Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 94624 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94624 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
“We’re just supervising,” Ian informed me. “No big deal.”
“I hate Kevlar,” I told him.
“Oh no, we love Kevlar,” he countered. “Kevlar is our friend.”
“I’ll be home soon,” Sam promised, bending to kiss me before he thanked Anne for a wonderful meal, lifted a hand in farewell to Eammon, and then grabbed hold of his daughter, as she’d launched herself at him. “It’s fine. Everything’s fine.”
She nodded quickly and then moved because he had to go, but Kola was there to hug him, as well as Jake.
Sam wrapped Kola up, whispered in his ear, kissed his cheek, and then let go. Last was Jake, who he was careful with.
“You ate a lot. I don’t wanna push anything out.”
“Oh come on,” Jake grumbled, but hugged him back.
Sam was gone then, walking out the door behind Ian.
Hannah rounded on me, and I took her gently in my arms and held tight. “I hate it when this happens.”
“I know, me too, but it hasn’t happened in a while, so that should be a comfort.”
“But Ian’s there, and he’ll protect Dad,” she said, more for herself than me.
“That’s right. Plus everyone else.”
She nodded.
Kola put his arms around both of us then. “He wants us to get him pie, so we gotta remember to do that.”
I smiled, because those had been the whispered instructions. “Of course pie.”
“Pie sounds great,” Jake said, the final piece to the puzzle, hugging us all as well. It was like a cocoon of support.
“Are you all okay?” Anne asked once we eased apart, Hannah still leaning against me, content, it seemed, to be close.
“We’re fine,” I told her. “Thank you for asking.”
“That was really something, seeing him put on his vest. You don’t worry about him going without a gun?”
“He has a gun,” Hannah told her. “He’s a federal marshal, he’s always armed. That’s what his ankle holster is for.”
“I had no idea.”
Hannah nodded and then took a breath, stepping away from me so she could lean on the counter and look at her phone. “I’m gonna call ahead and order the pie. What should I get?”
“Oh no,” Anne said quickly. “We have so much dessert here. We’ll put it out in another half an hour or so.”
“But we have to go,” Hannah told her. “And we don’t wanna mess with your timeline.”
“Well then, we could––”
“No, really, thank you so much,” Hannah said kindly, smiling at her. “But this gives us something to do instead of wondering what he’s doing. Plus, you don’t want us around. When he suits up like that, we’re no fun.”
Anne turned to me.
“She’s right, we’re not.”
“I completely understand. But you must take some food with you.”
“Absolutely,” Jake chimed in. “Let’s pack some up.”
She was charmed by him, I could tell.
Finn came into the kitchen then, walking over to Kola. “Are you all leaving already?”
“Yeah,” Kola answered softly, trying to smile but not quite able to pull it off. “Whenever Dad goes like that, it sort of takes all our focus until we get the call that he’s fine.”
“Of course it does,” Finn agreed, taking hold of Kola, hands on his hips. “Could I come with you like we planned?”
Kola grimaced. “Our plans included meeting your brothers out for a drink later, and I'm not up for that anymore. And I want to hang out with my dad once he gets home.”
It was necessary, and hopefully Finn would understand that. The chance of losing Sam Kage meant that we all needed to soak up his attention once he returned.
“That’s fine. We can do whatever you want.”
I was very pleased. Finn was a keeper.
“But we might just be watching TV all night, depending on when Dad makes it back. I don’t want you to be bored.”
The smile Kola got was really something. “I won’t be bored as long as I’m with you.”
Kola took his face in his hands and kissed him then. It wasn’t a long one, just a quick press of lips, but since I’d never in my life seen him kiss anyone before, I was stunned.
When I glanced at Anne, she had her hands clasped together and appeared quite pleased. When Kola let him go and leaned in and hugged him, Finn holding on so tight, she let out a small whimper of happiness. And that of course made me happy as well.
“I hope to be seeing quite a bit more of you, Jory,” she said softly.
“Me too,” I seconded before she turned on Finn.
“And you do not need to be drinking with your brothers at any time, Finnegan Murray. They couldn't even be bothered to come and have something to eat before they started celebrating. I'm about ready to disown all three of them!”
“Ooooh, they’re in trouble,” Hannah said under her breath.
Finn just groaned.
Kola ended up riding with Finn, and the two of them were going to pick up Harper, so Hannah got shotgun, and halfway to the restaurant to get pie, we got a call from Sam.