“Love you, baby girl,” he whispered.
“Love you, too, baby.” I said as my eyes drooped and I fell asleep feeling warm, feeling safe, feeling immensely relieved. Everything wasn’t totally over, there were a lot of unanswered questions, but I was relieved that progress had been made and that he was here beside me.
I woke up to Tommy’s hands and mouth on me. My back arched as his fingers prodded between my legs and I let out a little moan. Then I heard squeals of laughter outside the door and he put his hand over my mouth and winked. The kids were awake and sounding like a herd of elephants running down the hallway. Tommy ignored their ruckus and kept at me, hand over my mouth the whole time. When, I wasn’t too far off an orgasm, the door burst open and Luc’s two girls and Tessa’s older boy all barreled in and were on the bed with us. Tommy had been on top of me, thankfully we were covered by the blankets but the three of them were jumping on the bed, “Uncle Tommy, Auntie Tia! Breakfast is ready!” Tommy blew out a slow breath and said, “Okay, guys. Get downstairs and tell them to pour coffee. We’ll be right there.” The kids all scattered. I felt my heart warm at being called Auntie.
He looked at me with a wicked grin, “To be continued,” he said. Then he got up and got dressed and so did I.
“What happened last night?” I asked before we left the room.
“We’ll talk later. Let’s go down for breakfast. I smell bacon and I think I can hear it calling my name. And if I can’t be inside of you hearing you call my name then I need to answer to the call ‘o the bacon.”
I giggled and pushed away annoyance at not being answered. But maybe it was better that I knew as little as possible. Plausible deniability and all. I followed him down thinking that maybe the Romero threat was done with but that there was at least my father to still worry about, not to mention Tommy’s father. Was my Dad still alive or was he gone?
The mood downstairs was strained. There was still a cloud looming, obviously. Coffee was handed to me and to Tommy as we entered. Tessa was sitting on the sofa in a bathrobe with her hair up in a towel turban with Luc and they were talking quietly. Tessa still looked awful. The kids were all eating pancakes and bacon. Nino, Eddy, and Dario were eating. The other women were all busying themselves in the kitchen, buttering toast, washing and drying frying pans, another putting clean dishes away from the dishwasher.
Tommy and I sat at the table with Dario and Nino.
“Pop’s showing signs of improvement,” Dario said to the group, then added, “After I finish my coffee I’m takin’ Tess to make arrangements for James. We don’t want the whole family in one public place at one time for a while until we know things are settled down so he’s being cremated and we’ll do a memorial service later.”
Tommy and Dario exchanged looks that made it obvious there was more to everything. Fear prickled the back of my neck. What now?
I heard a phone ringing and Tommy reached into his pocket and answered it. He stepped away from the table and outside with the phone.
I drank my coffee and managed to get a piece of toast into myself and then was helping by drying dishes when Tommy was back.
“Wanna grab our stuff and say bye? We need to go.” He grabbed a piece of bacon off the platter in the center of the table and sipped his coffee. I nodded and made the rounds, thanking Marie for her hospitality, hugging Marie’s sister, getting a big hug from Bianca and thanking her for her help last night. We talked about getting together soon. Then I said goodbyes to the rest of the ladies as well as the kids, who all gave me hugs. I told Tessa if she needed anything, for me to help with the boys, or anything like that to just call me. She nodded solemnly. When I hugged Luc I felt her baby kick me through her belly and I told her that it felt like a he, like a soccer player. She hugged me hard. I hugged Tommy’s brother, Eddy, and Nino, thanking them for all their help, too.
I dashed back upstairs and made the bed and then got our things and when I got to the door, Tommy was standing there talking to his brother quietly. They separated as soon as I got there and Dario pulled me in for another quick hug and kissed the top of my head as Tommy reached for the bag from me. As we left I saw there were six men mulling about outside. We got into Tommy’s car, the convertible; I didn’t know how it got here, where the jeep was, or where the Harley was, either.
When we pulled out past the gates and were on the road he reached across and held my hand as he drove.
“They ran me off the road on the Harley just up the road from the farm and knocked me out and took me and when I came to all I could think of was you and how I’d fucking left you a sitting duck. Nino told me you’d gone on a hike and came back to them coming in. They were gonna grab you and after they’d ransomed me out with Dare they were gonna ransom you out with me. Bunch of fuckin’ chuckleheads. No idea who they were messin’ with.”
“That Bianca is badass,” I said.
He nodded, “That was smart thinkin’ on Dare’s part.”
“He was gonna send me in right up to the last minute. He was trying to coach me but he’d been in touch with Nino and Bianca got wind and lost it and insisted she go in instead. They insisted it be a girl and we both have straight hair so…”
Tommy raised his brows, “Can’t believe Dario was gonna send you in.” he looked pissed.
“It all worked out,” I said.
He nodded and squeezed my hand but he still kinda looked pissed.
“And like you said, I’m strong enough. I’m your girl.”
He gave me a thin smile and then said, “Not 100% but leaning in the direction of lookin’ like Jimmy might’ve double crossed us. Tessa knows. Devastated. Lost her husband, her kids’ father, and she lost respect for the man she thought loved her. If so, Jim was expendable to the other side, they got rid of him, but if it was him that’d given them valuable intel that led to Pop getting shot, to putting everyone else in danger, to me being taken from you and leaving you vulnerable? Fuck,” he shook his head.
“I’m so sorry, baby,” I said.
“Yeah,” he said softly but his eyes were blazing with anger.
“What’s the status with my father?” I asked quietly.
“No news,” Tommy answered and then he pulled up to the gate of his house and hit a button on his keychain and someone moved into our view as it opened. After we got on the other side I saw a guy who’d been here a few times before; I didn’t know his name.
“Boss, the house has had a full sweep. We found two bugs but all good now.”