by Debra Kayn
"We've never had another waitress work with us before." She used her fork to pick up the crumbs on her plate.
"Since it's only on Saturdays, I'm thinking of bringing in a teenager. More of an extra hand than working with the customers. There are little things that take up our time, and if we could concentrate more on serving the food, it wouldn't feel as overwhelming." Bee wiped her mouth off with a napkin. "That's if I can find one who doesn't look at their phone all day and have their friends coming in and out."
Jessy picked up her plate and walked it into the kitchen, then returned to the table and remained standing. "I might have someone who can work. How old do you want her to be?"
"Federal Child Labor Laws require them to be fourteen." Bee scrunched her nose. "But there's the problem of them getting to the diner on Saturday with no driver's license. Maybe sixteen years old would be better."
"Thorn's youngest sister is fifteen or sixteen years old, I believe." She paused. "Let me find out if she's interested and can work transportation out."
"Sounds great." Bee stood, picking up her plate. "Now, get out of here and go spend time with that little girl of yours."
She hugged her boss/friend, grabbed her purse out of the back of the diner, and hurried out to her car. Twenty minutes later, she'd fought traffic through downtown Tacoma and arrived at the Brikken gate.
D-Con waved her in. She parked, leaving her purse in the car, and jogged over to the door. Always feeling pretentious when coming to the clubhouse and walking right in, she opened the door and ignored the twenty to thirty men loitering around, and made a straight line to the daycare room.
Kylie let her in. Out of breath, she fanned her warm face and looked for Nikki.
"She's in the playhouse with Chee and Heather." Kylie walked with her across the room. "She was a good girl today and helped with the two babies we had earlier. She's a pro at grabbing diapers and wipes when my hands are full."
Jessy smiled. "Boy, do I remember those days."
"You'll have to have another one now that you have a helper." Kylie laughed when Jessy snorted. "I'll get Nikki for you."
Jessy's heart raced thinking about having a child with Thorn. With their future up in the air being apart, she couldn't let herself think of babies. A little brother or sister for Nikki would be wonderful. She hated being an only child and always believed that someday she'd get married to her one true love and have a sibling for Nikki.
"Come on out." Kylie stuck her head in the window of the playhouse. "Your mom is here, Nikki."
The plastic door opened and her daughter stuck her head out, saw her mom, and smiled, running out. Jessy caught and swept her up in her arms.
"Oh, have I missed you." She kissed her cheek, giving her a loud smack with her lips. "Did you have fun?"
"Yes."
"Excellent." She hugged her. "I have an errand I need to run before we go home and eat dinner. Do you want to go over to Chief and Johanna's house with me? Remember the little walking bridge behind the clubhouse?"
Nikki's body squirmed. "Yes."
Instantly happy, she loved hearing her daughter respond to her questions. In return, Nikki seemed more excitable, gigglier, more energetic.
Grabbing the bag she'd sent with her daughter for the day, she waved her goodbyes to Kylie and Sydney and walked out of the room. Nikki hugged her neck and put her face on her shoulder as Jessy traveled through the main area of the clubhouse.
Looking around trying to see if Chief was here and not spotting him, she went outside, put Nikki down and together they walked behind the clubhouse. Coming to the bridge, Nikki ran ahead. Jessy peered down into the little creek running underneath.
From what she'd been told, Thorn never lived in Chief's current house growing up but with his mother, Karla. The property behind the clubhouse was beautiful. Children would have a blast playing in the creek and running in the woods.
By the time she arrived at the front of the house and raised her hand to knock, Johanna opened the door and greeted her.
"I'm sorry for intruding," Jessy said.
"Not a problem. Come on in." Johanna stepped back.
Jessy stepped inside with Nikki.
Johanna motioned her into the kitchen. "Take a seat. Do you like lemonade?"
"Oh, we're not staying." She waved off the offer. "I worked today, and Bee —she and her husband own the diner— mentioned they need a teenager to start working on Saturdays. I thought I'd ask you and Chief if Stassi was looking for work or if you even allow that? I don't want to step on any toes and thought I'd mention it first to you, and if it's okay with you, then you could pass the information over to Stassi."
Johanna sat down. "She's only fifteen years old."
"Bee would like someone who is still young enough their social life won't keep them from working." She put her arm around Nikki, who stood beside her. "It's grunt work, really. Clearing tables, cleaning up, and handing out condiments."
"I'll ask Chief, and then talk to Stassi if her dad thinks it's okay. She's over at a girlfriend's house right now but will be back for dinner." Johanna rolled her eyes. "This is actually great timing. She's been asking to get a real job and thought she was stuck with babysitting because of going to school, and we all know watching kids don't exactly cover the clothes and makeup she wants to buy."
"Perfect...and no pressure." She stood. "Now, I need to get this little miss home and cook her dinner."
Johanna walked them out and stood on the deck. "Have you heard from Thorn this week?"
She stepped down into the grass and turned around. "No."
"No," repeated Nikki.
Johanna smiled at Jessy's daughter. "I imagine it won't be much longer. Sometimes it takes a while for the funds to be put in his account."
"That's what I've heard." She forced a smile, determined to be strong, and waved.
As she and Nikki approached the bridge, she counted her steps out loud. "One, two, three, four..."
To make it fun for Nikki, she started to skip. It was important to encourage her to speak without asking her. Or, so the doctor told her.
Nikki could count, do the alphabet, and recognize sight words on paper. The school had tested her using different ways of understanding. Mostly, she pointed and matched. There was nothing wrong with her comprehension skills. She only needed to say the words
They arrived at the car on the count of one-hundred and fifty-three steps. Jessy blew out her breath and opened the door. Nikki climbed in. Jessy leaned over to do the seatbelt.
"No." Nikki pushed her hands away and strained to latch the pieces together.
When she succeeded, Jessy silently cheered and shut the door.
"Jessy," said a male voice.
She turned around and found Chief walking up behind her. "Oh, hey."
"When's your next day off?" he asked.
"Uh, tomorrow. I've been working six days a week and bringing Nikki here on Saturdays," she said.
Chief made her nervous. Until Thorn left, she hadn't realized how much he looked like his dad. Even their mannerisms and facial expressions were the same.
"Brikken has a few properties they own, and Thorn wants me to take you around and show you each one."
"Why?"
"To build a house on." Chief glanced at the car and lifted his hand at Nikki. "The rainy season is going to be starting soon, and it slows down the building process, so the sooner you can pick one for your new home, the better."
She pursed her lips and looked away from him. After leaving the prison, she'd walked away believing Thorn's desire to have her oversee getting a house built was wishful thinking on his part.
"I really don't know what to do about this." She shrugged. "This is something Thorn should do."
"He can't. He's in prison."
"When he gets out..." She shook her head. "I don't mean to be difficult, but I don't have any kind of money to help have a house built, much less purchase property."
Chief's gaze softened. "Tho
rn gets the property for a dollar. The same way Jet and Olin purchased their houses, and that's only because the deed has to have a money exchange to be valid and go through escrow. Thorn's got the money for a house. It'll be that money you use. In fact, if you need anything, all you need to do is go to Jett, and he'll get the cash out of Thorn's account for you."
"You're kidding?"
"No." He backed away. "Can you be here at ten in the morning?"
"I..." She stared at him. "I guess. Do I need a babysitter or can—"
"Nikki can come." Chief turned, lifted his hand in goodbye, and strode toward the clubhouse.
She'd heard what he said. She even understood what it meant. It was impossible to grasp that her relationship with Thorn was equal to being legally married. While she'd marry him if he asked, she couldn't rely on all the commitments Thorn was making.
He was in prison.
There was no marriage to keep him from kicking her out or dumping her on a whim.
This wasn't her happily ever after or the ideal relationship.
She wanted to experience building or purchasing her first home with him, in the future. She wanted him to tell her what everything meant.
She wanted him here, not in prison.
Chapter Twenty Six
Nikki shot away from the table in the visiting room before Jessy could stop her. Thorn broke through the crowd of inmates and scooped her daughter up, carrying her to the table. She wanted to scold Nikki. She knew the rules and the importance of staying right beside her.
It would only take one second for one of the inmates to hurt her baby.
"She's okay. I've got her." Thorn sat in the chair opposite her and put Nikki on his lap. "Breathe, sweetheart."
She inhaled through a tight chest. Coming to the prison alone with Nikki turned out to be scarier than the first time when Chief came with them.
"How are you?" She clasped her hands in her lap.
He swept his hair back away from his face. "Good."
He looked tired. There were bags underneath his eyes and more wrinkles on his forehead. His mustache had grown over his upper lip, and his beard hit the middle of his chest. Despite the haggard appearance, he still took her breath away.
"I feel like I haven't seen you in forever." She swallowed hard. "I can't smell you."
He tilted his head. "Say what?"
"You used to smell like leather and fresh air." She lowered her voice. "It's gone from the pillow, the bed...the apartment."
"I'll smell it up again when I get back to you." He tried and failed to hide the flinch behind a grin.
Maybe. She gathered her hair over her shoulder and played with the ends. "Did you talk to your dad."
"He said you picked the property on One hundred and Sixty-Eighth. Good choice. That's a good chunk of land. We can do a lot with it." He shifted Nikki to his other thigh. "What made you pick that one?"
"Honestly?" She wrinkled her nose. "I let Nikki choose. I liked that one because of the house, but I think she chose that one because there was an old rustic swing set in the backyard."
Thorn looked at Nikki. "You want a swing set?"
Nikki looked up from tracing the tattoo on his forearm. "Yes."
"We'll get a brand new one for you that's safe and not all rusty." He looked at Jessy. "Is the fence still in good shape?"
She nodded. "It's safe for her to play outside."
Thorn always talked about the future, making her more nervous. She couldn't understand her reaction, except that it felt like she was falling farther away from him every day he was in prison.
If he asked for a kiss—which he couldn't—she wasn't sure if it would be comfortable. It'd be like the first time, awkward and different. If he wanted to have sex with her—which he couldn't—she'd be shy and hesitant.
Everything had changed, and pushing her to plan their life without him felt wrong. But, she went through the motions and made the choices without him because that's what he wanted, and she owed him.
"Jessy?" he said.
She looked up at him.
"You'll need to meet with Chief and get the permits so the old house on the property can be bulldozed down before you can plan where ours will sit."
She blinked at him. "I'm not going to tear down the house. It's perfectly fine."
"Sweetheart, it hasn't been lived in for a good twenty years or more. There's probably fu—" He glanced at Nikki. "There's probably rats and raccoons that have been living in there."
"It's cleanable. Some paint and new flooring will fix it up." She raised her chin. He could push her to find them a home for when he was released, but she wouldn't willingly spend the amount of money a new house would cost to construct.
He studied her and finally said, "It's your project."
However, her victory was short lived.
"I got my JP Account PIN." He paused when she shook her head in confusion. "I can call you. What's the best time to talk?"
"Oh, um, is quarter to seven in the evening okay? That way you can talk to Nikki right before she goes to bed and I can make sure she's home, either from school or daycare."
He tilted his head and frowned. "I'll be talking to Nikki but when is the best time to talk to you when you're by yourself? After she's in bed?"
Her stomach fluttered. "After seven. Maybe seven-thirty."
"That'll work."
"Y-you can call anytime you want?" she asked, suddenly nervous to talk with him without Nikki and a room full of criminals as a buffer.
"I'm in general population because of my short sentence. I only have to be in the cell from ten o'clock at night to six in the morning. The rest of the time, there's a common area where all inmates can gather. There's one phone on the wall." His gaze intensified. "I'll make sure I have access to it at the right times."
His confidence bordered on a combination of possessiveness and arrogance. Even locked up, he controlled his life.
"Six," blurted Nikki, holding up six fingers.
Thorn looked at Jessy's daughter and said, "You want me to call you at six o'clock?"
"No." Nikki pointed to her chest. "I'm almost six."
Jessy stared, wanting to ask her to talk again. The baby voice she remembered that used to repeat her every word and had asked her why a hundred times a day was gone. She hardly recognized the more mature, very distinct voice, that came out of her daughter as if she needed to annunciate each word clearly instead of stringing them all together.
It was the most beautiful thing she'd ever heard.
Over the last two weeks, she'd gone over and over with Nikki that her birthday was coming and asking her if she wanted anything special in hopes of getting her to talk. Nothing had worked at home.
It took Nikki wanting Thorn's attention for her to speak.
Thorn's hand possessively held Nikki. "When's her birthday?"
Her mouth opened and shut numerous times over the shock at how Nikki seemed to advance around Thorn before she found her voice. "N-next week. Thursday."
He had a way of never being taken by surprise, unlike the way Nikki's changes affected her.
"What do you want for your birthday?" he asked Nikki.
The noise in the room roared in Jessy's ears. She stared at the two of them, unable to focus on if Nikki gave an answer or not because she was making notes in her head about all the words that were spoken today so that she could have a list for Dr. Logenberg during their next appointment.
"Jessy?"
She shifted her gaze to Thorn.
"We need to talk about future visits." He paused. "Because I can use the phone, I only want you coming by once a month."
"Okay," she agreed quickly before he could change his mind.
"If something comes up, go to Chief or my brothers. They'll get the information to me." He straightened his beard. "If you need me to call more. Tell me. You're going to have to get used to speaking what you want, sweetheart. I can't read your mind in here."
"I don't need anything."
"You do," he said gruffly.
The pain came and went from his expression. For the first time, she realized his incarceration was harder on him than he let on. He put on a good face for her and Nikki and even watched his language, never losing his temper.
Her stomach cramped, and she remembered what Chief asked her to do. "I need to go buy you some snacks. Will you walk with me, Nikki?"
Thorn tilted his head. "Let her be. She's fine. I'll watch her."
It was on the tip of her tongue to argue that she never made it a habit of leaving her daughter with others, but she was clearly the odd person out sitting at the table. She stood and skirted the perimeter of the room, stopping at the guard's desk and retrieving the coins she'd handed over in check-in.
Knowing she had to spend it all, she bought three candy bars, a bag of peanuts, and a pop. She carried everything to the table and set the snacks in front of Thorn.
He grabbed her hand, caressing her skin. She froze and almost cried out at the familiar touch.
The strength in his hand. The roughness. Even the size surrounded her slimmer fingers and held her securely. God, she missed the feeling of having him take care of her.
"Damn, sweetheart, your skin is soft," he whispered.
She stared, watching him watch her. Her nipples peaked under her shirt.
Yes, she'd let him kiss her.
Yes, she'd let him touch her.
Yes, she'd let him fuck her.
"Inmate 97624, stop touching or be removed from visitation," said a male voice over the loudspeaker.
Thorn let her go and mumbled, "Motherfucker."
She jerked her hand back and sat down. The room pressed in on her. How could he make her forget where she was and who watched?
"How's Chee?" Thorn broke the end off the Butterfinger candy bar and gave it to Nikki, probably to cover his slip of cussing in front of her daughter.
Nikki bounced on his leg and shoved the whole piece into her mouth before raising her brows and nodding enthusiastically. Jessy smiled. The change in her, not only with Thorn but at home, at daycare, and the clubhouse was like a miracle.