School-age had to mean she was younger than eighteen, right? What a seriously sick old man. For the first time since he'd walked in, Avery considered what he'd just witnessed and hugged the girl closer, thinking of Autumn. The thought made his blood boil. He hoped Marcus was getting a few extra punches in for him.
"They won't believe me," she sobbed, blowing her nose into the Kleenex.
"They'll believe us," Avery said as the police sirens neared. Less than a minute later, several officers entered the front door of the chapel. Weapons were drawn, clearly uncertain as to what they would find. The young woman crying in his arms looked over her shoulder and, if it were even possible, began to sob harder. Avery watched one of the officers look confused, lower his weapon some. The girl bounded out of his arms and stumbled forward, down the aisle toward the officer.
"Daddy, I'm so sorry!" she said, jumping toward the man in uniform.
"Shit," Tyrone said and immediately raised both hands in the air.
"Take her outside, Pebbly. Hands in the air," the lead said, aiming his weapon between Tyrone and Avery. He finally understood what Tyrone must have already known and raised both his hands, wondering how long this was going to take. Robert's first basketball game was in seven hours.
* * * *
Cheers erupted from inside the gymnasium. Avery was late. Since every parking space had been taken, he had been relegated to the back forty, parking sloppily just to get inside the building a little faster. No way Robert or Kane would understand why he missed tonight, and he prayed as he jogged to the front doors that he'd at least made it there before halftime. That was when Autumn wouldn't forgive him for missing her halftime performance as a cheerleader.
Avery'd had to pull some strings to get out of Alabama. His men were still there, detained for the next few hours. Since Tyrone and Marcus were moonlighting as private security, their real profession came in handy. Tyrone was a corporal with the Washington DC police force, which was probably the real reason his strings were even allowed to work. Pastor Dalton had a good reputation in that God-fearing town. No one wanted to believe the clear truth.
Another big negative weighing against him was that he hadn't told Kane his plans to go to Alabama. But who would have ever thought things would turn out the way they had? He'd only called home briefly from the flight, asking Kane to keep Autumn away from the television. It wasn't hard to do tonight. Their private school hosted the basketball season opener. Autumn cheered, Robert played, and Kane headed up the parent booster club committee this year. For the first time since he had left all alone to go to DC, Avery was glad they were busy and not able to focus on anything else.
He paid the five dollar event fee and entered the gym just as another set of cheers erupted. He hoped the home team was winning. It would make for a far better weekend if they won tonight, maybe help smooth over what he'd done this morning.
He scanned the crowds, looking for Kane, but he spotted Autumn first as she cheered for the crowd. Avery looked up three rows, and there was Kane, sitting directly in front of her. His brilliant husband had strategically placed himself so he was high enough to see Robert play, but low enough to watch Autumn cheer for the team. Avery smiled—he missed his family.
He nodded at a few people he recognized as he made his way around the gym. His Kane was such a good father. He took such good care of their children. All those years ago, when he suggested they have Autumn and Robert, he'd had no idea how much pride he'd experience with his family. Avery was so focused on Kane that it wasn't until the cheers of the crowd erupted again that he realized he'd completely missed the dunk Robert had just made.
Avery worked his way over to Kane, who stood clapping excitedly. He excused his way up the bleachers, past the other cheering fans and parents. Kane's face lit when he spotted him, and Avery's heart tripped in his chest, along with his foot as he misjudged the step and fell forward into the space Kane was saving for him. Kane bent down to help him, and he took the opportunity to kiss those lips that were so close to his. The blush came, searching eyes were next to see who might have witnessed that public display, but Avery didn't care. He'd missed Kane while he'd been in Washington.
He tried to be strong, put the needs of his family above himself. They agreed to let the kids finish out the year here in Minnesota, but he hadn't spent this much time away from Kane since they'd met. He wanted Kane with him all the time, because even after this long day, his body naturally relaxed with Kane there with him.
"How's he doing?" Avery asked when Kane settled down beside him.
"Twenty-four points," Kane said over the roar of the crowd, "now, twenty-six points."
"Ah! That's great. He'll be excited. Autumn looks good," Avery said, smiling down at his daughter as she beamed up at him.
"She's tumbling on the hard floor. She spelled out Panthers in back handsprings. She said she would do it again when you got here," Kane said. Avery kept his grin fixed on Autumn as she finished her cheer in unison with the other girls. When the chant ended, she smiled bigger and waved at him before turning back to the game.
"Paulie's videotaping him from up in the bleachers," Kane said, turning back and pointing up. Paulie was as high as he could get with a tripod video camera following the game. He worked hard moving the camera back and forth as the boys ran down the court.
"Where's Mom?" Avery asked after seeing it was impossible to catch Paulie's eye, as he was so focused on the game.