“I was just thinking…I’ve never had anyone visit me.” I shrugged and glanced back at Sam and Jakob. They stood together in the middle of my apartment. Jakob looked around, but Sam's gaze was glued on the blanket fort. “Do you think Sam would like to see my blanket fort?”
“I’m sure he’d love that. Why don’t you show it to him while Jakob and I take care of lunch?” I nodded and got another nose kiss from Caden. Then he smiled and gently stroked my cheek. “You’re doing great, Cupcake. But if you need me, call out for me, okay?”
“Yes, Daddy.” Holding the kangaroo as tight as I could, I turned to Sam. “Umm…Sam?” Sam’s head whipped around. “Do you…umm…would you like to see my blanket fort?”
“Oh my gosh, I thought you’d never ask.”
Sam rushed over to where I was standing, grabbed my hand, and pulled me towards the entrance of the blanket fort. At first, I frowned, but then I couldn’t stop the giggle that escaped my lips. His enthusiasm was addictive, and I couldn’t wait to show him my fort.
It took us a little time to get comfortable. Because of the giant kangaroo, we needed to shift pillows and blankets to lay down the stuffie between us. For a while, we just lay there.
Then Sam sat up and signed, “Henry?” There was a deep frown on his forehead, and he bit his lip before he started to sign again. “I want to apologize. Caden told Jakob that you know that I. I mean.” Sam’s hands dropped. He took a deep breath and started signing again. “I didn’t mean to spy on you. I worked long enough for the police to realize that something was off with you. You seemed so nervous and scared, and I just wanted to know if you needed help.”
“I don’t like going out.”
“Because you feel safe here.”
Instead of answering, I nodded, grabbed a blanket, and held onto it. Cuddling the blanket helped me not to freak out. Well, that and that, Sam reached over the kangaroo and took my hand. He just held it, but after a moment, he squeezed, and I looked at his lips.
“We can help you to feel safe.”
“My brother is up for a parole hearing,” I blurted out before I could stop myself. Terrified, I clapped my free hand over my lips, but Sam only smiled reassuringly and started to rub the back of my hand with his thumb. The gesture was so comforting that tears welled up. “When he gets out…”
“Nobody knows that you’re alive.”
“You found out.”
“Yeah. Because I know what I am doing.” Sam glanced towards the entrance of the blanket fort, and then he leaned a little closer to me. Even though I couldn’t hear him, I was sure that he was whispering. “Just because you know how to use a computer doesn’t mean you can hack into a hospital server or see sealed court files. Not to mention the FBI.”
“You hacked into the FBI?” Sam's eyes widened before he glanced at the entrance again while pressing his hand over my mouth.
“Shhh, Jakob will kill me.” Sam still stared at the blanket covering our fort, but after a moment, he looked back at me. Obviously, neither Jakob nor Caden had heard him. Wiggling himself closer to me, Sam started to sign again. “I didn’t technically hack into the FBI. But I put a little warning system onto your file.”
“What? How?” I knew how to use a computer. At least I could work with the internet and my writing system. But I had no idea about hacking or what he was talking about. “What do you mean?”
“I embedded a small program that will send out an alert to me when someone opens your file. I attached it to every file I found on you. Well, the Henry flies and the Michael files.”
“Oh.”
“So, when I get an alert, I’ll tell Jakob.” Sam smiled at me and squeezed my hand, then signed, “See? You’ll be perfectly safe.”
Pulling my hand free, I swallowed and blinked at him. “Why are you doing this? You don’t even know me.”
“You’re one of us, Henry.”
“But, I’m…”
“If you say that you’re a Nazi, I’m going to smack you.”
I opened my mouth but closed it again when Sam only stared at me. Finally, I settled on something that hopefully wouldn’t end with Sam smacking me.
“They’re my family.”
Sam reached out and held my hands, so I looked at his mouth, and he spoke.
“Biologically, yes. But family isn't always about genes and biology, Henry. My parents died when I was just in college. But I do have a family now that I chose. I have Jakob, his dad, Andrew, Des, Josh, and Darrel. Even Ray.”
“Caden said something just like that when we talked about it.”
“Urgh, I hate it when the Daddies are right.” I could see him laugh and couldn’t hold back my giggle.
“Like when they talk about eating lots of fruits and vegetables?”
“They are so obsessed with fruits and vegetables,” Sam agreed, and I had to laugh when he scrunched up his nose. “Jakob makes me eat real fruit twice a day. And my fruit pouches don’t even count.”
“Caden wanted to serve fruit for dessert today.”
“Fruit as dessert?” Sam blinked a couple of times as if to make sure that I was serious. “I never realized that Caden is nuts.”
“He’s not nuts. He’s…perfect.” That had Sam grinning like a lunatic and me rolling my eyes, so I changed the subject. “We get to have chocolate and strawberry ice cream with sprinkles.”
“You’re not distracting me with ice cream. Even though I love chocolate ice cream with sprinkles.” Sam wiggled his eyebrows. “Soooo…Caden is perfect?”
“Umm…” I remembered that Caden told me that he was far from perfect, and someday I would need a friend to talk to about him.
Sam let go of my hands and signed, “Can you keep a secret?”
“Yes.” Like I had anyone to talk to about secrets. My past made me a master at keeping secrets.
“Josh and
