“Yes.”
The woman nodded. “I wouldn’t worry too much, then. Just keep an eye on her for the next day or so and monitor her temperature, checking it every few hours.”
Relief swept over her swift and sure. Serena hugged the woman before she turned to Noah. “What about our travel plans?”
Noah shook his head. “Forget them. We’ll stay put until Gracie feels better.”
“Are you sure?” She gave him a cautious look, choosing her words carefully. “We don’t want to mess up our itinerary.”
“It’s fine. Trust me.” He transferred his attention to the owner. “Can we extend our reservation for another night?”
“Of course.” The woman smiled. “I think that’s the best decision. Best to wait this out.”
“Agreed.” He excused himself to go with the owner to take care of the paperwork and payment, leaving Serena alone with Gracie.
She took extra time with the bath, taking extra care to cuddle and coo to her daughter at every opportunity, despite Gracie’s fussiness. Once they were both clean, she wrapped her up in a warm, soft towel before dressing her, then rocking her slowly in the room’s rocking chair while breastfeeding her. Gracie still seemed to be a bit lethargic, but a little better than earlier at least. By the time Noah returned, she was just finishing burping Gracie and was ready to put her down for another nap. She’d check her temperature again after she woke up.
Noah put the new paperwork on the dresser and rubbed the back of his neck, looking anywhere but at Serena. She frowned over at him. “What’s wrong now?”
“Nothing.” He raised one shoulder, looking sheepish. “I’m just feeling a bit restless and useless at the moment, I guess. If you don’t mind, I’m going to go take a walk. Burn off some excess energy and stress. Walk the perimeter. Check out the security. I’ve taken care of everything for tonight.”
“Sounds fine. And thank you,” Serena said, bending down to kiss Gracie’s tiny head before straightening. She knew that useless, restless feeling herself, but one of them had to keep it together here. Besides, she knew that in his own way Noah was doing what he thought was best. He was keeping them safe. “I’ll stay here and see if I can find a book to read or something until you get back. Be careful.”
“You too,” he said, stopping halfway out the door, then turning back to her. “See you soon.”
11
Noah felt a bit calmer after his hour-long walk. He’d triple-checked the perimeters of the property, monitored all the entrances and exits to the place, and memorized the best escape routes, should they be needed. There were still dangers lurking, yes. After all, the guy they’d taken down the previous day was still out there, along with all the other mercenaries who’d decided to try for the outrageous bounty put out for Serena.
Then there was the fact they were now at least two days behind schedule. The guys at SSoF would be wondering where the hell he and Serena were when they didn’t show up at the rendezvous point on time in Frederickston. It couldn’t be helped, though, not with poor little Gracie sick.
The center of his torso felt hollowed out when he thought of his baby daughter ill upstairs. He didn’t like it. Nope. It was weird and scary to care so much about her so soon, right?
With a sigh, he slumped down on a bench in the butterfly garden and pulled out his phone to call the guys back home and fill them in on the latest developments.
Levon picked up on the second ring. “Southern Soldiers of Fortune Security. Got trouble? We can help.”
“Well, you can start by ditching that cheesy-ass tag line,” Noah said with a snort.
“Dude!” Levon laughed. “Where the hell have you been? Clint’s been pacing a hole in the floor here waiting for you to check in.”
Noah winced. “Yeah, sorry about that. There’s been some issues to deal with.”
He relayed what had happened with the safe house and their move to the bed and breakfast in Torina, plus the bounty hunter the previous day and Gracie’s illness. “So yeah, we’re running late. I need you to contact our next stopping point and adjust the reservations, if you can.”
“No problem,” Levon said. “Hang on, here’s Clint.”
“What the fuck, Wild?” Clint said, his tone terse. “You were supposed to check in first thing this morning.”
“I know. Sorry. Things came up that I had to deal with and the whole day went down from there.” Noah scrubbed a hand over his face. Clint wasn’t the leader of SSoF, but both Levon and Noah kind of looked up to the guy. He was a few years older and seemed a hell of a lot wiser sometimes, and Noah appreciated his wisdom and experience. Or at least he usually did. Right now the situation was just kind of pissing him off, considering he was doing his best here when, honestly, he felt totally incompetent most of the time where Gracie was concerned. He went over the same information he’d just given Levon, then waited while Clint put him on speaker phone. “So yeah. If you guys could handle getting things fixed in Frederickston for me, that would be a huge help.”
The sound of Clint’s long-suffering breath echoed through the line, ratcheting Noah’s annoyance higher. Maybe he was being a pain in their ass at the moment. Not everyone could be Mr. Perfect like Clint. Finally, Clint said, “Yep. I’ll take care of it. Stay safe, Wild.”
“Always.” Gratitude mixed with a bit of guilt inside him. No matter what other crap they might be dealing with, he could depend on the guys at SSoF no matter what. Still, he couldn’t resist giving Clint a tiny bit of shit anyway. “And get a better tagline, man. That one Levon used is lame.”
“Bite me,” Clint yelled in the background followed by the sound of a closing door.
“Hey, stay safe, buddy,” Levon said before ending the call. “We’ll text you the new details once everything’s finalized. Take care of yourself and your new family. Can’t wait to meet them when all this is over.”