Page 129 of Mouse Trapped

What a great place to bring up children.

“Think it over?”

Still stunned, I find myself shaking his hand and agreeing. Then going to find Mariana and Drew, and finding myself still incredulous as I enlighten them as to my discussion with Jacob.

As though in a dream, the three of us walk around, eyeing up what could become our new home.

Mariana puts her hand on my arm, I turn to look down at her. “It’s so peaceful here, Tse. If Jacob means it…”

She’s right. Before I lived on the Rez, and after it, to me this place always felt like home.

Data, information, puzzle pieces.

I breathe in deeply, watching Drew try to entice Niyol with a carrot, then looking down at my wife, realising this place is the last fragment I’ve been seeking. Here, I can make my home, a real home for Mariana, for her brother, and the children we’ll have in the future.

I was nineteen when I became Jayden’s knight in shining armour, her Paladin. At only fourteen, she developed a teenage crush on me, the man who rescued her.

I gave her time to grow, waiting for her feelings to mature. As years, when I was forbidden to touch her, passed, I never doubted she was mine. I just wasn’t allowed to show it.

Circumstances send us to Colorado, away from the restrictions and over-protective brothers. At last we have a chance to be together.

What could be better?

What could be worse?

A new club. A new life. Out of my depth, I don’t fit in.

A different president and his old lady with their own issues. For some reason, Hellfire and Moira want to force Jayden and I apart.

Jay and I are just beginning. Or is it the end?