Secrets (10 page)

She stroked his forehead before placing a
kiss on the soft skin. “Of course I’m okay. I have my two strong
defenders standing in front of me.” She kissed Micah. “But, he
wasn’t doing anything. I had a bad dream and he woke me up.”

“Why?” Jonah’s nose twisted in a frown as he
stared at her. “Isn’t it bad to wake people when they’re
asleep?”

What to say? How to explain? “Sometimes, if
it looks or sounds like someone is having a rough time, its okay to
wake them. Then they can go to sleep again.”

“Then why wake’em up to go back to
sleep?”

“It helps.” She stretched and yawned. Kenton
stalked into the room in a tee shirt and sweats. Pity, she thought
he looked good in his boxers. After everything he'd said earlier,
she looked at him differently. They'd known each other a long time,
and she knew he'd been telling the truth. His confession surprised
her. The boys turned and looked at him.

“Mama told us she had a nightmare and you
woke her,” Micah said.

“Now she’s going back to sleep,” Jonah
added.

“Sorry about hitting you. But you were lying
on top of my mama.”

“And she screamed.”

“No man’s ever laid on her before.”

“No man’s been in here before, but since you
helped her, its okay.”

Kenton held out his hand, stopping the
alternating half-hearted apology. “First off, do you always attack
first and ask questions later?”

The boys looked at him and nodded.

“Guess so.”

“Yeah.”

Kenton shook his head. He'd been like that
growing up. Sven or his Uncle David were constantly pulling him
from the middle of a fight. A part of him was proud they’d jump to
their mother’s defense, another part worried they lacked foresight
and good judgment. Things that eluded him until he went into the
military.

“You did good, jumping in to save and
protect your mom.” He sat in the chair near the bed and looked into
their eyes. The only time he’d seen them, he recognized familiar
features. The one missing his teeth, Jonah, favored him the most.
The intense look, the blade nose, and firm lips were a combination
of Stone and Baxter genes. Of course, he’d been the twin to start
the fight. Was he the one who wanted to be a navy seal? Kenton
couldn’t remember.

“But what if you’d hurt my arm? You know now
I hadn’t done anything wrong, but you didn’t know then. You have to
think a little more before you act.” Mentally, he patted himself on
the back. His first lecture as a father and he’d handled it
well.

“Mr. Kent.” The long-suffering sigh in
Jonah’s voice surprised him. “Neither one of us went after your
arm. We’re not blind. We see the cast. That’s why we hit your legs
and lower back.” Jonah pointed to the area of Kenton’s body to
which he referred.

Kenton’s neck and face warmed as they
instructed him.

“Yeah, we did think before we fought,” Micah
said jumping in. “Otherwise we woulda hit your private part or your
sore arm. But since mom wasn’t fighting or screaming, we figured it
must notta been so bad.” Although not vocalized, Kent heard Micah’s
addendum,
dumb-ass
, all the same. His face tightened as
Micah nodded and then stretched, yawning. He walked toward the
door. “I’mma get some sleep. Mama, if you need me— “

“Us,” Jonah snapped following his brother.
“If you need us, we’re right here.” They disappeared out the door
arguing softly.

A giggle punctuated the silence. Kenton
looked at Chastity. The dark glimmer of horror had disappeared from
her face, replaced with a large grin.

“What’s so funny?” He asked, although he
suspected he knew. The boys had gotten the better of him. A small
price to pay for her feeling better.

“Your face when you gave them such wonderful
advice was so full of pride until they burst your bubble.” She
chuckled. “I should’ve warned you, those two are an amazing
handful. The moment they walked in and asked the question?” She
gazed at him, a teasing glint in her eye.

Kenton nodded. Happy for this moment alone
with her, the high walls of caution she normally kept in place had
disappeared, allowing him another peek at the warm woman
inside.

“
That
was their moment of scoping and
plotting. Trust me, if they thought I was hurt, one would’ve left
to call Sven or Robbie and the other would’ve hit you in the balls.
Sven trained them in basic self-defense. But this is the first time
I’ve seen them use it.”

He grunted and stared at his clasped hands.
“They don’t like me.”

She looked over at him, her eyes wide. “They
don’t know you. Honestly, don’t sit there and whine.” She pulled
the cover up to her chest. Glancing at the clock, it read four in
the morning. He knew she needed more rest, but he wanted her to
tell him things would work out. That one day soon his kids would
know who he was.

“I’m not whining. I’m stating a fact. Have
you thought how I feel?”

“Not at all.”

He didn’t believe her, at her core, she was
a nurturer. “I just discovered I’m a father,” he said
stubbornly.

“So, you’re going to whine.” She sighed.
“Just because you get someone pregnant, doesn’t make you a
father.”

The flippancy of the words scraped his raw
ego and he saw red. His tightly clenched jaw made a grinding sound.
She glanced up at his hot face and snapped her mouth close.

“Dammit, I know that,” he hissed. “But if
you or anyone else had told me I had children, I would’ve been here
for them as much as I could and at least they would know me. I want
to know them. And so you know. I allowed them to hit me, but that
will never happen again.” It’d burned his ass that his sons had
done that. He’d been taught to respect all adults.

She nodded. “I know. I don’t allow them to
raise their voices at me, let alone their hands.

“When are we going to tell them?” He sent
her a look that said his patience had left the building. “Before or
after the FBI gets here.”

Swallowing hard, she covered her head with
the comforter. “Whichever you choose. Just let me know. I’m too
tired to deal with anything else.”

“Right after breakfast. I need to talk to
them about security and show them the pictures of the new security
men. We can include them to a point; use their eyes and ears,
unless you think that’ll make things worse.”

“Worse?” she mumbled and chuckled dryly.
“Jonah and Micah will think it’s an adventure. You’ll have to rein
them in or your attention will be divided so many ways, you won’t
be able to do your job.”

“I haven’t met the third child,” he said,
wishing he were beneath the covers with her.

“Mariah.” Chastity yawned.

“She’s what, three or four?”

“Don’t be lazy, do the math.”

“Three, almost four? What’s she like?”

“Wait and see. Did I mention I was
tired?”

He stood and walked to the door, he didn’t
want to leave. He’d need to buy some patience if necessary, to woo
his woman. This was the most significant mission he’d ever
undertaken and he’d win it. “I’ll be nearby.”

****

The next morning, Sven walked in as they
finished breakfast. “Two men from the FBI, Walkers and Spice, will
be here around three o’clock. I’ve already cleared them. My people
will be in place. They received the file the same day the judge
ordered the case to trial, before you went to court. One of them
was at the courthouse watching.”

Chastity remained still as the news flowed
over her. This was really happening. The FBI, the hit, the bad men,
all of this was real. Inhaling, she stood, placed her bowl into the
sink and stared at the steel fixture for a moment or two.

“Mama, can we go to the barn and help
Robbie?” She tilted her face toward Micah, ready to grant
permission, when Kenton spoke up.

“Your mama needs to talk with you guys
before her appointment this afternoon. Where do you want them to
go, Chas?”

Tension spiraled down her back. The herbal
tea she’d drank earlier percolated in her gut. Lord help, she
wasn’t ready for all this. Biting back a sharp retort, she tamped
it down.

“In the family room. Everybody go ahead with
Kenton, I’ll be there in a moment.” Blindly she reached for the
pain medication in the lower cupboard and swallowed two pills.
After rinsing them down with a glass of water, she turned to see
Sven standing in the same spot from before, watching her. It’d take
the medicine a minute to kick in and dull the edge of the killer
headache buffeting her. Rather than meet his eyes, or let him see
her pain, she turned and looked at the pale yellow ceramic tile on
the floor.

“You okay?”

She nodded. Her eyes fluttered shut as the
throbbing behind them beat a Samba tune.

“What happened?” He’d come closer, she felt
his heat behind her.

“I had a nightmare last night.” Her throat
and voice were both raspy.

“What? It’s been years since that’s
happened.” He paused before resting the heavy weight of his palm on
her shoulder. “Damn. The DVD from yesterday, Mr. B reopened that
gate. I hadn’t thought about what it would do to you.” He squeezed
lightly.

Taking a chance, she glanced at him; saw the
genuine concern in his eyes. The pressure behind hers eased.

“I can change the appointment until
tomorrow, give you a day to regroup,” he offered.

She knew he would do that without missing a
beat. That’d just delay the inevitable. “No, best to get it over
now.” She offered a weak smile as she moved toward the family
room.

“What’s happening in there?” He pointed
toward the hall after the children and Kenton.

She shrugged. “He’s going to meet his
kids.”

“So soon?”

“Yeah, with a contract out on me, no need to
wait.” Her lips tilted in an awkward grin.

Sven walked toward her and wrapped her in
his arms. His chin lay on the top of her head. “It’s going to be
all right, pumpkin. Nothing’s going to happen to you, I promise.
Mr. B laid everything out.”

She leaned back and stared up at him, her
lips curling upward. “You do realize a dead man is protecting me
and my children from the grave.”

His blue eyes crinkled. “Weird right? If it
were anyone but Mr. B, I’d think I was crazy to follow his
instructions. But I watched how he methodically mapped out plans
and counter plans. Hell, I helped him put some of the safeguards
into place. I still trust his plan. If it falls apart, we’ll know
in plenty of time to change it.”

“The infamous Plan B?” Her brow rose as she
tried to decipher the pink tinge on his face.

“Yeah. But there’s also a C and a D.” He
tapped her nose and released her. She grabbed his arm and kept it
around her waist.

“A whaaa—”

Sven was no longer watching her, but stared
down the hall.

“The kids are waiting for you,” Kenton said
watching her and Sven step away from their embrace.

Flustered by his keen look, she stepped
toward him and pointed at Sven. “This conversation isn’t over.”

Sven chuckled as he left the room.
Side-by-side, she walked in silence with Kenton to the family room,
thankful her headache had abated.

“Mama,” Mariah cried, attaching herself to
one of her legs. “Micah’s being mean to Jonah.”

“Am not.” Micah sat squinting at her.

“Unh huh.” She peered at him from behind her
mother’s legs. Bending forward she picked up her daughter and sat
next to a quiet Jonah.

“I need to talk to all of you about
something really important.” Four sets of eyes looked expectantly
at her. Pinpricks of awareness tap-danced on her skin. She glanced
at Kenton. He watched the children and nodded. Her heartbeat
thundered in her ears.

“I want to…The thing is…Remember when you
asked who—who your father was?” Sweat beaded her forehead as Jonah
frowned and Micah glanced at Kenton. Mariah lay unconcerned on her
chest. How precious and innocent they were at this stage.

Jonah nodded. “You wouldn’t tell us.” He
looked over at Kenton and then at her again.

She licked dry lips and pointed at him.
“Kenton Stone is your father.” The words tripped over themselves as
she rushed to say them before losing her nerve.

“You sure?” Micah, her studious one, asked
staring at Kenton.

“Pretty much. A woman knows these things.”
Her dry chuckle fell flat in the silence.

“You’re Mariah’s dad too?” Jonah pointed to
his sister.

Kenton nodded. “Yes.” Chastity glanced at
his white knuckles and wary eyes.

“How come you didn’t say nothin’ the other
day? How come Ms. Cook introduced us to you? You didn’t say nothin’
then,” Micah stated, a deep frown marring his brow.

Kenton looked at her. She nodded. They
needed to be honest with their children. “I didn’t know.”

No one spoke.

“Because you were in the war?” Jonah asked,
his voice hopeful.

“No, because I never called your mom and
asked. I’ve been out of the country for a while, but that’s no
excuse. I should’ve checked on her.”

“You don’t have a phone?” Jonah asked
frowning.

Kenton nodded. “Yeah, I got one.”

“Why didn’t you call and tell him?” Jonah
and Micah looked at her, their confusion obvious.

Her breath hitched at the simplicity of the
question. Children had no concept of ego and pride when it came to
matters like these. Had she been wrong to allow her fear of his
mother to keep them from their father? Yeah, she had. Being wrong
hurt like hell.

“I don’t know. Selfish. I wanted you to
myself. I was wrong. Will you forgive me?” Water filled her eyes as
she waited.

“Yeah.” Micah reached over and hugged
her.

“Yeah, Mama. Don’t cry. I’m not mad.” Jonah
kissed her cheek and looked at Kenton. “Are you mad at mama for
wanting to keep us to herself? She didn’t mean nothin’ by it.”