Chapter 14

Titus

"You good?" Rumi barked, his arm slashing out to catch me at chest level.

"Where'd they go?" I asked, disbelief still riding me hard when I realized that my dad, Mick, Cian, Uncle Will, and Uncle Casper had taken off, and brought Noel's bag of shit father-in-law with them.

"Better you don't know," Rumi replied, my sweatshirt and cut still gripped in his fist.

"Fuck that, Rum," I spat. "Where the fuck are they?"

"You think they told me?" he asked, letting go to thump me in the chest. "Use your head, kid."

I ground my teeth together.

"Wherever they went, they'll be one less man when they come back, you get me?"

I got him.

Noel's father-in-law could've been an asshole and then went along with his pious churchgoing life if he'd wanted to. He hadn't. Instead, he'd watched Esther's house, followed her to Noel, and tried to kidnap my woman and girls. He hadn't brought his son with him. He hadn't brought Ephraim with him. He'd known what he was doing was fucked, and so he'd come alone. The man wasn't just an asshole, he was a batshit crazy asshole, and there was no rehabilitating that. There was also no way to ensure Noel's and the girls' safety if he while he was alive.

"You need to bury it," Rumi said, crossing his arms over his chest. "You need to shove it all down and get back in that fuckin' house."

"Did you see them?" I asked, my throat so tight I could barely speak.

"I saw 'em," he confirmed.

My nose stung. I ignored it.

"They wet themselves, Rumi," I murmured brokenly, looking over his shoulder at the house. "They were so terrified—" I swallowed hard. "I had to put Noel and Ariel in the shower."

Rumi made a noise in his throat, dropping his head to pinch the bridge. He stayed like that for a long moment. When he looked back up at me, his gaze was knowing.

"Been where you're at," he said softly. "I get it. You need to get back in that house and see to the girls, yeah? That's where you're needed. You leave everything else to us."

"I don't—"

"That's what we're here for, brother," he reminded me, giving me a little shove. "Go."

When I got back into the house, it was as if everyone had been waiting on me. As I strode over to where Noel and the girls sat, a few of the people inside followed me and the others drifted out of the room.

"Hey, baby," I said, crouching in front of Noel. She was staring at me dully, no expression on her face. I reached out and brushed her hair back. "You wanna tell us what happened?"

Her mouth opened and closed, no sound emerging.

Otto came up behind me, putting a hand on my shoulder as he set Flora on her feet next to me. I was pretty sure it was the first time he'd set her down since he grabbed her out of Noel's car.

Flora ignored me as she climbed onto the couch, fitting herself against Ariel's back as she curled up against Noel.

I looked up and big fat tears were rolling down Noel's cheeks as she lifted her hand and ran it down Flora's back soothingly.

The four of them looked like one of those little abstract statues of a mom and children, the kind that all the little people fit together like pieces of a puzzle.

Esther sat down on the couch to Noel's right, and I watched my woman's entire body go tight. She looked back to me and nodded.

"Noel," Dragon, the Aces president and one of my honorary uncles, said gently. He sat further down the couch with his elbows braced on his knees. "I'm Dragon. Sorry we're meetin' under these circumstances, sweetheart."

Noel nodded.

"This is my son, Leo," Dragon said, jerking his chin toward Leo. "You know Grease, I'm guessin'."

"Nice to see you again, doll," my Gramps said gruffly. He and Noel had only met once when he and Gram stopped by a few days after they'd moved in. Noel had made us all lunch and they'd been fucking delighted by her. Gramps had told me on his way out that if I didn't pull my head out of my ass, he was going to do it for me.

"That's my son-in-law, Cam," Dragon gestured. My uncle Cam was leaning against the wall and dipped his chin in hello.

"Hello," Noel murmured, looking at each of them.

"You wanna walk us through what happened?" I asked, rubbing my thumb along her knee.

Noel's nostrils flared and the muscle in her jaw clenched. She was silent for a long moment.

"I thought it was a delivery," she finally rasped, her eyes on Dragon. "But he kept knocking, so I opened it, because I thought I might need to sign for something."

She looked down at me. "The boys get packages all the time," she whispered earnestly. "They're always ordering stuff online."

"I know, baby."

She swallowed hard.

"I opened the door, and he pushed his way in," she continued. "He told me to pack our stuff because we were going home. I knew—" Her voice cracked. "I knew that he'd never let me take all the girls upstairs with me."

She dropped shame-filled eyes to mine, holding my gaze like a lifeline.

"Diana didn't understand," she choked out. "Diana wouldn't know to hide."

I felt more than saw Esther stiffen.

"So, I left Flora and Ariel downstairs." The words were quieter than a whisper. There was barely any sound.

The room was completely silent.

"I took Diana upstairs and I—" She shuddered. "I hid her under Cian's bed."

She let out a sob. Her eyes still holding mine. "She didn't want to go. She was scared and she was trying to hold on to me." Her voice was pleading. Broken. "So, I snapped at her. I told her to be quiet. And I left her under the bed."

I swallowed tightly, my vision blurring, but I kept my eyes on hers.

"I got the key out of your room. Then I locked the girls' bedroom, packed the bags and put them on my bed. I called Carl to come carry them down." She cleared her throat. "When he walked in the room, I closed the door and locked him in."

I shuddered. There were so many things that could've gone wrong. So many things that could've been worse. If he hadn't come upstairs. If she hadn't been able to lock the door fast enough. If he'd brought the girls upstairs with him.

"I got Diana from Cian's room," Noel continued. "Ran downstairs and got Ariel and Flora out of the cupboard, and we ran for the car. You know the rest."

No one spoke.

Then Flora lifted her head.

"That's not right," she said, looking at Noel from only a few inches away. "You told the story wrong."

Noel jolted.

"What happened, Flora?" Esther asked.

"That big man came in," Flora said, turning to look at her mother. "And he called Auntie Noel bad names, and he hit her face."

My eyes shot to Noel's swollen cheekbone.

"So, she said she would go with him. Then she came over to us and gave us really big hugs." She looked at Noel. "You didn't tell that part."

Noel nodded.

"And she said, you're okay. Stay with Flora. Then she looked at me and she said, stay here. Stay quiet." She looked up at her dad. "So, I told her, I called my dad."

Otto nodded. "Good girl."

"And then she took Diana upstairs," Flora said matter-of-factly. "And then she called that man to come get her bags 'cause she said that she couldn't carry 'em, and I knew that wasn't true 'cause she can carry me and I'm bigger than a bag."

She looked at Noel. "And she said be quiet, just like she says when we're playin' hide and seek. So, when the man went upstairs, I knew I was s'pposed to hide. So, I pulled Ariel, and we hid in the cupboard where Diana likes to sit."

Flora nodded to herself and leaned back in against Ariel.

Noel closed her eyes, dropping her head forward until her lips rested against Diana's head.

"Diana wouldn't have known to hide," Esther said softly in understanding. "She wouldn't have listened to Flora."

Noel let out a shuddering breath.

"Fuckin' smart," Dragon said, shaking his head as he leaned back. "Jesus, why do I never expect these women to be so fuckin' crafty?"

"Never threaten a mama bear with cubs," Esther murmured, her voice trembling as she reached out to wrap her hand around Noel's arm.

"He hit you?" I asked Noel, even though I was looking at the evidence of it.

"I knew it was coming," she replied softly, her eyes meeting mine. "I braced for it."

"Fuck," I breathed.

"I'm fine."

Diana looked like she may have fallen asleep, but Ariel's eyes were open. She still hadn't said a word.

"We're gonna get outta your hair and let these girls have some quiet," Gramps announced, walking around the back of the couch so he could drop a kiss on Noel's head. "You did good," he murmured to her.

The crowd thinned out as I sat down on the couch next to Noel, wrapping my arm around her. She leaned against me, her head resting on my shoulder.

Myla and the musketeers kept to the kitchen with Nova and Rumi. Bas moved around the house, at one point I caught a glimpse of him carrying the broken door outside. Esther and Otto sat with us in the living room, all of us quiet.

I don't know why it took me so long to realize that someone was missing.

"Where the hell is Mom?" I asked Otto in confusion.

"She was up in Portland today," Esther replied. "She'll probably be here soon."

"She's gonna be pissed," Otto muttered.

"She can get in line."

"Careful," Otto warned, his lips twitching in amusement. "She's gonna try and move in with your ass after all this."

"Not happening."

He let out a huff of laughter.

Ansel began to fuss, and without delay, Esther and Otto got to their feet. It was the longest I'd been around the baby without him crying, so I didn't blame them as they told Flora that it was time to head home.

"Love you," Noel said as Flora leaned in for a kiss.

"Love you, too," Flora said, going to her dad without complaint.

Otto paused and looked at Noel. "Thank you," he said.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

His head jerked back in surprise. "For what?"

"All of it," she ground out. "It was all my fault. Carl. I left them. I went upstairs, and I left them."

"None of it was your fault," Otto shot back.

"That's not true," Noel said sadly. She glanced at Esther.

Esther shook her head, her eyes sad. "What that man did is not your fault," she said quietly. "And don't you ever apologize for leaving Flora downstairs while you used yourself as bait to get that lunatic away from her."

Noel just looked at her.

"I love you, sister," Esther said, leaning down to kiss Noel's cheek, then each of the girls' heads. "I'll call you later, okay?"

"Love you, too."

Not long after they left, Myla and the girls left, too. They'd shown up for moral support, but had accurately read the situation and stayed out of the way. Eventually, Nova and Rumi came into the room and quietly sat down at the other end of the sectional and Bas wandered in, clearly out of things to keep himself busy.

I couldn't seem to move beyond reaching for Noel. Running my hand through Ariel's hair. Rearranging Diana's blanket where it drooped over her shoulder. It was a reminder that they were right there next to me. Safe. Healthy.

"I hafta go potty," Ariel said, her voice scratchy.

I let out a breath of relief.

"Go ahead, baby," Noel said, lifting her arm off Ariel's back.

"No, you go with me."

"I can take you, Mermaid," I said softly, leaning around Noel.

"No," she replied, leaning into Noel. "Mama."

"Can you take Diana?" Noel asked.

I carefully pulled the sleeping baby from her arms and nestled her against my chest.

Noel helped Ariel up, but she faltered as she got to her feet. I'd just reached out to steady her when Nova let out a small gasp.

"Noel, your feet," she murmured, leaning forward.

There was blood where her feet had rested on the carpet. It wasn't a lot, but it was there.

"Shit," I muttered, glancing up at her. "Sugar, what happened?"

Noel looked down in confusion, then slowly sat back down and lifted one of her feet to examine it. The entire bottom was covered in scratches, and tiny bits of gravel were embedded in the skin.

"Damn," Rumi murmured.

"They're fine," Noel said, getting carefully to her feet again. "I'm going to take Ariel to the bathroom."

She shuffled toward the bathroom holding Ariel's hand and I moved to stand, but I still had Diana asleep on my chest and I wasn't sure what to do.

"I'll grab some towels," Nova said as she shot to her feet.

"I'll get the first aid box," Bas added.

"The big one from the garage," I told him. "And the tweezers from my bathroom. Top right drawer."

"You got it."

"You good?" Rumi asked.

"You hear the story?" I replied, running a hand over my face. Jesus.

"Yeah, I did." He nodded, his eyes unfocused. "She did good. Did what she had to."

"She keeps apologizin'."

"Which is nuts," Rumi said quietly. "Take away the fact that she kept them here and kept them safe, she can't control what a fuckwad lunatic is doin'…man, it wasn't even her fault that she had any connection to that man. She sure as hell didn't marry his son because she chose him."

"Agreed."

"They'll be alright," Rumi said with a sigh. "Give 'em some time and some love and they'll be fine."

"That your professional opinion, Dr. Hawthorne?"

"I prefer Dr. Rumi," he joked. "I find it connects better with my patients."

It took over an hour to pick every single piece of gravel out of Noel's feet. She hadn't just run across the gravel driveway barefoot, she'd done it fast and she'd done it carrying an extra twenty-five pounds of weight, while dragging the little girls along with her. We couldn't even use band-aids to cover the scratches that bled because there were so many. Thankfully none of them were deep enough to need stitches, but she ended up with both feet so wrapped in gauze it looked like she was wearing socks.

My mom showed up halfway through the process, and spent her time trying to distract Ariel from staring with hollow eyes at her mom's wounds. When we were done, she whipped us up some food.

The day passed slowly. Painfully. Diana woke up and climbed off my lap, but she never went far. She spent the day playing less than a foot from me and Noel, usually on the floor by our feet. Ariel just sat quietly, her fingers sliding along the edges of her blankie. She wouldn't let Noel move without scooting closer, so they took every bathroom trip together, holding hands.

Eventually, it was bedtime. I led my girls up the stairs, carrying Diana, and when we reached the hallway, I realized that Noel didn't have a door on her bedroom.

If I asked, the boys would sleep down on the couch to give Noel some privacy, no problem. But as I reached her door and found that Bas had neatly stacked the bags by her bed, but clearly hadn't unpacked them, I kept walking. I led them up the stairs and into my room.

"You guys can sleep in here," I told Noel softly, setting Diana down on the bed. "I'm gonna go grab the girls some pajamas."

"Okay," she whispered.

She and Ariel were murmuring to each other as I left the room, and when I came back I paused in the doorway. Ariel was on the toilet with the door wide open while Noel sat in eyesight on the bed.

"Progress," I whispered, smiling at Noel.

She smiled back. It didn't reach her eyes.

I helped her dress the girls and tucked them all into bed.

"Stay?" Noel whispered as I got up to leave. She was on her side facing me, with Diana curved against her front and Ariel against her back, her little arm thrown over Noel's belly. "I don't—" Her gaze dropped and she grimaced. "I'm afraid."

"I can stay," I replied instantly. I went and closed my bedroom door and grabbed some sweatpants from my dresser. It only took a few minutes to get ready for bed but by the time I was pulling back the blankets, both Ariel and Diana were snoring softly.

"Thank you," Noel whispered as I climbed in next to Diana.

"Of course," I whispered, curving my arm under my head as I turned on my side to face her.

We were quiet for a while, just looking at each other over the top of Diana's head.

"I was distracted," Noel finally whispered.

"What do you mean?" I asked cautiously.

"I was distracted when he came to the door," she replied, her eyes sad. "You'd warned me that he was in town. I should've been careful. You told me to be aware."

"Noel," I breathed, reaching out to run my fingers over the hair at her temple.

"I was thinking about how I wanted to tell you I love you," she continued, a tear dripping down the side of her face. "I thought about it all night and when I woke up this morning, I thought, I'm just going to do it. I'm going to tell him."

"Baby."

"And I thought, I don't care if that makes me a bad person because my husband just died. I don't care if that makes me everything they always called me. I'm not going to wear my hair up anymore and I'm going to tell Titus I love him and I'm going to buy leggings."

I wanted to laugh at the way she'd described it, putting declaring her love in between changing her hair and buying leggings, but I didn't. I could feel the weight of her words and exactly what they meant for her. For us.

"He would've gotten in the house whether you opened the door or not," I told her softly. "Or he would've waited until you took the girls outside to play and ambushed you then. Shit happens, sugar. None of it was your fault."

"I should've been paying attention."

"I love you, too," I murmured, getting right to the heart of her confession.

"I know," she whispered.

"Sleep, sugar," I ordered. "I'll be right here."

Hours later when Bas knocked softly on my door and poked his head inside to tell me that my pop was downstairs, I was already awake because Diana had kicked me in the balls only a few minutes before.

I raised a hand so he knew I'd heard him.

"What is it?" Noel whispered groggily.

"Gotta run downstairs real quick," I whispered back. "You want me to leave the door open or closed?"

"Open," she murmured before closing her eyes again.

I leaned up in the bed and kissed her cheek before carefully extricating myself from the blankets.

Downstairs, my dad and brother Mick were standing in the living room. Bas and Cian were on the couch.

"Noel's probably gonna get a call," my dad said when he saw me.

My body locked.

"Tellin' her that her poor father-in-law lost control of that piece of shit he was drivin' and died from injuries sustained in the crash," he continued flatly. "Prepare her for that. She's real sorry for their loss. Father-in-law was a good man. That type of shit."

"Alright." I let my body relax.

"The man was out of his head," my dad said. "A true believer. Went on and on about Noel and the girls burnin' in the fires of hell for her whorin' ways."

"The motherfucker wouldn't shut up," Cian muttered darkly.

"Thought he was savin' them, comin' to take her home and settle her with a new husband. Someone in the flock. Someone that would take her in hand."

I let out a sound of disgust.

"While he and his wife raised up those girls to be virtuous and pure," Dad added.

Bile rose in my throat.

"He was gonna take the girls from her."

"He was," Mick replied tightly.

I focused on my breathing, the rise and fall of my chest, the sound of my heart pounding in my ears. Anything except the need to hit something. Hurt someone. Vent the rage somehow.

"It's over," Mick reminded me. "He also complained about his eldest son, how he wasn't fit to lead his family because, basically, the son figured that Noel had made her choice and it was no great loss to them. So, when I say it's over, it's really over."

"He also mentioned that his younger son kept Noel in line," Cian said through his teeth. He was staring at the coffee table in front of him. "That he had a righteous hand."

The breath whooshed out of me.

"Keep an eye on that," Dad murmured with a nod.

"She's never said anythin'," I muttered.

"Could be, she doesn't," Dad said. "Time will tell."

"Thanks for takin' care of it," I said as he moved forward to pull me in for a hug.

"Absolutely," he said, giving the side of my head a loud smacking kiss.

"Rum said you were pissed," Mick mused as he gave me a quick hug of his own.

"I was."

"You know why we left ya behind?" he asked, pulling down to meet my eyes.

"Yup."

"Good."

They left the house, and I lifted my hand in a wave to Bas and Cian before heading back upstairs. I'd talk to them in the morning.

When I climbed back into bed, Noel was awake and watching me.

"Everythin' is fine," I assured her, lacing my fingers through hers. "We'll talk in the mornin', yeah?"

"Okay," she replied, her fingers tightening. "I love you."

"Love you, too, sugar."

I watched her as she drifted off to sleep. Jesus, she was beautiful. Ariel had drifted up the bed until her head was right next to Noel's, her hair tangling with the strands that had fallen out of Noel's braids. One of her arms was flung above her head and the other draped across Noel's throat. Diana was sprawled out between us, her legs straight down and her arms straight up, like she was about to dive into a pool. Her pacifier dangling so precariously from her lips that I knew any moment it was going to fall onto the bed.

Reaching across the Diana, I let my hand rest on Noel's belly. The little one in there was completely oblivious to the turmoil they'd been a part of that day. My eyes widened as something bumped against my hand. I waited, and it happened again. And then again. My eyes shot to Noel's face, but she didn't stir.

"I love you," I whispered into the dark, relief that they were there with me, safe and warm and sleeping, made my whole body relax into the bed. "I love all of you."