Brett nods to me. “I’ll see you at the house.”
Dale looks to the sky. “Lord don’t let us catch him till after the fight.”
I watch as Dale and Chase get into the black Impala. Brett gets in his truck and he is waiting for me. Pulling out we head home.
* * *
I hear the girls in the kitchen as I enter the back door of the house. There is a quiet sound of whimpering as step in.
“It hurts,” Hope whimpers as Grace is bending in front of her. I can’t see much but Mandy is sitting down beside Hope, her arm wrapped around her tiny shoulders.
“I’m so sorry, honey, I have to clean…”
“Bear!” Hope shouts as she wiggles free of Mandy and jumps past Grace. She flies across the kitchen to leap up into my arms.
Sweeping her up, I hug her tight to me for a long time. She is crying silently in my arms for most of the time. I just stand there hugging her, trying to squeeze all my love and care into her little body.
“My knees hurt, Max,” she whispers.
I nod my head as I pull back. “Can I fix ‘em for ya?”
“Can you make it stop?”
Nodding my head, I say, “Yeah, Uncle Dale showed me how to fix booboos.”
She looks at me reluctantly for a long moment then solemnly nods her head. “Okay.”
Looking over to Grace, I see she has tears on her cheeks. I stretch my arm out as I pull her tight into my side.
Hugging her as hard as I can, I say “I love you, baby, let’s go get little bear fixed up.”
Nodding her head, she says, “He went too far, Max.”
“That’s what Brett says.”
Looking to Brett, he is standing there, staring at me. His eyes are on fire right now. He must be getting close to the rage I feel.
“Can you make some bacon for us? Maybe some eggs?” I ask him. He first looks at me like I have two heads, but nods his head anyway.
“It’s the magic food, remember?” I say to him. He must get what I am hinting at as Mandy pokes his side.
“Oh yeah, bacon and eggs make the booboos go away.”
“Yep,” I say as I nod my head.
We walk out into the hall and go up the stairs through the house to the bathroom attached to Hope’s bedroom. Inside, I sit her down on the cabinet and start grabbing wash rags from the closet, then the bandages from the medicine cabinet.
Kneeling down in front of her, I gently clean off the dried blood. The scratches, while many, are thankfully shallow, but I have no doubt they hurt as much as she feels they do.
“Why is Uncle Brett making bacon, Bear?”
“Because it’s magical food. It makes the pain better, especially after we take some medicine for the pain.”
Putting Ninja Turtle bandages on her knees, I kiss each one and stand up. Picking her up in my arms, she snuggles up to my neck. I smile at Grace and stare at her for a long time. I love this woman and right now even more. I am so thankful it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I wish more than anything that it didn’t happen, but I now have all the ammunition I need.
“Does mommy have any booboos I need to look at?” I ask.
She smiles and shakes her head, “No, none that I care to show.”