Chapter 10
My heart ached for Maisie as strongly as it wanted to rip apart the man who had put her in this position.
She was soft in my arms, delicate, clinging to me like I was her anchor in a world determined to toss her boat out to sea.
The way I was drawn to her was similar to Carter, wanting to be around both of them at every opportunity.
It had all made sense when we discovered Carter was a scent match.
Maisie’s scent was still hidden. Was she a match, too?
Had I been twice blessed by fate or was what I felt for her only intense compassion for an omega in need?
Either way, it felt right to hold her like this. I couldn’t protect her from her past, and I didn’t know what the future would bring, but if these moments helped quiet her worries, I would give her thousands of them.
I cradled her in silence, almost convinced she had fallen asleep except that I could see her eyelashes move every so often. Carter peeked in the open door, surprise written all over his face and tumbling down the bond before being replaced with an aching sweetness.
He put his hands into prayer position and then up to his ear, tilting his head, silently asking if she was asleep. I shook my head, careful not to disturb her. His delight was like fizzing candy in my chest as he tiptoed backward and disappeared.
Maisie only moved from my embrace when Paisley announced that Nora was stinky. She crawled out of my lap and located the supplies she needed in one of the children’s backpacks. It was so jam-packed I assumed she crammed everything they could carry into them.
I let her have some privacy for the task and went downstairs to check in with my pack.
Bryan was nervously scrubbing the kitchen in lieu of pacing, since Colt was doing enough of that for the both of them.
Carter raced over to me, tucking into my arms. “How is she?”
“She didn’t say much.”
“But did she cuddle the whole time?”
“Most of it,” I said with a nod.
“I would say that’s a good sign.” Carter smiled. “Mom was already on the road before I even explained and said she would get as much as she could to be here by bedtime.”
June Balor was a hell of a woman. If you were loved by someone she loved, then you were family.
“Did she come up with a lie for if anyone asks?”
“Christmas hampers, I think. She’ll probably buy out every store she goes to so it looks extra plausible, and she’ll have plenty to donate so she won’t feel guilty about lying.”
I laughed at that. “At least she has the money to do that.”
“Do we have any plan?” Colt asked, pausing his pacing.
“Not really,” Carter replied.
“What should I make for the little one?” Bryan asked. “I don’t know how old she is. When do children start eating solid food?”
“She’s two,” I told him. “She can eat what everyone else eats, just smaller portions.”
Bryan looked relieved at that, but then immediately horrified. “We don’t have any spaghetti left.”
“That’s okay,” I assured him. “We have lots of other food. Maybe a bit of dry cereal and sliced fruit to start. I can take it up and ask Maisie for more information.”
“Yes, I can do that,” Bryan said more to himself than to me, already bustling around the kitchen again.
I kept my laugh to myself. He cared so much, but his nerves often took him over. It was sweet how hard he tried.
Bryan sliced up an apple, arranging it in a fan shape before filling a small bowl with cereal. We had no sippy cups, but he added a straw to a to-go cup of milk as a temporary measure. I took it all up to the nest.
“I brought a snack for Nora,” I said when Maisie opened the door to my knock.
She kept her gaze lowered, fingers gripping the door and jamb tightly before she reached out for the plate and cup. “Thank you.”
“Would you like me to show you and the kids around the property a bit? We have a wagon Paisley and Nora can ride in. Or, if you’d rather stay in, that’s fine, too.”
I wanted to pull her back into my arms and ease the tension in her body, but things had to move at her pace. I got the distinct impression that not much in her life went at her pace and I refused to contribute to that.
“After Nora eats. I think I’d feel more comfortable seeing the area. I can bring the children down in a bit. Is that okay?”
“Of course it is. Do you want me to stay?”
She shivered. “Not this time. We won’t be long.”
I left her with the kids and went back down to give our hay wagon a quick clean, laying some saddle blankets down for extra comfort, then rolled it up to the house.
When I came back inside, Maisie was coming down the stairs, Nora in one arm, the dishes in her other hand, Paisley clinging to her shirt and walking at her side.
Maisie stumbled as Cody squeezed past all of them to jump down the last few stairs, my heart in my throat as I leapt toward them. She caught herself, but the dishes crashed against the floor, the plate splintering outward.
Paisley instantly burst into tears, and Cody turned white as a sheet. Maisie clutched Nora close, kissing her forehead, instructing both little girls to stay there on the stairs.
“I’m sorry,” Maisie said, already shaking and moving to step between the plate splinters. I scooped her up. I didn’t want her getting shards of porcelain in her feet. “No, please, I have to clean it. You can put me away after, just tell me where I go.”
I set her down in the kitchen and reached for the broom, but she snatched it first, bustling back over to tidy the mess.
“Go where for what?”
“Does she go in here?” Cody asked, opening the storage cupboard under the stairs.
“One of you needs to explain,” I said. “Why would she go there?”
“That’s where Daddy puts her at home when she’s been bad. How long do we have to stay in there?”
I couldn’t articulate the fury those words struck in me, or the overwhelming desire to protect this family. I moved over to the door, Cody looking impossibly small, Maisie dropping the broom in panic to jump toward us.
“He didn’t mean to. I’ll take the punishment. Please.”
That fury and protectiveness soared to a fever pitch and I ripped the cupboard door right off its hinges. “You’re not going in there, or anywhere else. No one gets punished in this house, especially not for accidents.”
I took that door and walked right out our front one, tossing it onto the dirt outside.
Maisie’s whole family was watching me with wide eyes.
“This home is yours for as long as you want to be here. I know nothing can erase what you’ve been through, but I swear on all of our lives no one here is going to hurt any of you.
A broken plate is just that. It’s not a moral failing, it’s not a slight against us, or anything else you might’ve been taught.
If you break something, we make sure you’re safe, we clean it, and if we need to, we’ll buy a new one.
That’s it. You’re not in trouble and no one is mad. ”
Cody tilted his head, still pale. “You seem mad.”
“I’m not mad at you or your mother or your sisters.” I got to my knees in front of him so we were eye to eye. “I’m mad at the people who taught you to be afraid. That’s not how any child should grow up.”
“But Daddy…”
“Isn’t here. The rules of our house are that no one gets in trouble for accidents. I do need you to be a little more patient, though. Your mother and Nora could’ve fallen and gotten hurt, so you have to be careful on the stairs, okay?”
Cody dipped his gaze, suddenly bashful. “Okay. I’m sorry, Mama.”
“I know, honey. We have to be careful and take care of this home.”
He nodded, locking his arms around his mother’s waist and burying his face against her. Maisie looked impossibly tender. My heart broke for her. How many times has she leapt to the defense of her children making simple mistakes and being punished for it? How many hours had she spent in confinement?
Bryan had finished cleaning up the shards by the time I got to my feet, even running the vacuum over it to make sure there were no lingering bits that might hurt anyone.
I smoothed a hand over Maisie’s hair, letting my other one rest on Cody’s head. “Do you still want to go outside?”
She swallowed hard. “I think the fresh air will do us all good.”
Carter and Colt helped Paisley into her coat and boots while Maisie wrestled Nora into her own. I offered Cody my hand, and he tentatively took it.
The whole pack followed us outside. Maisie tucked Nora into the wagon, and Colt lifted Paisley to join her, Carter laying one of the blankets over their laps. Whiskey, Tango, and Foxtrot raced over to investigate, Foxy hopping into the wagon to lay her head on Nora’s lap.
“Is the wagon only for girls?” Cody asked.
“No. You can ride in it if you want, but you’ll have to squish up unless we kick Foxtrot out. Or you can ride on my shoulders,” I offered.
Both he and his mother looked absolutely shocked by the suggestion.
“What?”
“Paul never allowed the children to be higher than his head. He said it disrespected his authority. My own father was the same. They always said a child with their feet off the ground after they learned to walk was only making trouble.”
“Well, I think my authority will be fine if I give your son a better view, and part of being a kid is making trouble. How else would they learn to navigate the world if they don’t push boundaries and make their own mistakes? It’s part of growing up.”
Carter sidled up to Maisie, taking her hand, and Bryan took over pulling the wagon while Colt grabbed the dogs’ favorite throwing stick to keep them entertained on the walk.
I tucked my braids over each other and under my hood before I crouched low, letting Cody ungracefully scale my back until he was perched on my shoulders.
I held up one hand for him to keep his balance while I got to my feet, then directed him to keep hold of my forehead while I gripped his ankles.
He giggled up there with breathless excitement as we started walking. “Mama, I can see so far! What are those brown things over there?”
“Those are the bison that live on this land,” I explained.
“Carter went a little extreme doing a reverse courting gift. All it took was one mention that I wanted to see bison on the landscape and suddenly we had five thousand acres, a house, and five hundred bison under the Balor Land Conservation Trust.”
“What’s that?” Cody asked.
“It basically means that Carter’s family buys up land to stop it from being developed.”
“Do you milk bison like goats?”
The question caught me off guard and I laughed. “I don’t think they would be as cooperative as goats when it comes to milking. They’re wild animals. The goats and cows people raise are domesticated and are bred for milk production.”
“But what do you do with them then?”
“Care for them. Millions of them used to live here so they don’t need much from us. We provide safe grasslands, they have access to water, and if we had a really harsh year we could supplement their food, but mostly we just share the land with them and let them live as they were intended to.”
“Can I pet one?” Paisley asked.
“There are a few that love attention, but it’s very, very important that you never try to approach them without us there, and it always has to be done on their terms.”
Paisley nodded, grinning happily. Tango trotted alongside the wagon, Paisley petting him whenever he swerved close enough for her little arms to reach. Whiskey was busy sprinting off each time Colt threw his stick.
Maisie looked calmer out here, her hand locked in Carter’s, the cool weather turning her cheeks pink.
The healing this family needed might never end, but I was grateful this place could be the start of it, that fate would allow us the opportunity to help.
Too many never got that good fortune, and I refused to let this opportunity pass me by.