Chapter 20 #2
Winnie just stared, open mouthed. No doubt she was thinking about what any of the Sabre Daddies would do if they found out one of their Littles had done that.
“But it’s okay. I’m okay. And I only did it once!”
Connor’s jaw flexed. “We are absolutely discussing that later.”
Bliss nodded. “I figured.”
“Go on with your story, Trouble. Before I decide to hand Nori to Winnie and have our discussion now.”
Yikes! She was beginning to see the story as a way of delaying their “discussion.” “The people I rode with were very nice. We stopped at a rest area about thirty minutes later.” Her voice trembled. “That’s when the Russians caught up with me again.”
Connor went completely still. “How the fuck did they find you? And why would you go with them? Wasn’t there any way of getting away from them?”
“No, Daddy. They threatened to kill the people who gave me the ride if I didn’t go with them.”
Reid muttered something vicious under his breath. Bliss could practically feel the heat of Connor’s rage at the Russian emanating from him. In a way, it was comforting that he would be so outraged on her behalf.
She didn’t even realize she’d snuggled closer into Connor. She continued, so ready to have this over and done with. “The man who was supposed to buy me? He backed out once he found out I’d spent the night in a motel with another man.”
Connor’s eyes went dark. “Thank God for small favors.”
“But my father, I mean Father Cassian, ordered them to bring me back to the Wyoming compound.” Bliss shrugged weakly. “In a way, it was a blessing. I got a free ride to the place I was going anyway.”
Winnie frowned. “Why? Why would you want to go back to them?”
“Phoebe Duncan,” was all Bliss said.
“Phoebe Duncan? Who is that?” Connor demanded.
Bliss continued to focus on Winnie. “She was my best friend.”
Her sister had to understand, even if no one else did. But Connor wouldn’t. So she told him. “A friend in a place like the Society was precious and rare, Daddy. Growing up, I was with Phoebe longer than I'd been with Winnie. We grew up together and had each other’s backs.”
Connor’s expression softened when they saw Bliss’s tears start to drop. “Phoebe fell in love with a Graceless.”
Reid frowned. “A what?”
Winnie provided the answer. “Someone outside the Society, you know, like you.”
Connor’s jaw tightened. “Okay….”
“Please don’t be mad at me,” Bliss begged. “I couldn’t stand it.”
Connor kissed the top of her head. “I’m not mad at you, babygirl. I’m mad at the people who put you through all this.”
“I’m glad because this story doesn’t get any better. Phoebe let herself be taken.”
Connor frowned. “I’m sorry, babygirl, but what do you mean by taken?”
“She loved him. She left with him one day while she was outside the compound, passing out tracts. More than once. I was terrified for her. It was a miracle that, until then, no one had found out.” Bliss’s voice cracked. “A few months later, she told me she was pregnant.”
Winnie whispered softly. “Oh no.”
Bliss nodded. “He tried to rescue her, her Graceless. He came to the compound over and over.”
Connor’s hands curled into fists.
“Then one day… he stopped coming. I tried to contact him for her. She was under lock and key.” Bliss’s eyes filled with tears. “They told everyone he died. Ha! Only the most gullible or willfully ignorant believed that lie.”
Silence fell.
Winnie shook her head. “They killed him.”
Bliss wiped her eyes. “Phoebe was terrified something would happen to her babies. You know the Society had to be worried about his family snooping around. She was afraid they might see the babies as a liability. Phoebe, too, for that matter. So, she signed a paper.”
Connor frowned. “What kind of paper?”
“One that gave me legal guardianship of her babies if anything happened to her.”
Winnie whispered. “Oh, Bliss… did they kill her too?”
Bliss’s voice became dull, emotionless. “She didn’t survive childbirth. Or at least, that was their story. I don’t really know what happened.”
The room went still.
“I took the twins. And have loved them as my own ever since.” A sudden fierceness came over her demeanor. “No, not as my own. As far as I’m concerned, they are my own.”
Connor hugged her closer, rubbing her shoulder. “We know, baby, we know.” His reassurance calmed her enough to continue. This part was going to be really hard. “Then I found out I was pregnant.”
Connor went rigid, but he didn’t withdraw his arm.
“I tried to hide it.” Her voice shook. “But my father found out when I was six months along.”
Connor’s voice dropped dangerously. “What did he do?”
Bliss stared at the floor. “He beat me.”
She’s said too much. Connor jumped from the sofa so fast that it shifted back. “How bad?” he growled.
Bliss whispered. “It took two weeks to recover.”
Reid swore, but Connor looked like he was going to break something. “I will kill him.”
“Connor.”
Bliss grabbed his arm, pulling him back down on the sofa. He was shaking with fury. She rubbed his thigh, still trying desperately to keep Nori asleep. “We’re okay. Nori and I are fine. Besides, we really don’t want to wake Nori right now, and if you get too upset, it might scare the other kids.”
Connor breathed deeply, clearly trying to calm down. Rolling his neck, he said, “Okay. Okay… I’m okay.”
Bliss doubted that seriously.
Winnie wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Is that everything?”
Bliss shook her head slowly. “Almost.”
She looked at Connor. “You’re sure you’re okay?”
“I’m okay, babygirl. It’ll be alright. That damn fucking fucker of a father won’t be, but yes, for now I’m fine.”
Bliss looked back at Winnie. “We’re going to need a bigger swear jar.”
Winne gave her a weak smile and nodded. Time to get this done and over. “My mother came to get me after my father was done.” She shrugged. “She took care of me. Of course, I had to listen to her constantly telling me I’d ruined myself and humiliated Father Cassian.”
Connor growled softly.
“When I recovered, Father Cassian forced me to have an ultrasound. When he found out I was carrying a girl… he said, ‘Good. At least we can recoup some of our losses.’”
Winnie gasped.
Bliss nodded. “I told him no way in hell was I letting that happen.”
Connor murmured. “Good girl.”
Bliss smiled faintly. “He laughed. Right up until the point I told him that Connor was the father.”
Connor blinked. “You did?”
Bliss nodded. “And that you worked for Sabre Security.”
Reid barked a laugh. Connor shook his head slowly.
“He must have loved that. What happened next?” Reid asked.
“He was furious.” Bliss shrugged. “With all the trouble Sabre had recently caused the Society at the Tennessee compound, he knew what might happen to him if you found out he’d mess with one of your daughters or me.
” She turned her attention to Connor. “You were protecting Nori before you even knew she existed.
For the first time since she’d started her story, Connor smiled. He hugged her as best he could with Nori still sleeping in Bliss’s arms. His lips moved to her ear, and he spoke so only she could hear. “Damn straight. And I will always protect you and the kids.”
Reid grinned. “Glad we could help.”
Encouraged, Bliss continued. “He tried to get rid of us by banishing us from the Society. Which he did. “But I wouldn’t go, not right away.”
“What was the problem? Weren’t you in a hurry to leave?” Winnie asked.
Bliss widened her eyes and nodded with enthusiasm. “Oh yes, but I refused to leave without Phoebe’s daughters.”
“Ah!” said Winnie.
“Yes.” Bliss echoed, “Ah!”
Connor’s eyes softened. “And he let you take them.”
Bliss nodded. “When I told him about the paper Phoebe had signed, he realized that they were off limits, too. He didn’t know I had the only copy, and somehow I forgot to mention that little fact.
As far as he knew, it was filed at some courthouse somewhere.
So he threw us all out, with nothing but the clothes on our backs. ”
Except for a low and quiet growl coming from Connor, the room was silent.
Winnie wiped tears from her cheeks. “I’m so thankful you called me.”
“Me too.” Bliss smiled softly.
Connor kissed her temple. “Proud of you, Trouble. I hate you went through all of that, but I’m so damn proud of how courageous you were and the way you handled yourself.” He kissed her again and added, “Except for the hitchhiking. We’ll still be talking about the hitchhiking.”
The smile on Bliss’s face had the faint look of alarm.
Reid leaned back. “Connor, I think you and I need to take a road trip to Wyoming.”
Connor nodded slowly. “Agreed.”
Bliss laughed softly. Then she looked around the cabin. At her sister and Reid. At Nori. At Connor. “Darling is the home I always dreamed of.” Connor pulled her closer. “And you’re the perfect Daddy.”
“Damn straight,” he said.
Bliss rested her head against him. “Now if I can just win my case with the Department of Child Safety tomorrow…”
Connor kissed her hair. “You will. No, we will.”
Bliss smiled. “Then my happily ever after will be complete.”