Chapter 11 #3
“You can’t carry that burden.” Noah leaned back in his chair, rubbing the back of my neck.
“You did plenty last night and saved a lot of people with your quick thinking. If you jump and burn out, you may not only put yourself in danger but others as well. With Jace, Remy, and Terrance I’m sure they’re fine.
They have a lot of experience with situations similar to this. They’ve always come out on top.”
I could tell Micah wanted to believe Noah, but was still struggling with it. His life on the streets had formed him into a young man that wanted to fix everything within his power. Like me, he felt useless just waiting.
“Micah will you like another piece of cake?” Miranda softly inquired.
Micah looked down at the fork and then gave me a horrified expression. “I’m sorry, Blake. I didn’t even realize I was stealing your food.”
A few of us chuckled and I shook my head. “It’s alright. I don’t have much of an appetite.”
Miranda cut another slice of cake and brought it over to me. “Why don’t you finish that one and your sister can have this one.”
Micah still looked sheepish but took the seat beside me and began to eat the cake. “Thanks.”
I eyed my cake. It did look delicious. It was a chocolate cake with chocolate ganache. I hadn’t tried this type of cake before but from experience all their cakes were moist and delicious. I took my first bite and hummed in enjoyment.
“This is heavenly. Thank you, Grandma Hazel and Miranda,” I took a sip of my milk. “I know it’s not that easy to go in town and that bakery has gotten really busy.”
Grandma Hazel snorted before taking her turn at their game.
“It’s well worth it and we always place an order a few days in advance.
Since they were featured on that reality show they’ve blown up.
I’m glad for them but it’s made it necessary to order their cakes ahead of time.
Otherwise, we have to show up hours before the shop actually opened. ”
“The chocolate cake is one of Mom’s favorite treats nowadays,” Miranda said with a fond eye roll. “She practically has a standing order.”
“My favorite one is the strawberry cake with the fresh strawberries and white cake,” Micah hummed around his fork. “But this is really good too.”
“I can get that for you the next time,” Miranda warily smiled at him.
Admittedly, Micah hadn’t spoken directly to her or even acknowledged her comments until very recently. Miranda seemed to worry if anything she said or did may cause him to retreat once again.
Micah seemed to sense her hesitancy and nodded firmly. “That would be awesome, thanks.”
The smile that lit Miranda’s face was filled with relief. “You’re welcome. Anytime. If you want anything else just let me know.”
Micah stiffened for a moment, and I laid a calming hand on his arm.
I could see the struggle across his features, and he gave me a look.
I knew he was trying to take his cues for me and maybe even wanted me to step in on his behalf.
I realized I couldn’t. Dr. Wong believed he should express himself more often instead of bottling things up.
“Okay, thanks,” he muttered finally.
“Can you get me a peanut butter cupcake, Aunt Randy?” Ella inserted herself between Micah and me.
“Sure,” Miranda smiled and before Alex could speak, she smiled at him. “And I’ll get you the Oreo cupcake.”
He grinned as Ella attempted to take my fork off my plate. She began to reach for my dessert, but I had to stop her. She already had a large slice.
“You’ve had enough,” I gently admonished her. “If you’re still hungry, there’s carrot sticks, cucumbers, apples, or oranges in the fridge. Bedtime is in twenty minutes.”
She frowned mutinously at me before whining. “Micah had a slice earlier. Why does he get another piece? It’s not fair.”
“Micah is older and doesn’t have bedtime soon. Plus, he used a lot of his gift last night,” Noah playfully mussed the top of her head.
She ducked out of his reach and jutted her bottom lip out. “Why does he get to go to bed later and I used my gifts earlier too?”
Ella had essentially been an only child for so long that she was still struggling with being the youngest one of “our” children.
She didn’t think it was fair that Micah and Kade got more privileges than she did.
After a very long discussion with Pops and my guys, we decided that we weren’t going to be swayed by her tantrums and tears.
Unfortunately, Jemmy’s plight was our new cautionary tale.
Yes, it was hard at times to keep our boundaries fixed, but it was for her own good.
We didn’t want her to grow up any more spoiled than she was.
“You didn’t nearly burn yourself out helping others,” Troy spoke from the doorway.
“And you need to stop arguing with adults, little bit. If you want the world to be fair let’s start with your tablet, video games, dolls, arts and crafts stuff, and toys.
There are some new rescues we just got that don’t even have a change of clothes to their names.
Should I go get them and tell them to help themselves to anything they want of yours. ”
On one of our last missions the team discovered a sort of orphanage for potentially gifted children.
They had rescued over twenty-five children ranging from a few months to ten years of age.
To say their living conditions were atrocious was an understatement.
We temporarily housed them here while Megan and some of the other communities attempted to locate their families or place them in loving foster homes.
Troy came up with a novel concept. Maybe if we exposed Ella to the other children, she could have realized how lucky she was.
Don’t get me wrong, she wasn’t always selfish and bratty but every now and then the negative traits reared their ugly heads.
Yes, we had a hard life once upon a time, but we were overly spoiled now.
Ella sighed, clearly knowing she was defeated before grudgingly volunteering. “I’ll go through what I don’t play with and donate them.”
I had to hide my smile. “At least we were seeing some progress.”
Troy gave me a mischievous smile before brushing his lips against mine. “The guys are back and they may need a little help in the clinic.”
It took a few seconds for his words to sink in. I hastily pushed my seat back, nearly tripping on the leg of the chair before admonishing him. “You could have led with that statement.”
I was out the door before Noah, Troy, Micah, and Jaxson could catch me.