Chapter 18 #2
“It means you have a girlfriend who is happy to be fed on a regular basis,” Sydney assured him.
Even as he kissed her, she felt his smile against her lips.
Saturday morning after a lovely wake up, sunshine pouring in the window and highlighting the sheets, Sydney took her happily sated self over to the main ranch house.
Declan held her hand as they walked, and despite the frustrations still weighing on them, Sydney didn’t think she’d ever been happier.
Inside the house they were greeted with a chorus of calls, including Jeffrey, who ran straight up to her and hugged her knees. “Auntie Syd, Daddy’s making pancakes!”
“Delicious news,” Sydney offered back.
Declan swept the tyke up in his arms. “Are they horse pancakes?”
Jeffrey’s eyes got wide. “Made of horses?”
Sydney laughed. “Have fun with this one.”
While Declan reassured Jeffrey that it was the shape that counted, not the materials, Sydney slid up to the counter and got their coffees started. She caught herself watching him—this mountain of a man talking nonsense about pancakes—and wondered when he’d started to feel like home.
Distraction needed, stat.
She hip checked her friend when Petra entered the room. “Morning. You look far perkier this morning than last night.”
“I had a breakthrough on the data.” Petra waited until Declan joined them, wiping her hands on a dish towel as she leaned one hip against the counter.
“Okay, here’s the short version,” she said, glancing between Declan and Sydney and speaking softly enough the ranch hands at the table couldn’t hear.
“The USB stick is encrypted, but it’s not military grade.
It took me until this morning to get into the root folders.
What’s in there looks like a series of crypto wallet keys and a document trail—account numbers, deposit logs, even dummy business registrations.
Someone tried to hide their tracks, but it’s sloppy.
He probably copied these from someone high up in the gang. ”
Sydney blinked. “You’re saying it’s all money?”
“Dirty money,” Petra confirmed. “We’re talking money laundering, probably drug related.
Most of its traceable now that I know what I’m looking at.
Jake’s contacts in the RCMP are already working on it.
They’re planning something — a sting, or at least a quiet intercept.
But they’ll need someone to hand it off. Carefully.”
It still sounded dangerous, but as long as they went through the police, that was a good thing. “Poor Logan, getting dragged into something that’s not his fault.”
“He’s got us now,” Declan said firmly. “We’ll protect him.”
They absolutely would.
Something else had to be said. Sydney eyed her friend closely. “It sounds as if you’ve been taking hacker lessons. Well done with your on-the-job training.”
Petra grinned. “One step closer to taking over the world.”
With one trouble moving ahead somewhat smoothly, Sydney pushed the other issue aside and focused on the bright spot in her day.
After breakfast, Petra waved off her help with dishes. “You said you’re teaching at the community hall this morning.”
“Babysitting course. I’ll be there all day, so don’t try to drop in,” Sydney warned Declan.
“Why would I drop in?” he asked with a completely straight face. “I’ve already got my babysitting badge. Cut my teeth raising Jake and Aiden. Now I’ve got Petra and Tansy to keep in line, too.”
Petra stuck out her tongue. “Big brothers are the worst.” Petra’s grin softened. “And by that, I mean the best. Love you, Declan.”
“Love you, too, Petra.” Declan turned to Sydney and straight up said it again. “See how easy it is? I love you, Sydney.”
“You’re impossible, Declan.” But the warmth in her chest flared.
“Perfect. And now I’m off to do chores. Maybe I can practice telling the horses and cats how I feel.” He tipped his chin and headed out the door.
Her friend’s gaze burned like a laser. “He’s tossing out the L word already. That’s got to feel big and scary.”
“You have no idea,” Sydney muttered.
“Oh, I think I have a pretty good idea, but I also know how this story ends if you’re willing to take a chance.” Petra tugged Sydney into a hug. “Deck is a great guy. I’m glad to see the two of you together, and I think you can get over the I love you willies eventually.”
“Eventually.” Sydney escaped as soon as she could, heading home to grab the bags of supplies she needed for the class from her shed.
Something foul had died in there—possibly already rotting—judging by the horrid scent that wafted out the instant she opened the door.
She wrinkled her nose but didn’t have time to investigate.
Instead, she held her breath as she hurriedly carried the oversized red-and-yellow duffel bags that held the CPR mannequins to her truck bed, hoping that the scent would dissipate by the time she reached the hall.
The main floor area was set up for a gymnastics practice later in the afternoon, so the babysitting class had been given the stage area where the annual bachelor auction was usually held.
She breathed through her mouth as she carried in the heavy bags and stacked them to the front of the stage near the curtains. They wouldn’t need the mannequins until the afternoon.
By nine o’clock, five tweens were seated in a loose semicircle on the stage, surrounded by foam mats and clipboards. Sydney knew two of them from the clinic and quickly learned the names of the others.
“Roll call,” she said brightly. “Let’s see who we’ve got. Hailey, Noah, Addie, Lucas, and Grace. That’s my whole crew today?”
Hailey, with pink streaks in her braids, gave a double thumbs-up. Noah adjusted his glasses and muttered, “Present, Doctor J.” Addie had her nose buried in a spiral notebook but nodded. Lucas, tall for thirteen, gave a salute, and Grace giggled.
“I’m not going to make you memorize diaper brands or perform surgery on a teddy bear,” Sydney promised. “But I do expect you to learn a few important things today—like how to keep small kids from duct-taping themselves to the dog.”
That got a round of laughter.
Sydney launched into the first module, safety basics. They talked about age-appropriate toys, what to do if the child started choking, and how to create a safe play space.
At one point, she passed around a bottle of coloured water. “Raise your hand if you think a two-year-old would drink this.”
All five hands went up instantly.
“Exactly. Now tell me where something like this might be found?”
Hailey threw up a hand. “In the fridge.”
“Under a sink,” Lucas shouted at the same time.
Which led to a whole discussion of where the cleaners were kept in their houses and if dangerous cleaning chemicals were safely stored or not.
By the time they broke for lunch, the kids were buzzing with energy. Sydney had promised them CPR practice in the afternoon, which had sparked a mix of excitement and mock horror.
“Do we actually have to get the hearts started on those dummies?” Noah asked.
“We’re more worried about the things little kids usually do. Like sticking things in their mouths,” she replied. “But I will do a demo and let you try so when you take a full first aid course down the road, you’ll be ahead of the game.”
“Nice.”
As the kids dashed off—bathroom breaks, lunch bags consumed, or just to burn off energy in the open gym—Sydney took the opportunity to slip into the washroom herself.
She hadn’t lied about liking kids. If they could just pop into existence at ten years old, she could handle having a horde of them.
We’ll figure it out together when the time is right.
The memory of Declan’s firm commitment actually made her smile for a moment as she checked her watch. They’d been at it for three hours already. She’d give them twenty minutes to burn off steam and then corral them for the next unit.
The quiet crackle didn’t register at first.
The sound came like a whisper—too soft at first to catalogue over the hum of air vents, the slap of sneakers on wood, the laughter.
When she stepped back into the hall, something caught her eye. Smoke. A thin ribbon of it, curling upward from the edge of the stage curtain.
Sydney froze for one heartbeat, then her training kicked in.
“Everyone out!” she yelled, her voice echoing like thunder off the walls. “Fire! Move! Outside now!”
She pointed toward the emergency exit door even as she scanned for the kids and the nearest fire extinguisher.
Noah and Lucas skidded to a halt mid-run, wide-eyed. Grace and Addie jumped at the sharpness in her tone but obeyed without argument. Sydney turned back to spot Hailey as she came tearing out of the bathroom, panic in her eyes.
They all moved toward the emergency exit like wind blowing over tall grass on the prairie.
The alarm triggered by opening the door rang loud and reassuring.
Sydney did a frantic headcount.
“One, two, three, four—where’s Grace? Grace!” Sydney turned back to the hall, even though her gut told her the answer.
“She said something about her phone,” Addie offered. “She left it with her notebook on the stage.”
Dammit. Sydney stood in the open doorway and eyed the rising smoke. Rushing in when she didn’t know which way to go made no sense even though her body screamed at her to get moving to find Grace.
The air smelled of burning plastic and something chemical.
As her gaze reached the stage, her stomach dropped.
The curtains were ablaze, flames licking up the fabric like hungry tongues.
At the base the duffel bags were just visible, burning bright.
The mannequins were melting, a pile of what looked like rags draped over them.
She couldn’t see Grace.
“Doctor Sydney!” A shout rose behind her.
She turned for half a second to see Declan’s truck skid into the parking lot. Jinx slipped from the passenger door as Declan jumped down, eyes scanning the scene as he took in the smoke, the children, the fire.
And her.
Their eyes locked.
The children would be safe with him. She turned and plunged back inside.