Atonement (The Protectors 6)

I hadn’t thought to grab my bag before coming into the house, so I decided to do a quick walk through. I ignored the uncomfortable sensation sliding along my skin and went into the kitchen to check out the contents of the fridge. Not surprisingly, it was fully stocked and there was even a bag of ground coffee sitting next to my coffee maker. The blessed woman had thought of everything. I walked through the kitchen and past the mudroom that had a door leading out to the backyard. The lower half of the house was basically a big circle so I didn’t need to backtrack as I checked out the living room, den and office. I didn’t miss the fact that the few plants I had in the house were alive and I realized Bess must have been dropping by on a regular basis to keep them watered.

I didn’t see Dante as I reached the front hallway and figured he’d stayed outside. I headed up the stairs where all the bedrooms were. My plan was to head directly to my bedroom, but when I looked to my right at the top of the stairs and saw the doors to Jenna and Matty’s rooms open, I hesitated. I’d kept both rooms closed off after Jenna had run away and I was a little surprised that Bess had gone into either room. I walked to Matty’s room and glanced into it, but unlike the downstairs, there was a thin layer of dust covering everything.

So, Bess hadn’t cleaned the rooms.

Strange that the doors were open. Had she just been curious and taken a look around, forgetting to close the doors again? She hadn’t been particularly close to Matty or Jenna, so it seemed odd that she’d want to see their rooms.

I shook my head. Didn’t matter. I spared the inside of Matty’s room a quick glance and marveled at how my grandson had changed in the two years since he’d lived in the room. The wall was painted a robin’s egg shade of blue and there were a few pictures on the walls depicting cars and trains. They matched the bedspread on the twin bed against one wall and there were dozens of toys littering the floor…like Matty had been in the middle of playing when time had come to a grinding halt and his comfortable childhood had been snatched from him. His dresser drawers were pulled open and a few clothes were scattered on the floor around it, proof that Jenna had been in a hurry when she’d packed up his things.

There was nothing in the room that reflected who Matty was now. No superhero dolls, window coverings or bedding set. No Avengers coloring books, no Spiderman posters. I absently wondered if my grandson would have discovered his inner superhero obsession if it hadn’t been for Tate and his Spiderman doll that had made Matty feel safe in a time when his entire world had been turned upside down. Tate had told me how Matty hadn’t spoken to him in the days after he’d taken the little boy with him as he’d fled Lulling. Spiderman had bridged the gap and it was only recently that Matty had gifted the beloved doll to another little boy who’d needed it more.

I smiled as the pride for my grandson surged. I’d messed up with Jenna, but I’d done the right thing by Matty. Yeah, there’d been a part of me that had immediately wanted to bring Matty home when I’d learned he was alive, but within minutes of seeing my grandson with the man who’d saved him, as well as Hawke who’d only recently come into their lives, I’d known he was exactly where he was supposed to be.

Since I would leave the contents of this room to the movers I’d hired to pack up the house, I closed the door and then turned to go to Jenna’s room to close the door. A bitter chill invaded my body as I neared the room, but all that turned to white hot anger when I saw Dante step out of it. His eyes connected with mine and then shifted back to the bedroom. “I was just doing a sweep of the house…”

The violation of having my privacy invaded burned through me, but I managed to keep from putting my hands on Dante. I reached past him and yanked the door shut, not even looking into the room for even a moment. I didn’t need to…I knew every nook and cranny of that room from the light green paint, the artsy, girly decorations, the pages torn from fashion magazines that covered the walls and the countless pictures of Matty taped to the mirror above the dresser. Hell, I even knew about the small, purple toiletry bag hidden behind some boxes on the top shelf of the closet that Jenna had always stashed her needles in.