Chapter 7
7
“ W e’re in here,” Aiden answered.
Snatching her hands from the water, Petra snagged the towel from Aiden’s fingers and hurriedly dried off. She walked behind him slightly, stopping a second too late when he froze a step earlier than expected. Their bodies made contact, so when he inhaled, huge and sharp, she felt it.
It wasn’t Danielle walking into the room that had caused his reaction, but the slight figure behind her. The girl slipped through the doorframe and tucked herself as close to the wall as her backpack would allow. As if she were a chameleon, and if she stood still enough, she’d vanish from sight.
She was thin—too thin, Petra thought. The girl’s light frame would always look delicate, but her white skin was crepe-paper pale, as if she’d never been in the sun. She looked as if a strong wind could blow her away. The contrast of full breasts on such a small frame looked wrong, and Petra already guessed one of the problems she’d faced in the past. This girl who was young enough her face still held a hint of baby fat was built with curves that belonged on a much older woman.
Dark brown hair hung in mats, and ratty clumps tangled around her face. She held her head tilted toward the floor, but her eyes were up and wary as if watching so she could duck if necessary.
Still, Petra saw hidden strength in those eyes. Stone grey, but bright, like the eyes of a cat analyzing and judging. Sharp and alert. She hadn’t lost all hope yet.
Danielle continued, her voice a gentle breeze dancing over eggshells. “We met up a little early and the traffic was incredibly light. I knew you wouldn't mind, so we came straight here. Jennifer, come meet Aiden and Petra. They'll be your hosts for the next while.”
Aiden spoke softly. “Hey, Jennifer.”
No one in the room missed the way the girl flinched when he spoke, but she took a couple of shuffling steps off the wall to stand partly hidden behind Danielle. “Hi.”
Petra's heart pounded at the base of her throat. She had no idea what the girl had gone through, but this moment was beyond uncomfortable. This wasn’t what stepping into the sanctuary of High Water should feel like, and the longer silence hung in the air, the more she knew to her core that this was her moment.
She acted on instinct, stepping from behind Aiden and folding her arms over her chest. Petra deliberately eyed the girl from top to bottom then nodded before speaking as bluntly as she would have to her friends. “Hi, Jennifer. This is your home for as long as you need it.”
Jennifer nodded but didn’t directly meet Petra’s eyes.
“So, to start, what do you want us to call you?” Petra asked.
The girl finally lifted her head, confusion on her face. “Like a made-up name?”
“You can pick something completely different if you want, but I was more thinking that Jennifers are rarely called by their full name. I know some Jens and some Jennies.” Petra shrugged. “Give it some thought.” She turned to Danielle, mentally apologizing to Aiden for taking control of the situation. “Anything else you need to grab from the car?”
“No. Jennifer’s got all her things with her,” Danielle answered. “I have contact info for Aiden, though.”
Petra waved a hand as if it were inconsequential, although it had to be the more detailed information regarding Jennifer’s story. While that was important, this was even more essential. “We’ll leave you to it then. Jennifer, we’ll get you settled in your room in a minute. Aiden and I were doing the dishes, and I hate to leave a job half done. Put down your backpack and come help.”
Then without waiting to see if the girl would follow, she headed back to the sink.
Low voices drifted on the air behind her, but nothing but silence from the young woman. Petra worked on putting things away—probably screwing the job up royally, but it kept her attention off Jennifer for a few brief moments.
Partly to see what she did without an audience.
Petra twisted back to grab a set of glasses and stifled a gasp when she discovered Jennifer had made it to the sink without so much as a single floorboard creak, despite wearing a pair of thick soled shoes. The girl moved like a ghost.
“You mind washing?” Petra asked.
“No.”
Petra pointed to the sink. “There are gloves under there if you want. One of my older sisters uses them all the time to save her manicure. My hands are in terrible shape most of the time, and I rarely get manicures, so I never bother with them.”
Jennifer dipped her hands into the water and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly before reaching for the first plate.
“Aiden says the new dishwasher is on its way, but until then, we’ll have to hand wash stuff. You like washing or drying better, usually?” Petra asked.
Jennifer shrugged.
“Me too. I don’t mind either of them, except the Thanksgiving my sister Rachelle hauled out her wedding dishes and set the table formal-like, which means four or five plates and bowls per person. Then at the last minute she decided the fancy stuff couldn’t possibly go in the dishwasher.” Petra left the clean mixing bowl from Aiden’s pancakes on the counter for later, then leaned in closer in the hopes of catching Jennifer’s gaze. “There were twenty-four people at the table that meal.”
The girl’s eyes darted her direction for a second. “ Twenty -four?”
“I have a big family,” Petra offered dryly. “And some of them brought friends. It was a hand washing nightmare. We outlawed fancy dishes at family events after that.”
Jennifer kept washing, but she eyed Petra a little more closely.
Yeah, her huge extended family was usually a great break the ice topic.
She shared her favourite dishwashing disasters including the time Zach and the brothers-in-law decided to create a washing assist using levers and pulleys. The resulting disaster ended up with a flood that poured down the stairs when one of them took out the tap controls and they’d somehow blocked the access to under the sink and couldn’t turn off the water supply.
By the time the dishes were clean and put away, Danielle and Aiden had vanished onto the porch. Petra less heard the door clicking closed than noticed the subtle relaxing of Jennifer’s shoulders.
If the girl was going to be that skittish every time a guy came around, with three brothers in the house at regular intervals, this was going to be problematic. Not knowing what Jennifer had gone through, it wasn't a judgment on her reaction. Just more like a fervent hope they could get through this stage quickly for all their sakes.
It had to suck to be constantly jumping at shadows.
They both dried their hands, then Petra tilted her head toward the living quarters section of the house. “Now for the grand tour. You'll have a room to yourself and a shared bathroom. You can lock the bathroom door on the second bedroom side for now if you want since there's no one in there. And there's a lock on your door to the hallway as well,” Petra said, leading the way and trusting that Jennifer would follow.
The steady step of boot heels across the wooden floor reminded Petra. She stopped by the bedroom and motioned the girl to go ahead of her. “I don't think your bag is big enough for you to have a spare pair of runners or slippers, do you?”
Jennifer stared around the room, her head swaying from side to side as her eyes grew big as saucers. She ignored the question completely. “This is for me?”
“Yup. You’re in charge of keeping it clean, although if it’s clean enough there’s no fire hazard or rotting food, I’m not fussy. There will be some tasks you’ll help with around the house, but we’ll wait and see what else gets added to that list after Aiden and Danielle have talked, all right?”
The girl blinked hard, lifting her head far enough to peer through the mess of her hair and take in Petra from top to bottom. “Is this a good place to live?”
It was the kind of question that should be either whispered or demanded, but the sheer hopefulness in the girl’s voice just about broke Petra in two.
She lifted her own chin. “I'm not the type to stay somewhere that sucks. Trust me on that one.” She snorted. As evidenced by rooting up her whole life to get away from the inconvenience of meeting her ex or his friends. Or his fiancée. “I expect there will be some learning curves between all of us as we set up this place.” Petra waved a hand around her. “If you haven't noticed, you're the first to arrive. Which means you get to help us figure out what we're doing right and what we’re doing wrong.”
“If you’re not hurting me or trying to get into my pants, I figure it's a pretty good improvement already.” It came out with the most snap and fire Jennifer had offered since walking in the door.
A flash of anger rolled up one side of Petra and down the other. Not at this poor child, but at the assholes who had made a young girl utter such a phrase. “If somebody tries to do the first, I have a friend who will poison him, and I’ll bury the body six feet under.” Petra stepped closer, planted her hands on her hips, and gave Jennifer the absolute truth. “And if anyone tries the second, I have a friend who knows how to remove vital parts of their anatomy, so they’ll never try again. Not with anyone.”
One of the first true smiles she'd seen flickered across the girl’s face.
So, bloodthirsty threats were the way to go. Good to know.
Dwelling on the idea wouldn’t make Petra’s blood pressure go back to normal. “Next part of the tour, Jennifer. This way to the bathroom. There's nothing too?—”
“Wait.” The girl stepped closer. “I want to be called Jinx.”
Petra considered, her face had to be some twist between amusement and an adult exasperation. “Really?”
The girl lifted her chin. “You said I could pick a name.”
Petra raised a brow. “That I did. Okay, Jinx, I'll show you the rest of the house, and then we’ll see if Aiden's done so we can take a tour of the barns.”
Jinx. Petra wasn't sure if the name meant what the girl felt like or what she wished on the people around her. But for now, it was a solid decision she’d made for herself, so Petra would deal with anybody who didn't follow along.
It wasn't until the door closed behind him that Aiden realized exactly how much fury he'd been holding inside.
Danielle laid a gentle hand on his shoulder, guiding him off the porch and toward the barn.. “What was it that got to you the most? The look in her eyes or the fact she’s so young?”
“All of it.” Underfoot, Dixie whined softly, sensing Aiden’s anger. He gave her a brief pat then stepped away, inhaling deeply to try and wash some of the rage from his system. “I don't think it would be a good thing if I was to ever meet the people who put that expression on her face.”
“Trust me,” Danielle offered. “I've been fantasizing rather vividly about what things I would do to them if it were possible. But right now, the biggest thing is that Jennifer’s out of that situation and in a place where her life can improve.”
Which was what he needed to focus on rather than using his resources to discover who needed to be buried in a shallow grave. “It's not going to fly,” he warned. “Having her on as a ranch hand. She's far too young for that to work.”
“Agreed. I didn't realize it until I picked her up today. Sometimes girls at this age can get away with pretending to be older, but she looks young. Younger than she is.” Danielle all but snarled the words.
Looking for a solution helped control Aiden’s temper. “I might have an idea.” They'd made it to the barn, and from across the open walkway, Jake and Declan put down their tools and paced quickly toward them. “She’s welcome here, but I don't think it's going to be for a short time.” He shook the envelope Danielle had given him. “Unless there’s something in here that says she's got a safe retreat spot elsewhere.”
Danielle shook her head then lifted her chin to his brothers, sharing with all of them. “Her parents died when she was five, so she’s been in foster care for a while. The paperwork outlines more details, but to summarize, she’s had two stable placements. A year and a half ago, the older couple she’d been with for eight years had to withdraw from fostering because of health issues. Her new family has a long history of fostering and a good track record. They have a birth son about Jennifer’s age and a slightly older daughter, and it should have been a perfect match. Instead, it’s been a disaster. They’ve persuaded the other authorities that she’s been acting up and causing problems, which is why they’re being firm. I’m convinced something bigger is happening. She's run away at least three times I know about. I couldn’t get anyone to agree to look closer, so I stepped in and quietly asked if she wanted out.”
“Is that how you’re playing this one?” Jake asked. “That this time she's been successful in running away?”
Danielle nodded. “She left hints indicating she was headed to Toronto. That’s a big enough place for a girl like her to get lost, and it's far enough away from Red Deer that I don't think anyone will bother trying to track her down.”
“Red Deer isn't that far away from Heart Falls. You think it's safe for her here?” Aiden asked quietly.
“Safer than where she was,” Danielle snapped before taking a deep breath. “She insisted she didn’t need to see a doctor, that she hadn’t been raped, but she has all the signs of dealing with sexual abuse.”
Another rush of fury flashed through Aiden at the thought.
Danielle offered an apologetic smile. “You are her best shot right now,” she said.
“Then here she’ll stay,” Declan offered with no hesitation.
“She’s damn skittish.” Aiden made eye contact with his brothers. “Petra’s going to have to call the shots a lot on this one.”
They both nodded.
“She’s too young to be a ranch hand. But she could be family. Declan.”
His brother met his eyes.
Aiden hated to go there, but it was necessary. It had only been three years since Declan’s wife Sadie had died. Shortly after she’d passed was when the Skye brothers had seriously began planning for the setup of High Water. It didn’t make her loss any less painful for his brother.
“Sadie’s folks fostered kids. They live remote enough now that they won’t know, and there’s no high schools in their new area. That way Jennifer can still share the parts of her past that she wants to without the need to pretend her birth parents are still in the picture. You okay with that idea?”
Declan never hesitated. “Of course. Jennifer coming here would make sense. We can play it up that she plans to go to school in Calgary after she graduates.”
“I’ll get in touch with my contact,” Jake offered. “Get her ID, get her set up in the school system. It shouldn't take long.”
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” Danielle said quietly. “Contact me if you need to, but from here on in, I'm going to keep out of the details as much as possible. Jennifer has my number in case of emergencies, and I’ll stop by at times to check in, but the less interaction between us once people know she’s missing, the better.”
Jake shook her hand. “If you need us, call. That's why we’re here. That's why we’re building High Water.”
Declan tilted his head toward the house. “If there's nothing else you need to tell the three of us, I'll walk you back to the house. You can say goodbye to Jennifer, and I'll let her know about her role in the family.”
“Thank you for being men I can trust. I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t believe you were rock solid.” Danielle met each of their eyes in turn before resting her hand briefly on Aiden’s arm. “And thank goodness for Petra. You’ve found yourself a wonderful woman.”
The praise only sent another wave of frustration over Aiden as Danielle joined Declan and they headed toward the house.
Petra was a good woman. Thank God she’d stepped in to help.
But it was also maddening since Aiden had thought her a good woman before all this, and now the chances of him doing anything about the connection between them had temporarily vanished.
Nothing mattered right now except making sure Jennifer’s world improved from the hell it had been.
He pushed past Jake to the barn, fury rushing through him. He smashed his fist into a feed sack resting on a nearby haybale. The jolt of pain radiating up his arm barely disturbed the fire flaring inside.
Dixie whined softly, dancing away slightly but refusing to leave.
“That bad?” Jake asked quietly, slipping up behind him.
“She's a fucking baby,” Aiden snarled. “I walked across the room, and she looked at me as if—” He closed his eyes and tightened his throbbing fist, trying to breathe away the anger. “If I ever find the son of a bitch who put that look into her eyes, he’ll have breathed his last.”
Which probably wasn't a thing he should confess to his brother who spent fifteen years as part of the police force.
But when Jake spoke, it was without censure. “I hear you. And I mostly agree with you, but we need to let that shit go. She's out of a dangerous situation, and we need to help her step forward. We need to make this a place where she can bloom. If we have to put up with a few cringes and being stared at as if we’re the bogeyman until she learns she can trust us, I can deal. So can you.”
“Counselling the counsellor, are you?” Aiden growled in an attempt at normality.
“You usually give good advice,” Jake admitted. “She needs time to get over her past trauma, and like you suggested, some good old-fashioned chores and safe family space might be the best way to do it.”
Which was true, but one other thing needed to change. “I don't think me sleeping in the house is going to fly,” Aiden said. “Not even with the suggestion that I'm there for their safety.”
“Crash out here with us but put Dixie in the house with the girls,” Jake suggested. “Problem solved.”
Unexpectedly, a chuckle escaped. “Dixie?” He knelt and ruffled her ears, accepting the enthusiastic tongue bath she instantly offered to make him all better. Aiden nodded slowly at his brother. “That’ll work.”
The thought of the three females together in the house settled some of Aiden’s agitation. Especially since one of them was a well-trained guard dog with very sharp teeth.
Jake tilted his head toward the house. “Want me to help grab your stuff so you can move out? Maybe if we go now, Petra can make us look less scary.”
Maybe, but Aiden thought he knew an even better way. “Let’s have Jennifer come meet Dixie outside. The girls can explore the animal rescue then come to the fire pit. Animals are the best kind of distraction,” Aiden suggested.
“Good idea.” His brother shuffled toward the nearest pen, patting the nose of the horse that came forward and shoved his head over the rail. Jake sighed. “It’s not like making a checklist, is it? This is going to involve a whole lot of playing it by ear.”
“Yup.”
Jake sighed again. “I hate playing it by ear.”
Aiden stroked Dixie’s head again and breathed deep a few times, working hard to find a peaceful center. No, it wasn’t going to be one step forward after another without some hiccups in the path, but it would be worth it in the end. That was the truth he had to cling to.
Come hell or high water, they’d make it work.