Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69424 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69424 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
I nodded.
“And custody of Anders and Kent, though not for much longer on Kent since he’s almost eighteen.” She hesitated. “If Doc or I die…”
I was already shaking my head, my mind a mess, and a hole in my heart the size of Texas.
My sister had always been larger than life.
She’d been this huge, magnificent shield against all the trouble that we found ourselves in thanks to my mother’s selfishness. She’d been the rock. The backbone of our family. She’d been the one shining star in the middle of my blackest night.
“Searcy, no…”
“Koda is in the military. And although I think he could help, I don’t trust him with my kids,” she whispered. “He gets annoyed when they cry. You just let them cry. You play with them. You bathe them. You get them to sleep. You feed them. I hope, no I pray, that this never comes to life. I hope that you never need to know anything about what’s in this. But if the worst happens, and Doc and I are no longer here, I want my children to have you.”
A sound left my throat that was close to a dying, wounded bird.
She placed the papers on the counter, then twisted so that she could throw her arms around my shoulders. “With Knight and Elaine dying…I just can’t leave this up to fate. I want my children taken care of. By someone that I trust with my entire soul. And you’re it, Calliope. You’re their guardian angel. You’ve always been so fucking strong. I need you to be strong for them if we ever die.”
I knew where this was coming from.
Just a few short months ago, the Truth Tellers MC had a huge hit in their club family. Knight and Elaine, two of their oldest members, had passed away in a motorcycle accident. They’d passed away together and ultimately without prolonged pain. But they’d still died. And it’d shaken my sister to her core.
Hell, I still remember the night before the funeral, overhearing Searcy and Doc talking about what the next day looked like for them. They’d continued to speak in low, hushed tones. But eventually they’d spoken about what they would do if this had happened to them. Who they would leave behind. And I’d walked away, because the possibility had been overwhelming, and I hadn’t been able to think about it.
I may not be the nicest person in the world to my sister, but she was still the most important thing in my entire world.
Her arms tightened around me as she said, “I didn’t ask.”
I snorted. “You didn’t ask because you knew I’d freak out.”
“I know that you were broken when Dad died. It didn’t help that Mom checked out and forgot she had children. I won’t leave you on purpose, Calli. But I have to be prepared, just in case. These kids mean the world to Doc and me. You do, too. Don’t freak out too bad, okay?”
I snorted. “How the hell am I supposed to deal with three kids that close together?”
She laughed and pulled back. “Maybe by then you’ll have a man that’ll help.”
I snorted. “The only man that I find even mildly entertaining right now is constantly telling me I’m a disappointment.”
Her eyes went to the living room where we could just see the top of Jasper’s head as he continued to pat Dalton on the butt. “You do know, right, that you’re not a disappointment?”
I sighed. “I know.”
“You may have a hell of an attitude, but that’s only part of your personality.” She pulled back and cupped my cheeks. “He’s just giving you a hard time because he doesn’t understand you as a person.”
I sighed. “If you say so.”
She pulled back. “If they don’t see you’re special, then they don’t deserve to be in your life.”
Just then, a toddler crept out from behind the wall leading into the living room and I whispered, “Incoming.”
She groaned and turned, finding Pane at the ready.
“You do know that you’ve only had a forty-five-minute nap, right?” Searcy asked her most unruly child.
Pane grinned his cute little toddler grin that got him away with practical murder.
“Come on,” I urged. “You can help me.”
Pane came barreling toward us, hitting me like a tiny little battering ram.
I lifted him up onto the counter and handed him the carrots, bag already open. “Dump those in.”
He did, half hitting the floor, and half hitting the Crock Pot.
I scooped up the ones that hit the floor and rinsed them off just as Searcy said, “Most people wash their veggies before dumping them in.”
“Most people don’t think about the fact that dirt is the literal least worrisome thing that they’re about to put into their bodies. Let’s talk about how baby carrots are absolute trash compared to their larger counterparts. Regular sized carrots are okay. Not processed. However, baby carrots are smaller pieces, that were shaved to be uniform and small, peeled and polished. Then, they’re dunked in fucking chlorine. And we’re worried about dirt?”