Chapter 19
Maisie was a scent match.
I suppose that answered a lot of questions. Fate had brought her right to us, giving us an opportunity to reach her on a level no one else could. Were she and Carter scent matches to each other? Could omegas scent match other omegas?
Cody leaned sleepily against me, yawning into the dull morning light. I laid my arm over his shoulders, carefully balancing Nora.
“Come on, let’s get the horses their breakfast.”
Paisley followed us, her hand in Wyatt’s, all three dogs trotting after us.
So far the horses were jazzed to have the kids around, thoroughly checking them out at every opportunity.
The pony was an asshole with grown adults—I maintained that ponies were menaces because they were shorter and closer to hell—but an angel with kids.
Cody was basically a pro by this point, going straight for the buckets, each one labeled with a different horse’s name. He laid them out in a tidy line and started scooping alfalfa cubes. We really didn’t need him to do any of the work, but he seemed to enjoy it, so we let him be.
Paisley spooned in the various supplements under Wyatt’s watchful gaze and I let Nora grab handfuls of pellets to throw into the buckets. Half of them hit the floor instead, but she was doing her best.
Their mother was our match. She was tangled up with our omega right now, and if they continued on that trajectory, Maisie would join our pack.
These children would be ours one day. The matter of their atrocious father was a bridge we’d have to cross eventually, and I wasn’t looking forward to that.
If he ceased to exist we could slide into a life together, but his hold on Maisie would keep her tied to him forever no matter how far she ran. How were we supposed to navigate that?
Cody tried to lift one of the feed buckets, already moving when the handle snapped, sending him ass over feet onto the stable floor, followed a moment later by an ear-piercing wail.
Whiskey raced over to investigate, licking all over his face to comfort him.
Paisley ducked down behind Tango, hiding her face in his fur.
I hastily passed Nora to Wyatt where he was checking on Paisley, and scooped Cody up to standing, quickly checking him over.
“Hey, buddy, I’m right here.”
Cody flung his arms around me, sobbing just as hard. Poor kid had held it together since the broken plate incident and now it was all tumbling out again.
“Are you hurt?”
He shook his head, still burrowing against me. “I miss Daddy. And Grandma and my aunties and uncles and my friends. I want to go home.”
Well, fuck. I had no idea what he’d witnessed at home, how much he knew, and how much Maisie had shielded them from.
“It’s okay to want that,” I assured him, “but you can’t go back there.”
“Why nooot?” Cody hiccuped.
“You know how when the plate broke and you thought your mom was going to have to go into the storage cabinet?”
He nodded.
“It’s not okay that your dad made her or you do that.
Your mom wants you to live somewhere that you don’t have to worry about it, or any of the other things that might have happened to her.
We don’t want that either. You and your sisters shouldn’t be growing up thinking punishments like that are normal. ”
“So we can’t go home?”
“Not right now.”
“But Grandma promised she’d make me my birthday cake and Uncle Theo was going to take me fishing.”
It sucked that the good people in his life had to be cut off the same as Paul. They were all part of the same compound, all subject to the same people, and they hadn’t protected the kids from what happened. Whether they chose not to, or they couldn’t, the result remained the same.
“I’m sorry, Cody. We can do both of those things for you. The river isn’t frozen yet so we can go fishing, and we can make any kind of cake you want. It’s not the same, but we can have a good time.”
We should have a conversation with Maisie about the people she’d left behind and how she wanted to approach situations like this. For now, Cody needed to know that not everything was gone.
Someday, if the compound was dismantled and the people making life dangerous for Maisie were removed, the kids would be able to see their loved ones again.
They could go to school like normal, have their friends, birthday parties, sleepovers, summer camps.
All of that was out of reach so long as the Deckers held on to their power.
I had no idea if or when that grip would loosen, but I could hope for all our sakes it did.
“Are you feeling cooped up?”
Cody nodded.
“Why don’t we go for a ride? We could go see the river, say hello to the bison. Does that sound fun?”
Another nod.
“Okay. Let’s finish giving everyone their breakfast, we’ll feed the dogs, feed ourselves, and then you and I can go for a ride.”
Cody collected himself and we finished passing breakfast around to the horses, going back to the house where the kids fed the dogs. Bryan had arrived by the time we’d returned, so the kids sat down to a hot breakfast of toast and scrambled eggs with cheese melted on top.
“Do you want to come for a ride with us, too?”
“I’m perfectly content with my feet on the ground, but I appreciate the offer. I thought I might watch Nora while you guys are out.”
“Sure thing.”
We didn’t have any buddy saddles, but we could buy some. In the meantime, the kids could ride the pony for practice and otherwise sit with us. They were all small so they would fit just fine.
Cody fussed a little at having to put on so many outdoor layers, but I didn’t want him to get cold while we were out. He watched while I saddled Sunny, Wyatt staying behind with Paisley for riding lessons on Merri.
Once we were both up in the saddle, Cody relaxed a little. We moved at a simple walk, since that seemed far easier than getting Cody comfortable with the faster gaits. Whiskey ran ahead of us, weaving through trees and circling back to make sure we were still following.
Autumn had a solid hold on the land, not quite relinquishing its power to winter. Aspens and cottonwoods had already turned yellow, but not lost their leaves yet, standing like spots of sunshine between the evergreens spread sporadically over the rolling grassland.
A few of the bison were snacking along the fence line, including one of the yearlings that was always curious about the horses.
“They’re so big,” Cody said in awe.
“Yep, they are. There used to be so many of them that people said they sounded like a thunderstorm when they walked around.”
“Whoa. That’s so cool!”
“They’re one of my favorite parts of living out here,” I told him. “They can get through most fences, so when they stay put, we know we’ve done a good job of making a space that gives them everything they need.”
“What’re all those spots in the grass?” Cody asked, pointing to one of the many large bare patches.
“Those are called wallows. In the warmer seasons, bison roll around in those spots, carving them deeper and cleaning off their winter coat. It’s kind of like a bison bathtub.
They’re actually really cool, some of them become permanent and you can still see ones on the Great Plains that are centuries old. ”
“But how do you have a bath in the dirt? That’s why I have to have baths.”
I laughed, bringing Sunny to a stop, letting him and the yearling sniff at each other through the fence. “It’s different when you have bison fur.”
“How come we’ve never seen you guys before?” Cody asked out of the blue. “Mama says that Carter and Wyatt are her friends, but they’ve never come over.”
“Do your friends come over?” I had no idea if the compound let other people in to visit.
“Not my school ones.”
“Well, that makes sense then. Carter is a school friend, and Wyatt is a town friend. I met your mom when you all arrived on our doorstep, but where you live doesn’t let in a lot of outside people, right?”
“Was Daddy mean to Mama?” he asked quietly as I got Sunny walking again.
“What do you think?”
“She cried a lot at home, but not where he could see.”
“Why do you think that is?”
“He doesn’t like crying.”
“And why do you think she cried to begin with?” Maybe it was too much to be asking, but I was curious how much Cody noticed at home.
“I think she was scared of him, like me. I don’t like being scared of him.”
“No, it’s not very nice,” I agreed. “You shouldn’t have to be afraid of your dad, and I’m sorry he’s the kind of person who makes you scared.”
I directed the conversation toward figuring out who in the compound actually made the children feel safe.
He told me about his maternal grandmother, who seemed like a formidable woman—not necessarily the cozy grandma type, but protective in her own way.
Maisie’s siblings were also beloved, some of them not much older than Cody himself.
The Combs children ranged from Maisie’s twenty-six down to Timothy’s ten, with four others between them.
“Auntie Marlow is getting married this summer.” Cody leaned to pat Sunny on the neck. “Mama doesn’t like that. She makes a frowny face when Paisley asks if she can be a flower girl. Auntie cries sometimes too when they talk about it when Daddy is out.”
He didn’t know why getting married was bad for Marlow, but came to the conclusion on his own that maybe her eventual husband was scary like his dad.
What had Marlow thought when Maisie had never come home?
Had anything happened to her? Were the others under even more restrictions now?
I wished we had eyes and ears inside the compound to find out what was going on.
“Do you like it here?”
Cody nodded like a bobblehead. That was a relief at least.
“I love my new room! Daddy would never let me have something that cool at home. I wish I could show my friends my new bed.”
“I wish you could too, buddy. I wish all of this was simpler than it is.”
“Mama said Daddy doesn’t want us home for a while. Why doesn’t he want us back?”
A lie, but as good a one as any. “There’s a lot going on at home. I think it’s better for you all to be away from there.”
“Do you think he’ll come visit?”
I fucking hoped not.
“Maybe.”
Cody twisted around to look at me. “You said it weird. Do you not like Daddy?”
“I…” Fuck. “I like your mom, and I can’t like anyone who hurts her or who makes you afraid.”
“Sometimes I think I don’t like him.” Cody said it so quietly, like he thought he was going to get in trouble for saying it out loud. “I have a bully at school who’s really mean to me, and sometimes he talks to me like Daddy talks to Mama.”
“Some people are born bullies and they should mind their business.” At least with us, Cody didn’t have to deal with that kid or his dad.
It was always rough for kids growing up in abusive households, even if they didn’t directly witness everything that went on.
They were smart and picked up on more than most people realized.
Paul was a shit role model. Cody was still young, and hopefully we could tackle things as they came up, working to restructure his understanding of how the world was supposed to work compared to what his family had endured.
Maisie deserved so much more. So did her kids. And, dammit, we were going to give it to them.