Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
Bliss adjusted the baby blanket around Nori. It felt so good to hold her and watch her beautiful eyes. Now, if she could just find Tipsy. Her stuffie was gone, and she thought she knew where.
On Ms. Talon’s last visit, the woman had come out of the bedroom, holding Tipsy in front of her by her stuffie’s ear with two fingers. With a look of disgust, she’d asked, “What is this?”
There seemed to be an obvious answer to the question, but Bliss couldn’t tell the woman the stuffie was hers. Yes, this was Darling. And yes, most of the women in town owned stuffies. But they were being bullied with the threat of losing their children.
So Bliss lied. “It’s one of the girls’ stuffies.”
Old Seagull frowned so hard, Bliss was surprised the corners of her mouth didn’t touch below her chin. She dropped Tipsy on the floor and sniffed her disapproval. “I see,” she’d said, then she scribbled more notes on her clipboard.
Bliss had put Tipsy in a basket by the door to keep her safe. She’d been changing Sophie’s diaper when Seagull left, and Bliss got busy taking care of the babies. The next day, when she went to retrieve Tipsy, her stuffie was gone. Bliss had been so upset, she’d sat on the floor and cried.
She glanced up at the sound of the creaking door, automatically drawing Nori closer.
“Hello?” Winnie’s cheerful voice drifted inside the cabin.
“In here!” Bliss called from the living room, relaxing her grip.
The afternoon sun slanted through the big windows, warming the polished pine floors Connor had insisted on refinishing the week before.
The cabin looked nothing like the quiet place Bliss had first stumbled into months ago.
Toys were everywhere. Baby blankets draped over chairs.
A bouncy seat rocked gently beside the couch.
And three energetic girls ruled the place like it was their kingdom, which, everyone mostly agreed, it was.
Winnie stepped into the room and stopped short. “Oh my goodness.” She looked around the room in wonder.
Bliss smiled softly. “That bad?”
Winnie laughed and shook her head, her blonde curls catching the light. “No, it’s just… different.”
Sadie gurgled from the play mat while Sophie attempted to chew on the corner of a stuffed fox. Nori slept peacefully in Bliss’s arms.
Winnie walked slowly around the room, taking everything in. “It looks so… homey now,” she said. “When I lived here, it looked like a bachelor lodge. Have you used the tree swings yet?”
Bliss snorted softly. “Are you kidding? Only every day. I’ve also been using the craft room. It is killer. But you’re right, it does that “bachelor lodge” feel.”
Winnie grinned. “I know, right? Reid’s place looked the same way before I moved in. Of course, we mustn’t forget the throw pillows.”
Bliss laughed. “I still can’t believe you talked Reid into owning throw pillows.”
“But she did, and we never let him forget it,” Connor said from the doorway behind her.
Winnie spun around. “Connor!”
He grinned lazily and leaned against the doorframe. “Relax, Tink. I didn’t sneak up. You just didn’t hear me.”
“I’m not sure that there’s a difference,” Winnie said.
Bliss chuckled softly as Connor crossed to the kitchen, carrying two grocery bags. He glanced around the room. “Why does it look like a toy store exploded in here?”
Bliss narrowed her eyes. “Because three babies and a Little live here.”
Connor grinned at her. “Fair point. I guess it would be more accurate to say four baby girls live here.”
Winnie crossed her arms and looked between them. “I wish Bliss and the girls could live in Arcadian Hills with all the rest of the Musketiaras. We’d have a blast.”
Connor shrugged. “Stranger things have happened.”
Bliss caught the twinkle in his eye. “What does that mean?”
Instead of answering, he held up his hand in the universal sign for silence and buttoned his lips. Moving toward the front of the house, he listened at the window.
A vehicle engine rumbled in the distance. Connor turned back toward Winnie and Bliss. “You two try to keep the kids quiet,” he said. “I’ll check it out.”
Bliss’s heart jumped. “You think it’s—”
“Probably not,” he said calmly. “If someone from DPS were here, they wouldn’t be making such a racket. But just in case, I’ll go out and greet whoever it is.”
The screen door slapped closed behind him.
Winnie watched the door, and though she tried to hide it, Bliss could tell she was nervous. “It’s probably just Reid coming to pick me up,” Winnie said.
Bliss smiled faintly. “Yeah, probably. But I wouldn’t put it past Seagull to swoop in one more time before the hearing.”
Winnie blinked. “Who?”
Bliss shrugged. “The Seagull is what I call the DPS lady, Ms. Talon. She acts just like one.”
“I have a feeling I don’t want to know what that means.” Winnie’s smile faded slightly. “Bliss… how are you really doing?”
Bliss adjusted Nori against her shoulder. “I’m good.”
“You sure?”
“You know, I think I really am.” Bliss smiled slowly.
“I’ve been worried about you living out here.”
“Why in the world would you worry about that? You lived out here for years by yourself.”
Winnie gestured toward the thickest part of the woods that extended far beyond Winnie’s property on one side. “Because the Society is right over there.”
“You mean on the other side of the hundred acre wood. Well, it’d be kinda hard for them to come from that direction.”
Winnie didn’t laugh. Her expression stayed serious. “Bliss.”
“What?” Bliss still rocked Nori in her arms.
“I know from personal experience the Society has no problem making it through the woods.”
“What do you mean by ‘from personal experience’? Are you trying to scare me?”
Winnie hesitated, which had Bliss’s stomach tightening. “Winnie?”
Winnie let out a long sigh, shaking her head. “I asked everyone not to tell you because I didn’t want to scare you.”
“Tell me what?”
“You’ve had enough to deal with, you know? Learning to live outside the Society. Taking care of three little blessings.”
“You’re stalling, Winnie, now tell me what happened.”
Winnie bit her lip.
“Now, Winnie.”
Winnie held up a hand. “Tell you what, I’ll make you a deal.”
Bliss frowned. “What kind of deal?”
“I’ll tell you my story,” Winnie said quietly, “if you tell me yours.”
By this time, the motor they’d heard in the distance had stopped in the driveway. Bliss was looking around Winnie toward the sound of the car engine when the engine died.
Winnie glanced toward the door, then back to Bliss. “Don’t worry, it’s Reid. I recognized the motor a few minutes ago. So how about our deal?”
Bliss was saved from answering when the door opened behind them. Connor walked back in with Reid.
“Perfect timing,” Winnie said.
Bliss stared at her sister. If Winnie thought Reid’s arrival would interrupt their deal, she was very much mistaken. “Well? What do you think? A story for a story.”
“What deal are you two talking about?” Connor asked.
“I offered to tell Bliss my story if she would tell me hers,” Winnie explained.
Connor sat down beside Bliss and put his arm around her shoulders. “You don’t have to share anything if you’re not ready,” he gave her a reassuring squeeze.
Bliss looked at Winnie. Then at Reid. Then back at Connor.
These were the people she loved and trusted the most. If she couldn’t tell them, who could she tell? And if she didn’t do it now, she never would. Taking a slow breath, she whispered. “I think I’m ready.”
Connor squeezed her gently again. “All right. But there is no pressure. If it gets to be too much, you can stop.”
Reid grabbed a seat beside Winnie, “You sure you want to relive this?” he asked her.
Winnie nodded, and the relief in her sister’s eyes sealed the deal.
Winnie nestled closer to Reid. “Okay then. I’ll go first.”
Winnie’s hands trembled slightly, making Bliss’s pulse quicken. She was finally going to find out how Winnie had escaped from the Russians.
With one more glance at her Daddy, Winnie began. “After you left Darling… things got bad.”
Bliss frowned. “How bad?”
Winnie swallowed. “Bad enough that I almost died.”
If she hadn’t been holding Nori, Bliss would have jumped to her feet. “What do you mean you almost died?”
Then Winnie told her everything. The threats to take the garage from her. The Society’s attack and how it almost killed half the men at Sabre. The night she nearly died. How Reid saved her in the nick of time. By the time she finished, Bliss was crying softly, trying not to wake Nori.
“I’m so sorry,” Bliss whispered. “I should’ve been here.”
“There was nothing you could have done. Besides, you couldn’t exactly help being kidnapped yourself.”
Bliss sniffed. “Still. I’m so sorry.” Why did she keep apologizing for the Society’s actions? It made no sense.
Winnie tilted her head. “Before you start your story, can I ask you one question that’s been nagging at me?”
“Considering everything that happened, why in the world would you run away from Connor at that motel after he rescued you? I mean, you ran right back to them. I’m not making an accusation, I just need to understand.”
Connor’s arm tightened around her. “You don’t have to answer that, Bliss. Not if you don’t want to.”
Bliss leaned her head on Conner’s shoulder. It was all she could do while holding Nori to try to tell him it was okay. “I want to answer. The fact of the matter is that I didn’t have a choice.”
Connor’s voice dropped. “What do you mean, you had no choice?”
Bliss swallowed. “I’ll tell you all about it, but I’m warning you none of you are going to like the answer.”
“It’s okay,” Connor said, as his muscles tightened. “We’re here for you.”
“When I left the motel, I had a long way to go to get back to the Wyoming compound. I didn’t have a car or any cash, so…”
God, she really didn’t want them to know this part.
“I hitchhiked.”
“You what?” Connor and Reid shouted in unison.