Page 27 of Tattered Souls (Whispering Falls #2)

Garrick

I watched my little brother as he walked out of the house.

Something was going on with him.

I didn’t know what it was. But I was going to find out.

But I knew one thing that no one else did.

I knew what my brother did for a living.

Everyone thought he was a shithead.

And I had treated him like one.

Trying to pull his head out of his ass.

I never would have thought that my woman would have done it.

She’d worked wonders.

***

But as I stood there on the tarmac... I waited... and I didn’t have to wait long.

I saw him walking this way, and I crossed my arms over my chest.

He saw me and his eyes widened. Then he asked, “You know?”

I nodded, “Known for a while.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” he asked.

I shrugged. “You got four siblings. You're allowed to have something that’s just for you.”

He nodded, “Yeah, but you still could have said something when I was being a dumbass.”

I smirked, “Would it have worked?”

He shook his head and sighed, “Probably not.”

Then he asked, “Cover for me?”

“Always have. Always will,” I told him, and that was the truth.

He just didn’t know it. No one did.

“Thanks, brother.” He told me.

I wrapped an arm around him and pulled him in close and said, “Come back, whole. Okay? Don’t make me get my ass on a plane and leave my woman and daughter and hunt down whatever fuck dared to hurt you.”

He laughed, then he nodded.

When he pulled away, he jerked up his chin.

Then I watched as my brother, dressed in a pair of desert fatigues, climbed on a plane to take him to locations unknown.

After I watched the plane until I couldn’t see it anymore, I drove home.

In time to see Tatum waiting for me with a mug of hot cocoa.

And then she said, “It’s time.”

I knew what time it was.

I nodded, then headed to the garage and started getting the boxes down for her.

It was time to decorate the house for Christmas.

One Year Later

“One hundred and seventy-eight,” I whispered to my woman after she said honey.

Yes, I was still counting.

And I would until I took my final breath.

Seven Years Later

I sat there with our family and friends as act after act took the stage.

But then they said, “Next up we have Sage Griggs and her mother, Tatum Griggs.”

I stood up and started clapping for my two girls. Holding the two bouquets of roses in the crook of my arm.

My family followed suit.

Whistles. Cheers.

And we didn’t stop until the two of them made it to the microphone.

We all retook our seats.

I was curious.

I didn’t know what they were going to do.

They had both been tight-lipped.

And seeing them in their matching black dresses and pink clip-on strands in their hair, I knew one thing.

Had I never met Tatum, I wouldn’t be sitting where I am. I wouldn’t be attending my child’s talent show.

Because I wouldn’t have had children with anyone else.

My girl took the microphone from the woman, and Tatum took another one.

My girl scanned the crowd, and I knew instantly when her gaze came to me.

She smiled, showing the two missing teeth she had just lost, and said, “Hey, Daddy.”

“Hey, Pumpkin,” I called out unabashedly.

I was damn proud of her, and my wife.

That was when my little girl said, “Tonight, my mother and I are going to sing a song for you. It’s the song she dedicated to me. And she still sings it to me every night when I go to sleep.”

I knew just then.

It was possible to fall even more in love with Tatum than I already was.

My little girl took in a deep breath, and when the song started, she sang it beautifully.

“When I first laid eyes on you. When I heard your heartbeat, too. Oh, I never knew I could witness an angel so beautiful. From the very moment you arrived, I felt something new inside. I developed a love that was so unconditional.”

I was up, swaying in my spot, uncaring if I blocked anyone’s view.

Vaguely, I noticed my family had also followed suit, but my attention was on my entire world standing up on that stage.

“And I promise to give you everything that I have. There's not a dream in this world you can't accomplish or grasp. I will cross any ocean before I let you land. Just hold on to Mama's hand and never let it go.”

A few chords I sang along to. The only difference between this song and the original was when the word son was traded in for daughter.

As soon as they finished, Tatum was at Sage’s side, kneeling in front of her, hugging her tightly.

When they stood, it was to a standing ovation.

They were the winners.

Not because I was biased, because I sure as fuck was.

Tatum

Twenty Years Later

“Do you regret it?” I asked him.

I felt his eyes move swiftly to me. “Regret what?”

“Making that decision that day. Only ever having one child.” I said as I stared out into the moonlight as it shone down on the pool water.

The pool Garrick had installed for me, too. One of my dreams. One of many he’d made come true.

He moved to me then and knelt in front of me, “Where is this coming from, Tink?”

“You gave me my safe place. You jump-started my world. I don’t ever want you to feel as though you don’t have it all.” I said. Voicing my biggest concern.

He winked at me. “Tink, I already have it all. I was given all of it, the night you walked into Carter’s, and I saw you for the first time. I said to myself, she’s mine.”

“Garrick,” I whispered.

He grinned, “Never thought about having kids, Tatum. Never crossed my mind. Not until I met you. You may think that I jump-started your world, but baby, you jump-started my entire galaxy.”

I smiled, “I love you, Garrick.”

He winked, “Good. Cause forever and ever, it’s kind of a requirement.”

Then he leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss on my lips.

Just then, the sliding door opened, and Sage walked out with two bottles of beer and one can of pop.

Garrick stood, took the bottles of beer from her, and pressed a kiss on her forehead, “Thanks, pumpkin.”

Then my man popped the top, handed the bottle to me, then he popped his top, and took his seat beside me.

Then he held out his hand to Sage.

She grinned, offered him her can, and he popped the tab on that as well.

“My friends talk about how their parents are gross. How they don’t think they really love each other.

I told them that because of the love I see that my parents have for each other, I know the type of woman I’m going to be.

And I know the type of man I’m going to choose.

If he doesn’t worship the ground I walk on like you do for Mom, then I’m going to tell him to get his behind out of my life. ”

Garrick grinned, “Damn right you are. But I’ll talk to him first.”

Garrick’s words that day in the hospital while we were waiting for her to arrive... “She’s going to want what she sees. Promise you that, baby.”

I had hoped.

And in this moment, I knew it was true.

And he kept his promise to me.

Never... not once in the twenty years we’ve been together has he ever broken a promise he’s made to me.

My heart had never been taken into consideration; the deepest parts of my soul had been tattered.

But my man, and his Tattered Soul, intertwined with mine, we made each other whole.

“Four hundred and ninety-one,” he murmured against my lips as I had started saying honey when he made me cum.