Chapter 21 – Isaac
Chapter Twenty-One
Isaac
Oske holds Aimee. Brinley holds Max and Kyler’s hands.
The oldest boys look at me with wide and excited eyes.
I can’t stop myself from running over to them.
The entire world vanishes and I forget my anger and fear as my desire to protect my children and hold them again surges with a powerful primal need.
I grab Max by his outstretched arms and then scoop up Kyler.
Oske tries to keep Aimee out of my hands, but I somehow manage to hold onto all three kids and hug them closely.
I can feel Gabby hanging back, looking on at me curiously, but truthfully I lose myself the moment I hold my children again.
My job is to protect them from the darkness in my world – not to ever let the guns and the bad guys get to them.
Maybe the Shaw family was too careless with her and that’s why their mother became so careless with them.
Who knows what type of men she’s had them around.
Even having the kids around Selma could put them in plenty of danger considering my mom’s liberal attitude surrounding cigarettes and alcohol.
Max hugs me back with arms that feel way too scrawny.
Kyler clings to me and rests his head on me in a way that just breaks my heart.
Aimee might not know yet all of what’s going on, but she stares at me while Oske holds her up so she can see the entire scene.
I rise to my feet and kiss my daughter on the top of her head.
I don’t stop Max or Kyler from clinging onto my jeans.
Aimee lets me hold her and reaches immediately for the stubble on my face.
I hope she recognizes me or at least my scent as safe.
The tears almost pierce the corners of my eyes again.
“I love you too, little one. I hope you know that.”
Aimee stares at me with wide green eyes that look like Wyatt’s. That tug on my heart turns into a knot. How can I keep all of them safe? All the kids and Gabby?
I will never let them go again. I want to finalize my divorce and cut all ties as much as possible. Tylee and I are done. She brought me so damn close to losing the kids – and not just custody.
I love everything about holding them now. How they smell. How they cling to me. I can’t stop myself from crying. I’m not emotional, but I don’t want to stop myself from showing my kids how much I love them. I cling to them desperately.
“Daddy will never let you go again,” I murmur as I hold Aimee. I hope they all hear me.
I feel a hand on the smallest part of my back. Gabby. She’s gentle. Supportive. Keeping appropriate distance so I can be with them, but the tiny gesture makes me feel like she understands my love for them and why my kids always have to come first.
It’s not that I can’t love anybody else.
But those kids are a part of me. My life.
If or when I have kids with a woman who isn’t Tylee, she will see that I love and care for my blood, wherever they are in this world.
The fear I feel I can finally admit to myself.
Tylee might have taken them from me and she might take them again if she gets a chance.
What does Gabby think about walking into all of this?
“I missed you guys so much.”
“I missed you too, dad,” Max says. “Oske isn’t an evil Indian witch like mom said she was.”
Thankfully, Oske wasn’t there to hear that little comment, especially since I owe it to her for risking possible gunfire by Selma.
“Your mom is wrong about a lot,” I tell him. “But we don’t have to talk about that now. How was the drive over?”
After the kids excitedly tell me about their road trip with Oske and Brinley, who they officially think are superheroes because of all the fast food and cartoons, I beckon for Gabby to join us.
She hasn’t pushed anything, which only makes me want her more.
I know she plans on going to Harvard once I take care of what I promised… I doubt she wants this in her life.
“Kids, I want you all to meet Gabrielle. She’s a special friend of mine.”
Gabby looks at me a little awkwardly, like she isn’t sure that she’s doing the right thing. If there’s anyone massively screwing up between the two of us, it’s definitely me and not her.
“She’s pretty,” Max says.
“Yeah like Tiana,” Kyler says.
I have no idea who Tiana is, but it might be one of the Disney princesses. I’m assuming it’s the black one.
“Gabby. This is Kyler. This is Max. And this… is Aimee.”
Once they realize that Gabby is a friend – and a new one at that – the kids take an interest in her.
I watch her with them, this strange sense of guilt growing that I come with all of this.
I don’t regret my kids and I would choose them every single time but…
what woman in her right mind would want to be with a single father who has three children?
It would be selfish to expect that of her.
Too selfish. Gabby smiles and seems to get along with them.
I feel so guilty for dragging her into this, but it’s a turn on watching her nurture them.
Men can’t help it. When you watch a woman getting all nurturing and womanly with people, it does something to your mind that you really can’t help.
The kids get some real food and showers. I want to do everything on my own but Amanda and Brinley insist on helping out so that I can talk business and what’s happening next with Gabby. It’s not great that Tylee got away.
Oske isn’t happy with us for that and neither is Brinley. Ethan suggests the two of them take a break and head off to Canada, but Oske starts complaining about money, which shuts Ethan up about Canada very quickly, because he can be a miser.
“How much do you two lovebirds need for Canada?”
“Who says we’re lovebirds?” Oske snaps defensively, as if any of the adults in the room missed the marks on their necks. “Can’t a girl have friends anymore?”
“We need twenty-grand,” Brinley says quickly. “And we’re not just friends, Oske.”
“Whatever we are, we’re also not talking about it here,” Oske mutters, ignoring Brinley throwing her arms around her.
“You brought my kids back in one piece. Twenty-grand sounds fair. Take a trip and come back when we have Tylee in custody.”
“Or dead,” Oske mutters.
Ethan clears his throat. “Be careful, Oske.”
“What? She’s gone off the deep end. Hanging out with racist bikers, abandoning the kids. What if she goes back to Selma?”
“What if?” I grumble. “We’ll find her before that.”
“You all need to be more careful,” Oske says. “That’s all I’m saying. I take my money, I fix up The Fire Spot and I stay out of trouble. You all start running guns from Texas to Boston and wonder why you keep getting shot at.”
“It sounds like you’re victim blaming,” Ethan ventures cautiously, looking over at Amanda whose eyebrows raise slightly, then she buries her head in a mug of whatever it is she’s drinking – staying out of it.
“Victim blaming?” Oske responds. “Are you stupid, Ethan? Tylee hooked up with some ex-DHS guy who now wants to go on a rampage against your family.”
“We don’t need you worrying about that.”
Oske doesn’t know about Scum.
Scum probably doesn’t know his own name anymore, since he’s trapped with Cody Hollingsworth, Zebulon Blackwood, and Odhran Murray in a warehouse right now. Not in the city, which is too overrun with police officers and immigration enforcement to be safe considering the hornet’s nest that we poked.
“Really?”
“I said I’ll give you twenty grand,” I grumble. “Isn’t that enough for you?”
“I want to live in peace,” Oske says. “Brinley might be content to get money and run off, but I’m not.”
“Who says I want to run off?” Brinley says. “I’m taking the money and then we’ll be back because they’re gonna solve it. Right?”
“Right.”
Oske glares, because that’s what she does – gives us lectures like she’s our mom.
“Okay. So let’s say you idiots have some upper hand over this gang of bikers. Perhaps a captive. You must not have Tylee, or Wyatt wouldn’t have called me in a total panic.”
“Correct,” Ethan says. “We don’t have her. Are you going to help or just bitch?”
“No,” Oske says. “I’m going to take the twenty thousand dollars Isaac promised and fuck off for a bit. But I’m coming back. And I wish you all would realize that the more you get into trouble, the more likely it is that one of you gets killed.”