Thomas (8 page)

“
I’m sure he will. Now I
can give you those things I’ve been hiding away for you.” She left
them alone, only to return a few minutes later with bags and bags
of things. Hannah was so overwhelmed by it she started to cry.
These people were just too kind to her.

“
Nonsense.” Hannah looked
up at the woman standing in the doorway. “You are getting just what
you need from them and they’re happy to give it to you. I don’t
think we’ve met before. I’m Linyah, daughter of Sina and Nildale,
sister to Nic and Kendra.”

“
I’m Hannah Lanning. This
is my mother-in-law, Maribel Lanning. You know my husband, Misha.”
Linyah sat down but stood up again when her mother started to rise.
She fixed her a cup of tea and then gave her a glass of
water.

“
Tea is good for your
belly, but you need to drink more. You’re dehydrated and you need
more meat. Red meat.” Hannah nodded and looked at the other two
women with her. “They’ll agree with me too. We can all tell that
you are a little on the undernourished side and need much more
liquid.”

“
Thank you, but it’s
that…I don’t…I’m not used to people being nice to me.” Linyah
nodded but said nothing. “You’ve read my mind as well. I don’t
think I like you guys doing that.”

“
Would you like to do it
too?” Hannah started to shake her head no, but Linyah continued.
“It’s something I can share with you. You won’t be able to read
mine because I gave you the ability, but you can read anyone
else’s. My mother included.” There was a hint of anger there but
Hannah let it pass.

Instead of answering her right off,
she changed the subject. “Do you know what I’m going to have?”
Linyah put her hand on her belly, and Hannah felt a strange kind of
connection with her. When she pulled her hand back, she smiled. “Do
I want to know what you found out?”

“
It’s a boy. He’s like his
father but more. I would say that instead of being only about
fifty-percent leopard, he’s more like seventy-percent. Do you want
to know when he’ll be born?” Hannah shook her head. “Okay. But if
you change your mind, let me know.”

“
How can you do that?”
Maribel stood up and so did Sina, as if on cue. She wondered if
she’d offended them, but Linyah asked her to stay seated when
Hannah rose from her seat as well. As soon as they were alone, she
looked around the room.

“
I’ve asked to speak to
you alone. My mother knows, but Maribel doesn’t know that I’m
having a sort of hard time here. I don’t know what I’m doing and
was wondering if you could help me.” Hannah was so confused she was
sure it was written all over her face. “I have never had a male
that touches me like Thomas does and wants to…he wants things from
me that I don’t know how to give him.”

Hannah knew that Misha had called to
speak to Thomas that morning. Then Thomas left in a hurry.
Apparently the search they were on wasn’t going well and they had
called him in. Even Nic and his dad had gone to help. It was the
worst rescue they’d been on in a while. And they needed all the
extra people they could get. Hannah wondered why they’d not asked
Linyah to go, then remembered that she’d been hurt.

“
You know what kind of
upbringing I had, I take it?” Linyah nodded and Hannah continued.
“I was so overwhelmed by this family that it took me until recently
to get used to the fact that they love to touch and be touched. The
only way the woman who raised me touched me was with a hard object
and her fists. And if not hers, then someone else’s. I didn’t come
from this sort of family. So I can relate to how strange it is to
you.”

“
You certainly took on my
mom.” Hannah flushed. “She told me about it. She said you put her
in her place and then were so kind to her she couldn’t help but
like you. I guess she thinks you and I will get along well too. Me
being bossy and all.” Hannah didn’t know about all that. She liked
the woman a great deal so far. Hannah thought that if she got some
answers from Linyah, she’d have a better understanding on how to
answer her.

“
What kind of things does
Thomas want from you?” Linyah got up and fixed her another cup of
tea and refilled her empty water glass. Hannah sipped it before
continuing. It really was making her feel better. “I mean, if you
don’t want to share, I understand.”

“
It’s not that. I’m not
really sure what I mean, to be honest. But nobody just gives things
like he did without wanting something in return.” Hannah asked her
what it was and she put a key on the table. “I don’t understand why
he’d give me a key to his house. Then when I asked him what he
wanted of mine, he said nothing I wasn’t willing to give. What does
that mean?”

“
It means he trusts you.”
Linyah looked as confused as she felt most of the time. “Look, what
do you have that means the very world to you? Something that no one
else in the world has ever touched, seen, or maybe even knew was
yours.”

“
My swords. I have a
collection of them I’ve been saving for decades. No one…well, maybe
Nic knows, but he doesn’t know how many. They’re mine and I don’t
think anyone would understand why I have them. I don’t even use
them.”

Hannah got up and pulled a large tin
from behind the cereal she loved. She dumped the contents on the
table and looked at it when Linyah did. It was just over ninety
dollars in cash and change, money she’d had when she lived with
Bella.

“
It was all I had in the
world. And it was something that I earned. Whenever I feel
overwhelmed by all this…,” she waved her hand around the gigantic
room, “I pull this out and count it out. It’s mine. No one gave it
to me, but I earned it. I don’t need it. Misha gives me whatever I
want, but this is mine. Understand?”

“
I do. You treasure it
because of what it represented when you lived with that woman. Not
what you had but what you rose from. I understand it more than you
can know.” Hannah smiled and nodded. “Like my swords.”

“
Yes. And his house;
Thomas’s house means the same to him. He worked hard to get it
ready for himself. Picked out the carpet himself, had the painters
come in and help him tear down wallpaper and then paint; it was
his. And now, he’s sharing it with you. Willingly giving you a
piece of his life that no one else has seen. You’ve been in the
house more than we have since he moved in.” Hannah hoped she was
telling her the right thing and nearly told her that she might be
wrong, but she smiled at her and she knew the woman got
it.

“
He said he wanted me to
stay there while he was gone. Told me I could change whatever I
wanted. Since I have no idea what to do there, I came here. My
mom…I don’t want to disappoint him.” Hannah laughed. “You think I
will?”

“
No. I think that no
matter what you do, he’s going to love you. I know it’s hard to
imagine someone loving you that much, but he will. And it will be
the kind of love you never dreamed of, the kind that lasts forever
and ever and makes you feel like you can take on the world and
never look back. The kind of love that creates children and shows
you there is a way to move on from what has happened before now.”
Hannah felt tears roll down her cheeks as she looked at Linyah.
“It’s the kind that saves you from dying alone and
lonely.”

“
I don’t love him.” Hannah
nodded. “I’m not even sure I want to love someone that much. It’s
very consuming I think. Not that I don’t think it’s great, but I
just don’t think I’m the loving sort of person.”

“
I think you’re going to
be pleasantly surprised when you wake up one morning and realize
that you have loved him nearly all along. The Lanning men don’t
take love lightly. They’re an all or nothing sort of group of men.
And when they love you, they love you with all they are.” She
smiled then. “We are very lucky women, I think. And I’m going to
have a baby by one of them.”

Hannah and Linyah sat and talked for
over two hours. She pulled out baby clothes to look over just as
the other two women came in to join them again. Jackson sent them
to the living room so he could start dinner, but brought them
snacks and tea throughout the afternoon. Hannah had never had a
friend before, not a female one, and thought she and Linyah would
be good together. They certainly seemed to have a great start to a
good friendship.

Chapter 5

Thomas pulled the little girl from the
mud and laid her gently down on the sheet that had been brought for
her. He took care to make sure that her dress was pulled down
straight and that the mud, the mire that she’d been buried in, was
off her face as best he could. Thomas felt his heart tighten
painfully in his chest as he turned back to his work. He’d pulled
three children out in the last hour and it was taking its toll on
him. When a shadow fell across him, he looked up to see Misha
standing there, and took his hand when it was offered to pull him
out of the pit.

“
There are only four more
to find. I think we can take a break.” Thomas nodded and let Misha
lead him away. He saw that Nic was pulling another child from the
dirt and turned his back on him when Misha spoke again. “I need you
to tell me this ends someday. I have to tell you, this is the
hardest part of what we do for me. The death of a child is
horrific, but when it is because of men who were greedy, I want to
tear throats out.”

Thomas looked around at the disaster
they were working. A bus, a charter bus full of grade-school
children on a class trip that had been over filled, had slid off
the side of a mountain and ended in a ravine several hundred feet
below. They’d been on a trip to see the mountain top and the
butterflies that were coming out of their cocoons. The charter
company had wanted to pocket some of the money that had been paid
to them, he’d bet, by using fewer buses than they needed. It was a
story that they’d heard time and time again, but it had never been
something they’d had to work on. The result had been that when
another car, this one taking up too much of the narrow road, had
come around a bend in the road, the driver had moved to get out of
his way only to tip it over and flip the bus.

“
I don’t know what to say
about this.” Misha nodded as if he had expected that answer. “It
must be harder on you with Hannah pregnant too. I can’t imagine
what the parents of these children are going through.”

“
Me neither. My heart is
dying for them.” Misha looked away, toward the tree line that had
nothing to do with the scene, before speaking again. “She found
out. Apparently your mother-in-law told her. I thought she’d be
upset with me when she asked me about it, but she said she spent a
delightful afternoon getting to know Linyah and wasn’t upset any
longer. But she wants to make sure I never keep something like that
from her again.”

Thomas nodded, not really knowing what
to say. He had his own set of problems when it came to a mate. “I’m
glad she knows. It was hard for me to not say something to her when
she asked me about being tired all the time. I felt badly for her
but happy for you both. She’s terrified, isn’t she?”

“
She was, maybe still is a
little, but I think she’ll be great. I think she’s more worried
about what her grandparents will say or do when or if they arrive
before it’s born. They’re nuts.” They both laughed and Misha smiled
at him when he continued. “You’ve bonded and mated, you and Linyah
have, right?”

“
We have. And no offense,
Misha, but I don’t want to talk about her right now.” Except he did
want to talk about her, and he was almost positive that his brother
knew it. “She said she wants me to move back to her part of the
country with her. I still don’t know where that might be other than
it’s beautiful. I’m not sure I want to leave my family right now,
if ever. I just started on the house. I asked her to give me some
time and she said she would. I just don’t know about
this.”

“
It’s her inability to
keep things neat, right?” Thomas frowned and nodded once. “I
figured as much. She is the security force there. What did you tell
her? I mean, I’m assuming this is what has you so quiet. What did
you say to her about the way things are going right
now?”

“
I’m always quiet.” Which
he was. But it was weighing heavy on his mind that he’d be living
away from his family and his work. And now his new nephew. “She
doesn’t seem to know what to do. I mean with me. And I don’t what
to do with her either. I don’t…she’s still a slob. I don’t think I
can handle that. And then there’s the magic stuff she can do. I’m a
little freaked out about that, if you want the truth of it. What
the hell am I supposed to do with her being so
powerful?”

“
You could talk to her.
And if that fails, set some ground rules or something. I’m sure
you’ll work it out.” Thomas didn’t think that was possible. “What
else has you all twisted up like an old woman? You’ve been in
contact with her. You know she’s fine, right?”

“
She is now. And that’s
something else I don’t understand. She said that she’d heal now.
And so would I. And you want to know how I found out? I cut myself
shaving this morning and nearly had a heart attack when I healed
over. She heard me cursing and that’s how I found out about this
crap. She told me I’d be healing faster than normal.” Thomas pulled
out his knife and ran it over his palm. “Just look at this. What
the hell am I supposed to make of this?”