Sanctuary: Seeking Asylum Book 1

by SM Olivier

  “I feel like it was destiny that this little one and I met,” I explained to them quietly.

  Aunt Carol was family, and I’m sure somehow, someway she would hear about my miscarriage, but I wanted to be the first to tell her.

  “I lost a little girl nearly a year ago. We planned to name her Bella Mae, after we’d debated on calling her Isa Mae. Imagine my shock when I found out this little girl's name was Isa May with a Y,” I explained quietly. “I know she’ll never replace my little girl, but I think all people come and go in our lives for a reason. There’s definitely a reason she came into my life. Maybe she’s here to help me heal.”

  I saw the bright sheen of tears in the eyes of the three women as they looked at me.

  “Please don’t cry,” I insisted.

  “Oh, Avery,” Aunt Carol breathed before she squeezed my hand. She then took the armchair between the two couches. “I know the loss of a child. I don’t know if you remember Wyatt, Katie, and MJ’s younger sister, Bethany. You must have been four or five at the time when she was born. She had congenital heart disease. They couldn’t fix her.”

  I nodded my head. I vaguely remembered attending a funeral with a tiny casket. I remembered the sadness, remembered my mom, Nana, and my aunts hugging and crying a lot. The men had wandered off to drink and smoke their cigars on Nana’s porch once all the strangers had left. Us kids were left with very little supervision. Katie and Wyatt had been sorrowful, but MJ had been a toddler back then.

  Aunt Carol and Uncle Mitch had three “natural” children. Wyatt was the oldest, followed by Katie, and then MJ. It was easy to forget that they had a fourth child at one time. I had been so young.

  “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about her, but I know she’s in a better place,” Aunt Carol continued. “God has brought others into my life now as well, and I don’t think we’d have ever thought about fostering children if it hadn’t been for her. Now look at us. We’ve loved and cared for over fifteen children, and I’ve adopted two of them through that experience! I don’t love my Bethany less by loving the others. Our hearts are amazing things, Avery. It shows us there are endless ways to love.”

  Her eyes got a far off look for a moment, and I saw sadness there, then worry. I knew she was thinking about her son MJ, and all the children she had loved along the way, wondering and probably fearing where they could be now. I often found myself thinking about the people I cared about and praying they were okay.

  MJ was at college on the west coast. Luckily, Uncle Mitch was able to contact him and tell him to come home immediately. Last time they talked to him, he was at a friend’s house. Even in the best conditions, it would take days for him to reach us. Now with the world in shambles, it was going to be downright treacherous.

  “Mom, when’s lunch?” James came running into the hall as if his mother had conjured him.

  James was a small but robust ten-year-old. He was half African American and half Irish. He had light brown skin with a surprising amount of freckles across his nose and cheeks. His hair was a riot of reddish-brown curls, and his eyes were a warm hazel. I’d always had a softness for the sometimes overly rambunctious but affectionate child.

  It was somewhat ironic that, despite no blood relation and a slight difference in skin pigment, he resembled Katie, Wyatt, and Aunt Carol in so many ways. They all had freckles and that radiant reddish-brown hair. His hazel eyes even resembled Katie’s and MJ’s.

  Aunt Carol shook her head with a smile. “Soon as the men are out of the meeting, James.”

  Once we had arrived, we had emptied all the vehicles of community items, storing them where Uncle Mitch told us to. Then BJ, Corbin, Trevor, Wyatt, Axel, Joe, Uncle Mitch, and a few of his men went up to my grandparents’ old house. They invited me along, but I had elected to stay and help Aunt Carol, Aunt Pam, Stephanie, and a couple of Aunt Carol’s friends, Trudy and Winnie, make a cold lunch.

  Aunt Carol had shown me the greenhouses that they had erected at the end of last summer, which were already producing enough vegetables to create the salad we made. Along with the salad, we had put out some lunch meats, cheeses, tuna fish salad, bread, and homemade potato chips.

  Sanctuary had closed and locked its gates after Uncle Scott’s call on Saturday. Thankfully, a large order for the restaurant had been previously placed and was delivered to the restaurant that Friday. That left their pantry, walk-in freezer and refrigerator nearly fully stocked.

  We had every intention of using the restaurant food in the coming weeks, but we knew with some of those items, once they were gone, that was it. Eventually, we’d have to come up with a solution to last us for the long haul, then prepare for the worst and pray for the best.

  I knew that the food situation was one of the reasons why they were having a meeting. Axel had jumped in with two feet, like always, suggesting the meeting. He wanted to come up with a list of all their needs. Together, they’d come up with worklists, security detail, supply runs, and housing assignments.

  If left to their own devices, Corbin and Axel predicted some of the people here wouldn’t contribute to the new community. Uncle Mitch, Uncle Scott, and Dad had already begun to anticipate and plan for such an event. Thus, all the changes around here and all the new stuff I was still learning about.

  It was no surprise that Kingston, Easton, Chad, Felix, Cal, Josh, and Amy immediately jumped in and were currently inventorying everything in the food and supply buildings. The buildings behind the wedding hall were new too. They had the building erected, but Uncle Mitch and Eddie, one of his best friends, didn’t have the time or organizational skills to get it prepared for long-time use.

  Corbin and Axel hadn’t been wrong: the moment they’d left for the meeting, Emery, Garth, Jade, Natalie, Katie, and her boyfriend Nico, plus a few of the people that had been here, had already wandered off.

  “Okay.” James sighed dramatically before he turned to leave. “I guess we’ll starve to death.”

  We laughed at his dramatics as he went back outside.

  Mikey, Miller, Ben, James, and a few other children had immediately taken off together the moment we’d parked. There was a small playground by the recreation center. If I were to look out of the many windows in the front of the building, I could easily see them. Fifteen-year-old Gloria, the Eden’s other adopted child, had volunteered to watch them with a couple of her friends.

  I was kind of glad for James’ interruption from our earlier conversation, and soon we began to talk about some of the other changes that had been made since last July. However, it seemed like the men had kept the women in the dark for the most part.

  Aunt Carol had previously assumed they were preparing to have the restaurant converted to a farm-to-table concept, so the new additions, like the greenhouses and the pole barns− which I had yet to visit− hadn’t seemed strange to her.

  “I think the menfolk are returning shortly,” Sylvia interrupted with an exaggerated southern drawl, poking her head inside the hall’s doorway.

  We all got up and met her outside. She had Jenny and Phil in a double stroller. She, too, looked like a natural, with two babies in tow.

  “Did you see them?” I asked hopefully. Honestly, I was hungry. I was starving, even. I hadn’t eaten breakfast, so my stomach was angrily reminding me.

  “They’re headed down the hill right now.” Sylvia grinned. “Can I ring the bell, please, please, please?”

  “Go ahead.” Aunt Carol laughed.

  Sylvia squealed before she took off running to the end of the sidewalk. There were three dinner bells. One up at my grandparents’ house, one up at the campers’ cabins. And the last one was at the recreation center. Each one had a distinct sound, but the one by the cabins carried sound the farthest.

  Jenny let out a wail of fear, while Phil cried, and Isa jumped when the bell began to carry. Aunt Pam immediately picked up Jenny to calm her down, while Aunt Carol gently pushed Steph to the side to pick up Phil.

  “
You’re too pregnant, woman,” Aunt Carol teasingly grumbled. “Let's keep Madeline in there a little longer.”

  Steph groaned jokingly. “I’m ready to stop feeling like a beached whale now. She was already weighing in over seven pounds at last week's checkup.” Then a look of fear entered her eyes. “How am I supposed to have a baby with no hospital? No doctor.”

  “Well, you know I’m a Labor and Delivery nurse,” Aunt Pam gently reminded her as she rocked Jenny up and down.

  Aunt Pam was the main reason I’d gone into nursing. She was now a Nurse Practitioner and had no plans of retiring anytime soon. She loved her career, and I felt her passion.

  “Easton is a medic too,” I spoke up as I placed Isa on my shoulder to burp her. I was more than happy to see that she’d taken another two-ounce bottle. “I’m not sure what his specialty was, but we can ask.” I closed my eyes, enjoying her sweet baby smell as I gently patted her back.

  Aunt Carol made a sound of appreciation. “If I were twenty years younger and single, I would be chasing after those twins. Make me the meat in their sandwich.”

  My jaw dropped in shock before a burst of surprised laughter left my lips.

  Stephanie and Aunt Pam laughed uproariously. Aunt Pam, Aunt Carol, and Mom had never shied away from talking about their sex lives, but they had put boundaries on what they said around us when we were younger. For instance, saying, “if the sock is on the door, do not disturb” or “he really knows how to rock my world!” Gross, but innocent, comments like that. Though they never went as far as talking about being the meat in the middle of a sandwich!

  “Girl,” Aunt Pam finally breathed, “you’d still be fifteen years older than them.”

  Aunt Carol mocked sniffed. “Then I’ll be the cougar wanting to teach those boys a thing or two.”

  I continued to laugh in shock while the other two laughed like this was nothing new. I refrained from telling her I was sure it would be the other way around—the guys seemed to have taken sexual freedom to another level. Even shy, reserved Easton.

  “What did I miss?” Sylvia came running to us with the same boundless energy she’d had before all the crap had hit the fan. Her mood had dramatically gotten better since when we’d gotten here. Now that she was safe, she was back to her usual self.

  “You don’t want to know,” I jokingly groaned.

  Aunt Carol tsked at me. “I was just telling the girls how I wouldn’t mind being the meat between the Rains boys’ sandwich.”

  Sylvia let out a mischievous laugh as she gave me a pointed look. “Being the meat between a sandwich can be so amazing. Especially if you’re with two men who know what they’re doing.”

  “Do tell,” Aunt Carol sliding closer, Phillip content at her sholder.

  “Please,” Aunt Pam added, leaning towards her.

  Sylvia went inside, waiting as we followed, and took a seat on the large stone coffee table in the middle of the sitting area. She sat Indian style and clasped her hands in excitement. All we were missing was a bowl of popcorn, from the looks on the women's faces. I just continued to gape at them in shock. Who were these women, and what had they done with the women I’d grown up with?

  ֍

  I was pretty sure I still had a look of bemused laughter and shock on my face when Wyatt and Corbin entered the room. The girls were still avidly listening to Sylvia’s new arrangement between her two men. Her back was to me, so she didn’t even see them come in.

  Isa was now safely tucked into the portable bassinet. Her little thumb had even made its way to her mouth. I stared in fascination at her every now and then. It was when I was checking on her for the fiftieth time that I saw the guys walk through the back screened-in porch.

  Wyatt sat down first, on my left side, and then Corbin to my right. The couch still had plenty of space, but they both insisted on sitting nearly on top of me. Aunt Pam, Steph, and Aunt Carol were too enthralled with Sylvia’s retelling of having Joe and Cal together to pay much attention to us

  “Your moms are freaks,” I whispered to them.

  “How do you think I became one?” Wyatt whispered back before he nuzzled my neck.

  I bit back a moan as his lips brushed an especially erogenous area.

  “Spending most years with romance novels and vibrators can do that to a troop’s wife,” Corbin murmured in my other ear before he lightly bit the space between my shoulder and neck.

  I literally bit the inside of my cheek to cover that response. I had never been bitten, and I never thought I’d like it. I was wrong.

  “Did you like that?” Corbin husked in my ear.

  I jerkily shook my head in denial. I was a big fat liar, but I didn’t know the game they were playing. Before they’d gone up to the main house, they seemed to be keeping their distance from me.

  “If I were to dip my hands inside your shorts right now, would you be wet for us?” Wyatt whispered in my other ear.

  “Stop,” I begged them breathlessly while Wyatt began to trace my bare thigh with his fingers.

  “Are you done being mad at us for something we didn’t do?” Corbin demanded.

  I sighed. “Yes. I’m sorry,” I whispered.

  “Joe is a total breast man,” Sylvia was saying. “He has a way of biting and tugging on my nipples that nearly makes me orgasm every time, and Cal has a talented tongue, if you know what I mean.”

  “Mmm,” Aunt Pam hummed. “I know what you mean!”

  I heard Corbin choke on…air?

  “Did you take one in the exit and entrance yet?” Aunt Carol asked with interest.

  Wyatt grunted now. Both seemed to be taking a break from tormenting me.

  “Yes.” Sylvia giggled at her terminology. “I was a strict exit-only girl until they showed me how… great it is.”

  “I’ve always wondered if Mitch would let me… you know, invite another man into the room so I could experience that. Double penetration, maybe even triple, has always intrigued me. I already got him a girl for us on his birthday one year…” Aunt Carol sighed dramatically.

  “Oh, mom!” Wyatt cried out suddenly, making Aunt Pam, Aunt Carol, and Sylvia yelp and jump up in surprise. Steph just covered her mouth in mirth. “There are just some things kids do not want to hear about their mothers.”

  I began to giggle, hiding my face in Corbin's chest. “I warned you,” I crowed out as Corbin buried his head in my neck. His chest was rumbling with laughter against my cheek.

  “ I just thank all that is good in this world that I didn’t hear my mom’s confessions.” Corbin rumbled with laughter.

  Wyatt glared at us, and I continued to laugh as Corbin began to wipe tears from his eyes.

  “Wyatt Eden!” Aunt Carol put Phil on one hip and a hand on the other. “You weren’t immaculately conceived. Are you saying you wouldn’t want to know I was having my world rocked when you were made? It’s time you know your mom loves sex and lots of it.”

  “Mom,” Wyatt groaned, seriously looking aghast now. “Please stop. I can’t unhear those words.”

  “Honestly, you’re all grown now, and why should we hide something so natural from you guys?” Aunt Pam sniffed in Aunt Carol's defense. “I can tell you how and when Corbin was conceived.”

  “Don’t you dare, Ma,” Corbin growled in warning, suddenly out of laughter.

  “Corbin was conceived at a UB40 concert!” Aunt Pam shouted. “We didn’t wait to go to the bathroom or the car. We went at it right in the middle of the concert. I turned around, sat on your daddy’s lap, and rode him while they sang, ‘I Can’t Help Falling in Love with You.’”

  “Ma!” Corbin growled out. “Stop, please.”

  “They act like they’re such sweet angels,” she went on, totally ignoring him. “I’m pretty sure I caught that Ashlynn girl giving Corbin a blow job before they left for boot camp. And I remember catching Wyatt in bed with that slutty girl… what was her name again?” Corbin glared at her, but she continued, looking at Aunt Pam. “Oh! Should we tell them
about the time we got high and then we—”

  “No!” Uncle Mitch quickly interjected.

  Where had he come from? He must have been there for some time, because his face looked red from laughter, too.

  “Storytime is over for now,” he quickly added. “Let’s eat! Everyone is on their way in now.”

  “Let’s,” I agreed as I looked at the shocked and stricken faces of Wyatt and Corbin.

  I knew their minds were conjuring up the many scenarios of the time their mothers were smoking weed together, and based on their expressions, it must not have been pretty.

  I started to laugh again. “Feed me! I’m hungry,” I told the guys.

  “I’m hungry, too.” Corbin leaned over at the same time Wyatt did.

  I realized they were going to dish out some payback for my laughing at their expense.

  “We’ll feed you, if you feed us,” Wyatt whispered in my ear.

  “Would you like to suck on Wyatt’s cock while I eat you out, or would you like to suck me dry while Wyatt gets to eat that pussy of ours?” Corbin suggested.

  I turned my head into Wyatt’s neck. “Please stop teasing me,” I pleaded.

  “It’s no tease,” Wyatt growled. “We already have a crib being set up in our cabin. We’ll lay Isa down, and then we’ll deliver on all our promises. Would you like to come for Corbin and me, together?”

  “Just say yes and we’ll go now. We have two hours before anybody will come looking for us,” Corbin added. “I think we could do a lot in two hours.”

  I shifted in my seat, glad that no one seemed to be paying us any attention, as Wyatt began to caress my thigh.

  I stood up. “Let’s go.” I was done waiting.

  If it all crashed and burned, then so be it, I thought. But life was too short to not enjoy the moments given. Our current situation was showing me that now more than ever.

  They both growled in satisfaction before Wyatt scooped Isa up, gently cradling her in the crook of his arm. They followed me towards the door. Corbin put an arm around my shoulder, and Wyatt put his hand on the small of my back.