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With Jenna now fully aware of Luc and Antoine’s presence, the brothers took the spare bedroom while Nash slept on the sofa bed. Jenna went to bed early, exhausted from her day of discovery.

“This is just crazy,” said Nash, leaning his head against the back of the sofa, staring at the ceiling.

“I knew her for four years and never once suspected anything was wrong. I never drove by that house, that shack. I never asked about her folks, her family. And yet I can recall every damn time she’d ask me how my parents were doing. ”

“We’re all made different, Nash. You can’t beat yourself up over something you did or didn’t do as a kid. Did you meet her folks?” asked Antoine.

“No. Not really, anyway. I’d see them at school functions, but looking back, it always seemed as if they were in a hurry to leave.

She was such a happy girl. Always smiling, as if she had no worries in the world.

It’s what made me love her almost immediately.

Yet when I see that house, that does not strike me as a home that was a happy place.

“I have no idea if the girls were treated well, fed well, or anything else. Jenna just always seemed normal to me.”

“Maybe they were decent people,” said Luc. “We can’t judge them for the situation. I suspect that the Ciprianis were the ones paying them to take very good care of her.”

“I know. I just wonder what other shit I missed in high school,” he frowned. Luc laughed, shaking his head.

“Brother, you were a kid yourself. You can’t beat yourself up over that. Hell, I missed shit with my own siblings in high school! Even afterwards, when we were all serving, I didn’t realize how bad Baptiste and Rafe had become. They burned out fast and were struggling.”

“I hate to hear that,” frowned Nash. “I knew of your family. Everyone did. The Robicheaux Rangers, famous brothers who couldn’t be stopped. Then, of course, I’d hear about what Nine, Ghost, and Ian had done, all of the men with you. As a Marine, Rory Baine was the god we all spoke of.”

The men chuckled, nodding at him.

“Listen, we might have been Robicheaux Rangers, but don’t think we didn’t hear about all the others as well. Nine, Wilson, hell…”

“Trak!” they all said in unison, laughing.

“I thought that dude was just smoke and mirrors until the first time I met him,” said Antoine. “He scared the living hell out of me.”

“I think that’s his mission in life. Scare everyone so they stay away from him,” said Nash.

“We heard about all of you, too,” said Luc softly. Nash looked up at him and swallowed. “You take fireside stories with a grain of salt, but we listened because we’d seen a few things. I personally was a witness to something Flip did once upon a time.”

“I guess we’ve all got our stories, don’t we?” said Nash.

“How did you all end up together?” asked Luc.

“I think once we figured out there were more of us out there, we just sort of gravitated to one another. It was probably our ability to connect with one another. You could feel when someone who was like you was around you. With me, Flip’s wife, Nat, was a fire starter.

I could feel that she was out there. Not romantically, just that gut feeling that someone is there for you.

“When I met Hawke and David, I knew immediately that they were like me in some way. In the end, we were being chased, hunted, and tracked, and figured it was better if we stayed together.

“Mary, she was the first of us. She became our unofficial leader just by her sheer ability to evoke compassion and maternal instinct. She knew that there was a place for us to be safe, and she started tracking Kane and the others. That woman had balls the size of softballs,” he chuckled, shaking his head.

“We walked up to the cabin in Wyoming like we were welcomed guests. She knew enough to know that Kane wouldn’t shoot without asking a few questions. We lost some good people in all of that bullshit as we were running away.”

“I heard,” nodded Luc. “Uri Bellum and his wife. I met Uri a lifetime ago. He was a good man.”

“Yeah. And Mary. As I said, she was like a mother to me. And to the others, as well. Kindest, sweetest woman who ever lived. Your mother reminds me of her.”

“Yeah, Mama has a way of making everyone feel loved and cared for,” said Luc. Luc looked at Nash and then at his brother, then back again. “Do you think you can convince her to go back to Belle Fleur until we figure all this out?”

“I don’t want to force her,” said Nash. “I feel as though decisions were forced on her since she was a kid. Hell, some were forced on her before she had the ability to say yes or no. I don’t want to be that guy.”

“Brother, there’s no way that you’re ‘that guy.’ You’re just being a good man, Nash. You care for her, and I think you’ve been incredibly patient and kind. Far more so than I was with Montana,” said Luc. “I nearly pushed her away.”

“She wasn’t going anywhere, brother. I knew she loved you from the moment you danced together at Bull and Lily’s wedding.” Luc nodded, laughing at his brother.

“Just like we all knew that you loved Ella the second you saved her and Ryan,” grinned Luc.

“You guys definitely seem to have cornered the market on picking the right partners,” said Nash. “None of you are divorced, are you?”

“There are a couple of us,” nodded Antoine. “Pierre was married once before, but she died. He almost made a mistake the second time. Moose was married once before. A few of the other guys as well. But to your point, once they set foot on Belle Fleur land, it all seemed to right itself.”

“Can we agree all of that is attributable to your mother?” smirked Nash. Luc and Antoine laughed.

“I think if we don’t, we might be struck by lightning.” Antoine stood, nodding at Nash. “I’m gonna get some shut-eye. Hopefully, we’ll have a plan in the morning that will make all of us happy.”

“From your lips to your mother’s ears,” smirked Nash. Antoine and Luc stared at Nash a moment, sobering.

“Brother, don’t joke about Mama hearing us. That shit scares me.”