Chapter 5 #3
“My dad said that there is just too much to unload about mom and that he’d like to meet me in town.
I told him that you’d come with me. Is that all right?
” He said it would be his pleasure to accompany her to a meal with her dad.
“Good. I want you there as support. I don’t know if it’s the mate thing or what, but I’m becoming aware of the fact that you calm me in ways that I’d never thought of before.
” This time, when he curled his fingers around hers, he kissed the back of her hand. “Thank you for that.”
“My pleasure. And yes, it’s the mate thing.
I’m beginning to think this mate thing is a lot more beneficial than I thought it would be, like the calming thing.
That’s the best part of it. Then knowing that you need me around as much as I do you makes me feel like I could go to the top of the building and beat my chest.” They both laughed just as he hoped she would.
“I’ve wanted to say this to you before, but I love you, Doone. I think I have since I first met you.”
“You don’t have to say that to me. I already trust you to keep me safe.
” He told her that it was true that he loved her with all his being.
“I like you a great deal as well. I used to know what I thought love was, but now I’m not so sure.
I can’t even remember the last time she ever said that to me back.
So I stopped saying it to her a long time ago, too.
She’s never loved me, I don’t think. I was just a means for her to get what she felt she deserved. ”
That made her cry again, and he pulled her into his arms. The pizza was steaming up the windows, so he didn’t know who knocked on his car window until he rolled down the window. He was glad to see Cullen there.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt you guys. Are you all right, Doone?
I will knock the shit out of Falkner if that’s what you want.
” She said that it wasn’t him, thankfully, because he was sure that Cullen would do it, and invited him home for pizza.
“I’m picking up my own dinner right now.
How about I hitch a ride to your house and we eat together?
Loren has been working late these last few nights, and I’ve missed having him around. ”
Loren was a magical being whom Cullen met while he was out of the country.
He’d been helping Waylon and Londyn out when they took kids in who needed a safe place to stay.
He made sure that they had diapers and other things around so that they’d not feel so overwhelmed.
Loren also made sure that none of the children, babies to almost adults, didn’t harm the Dixon family while they were around, too.
It had only taken the one time that he’d put the protection around all the families.
It was an enjoyable evening for the three of them.
They didn’t talk about what had made Doone cry, and he was proud of Cullen for not asking.
He could tell that he was equally upset that he couldn’t help but Falkner had a feeling that before this thing ended with Doone’s mother, it was going to take all their help to see her out of the trouble she was having.
After Cullen left, he and Doone went to the living room to just chill out.
There was a fire in the fireplace that took the chill off the room, and he was glad for it.
He had a lot of fond memories of this room and having the family around.
He couldn’t wait until the next holiday so that he could do what his mother did when she lived here and decorate with pure abandonment.
She would do every room in the house, including the bathrooms, so the joy of whatever holiday it was could be felt by all who entered.
When she said she was going up to bed, he decided that he’d wait a bit before going.
Now that he was armed with her father’s name, he was going to see what he could find out about him.
Robert McFarlen wasn’t going to hurt his mate any more than he could help it.
There might be a lot of unmarked graves in their backyard if things progressed as they were.
He didn’t care who he had to murder in order to have her happy again.
There were several Roberts on the internet.
He didn’t have any idea which one it was, so he looked at all of them.
He couldn’t even narrow it down, either, since he knew nothing about the man, not even what he looked like.
Tomorrow evening, he was going to be armed with just enough information to be able to see what the man was made of when they had dinner together.
He did wonder what Meggie would say to Doone if she knew that she had contacted her father about her.
He had a feeling that the shit would hit the fan so badly that everyone would be covered in the mess.
Going up to bed, he was glad for his laundry to have been done.
It was something that his mom had done for him when he’d been studying all the time.
She’d pick up after him, too, he remembered.
They did all kinds of things for him while he was studying, so he’d not have to look up from his books unless he needed to.
He would never be able to thank his parents enough for all that they did for him while he’d been in college. Never in a million years.
He was getting into bed when he thought of something.
He’d been keeping an eye on Mulkeen since he’d been fired and hadn’t checked in with his friend on where the man was.
It wasn’t so late that he felt bad for messaging him, so he did so then.
It was only a few seconds for him to get back a message that told him that he was still at his residence and not making a peep of a sound.
Good. He had a feeling that it was only the calm before the storm; he’d not be giving up so easily after the way he’d gone after he and Doone, but he was willing to bet that he’d come out on top when push came to shove.
And as a gorilla, he could shove back in ways that Mulkeen couldn’t have realized.
Finally getting into bed, he had a list of things he was going to be doing tomorrow on his day off.
With Doone gone to work, he had become good at finding things to do.
Just over the weekend, he’d cleaned out his old bedroom and had thrown a lot of things away.
Next, he had to do the same to the other bedrooms to get rid of the things that his brothers had left behind.
It wasn’t all that much, but enough that he thought he’d be better off getting one of those dumpsters to use.
That way, he could dump all of the other rooms’ leftovers and be done with it.
It had been a great idea that his parents had had in leaving him the house.
To let all of them go through their old bedrooms, take what they wanted, and leave the rest. The one room that he was having difficulty going through was Cullens.
It looked as if he’d not taken a thing out of his room, and he wanted to make sure that he’d done it.
He’d hate to toss something out only to find out later that it was something that he treasured.
There were a lot of posters on the walls as well.
Most of them had to do with military movies, but he wasn’t sure what to do with them all.
Tomorrow, he thought, and put that on his mental list to get a large dumpster. He’d get all the rooms cleaned out and go from there. Falkner didn’t know what he’d do once the rooms were cleaned out. He was going to be bored out of his mind when Doone went to work, and he was left to his own self.