The smile was back on Ian’s face. “Cool. Hey, maybe we can do this more often. Like a reunion.” Another boom went off. “Sorry. There’s probably a couple more where that came from. We should leave. Someone’s going to show up soon.”
He started to work on Henry’s restraints.
“I thought we killed them all,” Ten replied.
“There’s always more.” Kayla took the super sparkly phone Ten held out. “Oh, I missed you so much. Smile, Henry.”
She knelt down beside him and took a quick shot and started typing.
“Are you seriously doing a social media post?” Ten complained.
Henry’s hand came free, and then the other. “She’s sending Nell an update. Tell her I love her. Tell her I’m coming home.”
“I will,” Kay agreed and then frowned. “Nell’s happy you’re coming back but she wants to know if those are reusable restraints.”
He turned to her.
Kay smiled. “She didn’t say that. She sent me prayer hands and the crying emoji and a heart. I think that’s for you. When we’re safely away, you can call her.”
She was only a phone call away. She was safe. Their baby was safe. Henry stood up and stretched his back. “Let’s go home. As for the reunions, they better be somewhere nice. I am too old for this.”
Another boom went off.
Ten frowned Tag’s way. “Did you have to use all the C-4?”
Tag shrugged. “Didn’t want to waste it.”
Henry followed them out, happy to be going home.
* * * *
Patience sucked.
“I don’t understand why I couldn’t go.” Nell rocked in the nursing chair Stef had brought in when Nell had tried the one his wife, Jen, used. She’d learned quickly that Stef overcompensated for feeling helpless. He’d stuffed his kitchen with an overabundance of ingredients he thought she might use. He would be drinking almond milk for a long time.
It was his love language, and she’d stopped trying to tell him she didn’t need anything. Besides, she loved the rocker. It was soothing, and she spent a lot of time in it. She wasn’t even going to ask where it had been made or about the company’s protocols concerning the environment. It wasn’t that she was giving up on making the world a better place. That was more important than ever, but she was giving herself a break. The chair worked, and it would be an indulgence that got her through the day.
Like Rachel had said, anything that worked was okay.
“Because you’ve got a massive list of things you can’t do for the foreseeable future, and sitting in a car for an hour there and an hour back is definitely one of them,” Holly said. She stared out the window of the room Nell and Poppy had been given.
It was a full-on suite because the Talbots didn’t do tiny guest rooms. Michael had been staying on the couch in the living area despite the fact that there were other rooms available. He’d taken his job very seriously. Either Holly or Laura had stayed with Nell, helping her out in the first full week of being a new mom. It had been exhausting because even when she should have been able to sleep, she would sit there in the dark and think about what was happening to Henry, wondering if he was even alive.
“I can sit in a car.” She looked down at Poppy in her arms. Her daughter was sleeping since it was midafternoon and she seemed to like to sleep through the day and demand milk all night long. Though at least she’d managed to get Poppy to latch properly. That had been hard work, and worrying that her baby was getting enough to eat had briefly distracted her from worrying about her husband’s life.
“You’re not supposed to drive for a few weeks.” Holly sounded like she’d been told exactly what to say, as though Caleb had prepared her for this argument. “Or be in a car as a passenger for a long period of time. There are bumps in the road and the seatbelt would be uncomfortable. Henry wants you safe.” She turned Nell’s way. “They should be here soon. Are you worried?”
“About what?”
“About how you’re going to feel when you see him?” Holly moved to sit on the bed across from Nell. “I know you had made up when he was taken, but you’d also been through something traumatic. That can bond two people in the moment. Have you realized you’re still mad at him?”
She’d thought a lot about this in those hours when she couldn’t sleep. “No. I forgave him and I have to move on. I can’t keep going back to it, so no, I’m not still mad at him. I’m torn because I hate the fact that I want those people to never come after him again, and there’s only one solution and I sent it out in the world. I did it to protect my husband and my child, and I have to live with it.”
“You think those men will kill the people who took Henry?” Holly asked. “That Kayla woman seemed nice. I’m worried about her going into such a dangerous mission.”
She’d gotten to know Taggart. Tennessee Smith, not so much. But Kayla was a doll, and she’d kept Nell informed on every part of the mission that she possibly could. Those phone calls from Kayla Summers had been a lifeline.
“Oh, I’m fairly certain Ian was ready to burn down the entire cartel,” she admitted. “And that’s what bothers me, but I’ll get over it. Having to make that call…I know it’s not the same, but it’s a bit of what Henry had to do over the years. It’s hard to make those calls, but they’re necessary.”
“It haunts you even when you know you would do the same thing a million times over,” Holly said. She’d been the one to pull the
