“Of course,” she murmurs and kneels on the floor in front of Cyprus to be at eye level with Bride. “Hi, Bride, I’m Victoria, but you can call me Vi. Would you like to come with me and we go see what the other kids are doing? Maybe see if we can’t get some ice cream and popcorn. I think they’re going to be putting on a movie in a few. Do you have a favorite movie?”
Bride looks up to her brother who nods at her. “Go ahead, chickadee, I’ll be here. If you ask nicely, they might even let you watch your favorite movie Frozen.”
At the mention of the movie a couple of the men start singing ‘Let it go’ making Bride smile even with her thumb in her mouth. Stepping out from behind her brother she lets go of his leg.
“Come on, sweetheart,” Vi says, taking Bride’s little fingers into hers. None of us miss the small hitch in Victoria’s breath as she keeps herself in check. She’s not about to show emotions in front of any of us.
Soon as they’re gone, Stoney tells us all to go into the room we hold church. The only one who won’t be here is Nerd as he’s at his computer working. We don’t need any of the other ol’ ladies hearing this shit. When the door closes, he gets everyone up to speed and we all agree, for now all the women need to be put on lockdown. But no one is to say anything to them about the reasons why.
Once we finish, Stoney informs us we’ll have church in the morning to see what Nerd’s found out. I nod and leave the room ready to find my woman and start following through with my plans I’ve laid out in my head for the remainder of the night.
Come morning Parker will be too tired to even think about anything else but what I’ve spent the night doing to her.
Chapter Thirteen
Parker
Knowing my daughter heard what she did when my brother took her kills me. It pains me I hadn’t been able to keep her out of his grasp. At two my daughter has already seen things that not even most adults do.
Rachel does her best to keep me calm as her daughter and mine play together giggling and laughing on the floor. A few moments go by when Victoria steps in with another little girl.
“Who’s this?” Rachel asks, not looking thrilled to see Victoria coming in the room.
“This is Bride, she’s Cyprus’ little sister,” Victoria states quietly. “Go ahead and go play, sweetheart.” Neither of us miss the little hitch in her voice when Bride lets go of her hand and walks over to where Corinne and Piper are playing.
“Are you okay?” I murmur the question, stepping closer to her.
“Yeah, it’s just really hard sometimes,” Vi whispers, nodding her head.
“What’s hard?” Rachel asks, this time her expression changes to confusion.
“Coming to the realization that during a really hard time for me I did a really crappy thing to my friends,” Victoria says, her eyes fill with unshed tears.
“Vi, sit down and tell me what’s going on. Yes, you did something really mean but Vi that doesn’t mean we’re not here for each other. We’re not always going to get along or see eye to eye. If that were the case, we’d be in a perfect world, which we’re not. Now tell me what you mean hard times?” Rachel demands though she does this gently and I can see the fire in her eyes to make sure her friend is okay.
Sighing, Victoria slumps down on the couch and Rachel sits next to her. I take the chair near them but far enough to give them space. Sure, I know Victoria and I like to think of her as my friend but I haven’t known her long.
“You know how I miscarried back when Harlow and Ranger were just starting out?” Victoria asks her gaze locked on the floor.
“I remember,” Rachel says quietly.
“Well, I’ve had two other miscarriages. Only one of them Tracker knows about and Alverez suggests I not attempt to get pregnant again.” My heart hurts for Victoria right now. Knowing she’s been dealing with this and not telling anyone.
“Vi, why didn’t you say anything? If I’d known I could have been there for you,” Rachel states soothingly.
“There’s nothing you or anyone else could do. It’s a matter of I have to cope with the fact I’ll never have any more children besides Jamie and I’m okay with that. Well, I’m starting to be okay with it. What I’m not okay with is the fact I hurt not just you but Harley.”
“You did hurt my feelings, but I completely understand the frame of mind you’ve been in. I’ve had a miscarriage before, I know how difficult it can be. I hate this for you,” Rachel murmurs, tears spilling down her cheeks.
“All the same, I shouldn’t have talked smack about anyone behind their back. It also sucks because I no longer do what I used to, otherwise, I’d have already found a way to cope with everything without taking it out on Harley.”
“Why don’t I see about getting Harley to sit down with you and you explain this to her. I know you apologized, and she accepted it. We all have a rift between us, but we’ll fix it,” Rachel declares.
Victoria nods and everything switches from heavily emotional to talking about them having a movie night with these kiddos then drink wine after they’re asleep.
“Don’t worry I’ll be making sure there’s more than just one prospect tonight and Stoney’s good with keeping an ear out for the baby monitor,” Rachel murmurs reassuringly to me with a smile.
I give her a smile of my own as the door opens and Cane steps into the room with several others.
“Time
