CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Luke stared at Sutton, seated on the floor against the window as she watched her brother and the others playing their music. He lowered himself to her, sitting beside her and smiling.
“What do you think?” he asked.
“I think my brother and the others look happy,” she said with a sad smile.
“Then why don’t you look happy, Sutton?” he asked.
“He won’t need me anymore. None of ‘em will need me anymore.” Luke stared at the girl and nodded.
“You know, Sutton, you and I are not so different. I’m the oldest of my brothers and sisters. All six of us being raised by drug addicted parents. I had to steal food for them, get them ready for school, help them study, all of it. And I wasn’t even twelve.”
“What did you do? How did you get here?” she asked suddenly staring at him.
“Well, some very bad men came looking for my parents one day and they were gone, dead I think. The men decided they would take us kids and sell us to more bad men.”
She shook her head and then looked up at him again.
“I was scared of that every day. I’m not stupid. I know what kinda folks are out there. I-I worried that one day I would have to, you know, do something grown up to make money for them. I woulda too.”
“But you don’t have to, Sutton. Not now. Not ever.”
“We’re still just orphans,” she said quietly.
“That might be, but there are a whole lot of good people here ready to be your parents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, whatever you need. We want all of you, including you, to stay here, go to our school, be part of our family. We will watch over all of you and make sure that if you want, you can go to college.”
“I can’t go to college,” she said shaking her head. “Them doctors said I was stupid. I heard ‘em. They said I was sneaky and stupid, not like Pip.”
“Well, they were wrong. Anyone who can keep all of these children alive and well for a year isn’t stupid. I want you to believe me, Sutton. My friends and I are going to find those doctors and make them pay for what they did to all of you.”
“I wanna believe you, Mister Luke, really I do. You seem like a nice man. I really like your grandmama and granddaddy. They’re awful kind. And your wife, the pretty nurse that looks like Pocahontas? She’s special.” Luke laughed, nodding at the girl.
“She does look a little like Pocahontas, doesn’t she? I’ll have to tell her you said that. We all care for you and the others. If they want to play music, they can. But they also need to learn to read and write, study math and history, and definitely become more fluent in ASL.”
She nodded, still staring at the children happily playing. Luke looked down at her as she wiped her tears, shaking her head.
“Hey, what are the tears for?” he asked softly.
“I tried, Mister Luke. I tried so hard. I didn’t know about that other boy or I woulda got him out too. I didn’t get to sleep much. I only ate when they were full and sometimes that meant I didn’t eat. I just wanted to keep ‘em safe until I was grown and could get a real job.”
He pulled Sutton closer to his side, wrapping a big arm around her, and kissed the top of her head.
“You are the bravest, smartest, most beautiful little girl I know, Sutton,” he whispered to her. “You can sleep now. You can eat all you want. You can play. You can study whatever you want to study. We won’t separate you from Pip. You’ll stay together, just like we promised.”
“Hey, what’s with the waterworks?” smiled Nine. Gaspar, Ian, and Ghost kneeled in front of them along with Nine and smiled at the little girl.
“She’s exhausted, Uncle Nine. She’s been taking care of these kids for more than a year and she’s just a little tired and lost.” The older men wanted to rip someone to pieces but they didn’t want to scare the child.
“Sutton, do you like animals?” asked Gaspar.
“Yes, sir. I never had a dog or anything but I always wanted one.”
“How would you like to see a lot of animals? Elephants, giraffes, bison, and so much more.” Her eyes grew wide and she leaped to her feet.
“Seriously?” she said.
“Seriously,” said Gaspar standing with her. The others rose as well, smiling at the little girl. “Why don’t you let the others take care of them and we’ll take you on a little boat ride to see the animals. We’ll be back for supper.”
“Is it okay, Mister Luke?” she asked.
“I think it’s more than okay,” he smiled. “I think the animals could use someone else to talk to besides my father and me.”
“You talk to them?” she asked excitedly.
“All the time,” frowned Gaspar. “It’s very exhausting.” Luke laughed at his father, then looked at Sutton.
“You go on with them,” he said. “I’ll let Pip know where you are and he’ll be ready for dinner when you get back. School starts tomorrow, Sutton. I know you’re going to do great.”
She raced back to Luke, hugging him around the waist.
“Thank you, Mister Luke. Thank you!”
“You’re welcome, honey. Go on. Say hello to the animals for me.” Luke watched the four older men walk away with Sutton, knowing that she couldn’t be safer with anyone else.
“You did good, brother,” said Eric standing at his left shoulder.
“Yeah, it was kinda cool seeing that soft, squishy side of you,” smirked Cam.
“I will punch you in the face,” frowned Luke. Hex just laughed, shaking his head.
“Face it. We’re all a puddle of squishy mush with these kids. The question is what the fuck are we going to do about those lunatics out there. We need to find them.”
“Luke? Y’all come with me,” said Ace. “I’ve got something that might help.”