Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
Dewi
Dewi fought the urge to pace when she knew the operation was underway. Sleep was out of the question for her, although Ken was dozing upstairs. She watched TV in the living room, a sci-fi movie marathon that wasn’t holding her interest but at least gave her something to look at.
Gillian joined her in the living room, Adair asleep on her shoulder. “No news yet?”
She shook her head. “Not yet.”
Gillian settled onto the couch next to her, being careful not to disturb Adair as she did. “Where’s Lyssa?”
Dewi held up the baby monitor. “I’ll take care of her if she wakes up so Ken can sleep.”
“They’ll be okay,” Gillian said.
Dewi snorted. “You sound awfully confident.”
“I have to. I refuse to believe any other outcome after all this bullshit.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Two hours later, it was just after dawn when she received a text from Trevor.
Success! 0 casualties for us. P passed word for you and G to sleep. He’ll be in touch, but it’ll be a while. Don’t spread the news yet. B already knows, as does Tam.
Dewi’s breath whooshed out of her. She shakily held her phone so Gillian could read the text.
Gillian looked up, eyes closed. “Thank you, Goddess.”
Dewi tipped her head onto Gillian’s shoulder, suddenly choked up. “If that rat bastard had scared us again, I’d have killed him.”
Gillian snorted and kissed the top of Dewi’s head. “Think you can sleep now, kiddo?”
“I hope so. I wonder if they rescued anyone?”
“Not to sound cold,” Gillian said, “but to me that’s a completely secondary consideration to the fact that we didn’t lose anyone.”
“True.” Dewi finally dragged herself to her feet, only then processing how utterly exhausted she felt. Gillian gave her a careful one-armed hug so as not to disturb Adair, and Dewi headed upstairs.
Duncan opened his bedroom door just as she reached the second floor and arched an eyebrow at her.
She signed a goose egg. “We lost no one. But Peyton said to keep things quiet for now. Tam and Badger already know.”
He blew out a breath. “Thank christ.”
She tried not to awaken Ken, but when she snuggled under the covers, he rolled onto his side and draped an arm around her. “Everything okay?”
“It’s over,” she said.
He instantly sounded more awake. “And?”
“No casualties for us. That’s all I know. Don’t tell anyone. Tamsin and Badger already know. Peyton ordered me and Gillian to get some sleep, and he’ll update us later.”
He nuzzled the back of her neck. “That sounds like a fantastic idea.”
She thought that now she would sleep, with that massive stress nullified, but long after Ken’s breathing slowed and deepened she lay there wide awake, her mind refusing to shut off.
Eventually, she did sleep. And when she finally awakened, she realized Ken had managed to get out of bed without disturbing her, and the baby monitor wasn’t on the nightstand. It shocked her to realize it was after 12:30.
Holy crap.
She didn’t remember any dreams, either, good or bad.
Yay, another win.
She opted for a wake-up shower even before coffee, because she felt she needed it. Except five minutes later, she was sitting on the floor in the shower, the water beating on her as she tightly hugged her knees to her chest and silently cried.
And she didn’t even know why.
Probably a heaping dose of hormones, sure. Logically, probably a dose of relief.
But as she rolled onto her side, her head resting against the tile, she closed her eyes and realized the world felt as if it’d tipped upside down like some crazy theme park ride, and she’d failed to properly strap in per the ride’s requirements.
Like she was barely holding on by her nails dug into the seat’s padding while struggling not to be thrown free and into oblivion, and it’d finally slowed to a stop at the station so she could peel herself off of it and safely collapse on the floor.
What’s happening to me?
It took her another ten minutes to pull herself together, climb to her feet, and actually shower.
She was stepping out of the shower when she heard her work phone ringing where she’d left it on the charger on the nightstand, the alert for the encoded app they used. With only a towel wrapped around her, she dashed out to answer it.
It was Peyton.
“Hey, there, asshole,” she greeted him. “You’d better have called your wife first.”
He laughed. “Miss you, too, Dewi. And yes, I just got off the phone with her. Is Ken right there?”
“No, why?”
“Can you get him?’
“Why not call him?”
“I need you with him when I talk to him.”
“Uh, whhhyyy?”
“Please?”
She didn’t like this. “I just got out of the shower. I’m standing here dripping wet and naked.”
“I didn’t need that visual, Dewster, but get him, take him somewhere alone, and call me back.” He hung up.
What the fuck?
She quickly dried off, pulled on a T-shirt and shorts, and headed downstairs to find him.
He was sitting in the living room, Lyssa asleep on her quilt, cartoons playing low while he worked on his laptop. He looked up, doing a double-take when he saw her.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. Peyton just called me.”
Duncan poked his head in from where he’d been in the kitchen. “What’s wrong?”
“I. Don’t. Know. Can you watch the baby, please? Peyton wants us to call him.”
“Sure.”
Ken set his laptop aside and they headed to the office, where she closed the door.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“Still don’t know. He said get you, get somewhere alone, and call him back. I assume it’s a work thing.” She settled in one of the chairs in front of her desk and he took the other.
She called Peyton back and put it in speaker mode. “Okay, Peyton. We’re here in the office, alone.”
“Good. Ken?”
“Yeah?” His gaze met Dewi’s. Sensing his apprehension, she reached out with her free hand to take his.
“For starters, Badger’s over here. He arrived late last night. But that’s not the news I want you to hear. Are you sitting down?”
“Yes. What’s going on?”
“Ken, we have Callum and Bryn.”
Dewi blinked, certain she’d misheard him. “What?”
“Callum and Bryn were rescued. They’re… Well, they’ve been through a lot, but they’re eager to meet you, Ken. Badger already showed them pictures of you and Dewi and the baby.”
He didn’t speak at first, the shock registering on his features as he squeezed her hand. “What?” he hoarsely asked. “They’re… they’re alive?”
Peyton chuckled. “You heard me correctly. Callum and Bryn are here, and they’re safe. And don’t say anything to anyone else yet, but so is Maya.”
“Who’s Maya?” Dewi asked.
“Jake’s wife,” Ken whispered, his eyes still wide. “Carl’s mom. You mean I was right?”
“Exactly,” Peyton said. “You need to start picking lottery numbers for me.”
“Holy shit!” Dewi gasped. “Did you find Jimmy Hoffa and Amelia Earhart, while you were at it? Maybe Glenn Miller?”
“Smartass,” Peyton said.
Despite her joking, she realized Ken was now in shock. “How soon can we come over?” she asked, watching him.
“That’s why I’m calling,” Peyton said. “I’ll get with you about booking tickets. We’ll fly you guys, Carl and Mateo, and Hamish over here together on a charter jet.”
“They’re… alive?” Ken asked. “It’s really them? Are you certain?”
Ken
He was having trouble processing this.
As in he heard Peyton’s words, understood them, but believing them?
Not so much.
“It’s really them,” Peyton said. “It’s not a joke, or mistaken identity. They’re really Callum and Bryn. Even Badger says it’s them.”
He thought he might be close to hyperventilating. “You told them about Mom?”
“I did,” he said. “They asked about her shortly after they were conscious. They’re in shock, obviously, but they can’t wait to meet you. And Dewi and the baby, obviously.”
“My mom’s parents are alive?”
Dewi reached over and laid her hand on his leg, but he didn’t sense her trying to use her Prime powers on him.
“Hold on just a minute.” It sounded like Peyton was walking, then they heard a knock on a door. Someone called out and he opened it. “Would you like to speak to him?”
He heard a man and a woman in the background.
“Hold on a sec,” Peyton said. “Okay, you’re on speaker. Ken, Dewi, this is Callum and Bryn.”
“Hello?” a man said in a hoarse voice.
Ken sucked in a sharp breath. “Hi.”
“We can’t wait to meet you, Ken,” the woman said. “And you, too, Dewi.”
Ken wished he hadn’t met Dewi’s gaze, because tears were rolling down her cheeks. “We can’t wait to meet you, either,” she choked out. “Ken’s a little speechless right now.”
“I-I’m sorry,” Ken said. “I just…” He sucked in another breath. “I punched Donnel. When he told us what he did. Badger and Duncan wouldn’t let me shoot him.”
The man roared with tearful laughter. “Yep. He’s our grandson.”
A full-body shiver rolled through Ken at that.
Grandson.
Dewi grabbed his hand and held on tight. “We named our first baby Lyssa,” she said. “Lyssa Louise. Grandma Louisa was Duncan’s wife, my mom’s parents.”
“Was?” the woman asked.
Peyton spoke. “She died in a car accident a couple of months before Mom and Dad got married. I’ll tell you the story later.”
“I’m sorry,” Callum said. “I met her a couple of times. She was a good woman. How are Charles and Chelsea?”
Dewi closed her eyes as Peyton spoke again. “Um, they were murdered when Dewi was six months old. That’s also a story for another time, I think.”
“Oh!” Bryn gasped. “I’m so sorry!”
“Uh, you guys just survived hell,” Dewi said without opening her eyes. “You don’t owe us any apologies.”
“It’s just…” Bryn sniffled. “We have so much to catch up on.”
“First thing,” Peyton said, “is we let you decompress for as long as you need. Whatever you need, we’ll take care of it. The important thing is you’re both safe and home.”
“We can’t wait to meet you,” Bryn tearfully said.
“What were you going to name her?” Ken heard himself ask, barely able to choke out the question. “Mom. What were you going to name Mom?”
There was a brief quiet from them. “We hadn’t decided,” Callum said. “We wanted to wait to meet her.”
“We had narrowed it down,” Bryn added. “But even then, we weren’t sure if we’d use one of those names or choose a different one. The list kept changing.”
“What was your favorite?” Ken asked. “Do you remember?”
There was a hesitation. “I really liked Eliza,” Bryn quietly said. “I was hoping that was a name which would suit her.”
Ken sobbed and clapped his hand over his mouth, eyes tightly squeezed closed.
“Son, are you there?” Callum asked.
Dewi squeezed Ken’s hand, but he couldn’t open his eyes.
“You’re not going to believe this,” Dewi solemnly said, “but before we left Idaho and returned home, I’d just gotten pregnant. And… Well, I’d asked Ken what he thought about naming her Eliza Bryn.”