Page 21 of Echoes and Oaths (Guardian Security Dynasty #4)

E ira glanced at Teo, who stood on the framed stool she’d made for him.

It was a standing playpen that was needed.

Teo wanted to do everything she did, and she didn’t want him to fall, so she used scrap wood to make the contraption.

He played with his wooden spoon and small pots as she worked over the stove's heat. She heard Mateo come into the house. She knew it was him. Raven had told her he was on his way back. How the woman knew that was beyond her, but how they communicated wasn’t her concern, although it was curious.

Cell phones only worked in certain areas because of the sparsity of towers in the area.

She glanced over her shoulder to see Mateo leaning against the doorway, arms crossed, watching them.

“Here.” She reached over and tossed him a bag of cornmeal. “You can help. Do you remember how to make arepas?”

Mateo didn’t answer. Instead, he stepped into the cramped space and pulled down a bowl from the shelf. “How many are eating?” he asked as he opened the cornmeal.

“Mom is at Tia Louisa’s today. She’s not feeling well, so she is making food and cleaning. Uncle Ruben will bring her back when he comes for the milk tonight. So, just the four of us.”

“Three. Raven is on an errand.”

Eira glanced over at him. “What kind of errand?”

Mateo shrugged. “We need some pictures.”

“As in drawings?” she asked as she grabbed a spoon to stir the beans she was cooking.

“As in photos,” Mateo said. He sprinkled some of the cornmeal into the small bowl Teo was playing with.

Teo smiled up at his father. Eira’s heart almost stopped.

The boy didn’t even question Mateo’s presence.

He was eighteen months old, and while he could say a few words, he was still mostly pointing and grunting or laughing.

They worked together in the kitchen the way they had years ago. Falling into a rhythm formed over countless nights cooking their dinners together.

When he finished, the arepas were a little too thick, and a couple were too well cooked.

She hid a smile and corrected herself, no, they were burned, but plenty weren't and looked good.

Teo sat on her lap while they ate. She tore apart an arepa and blew on the inside to cool it before she stuffed it with a small amount of cheese and beans.

Teo took it from her and started to eat it.

“I thought he would still be on a bottle?” Mateo said as he watched Teo eat the food. Mateo reached out with stunning speed, catching a large portion of Teo’s arepa that fell. The little boy took the food from Mateo’s hand and shoved it into his mouth.

She chuckled at the drop and food smash. “He takes a bottle only when he’s inconsolable. It’s more comfort for him now than necessity. He’ll be completely weaned soon.”

Mateo stopped with his food halfway to his mouth. “Is that good for him? Does he need formula or something? I can get some.”

She smiled and shook her head. “No. He’s eating foods like this. Everything has to be cut small so he doesn’t choke. But he’s fine. ”

Mateo nodded and ate his food with the gusto she remembered. The man could consume a mountain of food. They ate while also giving Teo bites of everything. “Could you hold him so I can get him some milk?” She stood up and held Teo out.

“I can get it,” Mateo said. A look of complete terror crossed his face.

“He won’t bite you, Mateo.” She dropped her son into his father’s lap, got a glass, and poured some fresh, raw milk into the cup. She glanced over her shoulder and smiled as Mateo’s hands guarded his son but didn’t touch him. She chuckled. “He won’t break.”

“Are you sure?” Mateo asked. “He’s so small.”

Eira turned to him and smiled, saying, “He’s a big boy.”

Teo looked up at Mateo and parroted, “Beeg boy.”

Mateo blinked, and then a wide smile formed across his face. “He talks?”

“Sure. He can’t talk in full sentences, but he knows words and can parrot. So, no curse words,” she warned as she set the glass in front of Teo.

The boy reached with both hands and brought it to his mouth. He slurped and sloshed the milk but drank his fill without Mateo wearing the rest of it before offering it to Mateo. Taking the cup from him, Mateo set it on the table, then wiped off the milk mustache with his finger. “I missed so much.”

“You have.” Eira wasn’t going to let him off the hook. But she wasn’t going to beat a dead horse, either. It was a fact. He’d missed so many milestones.

Mateo was quiet for a long moment. “How long has the farm to the west been abandoned?”

Eira blinked at the question. “Over a year. They loaded up their truck and left. I don’t know where they went. Why?”

“Simón wants to meet me,” Mateo said as Teo turned and slithered down his legs to the floor.

He lifted his arms while walking to her. “Momma, up.”

She lifted him up, and he tucked his head under her chin. “Yeah, it’s almost nap time, isn’t it?” Eira rubbed the baby's back and glanced at Mateo. “I’ll be back.”

“Can I help?” he said and stood up, picking up the plates off the table.

“Put him down?” She frowned.

“Yes. I should know how to do that, shouldn’t I?” Mateo looked at her. The sincerity in his eyes almost floored her.

“If you’d like, sure.” She went into the bedroom. Mateo took the cloth diaper from her and changed Teo before picking him back up. He sat in the chair with his son. “What do you do now?”

“Sing him a song.”

Mateo chuckled and began singing a lullaby she suspected was American. He hummed some of the words that he probably couldn’t recall. When he was done, she took Teo from him and laid him down in his crib. He fussed for a moment but quickly lost the battle to stay awake.

She kissed his soft hair, and Mateo did the same.

They left the small room and she closed the door behind her.

She leaned against the door and watched him walk back into the kitchen.

It took her a few moments to swallow the emotion that had built in her chest as she’d silently watched father and son.

Please, don’t hurt us. She drew several deep breaths and pushed her shoulders back before she walked into the kitchen.

Mateo was cleaning the dishes when she walked back into the kitchen. “Why would Simón want to meet with you?”

Mateo shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s the only person who detests Ortega as much as I do. Did you know he has a woman?”

“Yeah. Adriana. She lives in town. Her husband died in the wars. Simón has paid for her house and has food for her delivered from Ortega’s convoys. She’s ostracized because of it. A kept woman. I talk to her because we’re both tainted. She really is a nice lady.”

Mateo stilled, and he slowly turned his head toward her. “Say what?”

Eira blinked and looked at him. “A baby out of wedlock. The people here don’t say it as openly as they do about Adriana, but the religious implications are the same.”

He straightened, and she could sense an anger rising in him. “Has anyone treated you badly?”

“Badly? No. My family knew what you were, although they didn’t tell me until later after you’d left.

” She took a dish towel and wiped the dishes he’d washed, setting them back in the stack on the shelf.

“Your reputation kept things to cold shoulders, whispers as I pass, things like that.” She shrugged. “As you’d expect.”

“I wouldn’t expect that at all.” Mateo handed her the last bowl, and she wiped it and placed it in the small cupboard. “We can marry immediately.”

Eira snorted. “Not likely.”

“Why not?” Mateo frowned.

“Oh, I don’t know.” Eira crossed her arms and looked at him. “Why don’t you take a guess? ”

“Listen, this wouldn’t be for me. It wouldn’t be a way to edge myself back into your life.

I would give you my name in a heartbeat.

” Facing her, he put his hands on her hips before quickly removing them as if he’d forgotten he didn’t have that privilege anymore.

“No one should look down at you. Especially because of me.”

“Too late.” She shrugged. “I need to go collect the eggs while Teo is sleeping.”

“Do you need help?”

She stopped and looked back at him. “Do you know how to gather eggs?”

Mateo frowned. “I can be taught. Will he be okay alone?”

She nodded. “He’s going to be out for at least an hour and a half. Gathering and sorting the eggs will take twenty or thirty minutes, and I can hear him if he cries. The window is open a crack.”

“Sort?” Mateo asked as he fell into step with her.

“Some I keep for hatching. Most go to Ortega’s men. What I can keep, we use, and I give to family.”

“How does Ortega get the eggs?” Mateo asked as he walked through the chickens, pecking at the gravel. The flock knew it was time to be fed, and they followed or darted between their feet as they walked. She laughed at the way Mateo almost tiptoed through the hens.

“They’ll get out of your way,” she said as he almost tripped, trying to step around one of her chickens. “He gets a supply convoy every other day or so. They stop by, bring me empty cartons, and take the ones I have for them. I don’t talk to them, and they don’t talk to me.”

He grunted something, and she picked up a bucket, then went over to a sealed garbage barrel and scooped out some feed. She filled the feeder and asked Mateo to get them some water from the rain barrel. When they were done, she opened the coop’s door, and they walked in. She handed him a basket.

“They might peck you if they’re laying on the eggs, but they won’t hurt.”

“Good to know,” Mateo said as they moved through the nesting area.

It was a good yield. It normally was. The days were long, and there was plenty of sun to keep the hens laying eggs.

She put most of the eggs into the old cartons on a small table.

A huge tree shaded the small work area and was pleasant, even in the midday heat.

“You’ve done well here,” he said as they filled the cartons .

She glanced around. “I’d leave it.” And she would if she had a way to support her family.

Mateo stopped placing eggs and looked up at her. “Then let me take you away.”

She nodded. “When it’s time, we’ll go. But not until then.” She looked up at him. “You said you’d give me time.”

Mateo reached out and tucked a piece of hair that had escaped her braid behind her ear. “We’ve got the rest of our lives. I won’t rush you. I told you that, and yes, while it’s still relatively safe here, I’ll honor my word.”

“And I’ll honor mine. When you or Raven tells me it’s time to leave, we will.”

Mateo smiled and leaned down, pressing a kiss against her lips.

She shouldn’t let him continue doing that, but it was the most warmth she’d felt in years.

This was the man she remembered. The gentle giant who’d always treated her like she was a treasure.

This was the Mateo she loved. Her eyes popped open at the thought.

He cocked his head and frowned. “What?”

She frowned and shook her head. “Nothing. Nothing … did I hear Teo?” She turned and headed to the house. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

She was acting like a chicken, but the emotion coursing through her needed to be processed alone, not in front of Mateo.

She hadn’t stopped loving the man. She couldn't deny that, no matter the circumstances of his return. She closed the screen door behind her and dropped onto the old, worn couch. “Why couldn’t you be a farmer?” She huffed out a bitter laugh.

If he were a farmer, he’d be dead. No, the man he was was the man he needed to be for him to survive while doing his job.

And because he was who he was, she was alive, prospering, and out of Ortega’s reach.

She stared up at the ceiling. “Wow,” she whispered and then closed her eyes. He was who he needed to be. He was the Mateo she knew and, more, the Mateo he needed to be to protect them. The reality of that thought settled against her heart.

Could she forgive him? No, because there was nothing to forgive. He did what he’d thought was best. His reasons, his actions, and his absence were all orchestrated to protect her. And he had. He always had.