“My daughter-in-law, Belinda, is a lion. We know a few other shifters as well.” Parker, as she told him to call her, was happy to hear that. “Parker, this is going to be expensive. I mean, I’ve heard about your family, and I still think this is a great deal of money to be putting out for a family you don’t know.”
“No, it’s not. We’d pay more just to have Sarah happy. I think she’s a little down with all this going on. By the way, she has no idea you’re all coming. We thought it would be a lovely surprise for her and the boys to see you all.” He said it certainly would. Then he told her about the nieces and nephews she’d not met. “Then it will be twice as wonderful for her. Tommy, you leave the arrangements to me, and we’ll have a party like no one has ever seen before.”
“I’m sure of that.” He laughed when she did. “All right. If you can make the arrangements for us to come there tomorrow, we’ll be at the airport. There are a lot of us, so we might have to make a couple of trips to give me some time.”
“I’m sending limos to get you all.” He nearly sobbed when she told him it was part of their welcome to the family plan. “It would be wonderful if you could make sure everyone is meeting up at your home. It will save us some time to get you out here.”
He called his family back and told them what was going on. All of them were going to come home tonight and be there in the morning. Since he knew it would take them a while to get packed and such, he told them they’d have dinner here, and that should give them plenty of time. Glancing at his clock, he thought that in eight hours, his kids, for the most part, would be all under one roof for the first time in ages.
Bedtime came later than he wanted, but it was wonderful to see his kids. Jude had to be taken outside a couple of times—it got to be too much for him. But he loved the kids, and he played with them as much as they did each other. He could only imagine what the Fosters would make of him when he was upset.
At eight sharp, the limos pulled into their drive. The neighbors were out looking at the sight as he started loading up suitcases into the vans. He didn’t care. Tommy was going to see his little girl, and they could fly a fig for all he cared.
Once the men had the vans loaded up, they went ahead to the airport to start on the trip. Car seats had been provided, which he thought was very nice, as well as snacks for the kids to munch on. There were even some things for Jude, which he thought was well beyond a nice thing anyone could have done for them.
Loading into the plane took less time than he thought it should have, and a few minutes after he was seated and buckled in, they were in the air. Christ, he thought, looking around at his family. This was all possible because of the kindness of strangers.
A man came back to speak to them just as the seatbelt sign was turned off. “Hello, everyone. My name is Cassidy Foster. Everyone calls me Cass. Sarah is my mate.” The applause had the younger man’s face turning a bright pink. “I came along to answer any questions I could about not just Sarah and her being hurt, but anything else I can do for you. But in the meantime, I’ve brought you a little surprise.”
The boys came out of the cockpit, and Tommy nearly knocked his wife out of the way to get to them. My goodness, Tommy thought, they were handsome little men. All of them hugged them, telling them how excited they were to come along, and by the time they were landing in the little airport near a city called Zanesville, Toby was sitting on his lap, and Mike was sitting with his grandma.
“You’ve given us a great gift, young man. Not just in having the boys here, but with bringing us to my daughter.” Cass said it was his pleasure, but he’d wanted to meet them as well. “Yes, well, you might want to take that back when we all converge on my daughter’s room and drive you insane.”
“Mr. Linton, I have a very large family myself. I know loud. But Sarah is at the hotel now. They released her this morning, and my brother made sure she was taken there for us to have more room. My sister-in-law, Rogue, has a Ph.D. in forensic photography, but she is also a good doctor. She’s making sure she doesn’t overdo it before we arrive.” He was impressed at the jobs they all had. “You weren’t told this, and I’m sure you’ll find out anyway, but Parker, you’ve spoken to her, she’s a witch. An honest to goodness witch. We’re all sorts of things when you get right down to it.”
There was a lot to think about, but he pushed it all to the back of his mind. The ride to the hotel seemed to take forever, but it was made easier with Toby and Mike with them. The boys told them all about their life. He was sure there was worse than they were saying, but they were happy, and to Tommy, that was more than enough.
Pulling into the parking lot of not a cheap hotel as he had thought, but a very nice one, Tommy suddenly had second thoughts. He wasn’t sure she’d welcome them. That Sarah had somehow changed. But when Toby pulled him free of the first luxury he’d had in forever, Tommy went into the
