Chapter 23 #2
“Probably the same way I did,” Harley surmised. He grinned at Ivy and said, “You’re in deep shit, kiddo. You know that, right?”
Ivy’s answering giggle didn’t make me feel any better.
If anything, it made me realize I wasn’t equipped to raise a child like her–or any of the children I’d heard referred to as “the Forrester spawn.” At the time, I thought that description was harsh, but I understood it now.
My toddler had figured out how to climb a cable to the ceiling, then decided to play balance-beam acrobat a zillion feet above concrete.
A grown man had followed her up without hesitation.
I was not built for this shit.
The motorcycles arrived before the sirens. I heard Memphis cursing from below, but I didn’t dare look down. Instead, I focused on Ivy, who was playing peekaboo with Harley while he held her in his arms as if they were sitting in a comfortable chair.
When we got close enough for Harley to hand Ivy down to us, I tried to squeeze farther back so he could get into the lift. He shook his head. “I’ll go back down the way I got up here.”
“No! Be still! As soon as we get down, I’ll send Loyal back up . . . “
It was too late, though. As Ivy squirmed to get out of my arms and inspect the machine, I held her tight and watched Harley hop back to his feet. He walked along the beam before he sat down, twisted around, wrapped the cable around his foot, and slowly started sliding toward the floor.
“What is wrong with you people?” I whispered.
Loyal laughed before he answered, “I’m sure someone’s made a list by now, but the longer you’re around, the more suggestions I’m sure you’ll be able to add.”
◆◆◆
MEMPHIS
“I’m not sure I like the transition when we go from the bridge to the second chorus,” I said as the sound engineer piped the playback through the speakers for us to critique. “It needs more.”
“I think it sounds great,” Lucky said, absentmindedly running his fingers over the keyboard in front of him.
“Let’s keep that one in our pocket and run through a few more tracks to see if we can tweak it,” I suggested.
“We can change the chords on . . .”
“Memphis, your phone is going crazy in here,” London said through the speaker. I looked up and saw her holding it aloft through the large window. “It’s Iliana.”
“Answer it for me,” I said as I set my guitar aside. As I walked to the door that would take me to the sound booth, I said, “You guys keep going. I’ll be right back.”
I saw the look of horror on London’s face as she listened to Iliana on the other end of the line and instantly knew something horrible had happened.
As I took the phone from her and was putting it up to my ear, I saw London hit the intercom button to talk to the guys in the studio and watched Lucky, Rocky, and Roar set their instruments aside and rush my way.
“What’s going on?” I barked into the phone.
Iliana was freaking out, but she was able to tell me what was going on. Only then did I understand why London had that look on her face. Ivy, the sweet little darling that had morphed into a holy terror over the last three months, had pulled a stunt that had Cassia, Erisa, and Iliana terrified.
“I’m on my way!” I yelled into the phone, rushing toward the door.
I got on my motorcycle and started it up. By the time I pulled out onto the road, I could hear the others behind me, but I didn’t pay much attention. I was too focused on what might be happening at my house and worried I wouldn’t have time to get there before Ivy was injured.
My dad had warned me parenthood was an adventure filled with pitfalls and terror, but the worst was knowing you couldn’t always stop things from happening and had to watch them unfold in slow motion until you could finally jump in and help.
The subject had come up after Ivy squeezed through the rails on the deck at Gamma’s house and fell a few feet to the grass.
I had seen what was about to happen and tried to get there in time to catch her, but it felt like I was running through quicksand.
I watched her fall in what felt like slow motion, managing to get there to check her for injuries before Cassia dropped onto the grass beside us and did the same.
When it was all over and I sat back down with my dad and uncles, they laughed about all the times they hurt themselves trying to stop something from happening, only to get there just in time for the fallout.
I prayed that wouldn’t be the case this time.
We made record time riding across town, stopping at red lights just long enough to check for oncoming traffic. We took shortcuts through streets we knew wouldn’t have much traffic until we hit the loop that went around town and reached the exit for the road to my house.
I barely took the time to put down my kickstand before I hopped off my bike and ran into the shop, only to find Ivy in Cassia’s arms as Loyal lowered them to the ground. As soon as they were within reach, I opened the gate at the back of the lift and yanked Cassia into my arms.
Ivy was squished between us and started squirming to get down. I loosened my hold on the two of them, even though I wasn’t sure I was ready to let either of them go after such a scare.
“Is she okay? Are you okay?” I stammered, looking down into Cassia’s smiling face. I was so shocked to see her handling this better than I was that I blurted, “What’s going on right now?”
“It seems that I’ve just embraced the craziness that is life with the Forresters. I’ve become so unhinged that I can’t stop smiling,” Cassia explained.
“Really? I thought for sure you’d be yelling right now.”
“Oh, I want to yell, but who am I going to yell at? Ivy, for being a curious child with absolutely no sense of self-preservation? She can’t help either of those things. The first one is natural, and the second is apparently hereditary.”
“It’s a relief that you realize that, although I’m shocked it happened so quickly. I was afraid you’d throw your hands up and leave me in the dust the second something ‘Forrester’ happened.”
“Nope. I’m in this for the long haul.”
“You are?”
Cassia sighed in resignation. “I love you, Memphis Forrester, and I can’t imagine life without all the craziness you and your family add to it.”
“Really?”
“I announce my love for you loud enough for people three counties over to hear, and that’s your response?” Cassia said, just as loudly.
Someone tugged Ivy out of Cassia’s arms, and I heard Harley say, “Come here, squirt. You’ve gotta learn some self-preservation, because when one of our women starts talking in that tone of voice, it’s best to find cover.”
Cassia gave Harley the side-eye. I heard Erisa laugh before Loyal added, “He’s not wrong.”
When her attention returned to me, I leaned down and gave her a scorching kiss.
I pulled back just far enough to look her in the eye.
“I love you, Cassia. I think I fell in love with you the day you said you were plotting my death–which tracks, because as you’re quickly finding out, my family is crazy.
I fell even more in love every time you snapped at me for being stupid or called me an asshole because you knew in your heart that I was right. ”
“I love you, too, Memphis, but don’t push it.”
I pulled Cassia closer and touched my lips to hers as the friends and family around us laughed with relief.
When I heard voices I didn’t recognize, Cassia pulled away and looked over my shoulder. Her eyes went wide. “We should probably tell the firefighters what happened.”
“They’ve probably already figured it out. It’s not like this is their first call out to a Forrester house to rescue somebody who should have had the good sense not to do whatever put them in danger.”
Cassia tipped her head forward and rested it on my chest. “And as terrifying as it is,” she muttered, “I’m sure it won’t be the last.”