by J. M. Madden
“Don’t work too late,” she cautioned him.
“It’s Friday night. I’m allowed to play a little later,” he laughed.
John would go out there and even though he worked with most of the idiots he chatted with, they would be snickering like school boys over memes and videos into the wee hours, sometimes. Shannon never said anything about it because she knew they loved the connectedness of it.
Leaning in, she dropped a kiss to his lips. “I love you, sexy.”
“I love you, too, babe,” he said, cupping her face.
His phone dinged with an incoming message as she drew back.
“Logan says he’d like some time to talk to me this weekend or Monday,” he murmured, looking at the screen. “Hope everything’s okay.”
“If it wasn’t, he would probably tell you.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. Go to bed.”
He swatted her lightly on the behind as she left the kitchen. She barely had the energy to brush her teeth and climb into bed she was so tired. As soon as her head hit the blessed pillow she was lost to sleep.
Six a.m. did indeed come early, but the boys were surprisingly malleable as she fed them breakfast in their pjs, which tickled them, and parked them in their high chairs while she cooked bacon. They were usually dressed by the time she fed them breakfast, but they knew that the weekends were different. They still got up at the same time but they didn’t have to rush out the door. Shannon felt refreshed after a full eight hours of sleep, and powered through the early morning, starting what felt like ten tons of laundry. How could such little people produce so much work?
She thought about John’s assertion that he would help her out more. Would he watch the kids while she went to town?
When she asked him to babysit after she filled his belly with good breakfast, he immediately said yes. “I don’t have any plans. Sunday, I have to go to the range with Harper to test that trigger pull. Why don’t you see if Lora and Willow can do lunch or something?”
Shannon was shocked and appreciative. “I’ll text them and see. I love you, babe. Thank you.”
He shook his dark head. “Don’t thank me for watching my own kids. You do too much and it needs to be more even. Now,” he said warningly, “throw another baby into the mix and things might change.”
Shannon laughed, horrified at the thought. “No other baby right now. I’m going to go hop in the shower.”
Another baby, she snorted, as she kissed her boys on the head and headed for the bathroom. They would be crazy to have another kid right now.
Shannon hurried through a shower and got dressed, then checked her phone. Willow was on-call, so a no-go. No response from Lora. Hm. Maybe she should just run over there and steal her away. She was probably locked in her office eyeball deep in some report that she absolutely needed to know by Monday. With a final kiss to John and her boys she hopped in her truck and headed the few blocks to Lora’s house.
Mercy opened the door, which surprised Shannon. “Hello, sweetheart. Where’s your mom?”
Mercy blinked her big green eyes up at her. “She’s in her office talking to Dad. That’s why I opened the door. I don’t think they’re...” she frowned, shaking her blond head. “I don’t know. They keep telling me everything is okay, but something’s not right.”
Shannon frowned and leaned down to hug the girl. “If they say everything is okay, it probably is.”
“Hey, Shannon. Sorry, didn’t hear the door,” Chad said, walking up and resting a hand on Mercy’s shoulder. Barefoot and rumpled, Chad looked like he’d slept in his clothes. He wore his blade prosthetic rather than the one fitted to his cowboy boots, but he moved like he didn’t even notice the strange looking thing. He probably didn’t.
“If this is a bad time I can come back. John offered to watch the boys while I grabbed lunch and groceries, and I thought Lora might want to go with me.”
Chad smiled and nodded, but she didn’t feel like he was okay. Reaching out she rested a hand on his forearm, conscious of worried, eight-year old eyes tracking them. “Are you okay?”
The smile faded and he sighed. “I’m fine. Maybe some lunch talk would be good for Lora. She’s in her office.” He made a motion down the hallway, and with a final smile at them both, she headed in that direction.
Lora sat in her big office chair, turned away from the desk and looking through the big bay window over the back yard. The house was beautiful, with a wide panorama view of the golf course beyond. It was late Spring, and the fairways were already an artificial neon green, too bright to be natural. Shannon was so excited when they’d moved in, because it had plenty of room to expand their family later and was within a few blocks of her own house.
“Hey, woman,” she said breezily as she walked in.
Lora turned in surprise, forcing a smile as she crossed the room to meet Shannon. They hugged and when Lora would have drawn back, Shannon held onto her arms. “What’s going on?”
Lora’s face was blotchy with restrained tears. She shook her head as her eyes welled. “Nothing.”
“This doesn’t look like nothing,” Shannon said, worried.
Lora drew a deep breath. “Just a difference of opinion.”
And she stopped there. Shannon was worried for her friend, but she knew certain things were too sensitive to talk about. “Okay. Just know that I’m here for you if you need me.”
Nodding, she hugged Shannon again. “I know. Thank you. What are you doing here?”
“Well,” Shannon said slowly, drawing back a little. “John has the kids and told me to take time for lunch before I got my groceries. I thought you might like to get out as well.”
Lora glanced back at her desk. “I would but I’m having some issues at work. Can we take a raincheck?”
Shannon narrowed her eyes at her friend. “No, we can’t. I already have about three of your rainchecks in my pocket I’m still waiting on.”
Shannon was shocked when Lora’s eyes filled with tears again. Crossing her arms beneath her breasts Lora turned away from Shannon. “Oh, honey, don’t worry about it. I was just teasing you. If you’re busy it’s no big deal.”
Crossing the room to the far window, Lora looked out over the golf green. Afraid of the tears she thought she’d see, Shannon joined her, but Lora was clear-eyed.
“Chad has been after me about my work hours,” she murmured.
“Well,” Shannon said slowly. “I think he has reason to,” she told her friend honestly. “You work way too much. You do realize this is Saturday, right? Normally a day to relax and hang with family or friends. Get some chores done. Not go over...whatever it is you think you need to go over.”
“I know it’s Saturday,” Lora said softly, looking down at her hands. “It’s the only day my phone doesn’t ring off the hook. Which gives me a chance to get a little ahead.” Forest green eyes so like Mercy’s lifted to face her. “You have no idea how competitive it is in business. They know I’m not built for this and you would not believe the attacks my company has gone through over the past few months. I have to stay on top of the game.”
Shannon sighed. Lora had changed so much in the past couple of years, but she felt like the woman had exchanged one neurotic behavior for another. “I understand that, but I want to remind you of something. You have a worried little girl out there and I know you’re building this company for her, but she doesn’t understand why she can’t just have her mother.”
The tears really did come then, and Shannon felt like shit in provoking them, but she held her friend as she cried. And when Lora begged off lunch to go make cookies with her daughter, Shannon was okay with getting out of their hair to go grocery shopping on her own.
When she told John about the incident later, he’d gotten an odd look on his face. Wyatt sat on his lap playing with his keyring.
“What do you know?” she asked him, seeing the knowledge in his expression.
John cringed. “I can’t tell you everything, but I thin
k they’re maybe at odds about having a baby. But you didn’t hear it from me.”
Ah. That would explain the tension she’d walked into. “Damn,” she breathed. “Okay. Didn’t hear it from you and I won’t say anything. If they need help, we’ll be here for them.”
John gave her a lopsided smile. “That’s my girl.”
They ordered pizza that night just to be easy and watched a silly kid cartoon before getting the boys ready for bed. This unscheduled, unregimented time was Shannon’s favorite, because they all just laughed and played. John was very good at distractions while she did the business part, and she couldn’t have asked for a better partner. Obviously, her week away had highlighted to him how much she did and he was trying to make up for that, but she hadn’t had any complaints on the amount he’d helped her before.
After reading them a couple of books, the kids zonked out on the couch. They each took one and carried them to the bedroom, tucking them into Caden’s bed, which they seemed to both prefer. She wondered when they would want to sleep in separate beds. The need to be together was so sweet...
The next day ran even more quiet. Shannon lazed around in a t-shirt and sleep pants for a scandalously long time, but it earned her a fun romp when the boys took their afternoon nap.
John had undertaken a large part of the laundry, so Shannon threw together a double batch of chocolate chip cookies to take into work the next day. Since the group had grown, she hadn’t been able to cook as much on Fridays anymore. Poor Roger left her messages on the fridge, occasionally, requesting her meatballs, but she knew he was just teasing her. Cassandra, his wife, cooked like a mad genius and Shannon knew for a fact that Roger had bulked up since they’d been together.
The boys had to help her bake, of course, so she gave them the beaters to lick while she assembled the rest of the ingredients. Then, when the first cookies were done and slightly cooled, she split a cookie between them. They ended up covered in chocolate, of course, but they were so damn cute she didn’t care. They needed to take a bath in a little while anyway, so they might as well have fun.
John rolled in as she was pulling out another tray. He snatched one of the cookies from the cooling rack and stuffed half the thing in his mouth. “So good, babe.”
She laughed at the look on his face, because it looked just like the boy’s faces had a few minutes before. “Go see Harper. You can have more cookies tonight when you get home.”
He looked at the boys in the chair. “You’re sure?”
“Of course,” she said, rolling her yes. “Go play.”
Dropping a kiss to his lips, she shooed him out of the kitchen.
Shannon and the boys had a quiet night. Once her cookies were done she hauled both boys to the tub in their bathroom and gave them a bubble bath. Carmella wandered along behind, just keeping an eye on things. Once out of the tub she bundled both boys into their room and got them dressed for bed. Then, sitting in the chair with a boy in each arm, she read them a book.
Shannon loved this time of the night, and she loved that both boys still seemed to love to sit with her and read. At some point in the not-too-far future she would have to put them in bed to read, but for the most part she managed.
Caden fell asleep first, curling up against her neck. Wyatt loved seeing the pictures in the book, so he hung on a little longer, but eventually, even he gave in. Shannon tried not to wake them as she lifted them to the bed, but it was hard juggling both solid little bodies. Once on the mattress, though, they snuggled in together and fell asleep quickly. She’d talked to Willow about this today, and her friend was of the opinion that they would separate on their own eventually.
Once the boys were tucked in, she just leaned into the crib, stroking their hair. Though the pregnancy had been a trial, she would do it all over again. Happily. She hoped Chad and Lora came to some kind of understanding, and she hoped Lora didn’t work herself out of love.
That seemed harsh to even think, but she couldn’t imagine a job coming between her and John, let alone her kids. She wouldn’t let it.
With a final breath to draw in their sweet smell, she left the boys to sleep and headed to her room. Carmella curled up by the closet door on her pillow as Shannon climbed into bed, her lids sagging. She checked her phone for messages, then curled up against the pillow and went to sleep. John would wake her with a kiss when he got home.
John eased into bed as cautiously as he could without waking Shannon. Damn woman looked like a freaking angel, laying there. Before he settled, he leaned over and brushed a kiss against her lips. She smiled, even in sleep, and sighed as her hands found his chest.
“I love you,” she murmured, then fell back to sleep.
“I love you too, baby,” he whispered.
It had been fun going to the range with Harper, but the former SEAL had been distracted, worried about a former teammate. John didn’t press him for details. He figured if Harper needed to talk he would have opened up, but he didn’t. Once they had the rifle sighted in, he made his excuses and headed home.
Of the bunch of them, Harper had the oldest kid. His daughter was fourteen. That was almost driving age, and dating age. God. He couldn’t imagine the boys at fourteen. If his childhood was anything to go by, they were going to be hellions. He’d been running the streets and stealing food at that age, because the orphanage hadn’t given them shit. Barely enough to live on.
John had vowed long ago that his children would never want for anything like that.
And if Shannon wanted another baby, he was going to damn well give it to her and take care of it as well.
God, seeing her pregnant with his child was such a turn-on. Shannon blossomed when she was pregnant.
The thought of having a little girl for the boys to protect made his heart warm, and he fell asleep smiling.
Monday morning was back to business. Shannon got the kids ready for day-care and John puttered around, feeding the dog and getting ready for the day. They always drove to work together, even though she knew he’d sometimes like to get to work earlier.
Like today. When Shannon gave him a pointed look, he glanced at her, then seemed to realize he was being a little more aggressive than normal with traffic. “Sorry. I think I’m a little anxious. Have you talked to Marigold?”
Shannon shook her head. “Not yet this morning. It’s pretty early yet.”
“Yeah, I guess.” John drove to the office a little more calmly after that, which she appreciated. She was anxious to find out how the family meet went as well, but it wasn’t worth risking their safety.
Once at work they lost themselves in the business of other things. At eleven o’clock Marigold arrived with Logan in tow. Shannon stared, though she knew she shouldn’t. Logan had changed, a lot. When he stepped off the elevator he was actually smiling, a little, and he met her gaze with little to no flinching or hiding. It was such a drastic change from when she’d seen him last. How long ago had it been? A week now? What had happened to bring about this change?
Her gaze shifted to Marigold. “Oh...” she breathed.
There was a liveliness to the woman’s face that she hadn’t seen before. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were bright behind her glasses, and she was grinning at something Logan had said. Their arms brushed as they walked in. Ah... Wow. The connection between the two of them was almost palpable.
“Don’t you two look happy,” she murmured.
Marigold blushed very prettily, her skin flushing under Shannon’s look, but she kept her mouth shut.
“Logan, I’ll let John know you’re here.”
She sent John a message and almost immediately he rolled down the hallway. When he reached Logan, the younger man shifted his crutch and reached out to shake John’s hand.
“I just wanted to thank you in person for finding my family,” Logan told him. “I met them on Wednesday, and again on Saturday, and they’re amazing people. I’m not sure what exactly happened to my dad, but they are so different from him it’s a
lmost comical. So, thank you. And thank your brother when you next talk to him.”
“I will definitely do that,” John said with a laugh. “Aiden will love hearing he helped you reconnect. It’s a big thing with us, because of our upbringings. He was given into foster care early like I was, before our mother died.”
Logan winced. “I’m sorry.”
John shook his head. “Don’t be. It made us who we are. All of our experiences shape who we are.”
“True,” Logan murmured. Turning, he gave Shannon a smile. “And thank you, too, for dragging me along with you. I wouldn’t have had nearly the success out here if you hadn’t latched onto me.”
Shannon grinned, warmth sweeping through her. “You are very welcome, Logan. I knew when I saw you that you were one of us.”
He gave her an odd look. “Maybe.”
“Have you thought about the job offer?” John asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
Logan sighed. “I have a little, but not enough. I’ve kind of had a few other things on my plate.”
“Granted. Well, the offer is there whenever you’re ready to take it.”
“Thanks, John. I have one more situation to settle before I can make any big decisions.”
Logan’s gaze flicked to Marigold, then away. Shannon didn’t think the younger woman had even noticed the look, because she was looking down at the schedule on Shannon’s computer screen. It was obvious something was going on between the two of them, but she wasn’t sure if they wanted to acknowledge it.
She caught John’s gaze and he smiled, giving her a nod. Good. He could see it too.
“Do you need me today, Shannon?” Marigold asked.
“Um,” Shannon looked around. “No, there’s nothing extremely pressing. Duncan is in a meeting downtown.”
“Okay. I might drive Logan out to Boulder. Or,” she said, turning to look at him, “I can just loan you the car.”
Logan frowned. “I appreciate it, but I haven’t driven since I’ve been injured. Do you mind?”