Rebel (Renegades 2)

“Yes, baby. Your daddy’s okay. ”

“Where’s Mommy?” Abby asked, sliding out of bed and skipping to Wes.

He pulled her into his lap. She was warm and soft, cuddling against him. Wes couldn’t say he was eager to be a father. The grave responsibility of the role sometimes felt too heavy for him. But that perspective shifted when he thought of having a child with Rubi. “Mommy’s downstairs. She’s going to take you girls home, and you can go to the hospital later to see your dad. ”

Abby pushed from Wes’s lap and ran out the door. “Mommy!”

“Down here, baby. ” Tori’s voice drifted up the stairs.

Emma climbed from bed, slower than Abby. She reached up and ran a hand over her braid, then looked over her shoulder at Rubi. “Will you take it out?”

“Sure. ” Rubi gently removed the band at the bottom. “Do you want to comb it out, or do you want me to do it?”

“With a brush or your fingers?”

“Fingers, of course. ”

“You can do it. ”

Rubi ever so gently unwound the braid and sifted her fingers through Emma’s thick blonde strands. There was no screaming, no drama, and no tears involved. “There. You try it. ”

Emma repeated Rubi’s motions, then asked, “Does it look okay? Not all messy like I slept on it?”

“It’s a little wavy because of the braid, but no, not messy. Very pretty, actually. Go look. ” She pointed toward the bathroom.

Still wearing her clothes from the day before, Emma went into the bathroom. Wes couldn’t see her, but he watched Rubi’s face as Rubi watched Emma. When Rubi’s grin stretched over her beautiful face, Wes knew there had been success and was pleased. But when Rubi turned that smile on Wes to share the accomplishment with an excited thumbs-up, his heart folded and flipped.

Yes, she was definitely the one.

Even exhausted, Wes cooked breakfast for everyone. Whitney had met them at the hospital sometime last night and now held Emma in her lap at the table while the girl sorted and re-sorted a small pile of Legos into colors. Rubi felt as worn out as Wes looked. She knew she couldn’t be, although sleeping with a pair of clinging heaters couldn’t actually be considered sleep. And even though she craved some time either alone or alone with Wes, Rubi spent the morning walking Wes’s father through the program she’d designed for him. His excitement and gratitude made the work worth every minute.

Birdie had no recollection of baking pies or how she received the cut on her arm—for which Rubi was grateful. Susie claimed she couldn’t find a cranberry juice stain anywhere, even after Rubi pointed it out. Susie also told Rubi of a story when Birdie had broken her arm on her own watch, and insisted a cut was nothing to be concerned about.

It was after noon when Wes finally swung his arm around Rubi’s shoulders and told his parents, “Rubi and I are going to take a nap. ”

With no orders for them to nap in different rooms—probably too tired to care—Wes walked Rubi up the stairs, fell on the bed, and pulled her down on top of him. He was warm and solid, and Rubi felt her rough edges smooth.

“Thank you for stepping in last night,” he said, his voice rough with fatigue. “Knowing you were taking care of Grams and the girls really took a load off all our minds. ”

“I’m glad. ” Lying half on him and half on the bed, Rubi slid one of her legs over his, wrapped one arm across his torso, and laid her head on his shoulder. And sighed.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Frazzled. Losing a little stuffing through my seams. But yeah, okay. You?”

“Same. ”

A moment of silence passed, and the events of the night before replayed in Rubi’s head. It all looked like chaos. “This family stuff could really kill a person. ”

Laughter jumped from Wes’s throat, and he tightened his arm around her shoulders, kissing her forehead.

Rubi didn’t remember falling asleep, only realized she had when her phone woke her. She pushed up, waking Wes.

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing, go back to sleep. ” She rolled to the side of the bed and stood, moving toward the sound of her phone in the bathroom. Crap, she didn’t remember even bringing it in there. But by the time she reached it, the phone had stopped ringing.

“Who was it?” Wes asked, his eyes already closed again, arm outstretched waiting for her to come back to him.