Chapter 14
Fourteen
Adam
As we enter the main house, I hold Rebekah’s hand. Aaric and Adrian are the only two in the kitchen. I’m glad. I think my girl will be less nervous if she has to deal with my brothers in small doses. All of us are overbearing and intense, not to mention huge.
Rebekah can hold her own. She always did when she was a child. She will now, too. I have no doubt. But at first, it will be overwhelming.
Aaric gives a wave from his seat. “Hey, Rebekah.”
She blushes and lowers her gaze.
It takes me a moment to realize why she would be embarrassed. I suspect it has something to do with the fact that he did all that shopping for her yesterday, including intimate articles of clothing and feminine products.
Adrian smiles. “Good morning.” He jumps up to grab her a plate. “There’s a full spread of breakfast food here every morning, Rebekah. If this brute doesn’t feed you, come to the main house,” he teases.
I smirk and take the plate from him. “I’ve got it,” I growl at him, or at least I try to growl. I like that my brothers are attentive, and I know they care about my girl, but I just got her yesterday. They can back off.
I kiss her temple. “Pick a seat, sweetheart. I’ll get us some food.”
She wanders toward the table. “Last time I sat in one of these chairs, I was tied to it. Is that part of the welcoming committee, or should I expect that on the regular?”
There she is. That’s my firecracker. The more comfortable she gets, the snarkier she’ll be, too. I grin as I fill our plate.
Adrian chuckles. “I can’t promise you’ll never get tied to a chair, but I can tell you that from now on, the only person who will put their hands on you like that and use restraints will be your husband. He’d kill us if we touched you.”
Good answer.
I fill a tall glass of orange juice and bring both it and the plate to the table. After sitting slightly sideways, I reach out for her.
She stares at me and then glances at my brothers as if to say, You seriously want me to sit on your lap and share your plate in front of other people?
“Remember how I told you I would be bossy when it comes to your safety?”
She nods slowly.
“Eating enough is a safety issue, sweetheart. Come.”
That last word makes her flinch, but she obeys me. When she gets close enough, I lift her onto my lap, her legs between my knees.
In my peripheral vision, I’m aware of my brothers watching us, brows furrowed.
Like last night, I wrap my arm around her, secure her hands on her thighs, and then offer her a bite of scrambled eggs.
While she chews, I glance at my brothers. “Don’t judge. Rebekah has food insecurities. The best way to ensure she eats a healthy portion is not to pressure her with a specific amount on her own plate.”
“Ah,” Aaric says. “Ingenious.”
Adrian nods his approval as they go back to shoveling their own food in.
Both men finish in the next few minutes and load their dishes into the dishwasher.
Adrian speaks on their way out of the kitchen. “We’ll be in the office. I assume you’re planning to bring her down and explain things.”
“Yes. We’ll be there in a bit.”
Adrian doesn’t elaborate on what things need explanation in the basement. He’s right, though. Rebekah needs to be aware and prepared.
My brothers cross the room and disappear through a door. Rebekah is so focused on eating that she doesn’t notice where they’ve gone.
I don’t rush her. I eat a few bites in between every one of hers. She doesn’t balk at anything I offer her, which concerns me. “Are you not a picky eater, sweetheart? Or are you too polite to tell me when you don’t like something?”
“I’m not picky. Everything tastes so good.”
I kiss her temple and give her a drink of juice. “Okay, but I will never require you to eat things you don’t care for. I want you to tell me when that’s the case. Everyone has some tastes or textures they don’t like.”
“Okay.” She leans into me, resting her head on my shoulder, which I take as a sign that she’s full. I’m actually impressed with how much she has eaten. “Are you always going to feed me?” she asks softly.
“We’ll see. For now, I’m going to do so to make sure you get enough to eat. But I have to say, I really enjoy having you on my lap, and feeding you makes my heart full. Indulge me?”
“Your brothers think we’re weird.”
“My brothers are jealous because I’m the youngest and the first to get married.”
She lifts her head to look at me. “You think they’re jealous?”
“Yep.”
“Why? I’m the annoying neighbor with crazy red hair and freckles.”
I stand her on her feet and hold her shoulders so she’s facing me eye-to-eye. “You may have crazy red hair and freckles, sweetheart, but you are not annoying. Wipe that from your head.”
She chews on her bottom lip for a moment while I stare at her. When she releases it, she sighs. “They’re going to grow exasperated if my father causes trouble.”
“They won’t. We’re family. We protect what’s ours. And you’re ours now, Rebekah.”
She launches herself at me, throwing her arms around my neck and climbing fully onto my lap to straddle me. Fuck, I love her.
I rub her back, cup her bottom, and stand, keeping her right where she belongs. I don’t care if anyone sees us. They can bite me if they don’t like it. “Are you ready to go downstairs?”
She nods as she leans back, and then she grabs my beard and kisses me. “I didn’t even know this place had a basement.”
“Yep. It’s an important part of the property.
” I carry her over to the pantry and open it.
It’s a huge walk-in filled with survival supplies.
In the event we should ever get trapped up here because of weather or any other reason, we will not run out of non-perishable food.
There’s a similar pantry under this one. I’m about to blow my wife’s mind.
“Uh, what are we doing in the pantry?” she asks.
I walk to the back and reach around behind some canned goods to set my thumb on the small pad. What appears to be a solid wall at the far end pops open, and I grab the corner of it to pull it wide.
Rebekah squeezes my neck tighter and gasps. “What the…?”
I chuckle. “Basement,” I say as if this even begins to explain things. We’re facing a stairwell, and I flip on the light, step onto the landing, and pull the door closed behind me before descending.
“Why is it hidden?” she asks, holding on to me as if I’m taking her through a portal into another dimension.
“It’s a full underground saferoom. You’ll see.” At the bottom of the stairs, I step out into a living space with the same footprint as the first floor of the house.
“Wow…”
“It’s like a bunker. Everything we need to survive for a long time is down here.”
“Are you thinking the world will come to an end?” she asks skeptically.
I chuckle. “Not necessarily, but if it does, we’ll be prepared.”
When she squirms against me, I lower her to her feet and take her hand. “How about a tour?” Her eyes bug out and her jaw drops as I show her the living room, kitchen, gaming room, bedrooms, offices, control center, and bathrooms. She’s mesmerized and stunned.
I don’t show her the ammunition closet. She doesn’t need to see that today. Soon, though. Part of keeping her safe will mean making sure she knows how to fire a weapon and is confident to do so in an emergency.
After pushing open the door to the control room, I step back so she can see inside. Adrian is in there. The room has a dozen monitors, and several of them switch to another view of the property every few seconds.
Rebekah lets go of my hand and wanders in to get a closer look.
Adrian spins around in his chair. “What do you think?”
“It’s like I’m on a spaceship,” she says with no humor in her voice.
I chuckle. “I guess it is sort of like that.” The truth is, she’s simply never seen anything so high-tech. Her world is changing. Joining our family means learning about things she’s never dreamed of.
Rebekah shuffles closer to the monitors. “What am I looking at?”
Adrian points to a control pad. “There are cameras all over the property. We only fired all this equipment up to test it out this morning. We’ll be able to see anything that happens damn near anywhere on this homestead while it happens. We should be fully operational in a few days.”
Rebekah stares in awe. “Asher would have discovered me a lot sooner if this equipment had been working.”
Adrian nods. “Definitely. Instead, Asher stumbled upon you while he was patrolling. After he discovered you, he marched down here and started barking orders that we needed to get this equipment up and running. We’re rushing to get this system online.
He doesn’t like the idea of someone sneaking up on him. Or any of us.”
“Did they ever figure out how the fire started all those years ago?” she asks softly.
I pull her back against my front. “No, sweetheart. But it won’t happen again. This time, no one will be able to approach us without our knowledge.”
She turns in my embrace and wraps her arms around my middle. “I didn’t think I would ever see any of you again.”
“We’re here now, sweetheart. And so are you. You’re safe,” I remind her. “You won’t be left alone anywhere on our property for a long time, but if and when I ever let you out of my sight, you’ll know all the places to hide in an emergency.”
“There are others?” She tips her head back.
“Yes. There’s a saferoom in our cabin. There’s one in every cabin. I’ll show it to you.”
“You think someone started that fire intentionally, don’t you?”
“Yes, sweetheart.” I cup her face and stroke her cheek.
“But why?”
“Jealousy? Revenge? Intended robbery? Hard to say. Our parents were worth a lot of money, and so were their minds. They had hoped to live in peace out here without anyone discovering them, but it backfired. They may be gone, but their legacy lives on through us. We have returned, and we refuse to be chased off our own land by anyone.”
I wonder if, at some point, Rebekah might feel like I duped her by marrying her without telling her the risks.
I intend to prove to her that she will always be safe with me, and I pray she doesn’t grow to resent me.
The last thing I want is for her free spirit to feel trapped.
We may have nearly every luxury known to mankind on this mountain, but there’s a price to pay for our name and our wealth.
Part of that price is the freedom to live freely out in the open.
My brothers and I have spent a decade separated and in various parts of the country.
In that time, we’ve earned our degrees and done our best to stay under the radar, but eventually, we realized the publicity that came from people recognizing our name alone just isn’t worth it.
We felt called to return to our roots, our mountain.
This land is ours, and we fully intend to turn it into a safe haven.
A place where we can live our lives without being under the public spotlight.
Rebekah is stunned, staring at me in silence. I can’t blame her. The more she learns, the more shocked she will probably be.
“Come.” I take her hand and lead her out of the control room and into the next office. Aaric is at his massive desk on one side of the room, and he stands. “What do you think?” he asks my wife.
She clings to me, leaning into my side. “I’m overwhelmed.”
“Yeah, it’s a lot,” he says.
I point to the desk opposite him. “This is my workstation. Aaric and I head up the developmental part of our family business. We come up with new ideas and turn them into reality.”
When she says nothing, I continue, “Aaron is our CFO. Andrew is our CEO. Basically, that means they run the company our parents founded. JNG Enterprises.”
“JNG… Jack and Naomi. Your parents.”
“Yep.”
“What does Asher do?” she asks, always the inquisitive one.
“He’s not directly involved in the business.
He holds equal shares, but he prefers to live apart from us.
His main goal is ensuring nothing like the fire that killed our parents ever happens again.
He will have access to the monitors you saw in Adrian’s office as soon as Adrian finishes getting them all connected.
I hadn’t seen that setup yet. It’s that new. ”
“We don’t see Asher often,” Aaric adds. “The fact that he came to the courthouse yesterday was surprising to us.”
Rebekah nods. “That’s kind of sad.”
I give her a squeeze. She’s right, but Asher is his own person.
The rest of us are just glad he’s here with us.
He returned five years ago. He’s been here, mostly on his own, living off the land before the rest of us arrived and we started to build.
We’re all hoping he will start to emerge more often and grow less reclusive.
Rebekah’s eyes widen. “He’s been here five years? I never saw him.”
I shrug. “He didn’t want anyone to know he was here. He’s stealthy.”
“Wow. I guess so.”
“I need to take care of some things, and then we’ll get out of here. Would you like to explore while I do so?”
She shakes her head. “I’d rather stay with you. Is that okay?”
Smiling, I guide her toward my workspace. I could go get her a chair, but I’d rather have my wife on my lap, so as soon as I sit, I settle her on one knee, and reach around her small frame with both hands to take care of the most urgent emails.