Should. Again, no guarantee.
“Do you plan on being there for it?” Saylor asked. “Will Trip let you?”
“Doubt it. With Cage, Trip sent the women away so they wouldn’t intervene. I can’t imagine he won’t do that again. The same way with blowing up the mountain. He didn’t want anyone trying to undermine what was going to happen. But I still think I should talk to him and try to convince him not to do it.”
“Girl, listen to your bestie. I’m telling you to just let it happen. If you interfere and somehow manage to talk him out of it, as a leader, Trip will look weak. He let it go when Ozzy walked out of that officers meeting when normally he wouldn’t have. He let it go when they discovered Rev and Reilly were boning. He probably shouldn’t have.”
“But he needs to understand—”
“No, Tess, your brother needs to lead. That’s his job as president. Making those difficult decisions, whether he likes them or not. He’s being pretty damn generous by waiting long enough for Easy to somewhat heal from the crash. He didn’t have to do that. While I agree with you about avoiding Easy right now because it’ll just make things worse if you don’t, I don’t agree with you intervening. Nothing good will come of it.”
Surprisingly, sometimes Saylor could be the voice of reason. Not often, but occasionally. What she just said made sense. Deep down, Tessa knew she shouldn’t interfere but it was so damn difficult not to.
One day at a time. That was how she needed to handle this whole mess.
First, she had to get through her appointment tomorrow. Once she found out how far along she was, if the baby was at risk because of the crash and asked for some professional advice from Carly, she could deal with the next day. Then the next.
One bite at a time, one step at a time, one day at a time.
Break the problem down into manageable pieces.
As she listened to Dyna’s soft, steady breathing, Tessa brushed her fingers over the toddler’s blonde hair. It would most likely darken as she got older to the same color as Cage’s. She also had her daddy’s features and some of his mannerisms already.
The baby, who was no longer technically a baby, clung to her as she slept.
Dyna loved her, trusted her and relied on her.
In exchange, the little girl had given Tessa purpose. She had also made Tessa so much more responsible than she had been when she first arrived, lost and lonely, in Manning Grove.
The child who slept on her, the child she helped raise for almost the last two years, had brought her back to life. Had filled the emptiness inside her.
Not only did Dyna turn Tessa’s world around, she had made it a little brighter, a little clearer.
This next week would determine if it stayed that way.
Chapter Seventeen
Tessa tore across the courtyard toward the circle of men. Every damn one of them wearing Fury cuts. All supposed to be Easy’s brothers.
All supposed to be her and Easy’s family.
The family of the baby she was carrying inside her.
The baby of the man who was somehow still standing. One of those huge, heavy furniture blankets used for moving thrown over him to help soften the blows that Trip was administering instead of Judge.
Tessa winced every time Trip’s arm dropped and he made contact.
Even at the distance she was, the stomach-turning thud was unmistakable. So was the resulting muffled groan.
A scream caught in her throat, her heart tried to claw its way out of her chest, her mind spun and her legs pumped as fast as they could.
But not fast enough.
She had wanted to get here quicker but the sisterhood, who had been instructed to stay away, had been her first obstacle. Most of the women and children had been sequestered to Chelle and Shade’s house since it was away from the farm.
Practically crawling out of her skin, she had worn a path in the carpet while biting her bottom lip so hard she tasted blood. As soon as she could, she used an excuse of needing a glass of water and slipped out the back.
She had snagged Chelle’s Subaru keys from the hook where they hung by the back door, took the vehicle and sped back to the farm, hoping like hell a MGPD officer didn’t delay her by pulling her over.
After doing a Tokyo drift into the farm lane, she smashed her foot on the gas pedal causing the tires to kick up stones and dirt all the way to the barn. After slamming on the brakes, she shoved the car into park, and twisted the key to the off position at the same time kicking open the door.
Despite being immediately out of breath while she sprinted toward the group, she began to scream, “Stop! Trip! Stop!” over and over until her brother paused and turned in her direction, a frown marring his face.