Henley wasn’t alone, even if she thought she was. She had all of us, and she had her friends.
She was a Montana like the rest of us – she had been taken in to the Red Diamonds family and she wasn’t going to be left behind.
I sighed, “Widow said he contacted their uncle Jack about taking Harrison for a while, maybe even Henley too.” Sapphire finished her pretzels, and I handed her a chocolate bar, knowing her weaknesses and wanting to exploit them if it got her to eat more.
“They have an uncle?” She asked.
“Sort of. He was their dad’s best friend since college. Widow said he’s a great guy, really kind and spent pretty much every summer with their family since before the kids were even born.”
Clocking the slight pull to my brows, she frowned and asked, “Then why do you look conflicted over this Jack? Is he not good?”
“Well, he’s FBI for one.”
She burst out laughing. “He is the police, and Jonno was a gangster’s accountant? Sure, that does not shock me even a little.”
“It turns out Jonno had been supplying Jack with some inside information about Kalvin and the Jackals. Jack was real close to making the entire gang disappear, through legal means, before all this shit kicked off.” I explained. “Jack’s still intending on going through with the investigation, only he wants to blame Rocky for everything instead of his dad.”
Her brows rose. “Does he know who we are? Like who I really am.”
“He does, and it seems he doesn’t care. Widow insisted all he cares about was making sure Henley and Harrison are safe and looked after. He doesn’t think anything about you other than being grateful that you care and have looked out for his family.”
“Then I guess we can talk to him at some point.” She bobbed her head and stuffed a piece of chocolate into her mouth before continuing. “Maybe not for Henley; I’m fairly sure she won’t leave Widow’s side. But perhaps for Harrison it would be nice to be settled with family and a real adult until Henley grows up some, and decides what she would like to do with him.”
Sapphire wasn’t getting rid of Harrison, not even a little. But Henley was in no place to raise him for a while, Widow either. And whilst the rest of us would step in and do our best to help, there wasn’t a single one of us in the house or beyond it like with Raya, who knew how to raise a child, least of all do a good job with it. So far, the kid had been staying with Raya at her home nearby, but even then she’d hired nannies and round-the-clock care. She wasn’t equipped to play mother either; it was the same reason she had even sent Angel to us too. Plus, Retta hadn’t been home to us since Malone’s death, Beau was a – and I said this with affection – a crazy motherfucker. There really wasnobody suitable here to make sure Harrison had at least some semblance of a real life.
He was a toddler – he deserved a normal life for as long as humanly possible.
He deserved to have something better than being an orphan with a house full of gangsters raising him.
“Let’s sort that stuff out later. We can have a chat with Henley too and see what she wants to do. I think Widow is Harrison’s legal guardian now until Henley turns eighteen. But either way, I think she’ll be the one who chooses what happens in the end.” Ever so gently, I pulled Sapphire out of her chair and onto my lap, wrapping my arms around her. “For now, we can talk about you and what you want.”
Right on time, the rest of the guys made their way into the room, each one stopping to greet Sapphire and gush enough niceties about her being up and about and looking better. Even Misha, who barely spoke lately, kissed her and insisted she looked a thousand times better than normal and a bunch of compliments and promises about things looking up soon.
It felt like with Sapphire feeling more like her old self, something shifted in the air – something that promised that though we were not all happy inside, perhaps we were taking the first big step towards our future normal.
We were heading towards the end of our adventure, ready to start the next one that was filled with nothing but peace.
Chapter Eighteen
My men and I were having a meeting. It wasn’t that it was awkward – I could never feel uncomfortable in their presence. But it was a little strange that I couldn’t seem to make my mouth work for a while at first. Sort of like my tongue was tied, and the thoughts I knew I needed to share had been locked behind a door that I did not have the key for.
It was no surprise I remained in mostly silence as Kody brought us all lunch – a delicious grilled cheese and tomato soup combo. I watched him pull faces of disgust with each bite and the sight of it made me want to cry with happiness at how thoughtful he was.
He knew I loved grilled cheese, and even though he hated it, he didn’t care.
He was making me feel better in the best way he knew how.
I grabbed his hand as we ate, not commenting on anything about what he had done for me, as the guys made minimalconversation about things that were normal. Like the weather, the other people in the house, and what sort of movie we could watch later on when we all hung out together.
They’d all spent every night with me. Every single one since I had returned. Even if they didn’t all spend the night sleeping with me, and I only kept one or two for the entire night, we remained together for a random movie for a while and I knew I would want it to be a forever routine – I wanted at least an hour of us all together, at the end of every possible day. Just so I could be reminded that we were indeed together.
We were not dead. Nor were we held in a dungeon that had been nothing more than a random Persephone Group safehouse far too close to my home.
We were where I hoped we would be forever – with each other.
“I wanted to… to tell you. To speak with you all about stuff.” When the plates had been cleared, and we each nursed a drink, I frowned and broke my silence, arms wrapping around my knees.
I’d sat on Logan for the most part but it seemed smarter to face him too as I spoke, so I unhappily took my own chair. Sure, pouting over sitting alone was probably a bit ridiculous, but I was glad that such a minor thing was upsetting me. It meant I was steadily getting back to my old mindset and self – I was being more like normal Sapphire, rather than the broken one.
