Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Tamsin
Tamsin’s mind still… spun.
That was the only word that fit. As the ground sped past beneath their airplane, she tried to absorb the fact that her father was now dead.
Confirmed dead.
She didn’t regret asking Duncan and Badger to see the pictures, either.
She forced herself to stare at them for a long moment, giving thanks she didn’t see Maisie and Rupert’s bodies after the attack.
Moments before the attack happened, they’d all been happy and laughing, and she chose to focus on that memory, that brief, bittersweet perfection.
Closing her eyes, she imagined how satisfying it’d be to play football with the man’s head—she couldn’t think of him as her “father” and hadn’t for a long while—and that was the only regret she’d have.
But necrophilic soccer was such a minor thing in the grand scheme of things that she was at peace with it.
He was dead now, and she could finally start making plans for her future and what she wanted to do.
Where she wanted to live.
After Duncan gave Tamsin the brief overview of what Donnel had tone to Bryn, the unforgivable betrayal, he’d asked if Tamsin wanted to meet Donnel and Hyacinth while they were in Idaho, and she’d refused.
No, she’d love Hamish and cling to him as the kind of father she wished she’d been blessed with. Him, and Duncan, and Badger—and Trevor, obviously.
The limbo of what she wanted to do about her mother was a different beast entirely. Fortunately, they weren’t pressuring her for a decision.
No matter what happened, her mother would never meet Maisie Rue, and that was for certain. Now knowing the background about the events and her mother’s true past, she felt a little bit more charitable toward her, but that didn’t erase the anger and hatred in Tamsin’s heart.
But now Tamsin needed to decide her eventual next step.
While part of her wanted to return to the UK, the other part of her wasn’t certain.
She had the large, loving family she’d always wished for with the Bleackes and the Targhee Pack. She adored teaching the children and didn’t want to give up doing that, either, especially since there were plans to build a pack school on the new properties.
Yet she missed Trevor and Elizabeth and didn’t want them to lose more time with Maisie Rue. Fortunately, it was another decision no one was rushing her to make. Returning to the UK wouldn’t happen before the lab raid, regardless, and that was weeks away.
But now, perhaps Elizabeth could come visit and meet everyone and have a lovely holiday with them. A chance to start helping the woman heal her soul the way the Targhees had helped Tamsin heal hers.
No, the pain and grief of losing Maisie and Rupert would never leave her, but Tamsin could now picture a good life ahead for her and her baby.
A happy life. She had a daughter to live for.
Giving up would be the ultimate act of selfishness when her baby would pay for that the most. And Maisie and Rupert wouldn’t want her to do that, either.
Leaving Idaho meant a long day full of travel, but she was excited to return home to Florida and resume teaching the wee ones.
And perhaps get to meet Aisling. There’d been no chance for her to properly spend time with the Irish Wolfhound shifter before they rushed out to Idaho, and she’d heard nothing but good things about her.
Even Dewi, who told Tamsin about the kitchen greeting, admired and respected Aisling.
Tamsin loved Brianna as a sister, but knowing she’d be moving to Idaho with Da’von in the near future left Tamsin feeling glad that she’d potentially have a new friend in Aisling.
It was so late when they returned that Tamsin accepted Dewi’s invitation to spend the night there in the pool house. Better that than to disturb everyone coming in so late with all of her things.
The next morning, Duncan drove her and Maisie home. When she walked into the living room, she nearly burst into happy tears, falling into Carl and Mateo’s arms for welcoming hugs.
This truly is becoming my family.
And perhaps that was her answer.
They helped her move everything to her room, which looked pin-neat. Even the sheets were clean, and the bed made so tidy it almost looked like a hotel room. A pleasant scent lingered in the room that she couldn’t quite place, either, but she liked it.
“Where is Aisling?” she asked. “She didn’t need to go to all this trouble.”
Carl smiled. “She’s former military, remember?”
“Ah, of course. Tidy bunks.”
“Exactly,” Mateo said.
“But where is she?” Tamsin asked again.
She felt certain the brief glance the three men shared meant something, but before they could answer, the front door opened and they heard Lu’ana call out.
“Yoo hoo!”
Bebe almost immediately ran in, squealing with joy to see Tamsin. “Aunty Tam!” She jumped up and down, her arms up.
Laughing, Tamsin picked her up and kissed her on the cheek, settling her on her hip. “Have you been a good girl for Aunty A while I was gone?” she asked.
“Uh-huh!” She leaned in, her lips against Tamsin’s ear. “She’s a puppy, too!” she whispered.
Tamsin didn’t have time to process that because Lu’ana appeared at the end of the hall. “Welcome back!” she said. Tamsin joined her in the living room, where Mateo had removed Maisie from her carrier and was holding her.
“Did you have fun in Idaho?” Lu’ana asked.
Tamsin nodded. “It was quite lovely spending time with everyone, but I’m so glad to be home.” She tickled Bebe’s chin. “And I missed this little princess, as well.” Tamsin hugged her, breathing in her scent. “Missed all of them.”
“Well, they missed you, too…”
An hour later, all the kids were there, Brianna had arrived, Duncan had returned to Dewi’s, and Tamsin finally had a moment to herself.
“Where is Aisling?” she asked again. “I’m looking forward to finally getting to know her.”
There was another quickly exchanged glance between Carl and Mateo that she couldn’t decipher. “Errands,” they said in unison, throwing each other matching glares before Carl took over. “Shopping,” he added. “Groceries. We needed a bunch of stuff.”
“Ah.”
Brianna now held Maisie. “She looks like she grew a foot since I last saw her!” She snuggled her closely. “I’ll miss her so much when we move to Idaho. All of the others, too.”
Tamsin didn’t want to speak the other possibility, that it might be her moving that created the separation, because why ruin such a lovely homecoming with melancholy thoughts?
“How is it living with Malyah and Joaquin?” Tamsin asked Brianna.
“It was a small adjustment, at first, but then…”
And before Tamsin knew it, it was nearly noon and time to feed everyone lunch.
And still no Aisling.
Aisling
Bloody feckin’ hell.
She’d spent the past two hours sitting in the parking lot of the warehouse store, before they even opened, with her eyes closed and trying not to think about what clusterfuck she might face upon her return.
Won’t be possible to drop everything off and run, I s’pose.
But even with Faegan finally dead—praise the Goddess—Trevor told her she was to stay there with Tamsin and Maisie Rue.
I must’ve been a right cunt in a previous life to be tortured like this.
Maybe she’d have to finally come clean and admit it to Trevor and beg him to release her from the assignment.
She should be heading over to the UK soon anyway to take a more active part in planning the raid.
She knew they were identifying the security and lab personnel to target with Primes to make the incursion easy once they reached that point.
She would be as useless as tits on a bull for that, however, since she neither spoke Russian nor was she a Prime.
Finally, once the store opened, she headed inside with the list on her phone and started shopping.
If she walked slowly enough and left all the meltable cold stuff until last, she knew she could easily kill at least another hour.
I wonder if she’s scented me in her room yet.
She’d washed the sheets before making the bed the night before when she tidied up. She’d already been staying in the room that had been Da’von and Brianna’s, but every chance she’d had to bury her face in Tamsin’s dirty clothes, she’d taken it.
She’d damned near cried when she finally washed Tamsin’s clothes last night, neatly folding them and leaving them on her dresser since she wasn’t certain where she wanted them.
I can do this. I’ve killed people and disarmed roadside bombs while half-bombed myself on cheap, homemade vodka. I can do this.
When she returned to the house, as she carried the first load in, Mateo immediately hurried to help her.
“They’re all in the nursery putting the kids down for naptime,” he whispered. “Well, not Brianna. She had to run home for a little while.”
“Happy days,” Aisling muttered. Maybe that was the key. She could stick her earbuds in and lock herself in her room and frig herself silly until later that night and claim stomach trouble or… something.
Go out running.
Maybe run all the way out of the state.
There was still no sign of Tamsin by the time they unloaded all the groceries, even though the corgi’s delicious scent filled Aisling’s nostrils.
Relieved and fully admitting she was a coward, she locked herself in her bedroom and jammed her earbuds into her ears, then turned on the loudest heavy metal music she could tolerate while opening her laptop to read through the latest updates Peyton had sent about the mission preparations.
Tamsin
Bebe was being particularly stubborn about closing her eyes and taking a nap today, no doubt due to her joy over Tamsin’s return.
Even with Carl helping Tamsin, every time the little girl’s eyelids drooped, just as Tamsin moved to leave, Bebe revived and begged for another story or song from Tamsin.
Right.