“Rumor has it that he tried to cut some deals. Bribed a few officers. Tried to play some gangs off against one another. Got caught in the middle of it all and—”
“Shit,” I whistled, imagining the trouble he’d gotten into.
Sutton nodded slowly, glancing down at his hand on the rail as he twisted it around the wood and leaned back, rocking on his heels. “Turns out he’s had another few years added to his sentence. He won’t be out for a long time.” When he turned to look at me, there was a small smile hiding under his tash. “The Navs that got sent down won’t be around either. Especially not since they got caught smuggling drugs inside.”
“Drugs?” I asked, my eyes widening. “You’d have thought they’d have learned their lesson with that shit already.”
Sutton shrugged a shoulder. “They may have. That didn’t stop me getting someone to plant that shit on them to make sure they weren’t out any time soon.”
I stared at him, my mouth falling open, and my eyes practically popping from their sockets. “Are you… are you serious?”
Turning back to the yard, Sutton raised his chin and sniffed the air, looking at the clear blue sky above. “You looked after me and my girls when I wasn’t so nice to you. I decided I could do something to look after you and yours. We’re even now.”
I studied him, this new friend of mine, like a younger fatherfigure who I wanted to go to when I was troubled. One who I trusted with my life and knew would always be in it for the rest of my days.
There were many things I could have said and argued, but instead, I simply slapped his back once, leaned over the railing, and said two words.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”
The Hut door slammed open, and out rushed Tate with Harriet in his arms, holding her to me with a look of disgust on his face.
“Dude, I think she needs her diaper changing.”
With a roll of my eyes, I laughed and took her from him, shaking my head as he walked back inside, groaning like a chump.
“I’ll go see if he’s all right.” Sutton chuckled, walking away and leaving me to stand on the porch with my baby girl in my arms.
Looking down at Harriet, I grinned widely, holding her close to my chest.
“Did you do that on purpose so Uncle Tate would stop bouncing you up and down, princess?”
Harriet looked up at me, her eyes bright and her mischievous smile making my heart melt as she lifted a finger and pointed it right at the end of my nose.
“You don’t stink that bad.” I laughed, pulling her close.
I was about to take her inside when I heard a car drive through the yard, the stones kicking up dust as the tires ran over them. The minute I saw Autumn driving, I knew who was about to charge toward us.
Ayda wasted no time, acting like she’d been away from us for weeks, not hours, as she jumped out of the front passenger seat, slammed the door closed and jogged over.
“Look at Mommy, Harry,” I whispered in her ear. “Isn’t shegorgeous?”
Harriet gurgled something that I told myself wasabso-fuckin-lutely, Daddy, and I waited for Ayda to come closer so I could kiss her already.
“I don’t want to hurt you anymore.”
“Then don’t ask me to leave.”
“I won’t. I can’t.”
Her smile grew as she got closer, the hair falling loose from the bouncing bun on top of her head.
I couldn’t imagine a time where I’d ever have found a reason to ask her to leave when now all I ever needed her to do was stay. Her absence made me ache. Her smile was what I lived for. She’d been a little piece of Heaven in the palms of my hands, and I’d somehow held on tight through it all.
“How are my two favorite people?” Ayda asked breathlessly, swooping in to kiss Harriet’s cheek before rising and pressing her lips firmly against mine. “I missed y’all.”
“We’re better now you’re here.” I grinned, pulling her into my other arm and holding her tight. I gestured to Harriet’s diaper, bouncing her in my arm. “Little Tucker has a present for you.”