The muscle in Casey’s jaw twitched.
“Was he good to you at least? Gentle?”
“Who?”
“Da?” Greysen cooed and patted him on the cheek.
Casey rubbed him on the back but otherwise ignored the toddler “The donor,” Casey answered, unable to disguise his contempt. Animals.
Lottie’s brows drew together forming a frown. Casey wanted to rub his thumb over the creases, sooth away her worry. He wanted to kiss her, but her answer to his question was more important, so he refrained. Eventually, understanding dawned in her expression. Her blush—which had been receding—renewed itself. “Artificial insemination.”
Relief crashed through Casey, and he squeezed Greysen tight, eliciting a squawk. It was so much easier to except his new son’s existence knowing he came from a no-name, faceless donor’s sperm. Smiling down at her, he shifted Greysen in his arms, and said, “Good.”
Her answering lopsided grin was as bright as Greysen’s had been when he spied his new ball for the first time. An intense pleasure washed through Casey, making his limbs feel tingly and shaky.
He tightened his hold on them both. Everything would be all right. They would be all right.
Unwilling to ignore the impulse a second time, Casey bent to kiss her. Her lips were sweet and inviting under his. When they broke apart, she was breathing heavy, and he had to school his expression to keep from smirking.
Lottie smiled a bit shyly and threaded her fingers in his. While she gazed up at him, he saw her happy grin grow distant, and he wondered what she was thinking. Apparently, his curiosity wouldn’t be satisfied, because, as she returned from where ever she went, she pulled his hand away from her stomach, and said, “Come on.”
“Where?” He resisted. He wasn’t done holding her or feeling the baby move under his palm. It was fascinating.
“Don’t you want to meet everyone?”
Embarrassingly enough, after the hoots and hollers had died away, he’d forgotten that there were even people watching them. Not willing to admit his lapse in attention, Casey nodded and let Lottie lead him towards the central fire where all of the women were congregating.
He set Greysen down, fished around in his pocket and handed him his multipurpose tool. Standing, he waited as Lottie began her introductions, though he had a pretty good idea of who was who already. Noah had briefed him, after all.
“You know Katie,” Lottie said, then immediately dismissing the petite Asian woman by pointing to another with light brown skin. “This is Nyah.”
“Hi,” Nyah said, flipping her carrot-red hair over her shoulder and grinning wolfishly at him. Casey’d bet his life she was the one who’d done the majority of the catcalls and whoops. She had that “shit disturber” look about her.
“And Maggie,” Lottie said, introducing the next woman she’d helped rescue.
A petite woman with bushy brown hair and hazel-green eyes waddle-bounded around the fire and pulled him into a hug. Her firm pregnant belly pushed against him, demanding room, and forced him to bend to accommodate her. He glanced at Lottie, worried about her reaction, but she just smiled at him indulgently, clearly unfazed about him touching another woman. Casey relaxed and returned the hug.
Breaking contact, Maggie grinned at him. “Thank you for this.”
“Excuse me?”
“Giving us a home here,” she answered. “I never expected to be… well, free.”
He rubbed the back of his neck, unsure of what to say, so instead of something profound, he self-deprecated with a shrug. “Don’t mention it.”
Maggie flashed him a huge smile, stepped back, and quickly pushed another heavily pregnant woman forward. “This is Ally,” Maggie said. “She’s also thankful to be free from Gates.”
“Hello Ally,” Casey greeted the woman with soft brown hair. “Glad you could make it.” Glad you could make it? What was he doing? Hosting a tea party? Apparently, Lottie had thought something similar for she snickered.
“Hi,” Ally whispered. Her brown eyes grew shuddered, and she shrunk in on herself, piquing Casey’s curiosity. Was she shy or was there something else going on?
“This is Zoe,” Lottie said, drawing his attention away from Ally and to one of the women Lottie had originally set out to save.
“Welcome,” he said. His voice cracking like a pubescent boy and he swallowed hard, knowing he was staring, but damn! Casey grabbed and squeezed Lottie’s hand. Tristan never said Zoe was gorgeous. She was clearly of mixed ancestry with her creamy brown skin, blue eyes and tightly curled auburn hair. The color combinations were unusual, and he didn’t think they would work normally, but on her, they made her look exotic and stunning. He flicked his gaze back to Lottie. What did she think about this stunning beauty?
Lottie let go of his hand, disappeared behind Zoe and Nyah to tug an older woman forward. He knew without a doubt the woman in front of him was Maddy. Not only was she the last one to be introduced, but aside from having blue eyes, instead of brown, she looked exactly like Lottie, only older.
“And this is Grace.”
Grace? Casey inclined his head once in greeting. “I’m pleased to finally meet you, Grace.”
“Likewise,” Grace replied.
The silence stretched between them to the point Casey grew uncomfortable. Shifting his weight from foot to foot, he opened his mouth to say something—anything—but Nyah beat him to it.
“Awkward,” she singsonged and the group burst into laughter. It must have been a cathartic release, though, for once everyone’s guffaws, snickers, and embarrassed twitters subsided, the tension had also disappeared.
“Come on, Casey,” Grace said and waved him toward one of the fire pit rocks and logs serving as chairs. “We were just getting ready to eat dinner.”
“So, you’re settling in then,” he asked as he walked. The women parting around him as water does around a rock in the river.
“As well as we can. We are still defining roles, but it’s been easier than I expected since we had to do some of that on the way down here.”
“Was the escape hard? Noah didn’t elaborate, and I didn’t get a chance ask Javier.”
“Not too bad,” Maggie replied, patting Ally’s hand and helping her to sit before she sat as well. “We stayed out of the woods for the most part.” She patted her bulging stomach. “And for obvious reasons, we” —Maggie indicated herself and Ally—“were able to move faster on pavement than through the trees.”
“But aside from that one time,” Lottie interjected, “when Ford was nosing around and searching for ‘what wasn’t right,’ we didn’t encounter anyone else. Not a soul.” Lottie gasped, then made an excited squeal and jumped to her feet. “I forgot! Excuse me!”
Raising an eyebrow in question at her abrupt departure, Casey watched as she left the fire, patted Greysen on the head, and disappeared into a tent.
He waited for her to reappear.
Snapping fingers brought his attention back to the group. “Loverboy… Over here,” Nyah said with a smirk and handed him two bowls of soup. “I hope rabbit stew is okay.” His stomach gave a painful lurch and growled loudly. “I’ll take that as a yes,” Nyah said before he could reply.
“Casey?” Lottie called. He turned toward her and shook his head in denial. A guitar! She found a guitar? “Javier and I picked this up on our way here. I hope it is still playable.”
So, did he.
Putting the soups down, he stood, took the guitar from her, and brushed his fingers over the strings. Steel. Probably nylon core. Acoustic. He hefted the body. It was a good size, sturdy, and the word Seagull was stamped between the tuning pegs. He flipped it over. A serial number was etched into the wood. Someone paid a pretty penny for this guitar at one time.
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