“You’re telling me? She’s incredible, guys, and she’s ours,” Blake added.
“Man, it felt amazing to make love to her together,” Kenny stated, and then they looked at Bryant.
He held her against his side and kissed her temple by the bruise.
Bryant realized that they were staring at him.
“What? What the fuck do you want me to say? I thought it would take me weeks to make love to her with you guys, but it didn’t. The chemistry and attraction between us and her is outrageous.”
Kenny chuckled. “I second that. Listen, I have to head into town. I’ll be back later on tonight. Let Lena know?” he told Bryant as he stood up to leave.
Bryant nodded his head.
“We better get a move on it or the dads will be wondering where we’ve been all morning,” Blake stated then stood up to leave.
“I’ll stop in later after lunch. We’re trying to get ready for the Fourth of July festivities. It’s only a week away,” Quinn said then nodded toward Bryant. He walked over and laid a kiss on Lena’s head.
“I’m glad she showed up out of nowhere, Bryant. I missed you,” Quinn stated then hurriedly walked out of the room.
Bryant watched Lena, then closed his eyes and held her tight, knowing that it was Lena who gave him his life back.
Chapter 13
Kenny walked into Wyatt’s office to see about the updated criminal files on a man he caught two days ago trying to harass Melissa and her sister Diana at their boutique.
Wyatt was looking intently at the computer screen as he passed the file over to Kenny.
“So, what do you think about this guy?” Kenny asked.
“I’m not certain what to think. You know, looking at how many women seem to wind up in our town under duress, I’m thinking that our women, Anna, Lena, and Stacy could be onto something with that women’s shelter. We have enough law enforcement and could always hire on more if the businesses keep expanding and tourists come around for the holidays. Lena has Anna and Stacy inquiring about buying the old Hillard estate and turning it into a bed-and-breakfast.”
“Really? That would be something else. I guess our ancestors would be proud that Pearl turned into such a safe and beautiful town. You’re right about the women’s shelter, too. When I think about the things that Lena probably went through and didn’t share with us as she survived on the city streets of Detroit, it makes me sick,” Kenny stated, and Wyatt could see how intense Kenny felt.
“I was just looking over the national police posts and the many missing persons or victims of crimes. In fact, there was this one case out in Detroit, and being that Lena was from there, I opened up the police file.”
“Yeah? What was it about?” Kenny asked as Wyatt turned the computer screen toward him.
“This poor young woman, probably around the same age as Lena, was found murdered. Stab wounds to her stomach and raped numerous times. She was found in a Dumpster.”
“Damn, that’s terrible. I hope they catch the bastards responsible for that.”
“Yeah, well the problem is that she is listed as a Jane Doe. No name or identification. She was homeless as far as they know.”
Kenny shook his head.
“Wyatt, that could have been Lena.”
“I know, Kenny. It’s a miracle that she wound up here and that she has
you guys to care for her. Doc and Abigail are special people.” Wyatt turned the screen back toward him.
Kenny was quiet a moment, and Wyatt wondered what he was thinking about.
“The women’s ideas about a shelter would be great. Young women could come here before they got into trouble like that. We should sit down with them and figure out a realistic plan to provide such a center.”
“I agree, Kenny. There’s a lot to consider. I mean look what happened to Anna. She was running for her life with no one to help and with the mob on her trail. There’s potential for some volatile situations as well. I’d need to send all of you for extra training or have someone come to Pearl to train us properly. There’s a lot of preparation.”
“I’m on board with whatever we need to do. Perhaps we could save some lives. If you think about it, maybe that young woman’s life could have been saved if she had somewhere safe to go with honest people willing to help. Lena told us some stories about some of the shelters out there in Detroit. There were people walking around grabbing young women and turning them into prostitutes and sex slaves. Could you imagine that?”