9. Eva
EVA
Air whooshed out of my lungs as something hard landed on my stomach. Without even opening my eyes, I knew it was Eloise. Just one morning, I’d like to wake up without a child jumping on me.
Then again, I knew that when this stage ended, I would miss it. Sort of.
“Eloise, it’s too early,” I groaned, fighting the strain in my voice from the early morning wakeup call.
“Momma, we go pway!”
“Honey, Momma’s barely awake.”
“Pwease, Momma?”
I didn’t have to open my eyes to know she was staring at me with puppy dog eyes. My baby girl was the best at manipulation.
A second hard body landed on me, followed by extreme laughter that broke the trance of sleep and brought a smile to my lips.
Benjamin had a way of doing that to me. Maybe it was the fact that we tried so hard to have him, only for it to suddenly happen just when I thought it was hopeless.
Either way, he was the joy I never thought I would have.
And he was so much like his father.
I peeled my eyes open and looked at my kids, my heart clenching when I stared into those beautiful eyes that reminded me so much of him.
I fought the tears that threatened to well in my eyes.
Crying wouldn’t do me any good. I’d done enough of that to last a lifetime.
What I needed right now was a distraction.
“Alright, let me get up and then we’ll head over to the main building.”
“The filo!” Eloise screamed, her eyes bugging out in excitement.
I grimaced as I got a good look at her. Slobber coated her mouth, along with some red substance that I could only assume was candy, and her hair resembled a rat’s nest. There was no way I was taking her out looking like that. People would think I didn’t take care of my kids.
“Baths first.”
Groans followed by heavy flops onto the bed reminded me of just how much I hated bath time. Some kids loved to play in the water. My kids hated it and screamed through the entire experience. I didn’t know why, and I stopped asking a long time ago.
“Come on. In and out. We’ll be quick.”
“I’m not dirty!” Benjamin insisted.
“Bud, you might not be dirty, but you’re definitely smelly.”
His face instantly contorted into a sad, puppy dog face and tears coated his eyes. “But you told me I don’t smell.”
His little chin quivered, but I knew it was all an act. The kid had mad acting skills. Someday, he would twist some woman’s heart into doing anything he wanted, and I would just sit back and watch the show. I had been manipulated enough by this kid. It was someone else’s turn.
“You’re not getting out of this. We already skipped last night, and I know you’ve been in the candy.”
They both stiffened and Eloise shook her head slowly. “Momma, we no get in candy.”
“Really? Then what’s that red stuff on your face?”
To her credit, she didn’t even flinch. She looked me straight in the eyes and lied. “I wicked my wips weawy, weawy hard.”
I nodded sagely. “You did, huh?”
She nodded again.
“Then what’s all the red on your pajama top?”
“Fuckers.” Her eyes widened and she slapped her hands over her mouth, realizing she’d just given the game away.
“That’s what I thought,” I laughed, choosing to ignore the fact that she called suckers fuckers. “Into the bath! Clothes in the hamper. Let’s move or no one’s getting candy for the rest of the year!”
They both groaned and cried, making way too big a deal out of taking a bath, but in the end, it took me all of five minutes to get them both cleaned up. We worked as a team, much like we had since the day Cash shot his brother and basically disappeared from our lives.
Our routine was the only thing keeping us going. Well, keeping me going. I was pretty sure they’d forgotten about Cash now. At first, I talked about him all the time, sure he wouldn’t be gone for long. But eventually, the questions got too hard to answer and I stopped bringing him up.
Where’s Daddy?
When’s he coming home?
Does Daddy still love me?
Most of the questions came from Benjamin. He remembered Cash the most, but occasionally, Eloise would surprise me by saying something about him. I hadn’t removed his photos from the house. I wasn’t about to completely erase him from our lives, but it was easier not to talk about him all the time.
Once they were dressed and ready to go, we headed out, walking down the road to the silo. It was faster to walk than to try to get them in the minivan. The inevitable fights broke out about who was sitting where and who was touching who. It was a thirty-second drive that seemed to last hours.
“Don’t touch me!”
“Momma, Benny wicked me!”
“Did not!”
“Did too!”
“Stop!” I snapped, already losing my cool. Fuck, I just needed one day where the kids weren’t driving me up the wall. At least when I brought them to work, someone usually took pity on me and distracted them in the training center.
I flung the door open and was immediately met by Knight’s intense gaze. “Oh, sorry. I thought you were—” I glanced at my kids and then back at their uncle.
He was immediately tackled with hugs, and I was grateful he didn’t get pissed at their enthusiasm. Instead, I thought I saw a hint of a smile that eased the anger simmering under my skin.
“Hey, Ellie,” Knight smiled, picking up my daughter. He set her on his hip and reached for Benjamin’s hand. “Are you guys ready to have some fun?”
Shock startled me for a moment, but I quickly raced to catch up as he headed for the elevator. “You don’t have to do that.”
“It’s not just for you,” he said, his tone matter-of-fact. “I have a surprise for you.”
Eloise clapped her hands on either side of his face and squeezed. “For me?”
“For your momma,” he corrected. “But it’s for you also.”
A huge smile broke out over her face and her little golden curls bobbed as she wiggled in his arms in excitement. “Is it a pony?”
Knight actually laughed at that, shaking his head. “Nope. No pony, kid.”
“A race car?” Benjamin asked, tugging on Knight’s hand.
“Not that either.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. The last thing my kids needed was anything that would get them into trouble. They were enough on their own.
As the elevator doors opened, I started to get a little more curious about this surprise.
It was fun for both of us? I hardly saw how that was possible.
But instead of getting out on the third floor, we sunk even lower into the silo, stopping on the fifth floor.
No one ever came down here. It had never been renovated.
But when the doors opened, bright lights shone, and clean, white walls filled the entire space. And straight ahead, the sound of kids shouting drew my attention.
“What is this?”
“At Reed Security, we have training for kids. I’ve been working on setting it up here. I hired a few experts for you. They’ll teach the kids all about self-defense and have school in the afternoon.”
“Uh…you’re going to teach my kids how to hurt people?” I asked warily.
Not that I could say anything. I moved here and Fox taught me all about throwing knives. And I liked it. But these were little kids. The thought of hospital bills racking up turned my stomach.
“Don’t worry. They have levels they have to complete before they can move on to anything too drastic.”
“So, no guns or knives,” I hedged.
He smirked at me, a dark look crossing his face. “For now.”
I didn’t like the sound of that. He pushed the doors open and we walked through.
All the kids were wearing uniforms and doing calisthenics.
That didn’t look too bad. But as my eyes wandered around the area, I began to realize just what was about to happen.
There were obstacle courses set up just like for the guys, only a mini version.
Four teachers wandered around, correcting the kids as they did their thing.
One of the male teachers walked over and held out his hand. “The boss’s wife. It’s good to meet you. I’m Clay.”
I shook his hand, still overwhelmed at what this meant. “Eva.”
“Nice to meet you. Knight’s told me about your situation. We’ll make sure the kids get an education, along with the proper training for any situation.”
I glanced at Knight, confused by what he meant. “Any situation?”
He shrugged lightly. “You never know what could happen. It’s best to have them prepared.”
Clay bent over as Knight set Eloise down. “Hey, guys. I have some really cool uniforms for you guys. Do you want to change?”
“Yes!” Benjamin shouted at the same time Eloise pouted and crossed her pudgy arms over her chest. “No!”
“Well, that’s just too bad because we all wear the same thing here. Now, I’ll get Benjamin changed and Ms. Eloise, you can go with Christy to get changed.”
I saw the defiance in Eloise’s eyes, but when she looked at me for help, I offered none.
Clay winked at me as she stomped off with Christy to get changed, then headed off to the boys’ locker room to help Benjamin.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” I asked Knight.
“I told you, this is what we did at Reed. It was good for them.”
“They’re glorified babysitters.”
“You won’t say that in two weeks when your kids are used to running drills every morning. Besides, this keeps them safe and on the property.”
“You were really that paranoid?”
“Always. We’ve already enrolled all the kids in homeschool. They’ll get the same education as the other kids, but they’ll have private tutors.”
“And everyone’s on board with this?”
At my skeptical tone, he shifted to face me. “Eva, this isn’t just for you. I don’t want you to think this is some pity gesture. My kids do the exact same thing. Besides, I swore to Cash that I would look after you.”
“I don’t need anyone stepping into his shoes,” I bit out, feeling my hackles rise. It felt like he was telling me I wasn’t doing a good enough job, though deep down I knew that wasn’t the case.