CHAPTER EIGHTEEN #2
While he pulled a set of keys from his pocket, she checked out the porch.
The roof extended out to cover the whole space and provided a shady spot to escape from the intense south Texas sun.
There were two wooden rockers on one end of the porch and two chairs and a small table at the other end.
Spiders had been busy building webs between the legs of the chairs and in each corner of the roof.
A layer of fine dust covered everything.
A wooden door with glass in the upper half was flanked by large windows with the curtains drawn together. There was a second floor, yet from the outside, the cabin didn’t appear to be very big.
“Come on in.” Eddie swung the door open with a loud creeeeak and stepped inside.
“I apologize for the dust. No one’s been out here for a while.
” He set his rifle case in the corner with his duffle bag, and she let him carry her suitcase inside.
“It’s not very big, but at one point in time, I think we managed to fit seven kids and two adults in here.
” He smiled at the memory. “There was a kid sleeping on just about every horizontal surface in this place. Except in Mom and Dad’s room—it was always off-limits. ”
“That’s a lot of people,” Isabella said.
Lucia agreed. She’d grown up as an only child, raised by a perpetually sad woman who’d lost her husband at a very young age.
Even as a child, Lucia had always felt responsible for her mom’s happiness.
And in an effort to make her life easier, she’d tried to be the best, most well-behaved daughter a parent could wish for.
Straight A’s in school? You bet. Was her room always neat and tidy?
Yep. Troublesome friends? Absolutely not.
And never, not once, was she late for her curfew.
She’d done nothing that might possibly upset her mother or instigate a bout of sadness. Because she’d learned that dealing with her mother’s emotions was much harder than all of those other things.
A couple of years ago, her mom finally got married again. He was a very nice, very patient man she’d met through a mutual friend, and they lived in a small retirement community about forty miles away.
Lucia had finally been able to turn over the responsibility for her mother’s emotions and moods to someone else.
She looked around the main space, which was lit only by sunlight filtering through the curtains and a small amount of light that spilled over from the loft above.
All of the furniture was covered with sheets in a variety of colors and patterns.
A cast-iron, pot-bellied stove was on a fire-safe platform to the left, and a small kitchen was on the right.
Next to the kitchen was what looked like a short hallway.
“I’ll open the windows to get some fresh air in here.” He flipped the switch next to the door.
A light fixture made entirely from antlers hung from the ceiling by a sturdy chain and bathed the space in warm light.
“Woooow.” Isabella’s head fell back, and she stared up at it with amazement. “That’s so cool.”
“Thanks.” Eddie grinned and turned to Lucia. “I want to get the cold stuff unloaded and put in the fridge, then I’ll start taking the sheets off the furniture.”
“We’ll help.” Lucia rolled her suitcase over by the wall.
“What’s up there?” Isabella pointed toward the loft.
“There’s a bed and some games and stuff.” He moved into the kitchen and slid the curtains open on the window above the sink that looked out onto the porch. “There’s also a bathroom with a shower.”
He turned the lock on the window and slid it up, letting in a nice breeze.
“I want to sleep up there!” She pointed toward the loft and ran over to the base of the steps. Which were really more of a ladder with rails on either side. “Can I, Eddie, please?”
“I’m fine with it if your mom is.” He turned to Lucia. “Or she can have the bedroom down here. Whichever you’re most comfortable with.”
“Please, Mom, can I sleep up there?”
Lucia strolled over and climbed halfway up the steps. Thanks to two rectangular skylights, she was able to see the entire space.
Against the back wall, there were three sets of twin-size bunkbeds, and next to each of them was a small nightstand with a lamp on it.
On the left, there was a square card table with four metal chairs around it.
Next to that, against that wall, was a set of bookcases stacked with board games, books, old magazines, and boxes filled with miscellaneous toys.
Opposite that were two closed doors separated by a chest of drawers.
The bathroom and a closet, she presumed.
Running the entire width of the loft, where it looked down into the main space below, was a wooden banister.
“I don’t know, honey.” Lucia glanced down at her.
“If you’re worried that she might fall, there’s a gate at the top of the stairs. Here, let me show you.” He stood behind Lucia, his hands up to catch her in case she missed a step, and waited until she had both feet on the floor before he climbed up to the loft.
“It slides across and locks in place.” He demonstrated how it worked and gave it a good shake to show how sturdy it was.
“We were all little when my dad built this place, so my mom had him add this feature. And the railing up here is just as sturdy and plenty tall enough to keep her from falling over.” He gave the railing a good shake.
She squatted in front of her daughter. “Are you sure you want to sleep up there all by yourself?”
“I sleep by myself all the time at home.” She seemed to be forgetting that she’d been sharing a bed with Lucia for the past few nights. “And anyway, I won’t be by myself. Bunny will be with me.” She gave the bunny a little squeeze.
Lucia didn’t want to be the one to squelch the innocent twinkle of excitement that had returned to her daughter’s eyes. And Isabella’s bravery for wanting to stay in the loft alone was commendable, but the true test would come tonight, when she was alone up there.
Eddie opened the gate, climbed halfway down, and jumped the rest of the way.
“Can I, Mom?” Isabella stared at her in anticipation. “Pleeeeease.”
“Okay,” she said.
“Yay!” She threw their hands up, did a little happy dance, and wrapped her arms around her mom’s waist.
“But”—Lucia needed to lay out some ground rules for her daughter—“you must close the gate whenever you’re up there. And you have to hold the hand rails anytime you’re going up or down. That means no carrying bunny on the steps.” She pointed at her daughter. “Understood?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Isabella nodded and let go of her mom. Then she cocked her arm back and tossed her bunny right up into the loft. “Ha!” She smiled back at them. “I made it!”
“Good arm, kid.” Eddie high-fived her. “We need to get that girl on a baseball field.”
We. Lucia loved the sound of that but would not allow herself to get too excited.
Isabella was careful to hold the handrails as she headed up to yet another temporary bedroom.
As soon as she got to the top, she slid the gate across and flipped the latch to make sure it stayed in place.
She gave it a shake, like she’d seen Eddie do, disappeared from view, and a minute later, they heard her rummaging through a box of toys.
“She’ll be okay.” Eddie circled his arms around Lucia’s waist and locked his fingers together at her lower back. “My sisters and I have slept up there more times than I can count.”
“What if she gets scared in the middle of the night?” Lucia kept her voice low. “It’s fun now, but what happens when it gets dark?”
“I’ll be sleeping right here.” He reached over, tugged the sheet off of the sofa. “If she wakes up, I’ll be able to hear her.”
“What? No! Absolutely not.” She shook her head. “No way you’re sleeping on that thing. It is nowhere near big enough for you.”
“Well, I’d prefer to sleep with you.” He pressed his lips to the curve where her shoulder met her neck. “But the couch will have to do.” Then he pressed light kisses all the way up until he nibbled on her earlobe.
Lucia sucked in a breath and tilted her head to make it easier for him to keep doing that wonderful thing he was doing.
Eddie gave a last nip to her earlobe, then lifted his head and slammed his mouth to hers. His fingers speared into her hair, and his tongue dove between her lips. He took her mouth like a marauder intent on conquering her. On possessing her.
What he didn’t realize was—she was already his.
Lucia had been his since the day she sat in the bleachers at one of his eighth-grade baseball games. He’d looked up from his position at short stop and smiled at her, and that was it. She was a goner.
He slid his hands down to cup her butt cheeks and pulled her against him. He ground his erection against her, inducing an involuntary low moan of need from deep within her.
BUUUZZZZ BUUUZZZZ BUUUZZZZ
Like a splash of cold water, they were jolted from their lustful hypnosis by an irritating sound followed by little-girl giggles.
Lucia slowly drew her lips from his. “What was that?”
“Remember that game where you have to remove things from a pretend patient, like a funny bone, water on the knee, stuff like that, without touching the edge?” Eddie grinned.
“She’s playing Operation?”
“Sounds like it,” he said. “I can’t believe the batteries are still good.”
Lucia laughed, and her forehead dropped to his chest.
“Eddie! Mom!” Isabella appeared at the rail and looked down at them with a wide smile. “Did you guys hear that?”
Lucia nodded. “We most definitely did.”
“It made me jump. Like this.” She acted out her startled jump, put her hand on her belly, and doubled over laughing. “I’m going to try again, but this time, I’m not going to make it buzz.”
She dashed away from the rail, and a few seconds later they heard the buzz.
“Darn it.” Her daughter could be very stubborn and very determined. Which meant they should get used to that buzzing sound.
“She’ll be up there for a while, because once that girl sets her mind to something, she doesn’t quit until she accomplishes her goal.” Lucia appreciated her daughter’s tenacity … most of the time.
“She’s awesome.” Eddie shifted his attention from the loft back to Lucia. “You’re a great mom, Lucia.” He tucked her hair over her ear. “Of course, I always knew you would be.”
“Thanks, that means a lot to me.” Her face heated at his compliment. “And she makes it easy.”
Most of the time.
Eddie drew her to him for a hug and whispered, “Your ex is a fool, and she deserves a dad who cares enough to be there for her all the time.”
“I completely agree.” Her daughter wasn’t perfect, but she was pretty darn close.
“She used to try so hard to garner his attention, to be what she thought he wanted her to be. But it was almost like he … resented her or something. As if she was an obstacle between us, instead of this sweet, beautiful creature we created together.”
She wondered what it would be like to have Eddie in her life, helping to raise her daughter. Did he want a child of his own? Her mind conjured up the image of a little boy with his mischievous eyes, or a little girl with his big heart.
As pleasant as thoughts of their future together were, they would have to wait. Right now, the focus needed to be on doing whatever was necessary to end the destruction reaped by generations of an evil family.
Until that happened, they would never truly be safe.