“Don’t worry. I laid with you two while he nursed. Does that make me a pervert?” He smiled sheepishly. Mijo whimpered at the sound of her voice. “I think he’s hungry again.”
Relief brought her out of her panic. “I’ll feed him in a sec. Uh, where’s the bathroom?” Weird that she didn’t remember.
Justin pulled back an earth-toned thunderbird blanket and pointed to the blue door. She made a beeline for the bathroom, trying to recall last night. The tea had made her woozy, but it had also relieved her childbirth pains, she realized, no longer wincing at every little movement.
Eek. She walked through a cleared pathway. The place is trashed. Then she remembered. The safehouse had been looted sometime after Justin and Dean had found it while they had waited in the van. Twila had said the bad men came looking for them. Deep down, Ella worried it had been the Ancient Ones. They had voted to stay the night there, thinking the intruders wouldn’t be back. A new safehouse was today’s first priority.
She eyed the filthy bathroom with disgust. She splashed her face with water and did a quick sponge bath with what looked to be a fresh washcloth and bar of soap on the counter. “Ugh, I look awful.” A blurred image appeared beyond the mysterious depths of the mirror.
“No!” Ella hissed. She shut her eyes, refusing to see. The mirror only showed her bad things. She whispered a string of Hail Marys, clinging onto her shattering Catholic faith. She didn’t trust the source of the mirror messages she had randomly received shortly before losing her first son, baby Miguel. Dutifully, she made the sign of the cross.
“You okay?” Justin asked when she strode back into her blanketed bedroom. Carefully, he handed Mateo to her.
The vibration of pure love seemed to wash over her, revitalizing her when she put a breast to Mateo’s mouth. Justin tried not to watch. He quickly looked away. “It’s okay, I’m not embarrassed,” she murmured.
“Cool, I love watching you two. You guys are—” He paused. “Perfect.”
“Baby Mateo is the sweetest gift ever.” As mijo suckled her breast, she tried not to brood over why God had brought a new soul into this ungodly world.
“He so is! But, it’s time for breakfast,” Justin said.
“I’ll be there in a few minutes.” Ella wasn’t ready to face the day’s problems. She’d rather lie there and hold baby Mateo for hours. Just gazing at him made her heart burst with pure love.
“Ye-ah, okay. Try to hurry.”
He took off before she could give him the “caps-lock” staredown. She shouldn’t be so judgy. Justin tried his best. After all, he had fed mijo and let her sleep in. It was a comfort to know he was capable of taking care of their son. I’m such a slacker.
***
When Mateo was done, Ella joined her friends in the main room.
“Well, there’s Ella. How you feelin’?” Dean asked with concern.
“Much better.” She offered a quick smile.
Luther handed her a plate of pancakes. “You must be starving.”
“Thanks. How’d you know?”
“We heard your stomach growling from the bedroom,” Luther teased.
Twila motioned to her. “Sit by me, pretty please. I miss you.”
“Sure.” Everyone seemed in a cheery mood. Too cheery. They were up to something. She eyed Scarlett questionably when she handed her the bottle of syrup.
“We came up with a plan,” Scarlett hinted.
Ella flashed Justin the death stare. Why did she have the feeling she wasn’t going to like what was coming?
“It’s no big deal,” Justin defended too quickly, followed by one of his exaggerated cheesy grins.
“I don’t mind going by my bad-ass self,” Luther gloated.
“Dude,” Justin broke in. “You need backup. The Forbidden Zone reeks of roving hordes.”
Why does Justin always have to go? Of course, she was just being selfish.
“You know why, silly. He has the special memory gift,” Twila answered her silent question.
“Huh,” Ella grunted. Twila’s mindreading would get the girl in trouble one day. She quickly shrouded her thoughts.
“My quirky eidetic memory thing.” Justin smirked. “Once I see a location, it’s downloaded to the hard drive of my mind. Forever.”
“I’d have to say it does come in handy,” Dean said.
The pancakes didn’t taste so good when she thought about Justin snooping around the Forbidden Zone. During her citizenship orientation, Last State had warned how dangerous it was to leave the Zones.
Dean hobbled to the window. “I’d go with Luther, but that spill I took yesterday has come back to haunt me.”
Twila smothered her pancakes with more syrup. “I’ll send you more healing energy after I eat.”
“Amal-zing,” Justin awed. “The way you ducked ’n rolled outta the truck. Like The Rock.”
Ella sighed with reluctant acceptance. “Fine, when are you leaving?”
“After we eat,” Justin said before stuffing his face with a fork of syrup-drenched pancakes.
“I’ll keep an eye on the place while they’re gone,” Dean quickly added. “Ella, if you’re up to it, help Scarlett scavenge the joint for supplies. We should take all the freeze-dried goods we can carry.”
Ew, is that what I’m eating? No wonder the lumpy pancakes had the texture of Styrofoam. She shouldn’t complain. They were blessed to have escaped the lodge and the bunkhouse. It was another reason she couldn’t bear letting Justin out of her sight. They were safe at this precise moment in time. Still, the mirror’s image taunted her. Not knowing—wasn’t it better than knowing one’s time of death?
Twila patted her hand. “Don’t worry. I just know Justin and Luther will find us a special hiding place.”
Ella offered a faint smile. Twila was adorable.
After Justin hugged her goodbye, Ella moped around and cleared the breakfast mess. She was surprised her pains hadn’t returned. After that, she searched the warehouse for the softest blanket she could find. The flannel blanket she
