by K. J. Dahlen
Deke chuckled. “At least, you’ll get some rest before they’re born.”
Cassie scoffed. “I have too much to do between now and then. I have a meeting with the city council coming up next week. We need final approval for Redemption House. I have to hire a full time on staff nurse and councilor before then. Then I have to do a final walkthrough before the meeting.”
“Honey, I know this is your dream but you heard the doc, you have to be on complete bed rest for the next two weeks,” Deke reminded her. “Someone else can do all that.”
“I suppose they’ll have to.” Cassie felt crushed. She knew her dreams were now in someone else’s hands. Her hands rubbed her big belly and she felt her children moving inside her. She leaned into Deke and smiled. Not all her dreams were gone. She still had the most important dream close to her heart.
~* * * *~
A few hours later, Cassie found herself in her own bed, the bed she shared with Deke.
Peaches, Paige, Max and Peggy were there. Amos and Frankie were there too, as were Deacon and Marnie.
“Marnie, I wanted to ask you something.” Cassie looked over at the other woman.
“What’s that?”
“I was wondering if you wanted to be part of the staff at Redemption House.”
Marnie looked stunned. “In what position?”
“Staff councilor. I need someone who understands the problems the people coming to us will have. Someone who can offer real help, not just say they will help but actually get behind them and dig for the right kind of help. I want someone who will understand where they are coming from and help them get to where they need to be. I think that person is you.”
“But I’m not licensed for New York. I’m a social worker for Massachusetts.”
“It wouldn’t take you long to get your creds for New York. I’ve seen how the guys respond to you, how you can almost sense what they need before they do. I saw what you wanted for the kids you brought with you from Boston and that’s the passion I want for my dream. That’s what I need for Redemption House. I want you.”
Marnie smiled. “I would love it. I fell in love with your dream too. What you want to give everyone who comes there is a second chance and it is so badly needed.”
Cassie grinned. “That’s one problem settled then. Now I need someone to walk through with the city council. Peaches can you do that? It can be done before you and Iceman go back to Boston if we need to.”
“Me?” She looked horrified. “I don’t have any clue what to say to them.”
“Yes, you do,” Cassie told her. “You were there when this became my dream. You know better than anyone what this House represents. A safe clean place for people to come to. It’s what we both dreamed of while we were living on the streets of Boston.”
“Miss Peaches,” Amos assured her, “We can help you too. We know the dangers that are out there and we know what you and Miss Cassie want to do. We haven’t had a place to call home in quite a while but we do now. Thanks to her.”
“Yeah, we do and it’s all thanks to you guys.” Frankie nodded.
Peaches looked from Amos to Frankie and then at Cassie. “I can do this.”
Cassie smiled. “Now, if I can talk Maggie into taking the staff nurse position I’m ready to go.”
“I would love to help,” Maggie called out from the doorway. “I was coming to check on you and I heard everything you said.” She came into the room and grinned. “I would love to be a part of this. I’ve been watching what you’re doing over there and I’ve wanted in since the beginning.”
Cassie smiled and ran her hands over her belly. Her babies turned inside her expressing their pleasure to her. Then one of them kicked her ribs hard and she gasped. Pressing her hand to her side, she felt another kick. “Well, I think the babies agree with everything so far.” She giggled.
“Okay, we need to let her get some rest,” Maggie announced to the room.
Everyone but Peaches and Paige left. When it was just the four of them Maggie did her exam and announced she was doing great. Then she packed up her equipment and left the sisters alone.
“I’ve been thinking about this for a while now and I want to help too,” Paige told them.
“Are you sure?” Cassie asked with a frown. “That would mean moving here. Your mom and dad might not want you to go.”
There was a knock on the door and Max came in. “I need to talk to you guys. It will only take a moment but it’s important.”
“Sure, come on in.” Cassie smiled.
Peaches got to her feet and began walking to the door. “I’ll just give you guys a moment.”
“Please stay,” Max said. “You are as much a sister to her as Paige is.”
Peaches glanced from Max to Cassie. When she saw Cassie’s nod she went back to the bed and sat down.
Max came over to where Cassie and Paige were. He cleared his throat and began pacing. “I don’t know how to say this, so I’ll just say it. Your mother came to see me when she was pregnant with the two of you. She said she had to sneak away while Flynn was gone but somehow, she found out where I lived and one day she just turned up there. Of course, we didn’t yet know there were two of you but that doesn’t matter right now. What matters is she asked me to do her a favor.”
“What did she want you to do?” Cassie asked.
Max ran his fingers through his hair. “When she came to see me she had a black eye. She told me Flynn wasn’t the man she thought he was and she was afraid of him. She was not only pregnant but she was very pregnant. I thought she was going to have her baby any day at the time. She looked me up for a reason though and that reason was the two of you. She wanted something to leave you if something happened to her. She asked me to get her an insurance policy to take care of her baby, in case Flynn ended up killing her. I was shocked when she said that but she told me how it was with him. She also told me he must never know about it. She didn’t want him to drink it up or put it into his veins. The insurance was for her kid. What was I going to say? I told her she should just leave him if she was afraid of him but she said she couldn’t do that. He wouldn’t ever let her leave him. He threatened to kill her and her baby if she left him.”
“And did you do what she wanted?” Peaches asked.
Max nodded. “I did. I got the policy and she paid the monthly rate. We did that for two years before Flynn brought Paige to us. He never said your mother was dead, so I didn’t do anything with the policy. It was a little over a year later we heard she was gone. A lawyer got a hold of us and told us she’d been beaten to death. By the time we found out, Flynn and Cassie were already gone. We never knew Cassie existed until she came to us a few months ago.”
“Did you cash in the policy?” Cassie wanted to know.
“Yeah, we did.” Max admitted. “I invested the money and over time, the policy grew to a great deal of money. Part of that money paid for Paige’s college tuition but there is still a great deal of it left. Peggy and I never touched that money because it wasn’t ours. That money was your mother’s legacy to you girls. I think it’s only fair to split the money between the two of you girls. That was the reason your mother wanted it in the first place. To give you girls the chance for a better life than she had.” Max smiled. “The Jemmia I knew would have wanted her daughters to have so much more than she did. She and Flynn dropped out of school and lived hand to hand.” Shaking his head he said, “I think she would have been proud of both of you. Paige has a college degree and Cassie has Redemption House.”
Cassie felt Paige take her hand. Peaches took the other one and she felt tears welling in her eyes.
“I think that’s a good idea Daddy,” Paige told him. “I had my chance to do something with my part of the money now it’s time for Cassie to get her chance.”
Max laughed out loud. “Sweetheart, there’s enough money for both of you to see all of your dreams come true. I told you I invested it well. Your college only took a little bit of your half.”
/> “Good, then I’ve got money to invest in Redemption House,” Paige told them.
“You would do that?” Cassie asked.
“You bet I would.” Paige nodded. “I want to see your dreams come true too. I can’t think of a more worthy cause than this one. This is something the whole world could use.”
Max nodded. “Okay then, I’ll make the transfer to your bank. And I also think you belong here with your sister. Your mom and I have been talking about it and I’m going to retire in a few weeks and we’re thinking about moving too. Maybe if Cassie can use our help and we could all work at Redemption House.”
“That would be a great idea.” Peaches clapped. “We’re getting the whole family involved!”
Cassie had tears in her eyes. “It really is a dream come true.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Deke threw down his pen down on his desk. He was trying to get paperwork done but he couldn’t even think about anything but Cassie. He’d spent several days with her at home but now he needed to get something done.
He was just about to get back to it when he heard a knock on the door. He looked up to find Iceman standing there. He motioned for the other man to come in.
Iceman sat down in the chair on the other side of the desk.
“What’s up?” Deke asked.
“I’ve been looking around your town.”
“Oh? Why is that?”
“I’m thinking about moving here.”
“Why? You don’t like Boston anymore?”
Iceman shrugged. “What can I say? I like Boston just fine but I got a woman now and a kid on the way. Maybe it’s time for me to straighten my life up a bit.”
“And moving here is gonna do that?”
“Your woman is here and my woman wants to be close to her.” He sat back in his chair. “Hell, after what those two went through I don’t blame her. Boston has too many bad memories for her. I want everything for her and my kids and if that means moving to Troy then that’s what I’ll do. Besides, I can start a new Sinners Chapter here. Might even give you a little competition.”
“What kind of work are you looking for?” Deke asked.
“I want to build custom motorcycles. I’ve been thinking about it for a while now and some of my men will come over with me. All we need is the space to operate and time to get our name known.”
Deke grinned. “I think I know of the perfect spot, plus there’s a warehouse close by along with another building you can convert to an apartment building for housing if you want to.”
“I might consider it,” Iceman agreed. “There is only one problem.”
“Oh, what’s that?”
“Peaches’ family is connected and I don’t want them involved with my business.” Iceman shrugged. “This is my chance to go legit.”
“So what’s the problem?”
“How do I tell her I won’t let her family help us out?”
“Man.” Deke chuckled as he shook his head. “It sucks to be you.”
“Yup, that’s a given. But I want to do this right and taking mob money isn’t the way I want to go. If I’m gonna make it I want to make it the right way, on my own and with my own hands.”
“Then you need to tell her that. I think she’ll understand,” Deke assured him. “If she’s anything like Cassie, she’ll understand.”
“Are we good then, on the MC side of all this?”
Deke nodded. “I think this town is big enough for two MC’s. As long as we can get along we won’t have to face the wrath of either of our women.”
“Yeah, I really don’t want to mess with either of them. That would be the wrong side of crazy.”
“Me either,” Deke admitted with a grin.
Before Iceman could respond, there was another knock at the door. Deke looked up and his eyes froze over. “What the fuck do you want?”
Raine stood there without saying a word for a moment. Then he came in and stood beside Iceman’s chair. “All I want is to know how Cassie is doing?”
“Go to hell.” Deke growled.
Raine shook his head. “Between you and your dad, I don’t know which of you is being the bigger ass right now, you or him.”
Deke stood up and his hands curled into fists. His eyes blazed with anger. “Fuck off.”
“How original,” Raine drawled. “Look you may not appreciate this but your dad isn’t leaving town anytime soon. He just wants to know how she’s doing. He didn’t realize she suffers from PTSD. None of us did. We really didn’t mean to cause her any injury that day. He just wanted to talk to her, find out if she was the right one for you.”
“It isn’t any of his business but Cassie is on complete bed rest for the next two weeks,” Deke finally told him. “We barely got her back that night and I pray, she’ll never leave like that again. Tell Sam to stay away from me and mine. His opinion don’t mean squat to me, it never did.”
“Something you need to understand Jr. nobody can tell your dad anything.” Raine shook his head. “We’ve all tried to get him to go home, but he isn’t going until he has a chance to talk to your woman. He’s as stubborn as you are about things. Where do you think you got it from?”
“What are you suggesting?”
“Give him the time he wants with her. Once he’s satisfied, he’ll go home.” Raine shrugged.
“Ain’t gonna happen.” Deke shook his head. “Sam has done nothing but poison everything he’s ever touched. The years we were together were hell on me. He’s like fire and ice at times. He isn’t getting anywhere near her or my kids. He isn’t going to go off on her the way he used to go off on me.”
“Do you even know your dad?’ Raine shook his head. “Not as a dad but as a man?”
“That would be a no and I don’t want to either. He’s an asshole.” Deke crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the other man.
Raine nodded. “Yup, he is, but you have to understand something. You were half grown when he found out about you. He was alone one day and the next he has a twelve year old son. You weren’t that great either at first, if I remember right. Your mom really did a number on you before Sam found you. You had your mind already made up about him and the rest of the world before you even got there.”
Deke thought about what he said for a minute then looked back on his life. “Okay, you might have a point. But just to be fair, my mother never told me who my father was. I had no clue Sam Tory was the man who got her pregnant.”
“You see the problem is you and Sam are too much alike to see it. You think the same way, you act the same way and you both can be assholes when you want to be,” Raine told him. “I’ve met men like your dad before, it’s always his way or the highway. I’ve been taking orders from men like him most of my adult life and yeah, it pisses me off because sometimes instead of listening, all they can do is give orders…” Raine paused, “But I’m guessing you’re the same way.”
Deke just stared at the other man. “Okay, you made your point but right now Cassie is in a fragile state and I don’t want anyone to upset her.”
“I can try to tell him that. Maybe he’ll even believe it for a while.” Raine shrugged. “Eventually, however he will see her and the longer you make him wait, the harsher he’s gonna be. He don’t like waiting on anything or anybody.”
“Tell him to come and see me. I’ll answer his fucking questions.” Deke growled.
Raine hesitated then nodded. “That might work for now, but he’s gonna want to talk to her himself and you know it.”
“He can either talk to me or go home without his answers at all.”
Raine reached for his phone and placed the call. When he hung up, he looked Deke in the eye and said, “He’s on his way but he’s not happy.”
“That’s too fucking bad.” Deke sneered
“Do you want me to leave?” Iceman asked.
“No you might as well hear this too. I know you probably know most of it anyway.”
A few minutes later Sam “Bones” Tory
entered his son’s office. He glared at Raines then turned his head to Iceman. “Get out, this doesn’t concern you.”
Deke got to his feet slowly and glared at him. “It does concern him and I asked him to stay. Get over it.”
Sam scowled at his son.
Deke matched his steely stare and asked, “Why exactly did you come here the other day Sam?”
“I heard you were getting married and I thought I would check out the woman who was taking your name.”
“Why?” Deke asked. “You’ve never been interested in my life before.”
Sam shrugged. “Maybe I thought it was time I was. Be interested in your life, I mean.”
Deke sat down behind his desk and watched as Sam and Raine took the other two chairs in the room. “Fine then, I’ll tell you what you want to know but you aren’t getting near her, not now, maybe not ever, if you continue to be an ass about things.” He reached inside his desk and pulled out a bottle of whiskey and four glasses. After he poured the drinks, he picked up one and brought it to his lips.
The men all waited for him to speak.
“Her name is Josette Ryan but she goes by Cassie. She became my woman when she came here looking for her friend Peaches about eight months ago. She hates to be touched and she warned my men a number of times but they, like you, thought they could grab her anyway. She laid them out on the floor like nobody’s business. She learned how to protect herself and Peaches when they were living on the streets of Boston. They were barely more than kids when they ran away from the house of horrors they lived in.”
“How old were they?’ Sam frowned.
“They were both ten years old when they finally got away. She met Peaches when they were five and has protected her most of her life. Cassie is a strong woman. She’s had to be to endure things most people will never face for their entire life. She also doesn’t trust very easily.” Deke paused and looked at his father. “Does the name Janelle Walden mean anything to you?”
Raine gasped as Sam nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been reading about her in the papers. She ran a kiddy ring didn’t she?”