Chapter 21 #2
The three newcomers entered, shutting the door behind them.
The one Hawk had called Ryder was taller than Hawk, with broad shoulders, his short black hair in a cut that made me think of the military, and clear gray eyes that swept the room, leaving me with the feeling he’d cataloged each of us and filed us away.
Beside him stood a petite woman. She barely reached his shoulder, slender, with sandy blonde hair in loose waves around her face and greenish-hazel eyes.
She looked delicate, but something about the way she stood—hands in her pockets, eyes scanning the room the same way Ryder’s had—made me think, despite her size, she was just as dangerous as the others.
And then there was the third, standing slightly behind the woman and Ryder.
He was a little shorter than Ryder, with chocolate brown hair and eyes of the exact same shade.
Unlike the other two, his stance was more relaxed.
He looked easygoing—the kind of guy you’d drink a beer and shoot the shit with.
But if this was the team Griffen and Hawk were expecting, I knew that was as much an illusion as the woman’s delicacy.
“We’re about to eat dinner,” Hawk said. “You guys get anything on the way?”
“Nope,” Ryder said. “We figured we’d get here in time.”
“You did,” Griffen said, striding up. “Good to see you again.”
He went through the same hug ritual Hawk had and then turned to the other two, shaking hands with a nod. Turning, he let out a loud whistle that had the entire family coming to attention.
“It’ll take a minute for these three to learn all your names, but we’ll go through it anyway.
Sawyers, this is Ryder Vale.” Griffen indicated Ryder, then the other two, as he said, “Eli Bishop and Wren Calder. They’re going to be here to help us out with the Haywood situation.
If they tell you to do something, you do it the same way you would for Hawk and anyone on his team, got it? ”
I nodded along with everyone else in assent. I hated that we needed this, but I was glad as hell that my family was safer for them being here.
Griffen turned to the newcomers. “There’ll be a test on this later, but I’ll go around. This is my wife, Hope,” and he began the introductions.
I had a feeling Ryder, Eli, and Wren would pass the name test with flying colors if they were challenged to identify any of the people they’d been introduced to. But Griffen didn’t ask—just led us all into the dining room.
Paige met my eye and sent me a short smile before she and Miss Martha herded the kids to the breakfast table. We rarely used it, but we’d left it just in case. Every once in a while, it came in handy.
Finn and Savannah had set up the evening meal as a buffet, similar to breakfast, making it easier for them to haul everything up in the dumbwaiter and join the family for dinner.
The meal was half family talk and half strategy, though there wasn’t much to the strategy at this point—at least nothing they’d shared.
The plan was for Hawk to show Ryder, Eli, and Wren through the systems he had in place.
They were going to run scenarios and try to figure out the most likely ways people trying to claim the bounty would come at Heartstone to get to me.
Ryder said at one point, with a heavy look at Griffen and then Hawk, “What you need is to neutralize Haywood.”
“Easier said than done,” Griffen replied.
“True,” he agreed. “But we talked to Emmett and Lucas before we left. I have some ideas.”
Griffen nodded instead of asking for more explanation. I could have asked myself, but I was distracted by the prospect of talking to Miss Martha after dinner, and I knew there would be plenty of time to learn the plan. They were the experts; I was not.
I did catch Hawk saying, “Any word from Silas?” and Ryder’s solemn head shake in response.
“No. He didn’t explain what pulled him away,” Ryder said. “And he’s been out of contact more than usual.”
“What do you think’s going on?” Griffen asked.
“We don’t know. I still can’t believe he sold the unit to Sinclair,” Wren said, her voice as clear as a bell, dripping with indignation. She let out a short huff of breath. “Nothing against Sinclair—they’re a great company, solid—but we’ve always operated on our own.”
“That doesn’t seem like Silas,” Hawk said. “He didn’t tell you why?”
“Not a word,” Eli said with a shake of his head. “Just ‘I sold the unit to Sinclair Security. Do what Cooper says. I’ll be back.’ Like we were kids he left with a babysitter.”
The analogy made me smile. If the other three were anything like Ryder, Eli, and Wren, the last thing they were was kids who needed a babysitter.
I’d gotten used to Hawk and Griffen and their ability to handle any shit that seemed to roll our way, but these three looked like they could take apart the Pentagon with a paper clip.
Since we’d talked to Cole, I’d had a weight in my gut.
I wasn’t so much worried about myself, but my family, the kids, Paige—so many people who were vulnerable.
I couldn’t keep them all safe. But with Hawk’s team and Griffen, and now these three, I let out a slow breath.
Having them here didn’t solve the problem, but I was less worried about anything happening to my family or Paige.
Griffen, Hawk, and the new arrivals left the second they’d finished dessert, retiring to the surveillance room on the lower level where Hawk had set up his team and all their gear.
Paige met my eye from across the room, and I got the message—she had to finish up with the kids, get them settled.
She stood, prompting August and Nicky to pick up their plates to carry to the butler’s pantry and the plastic bin that would bring the dirty dishware back down to the lower level.
Thatcher stood beside her, not needing any reminders about clearing the table.
Deftly, she hoisted Stella onto one hip and detached her filthy high chair tray with the other, crossing the room in brisk strides, quietly herding the younger children ahead of her.
A minute later, I heard the pounding feet of the kids set free from the dining room. Paige returned, grinning down at Stella on her hip as she bopped her on the nose. She went to Hope, sipping a cup of tea at the head of the table.
“Do you want me to keep Stella a little longer?” she asked.
Hope shook her head, reaching for her daughter, whose feet kicked at the air the second she was off Paige’s hip.
“I think she wants to go for a walk,” Hope said. “I’ve got her for the rest of the night. I know you and Ford want to talk to Miss Martha.”
“We do, as long as you don’t mind,” Paige said with a quick glance my way.
“No, we’re good,” Hope said with a smile. “Thanks, Paige.”
Hope stood, leaning slightly to the side, extending her hand down so her daughter could grab it as she took rapid, wobbly steps toward the door of the dining room, Hope walking faster to keep up with her.
“How does she do that and not fall on her face?” I asked Paige, surprised at how quickly the one-year-old could move once she got going.
“I don’t know,” Paige said. “It’s almost like the faster they go, the less likely they are to fall. But then they do, and they scream bloody murder until they pop back up and do it again.” She laughed. “We haven’t had any bloody noses or stitches yet, so I’d say she’s doing pretty well.”
“She’s going to be a handful,” Miss Martha said, joining us. She looked like a slightly older version of her daughter, her hair threaded with white and more lines on her face, but still beautiful.
Savannah hovered in the doorway of the butler’s pantry. “What do you three say to tea in the library?”
“You don’t have to go to any trouble,” Paige said.
“It’s no trouble. Tea?” This time, she was asking her mother.
“If you have a minute, sweetheart, I’d love some,” Miss Martha said, her love for her daughter glowing in her eyes.
“Always,” Savannah said, smiling back.
I felt a stab of envy and saw in Paige’s eyes that she felt the same. Savannah had been tight with her mom her entire life. That hadn’t changed now that she was back in Sawyers Bend, managing Heartstone as her mother had for years.
“Is it weird?” I asked Miss Martha as we walked to the library. “Being back here so often as part of the family, with Savannah running the house?”
“A little,” she said. “Sometimes I have to watch myself or I’ll start trying to organize everything. I don’t want to step on Savannah’s toes. She does a brilliant job. Better than I did.”
“No one’s better than you,” I said to Miss Martha.
She smiled up at me. “Flatterer. And you’re right, except for Savannah. My girl is the best.”
“I won’t argue with that,” Paige said. “I don’t know how she does it. She never breaks a sweat. She knows everything that goes on under this roof, and she keeps it all running seamlessly.”
“She did learn from a master,” I said, and Miss Martha smiled.
We reached the library, and Miss Martha took the seat opposite the armchair I usually sat in.
I grabbed the remote and started the fireplace, grateful yet again that my father had switched some of the wood-burning fireplaces over to gas.
There was nothing like the smell of a wood-burning fire, but in my mind, it still didn’t beat the convenience of clicking a button and having dancing flames warm the room immediately.
“Now, Ford, what is this about?” She looked at me and then Paige in question, and I stalled, not sure exactly what to say.
Paige saved me the trouble. “There’s something I didn’t tell anyone when I came here,” she said.
Miss Martha went stiff, her eyes narrowing.
Paige shook her head. “Griffen and Hope know everything now. I, um, well, my mother died not long before I took the job here, and when I was packing up her house to sell it…”