hardest of thunderstorms.
“It’s okay, baby,” Bay whispered.
“You’re alive.” Shane shook as he held her.
They were alive. They were here with her, and she didn’t
care that it was too soon. She didn’t care that they should take their time and
figure out the situation and how they would work as a threesome. She didn’t
care about anything but them. “I love you. I love you both so much.”
Bay kissed her. “I love you, baby.”
“Love you,” Shane said.
They held each other for a moment, and she knew she was safe
because they wouldn’t be here with her until they were sure.
“I took out the cell jammer and talked to Caleb. He’s on his
way. So is Trev,” Henry said, his voice bland as though he hadn’t killed like
ten people and his wife had a baby. He stood at the door, his clothes covered
in blood, but it looked like he’d washed his hands.
He seemed remote and so cold. Like there was nothing behind
his eyes.
“Henry,” Nell called out. “Come and see our baby.”
Max gave his friend a grin. “You got a sweet girl there,
Henry.”
Henry’s gaze was flat and he didn’t look back, didn’t try to
catch a glimpse of his wife and child. “I should clean up. Is Nell all right?”
Lucy stood. She’d gotten Nell and the baby comfortable.
Well, as comfortable as they could be in a barn. “Mother and baby are doing
great, and Noah’s good, considering. Brooke did an excellent job with the duct
tape, though he’s going to need surgery.”
Why wasn’t Henry busting through to get to his wife? She had
a baby in the worst of circumstances. Henry worshipped the ground his wife
walked on. He would do anything for Nell. It was wrong for him to be standing
there like he couldn’t care less.
“Good.” Henry started to turn. “I’ll go and clean up and
I’ll be more myself when I come back. Should I bring you anything?”
Oh, she wasn’t the only one feeling the press of the day. It
wasn’t that Henry didn’t care. He didn’t trust himself, didn’t want his wife to
see him covered in blood. Nell was a pacifist.
But she was also his wife, and he’d saved them all.
“John Bishop,” Nell called out. “I said it wrong. I’m sorry.
John Bishop, you get over here right now and you meet your daughter.”
He stopped and if she hadn’t been looking so closely, she
wouldn’t have seen the slight tremble in his shoulders. “I need a minute, love.
I can be Henry again.”
“I never said it.” Nell held her baby to her chest and
forced herself to sit up. Her hair clung to her shoulders and cheeks, drenched
in sweat, but she was clear in what she wanted. “I never said the words to you.
I love you, John. I love you when you’re Henry and when you’re John and any
other name you want to call yourself. You are my soul’s mate. All of you, not
just the parts I find comfortable. I love you and this is your child. You come
and meet your child, John.”
Henry turned, and those cold eyes were suddenly glassy with
unshed tears. “I’m covered in…”
“I don’t care,” Nell replied in a firm tone. “I do not care.
I want my husband. I want John Bishop and Henry Flanders, and throw in the
former Mr. Black if you want to, but get over here and hold your baby. You
didn’t get to hold Poppy for long. I expect you to do your part with this
baby.”
That got Henry moving. John. He was both. He was his past
and his present and his future, and in each he would love Nell. The dark side
of Henry loved her as much as the jovial, kind man they all knew. Henry’s beast
was Nell’s mate, too, but he rarely got to do the tender parts of love. She was
sure John Bishop showed up for all the violence and likely some of the sex, but
it was obvious this was new to him.
Brooke cried as she watched John take the baby into his
hands. She watched as his jaw clenched but his eyes went soft.
“She’s beautiful, baby. Little Justice,” he whispered. “I
know I said I thought we should try some other names, but it suits her.”
“I changed my mind. She’s Lucy Brooke Flanders, after the
woman who helped bring her into the world and the one who protected us while we
did it,” Nell announced.
“Uhm, am I chopped liver?” Noah asked with a grin and then
he winced because he’d obviously moved too much.
Henry ignored him. “Lucy Brooke. I like it. It suits her.
Hey, baby girl. I’m your dad. I’m going to be with you for everything. I won’t
ever let you down. I might not be perfect, but I’ll try for you.”
She felt Bay’s arm go around her waist, pulling her back
against him. Shane moved in so he was touching her, too.
She heard the sound of sirens and knew she was safe.
* * * *
Bay stared at the copy of the drawing that had gotten
them into so much trouble. He’d handed the original over to Nate.
“So her name was Meli?” Brooke set a beer in front of him.
They were back in the foreman’s house after hours and hours of talking to Nate
and Elisa. They’d called in the Creede PD to help with processing the scene
since there were so many bodies.
He couldn’t forget the way Caleb had walked straight up to
Henry and thanked him for what he called all the atlanto-occipital
dislocations. Henry had stood there with his newborn and told Caleb not to
thank him until he saw what he did in the basement.
Then there had been lectures on blood and autopsies, and
Brooke had been praised for her duct-taping skills and Zane had shown up with
sandwiches and they’d all cleaned up the G so Miranda and her brothers wouldn’t
come home to a killing zone that would traumatize them for life.
“What did your brother say?” Bay looked up at Brooke. There
had been that perfect moment when she’d told them she loved them, but there was
something of a distance between them now. Because they hadn’t finished the vows
they’d made in the barn. The real world had forced them apart for a while, but
he wouldn’t let it much longer. He glanced over at Shane, who gave him a nod.
Which meant he’d been downstairs and everything was in
place.
They had plans for their woman, their future wife.
She stopped, and a soft smile hit her face. Rye and Rachel
had shown up with Nate, holding hands and breathing sighs of relief when they
found Brooke. Rye and Max talked to her privately, and she seemed much calmer.
“He apologized,” she explained. “He told me he loved me and
he’s not handling things well. He’s overwhelmed, too, but the last thing he
wants to do is lose his family when he’s trying so hard to keep it all
together. So Stef is giving them a loan for the new equipment, and they’re
going to sit down and figure out a solution for all the work because Rachel