Her son. Playing war games.
Like she’d let him do that without her to supervise. Uh-uh.
Hawk had loaded her and Audrey, the noncombatants, into his pickup. Everyone else piled into the truck bed for the short drive down the dirt road to the forested area.
“This is crazy,” Kit muttered. She and Audrey were sitting in camp chairs in the pickup and holding umbrellas because—of course—it was pouring rain.
Aric would be fine. He was bundled in a dark sweatshirt, heavy jeans, with a camo stocking cap on his head.
After the four brothers, JJ, Regan, and Aric had loaded mini-water balloons into belt pouches, they’d jogged into the forest.
“It is crazy,” Audrey agreed.
Kit glanced at the blonde. “You could have played. I wouldn’t mind.”
“I join them for games I enjoy. Sneaking around in a muddy forest in the rain? I decline.” Audrey snorted. “I’m a librarian, not a soldier.”
Kit grinned and leaned forward, trying to see what was going on. What with the rain and the murk of the forest, she could only catch mere glimpses of the combatants.
As far as she could tell, the adults were going easy on the children—but not much. Her boy was holding his own, and Regan was excellent.
Except the girl had been caught by Bull, and he’d sat her down beside a tree and was tying her wrists. “I can’t believe he—” Kit squinted. “Is that toilet paper?”
“Isn’t it funny?” Audrey laughed. “Gabe said it’s Aric’s turn to save someone. The last couple of times, Regan rescued him, but now he knows what to do.”
“Oh, won’t he just feel amazing if he gets her free.” What a lovely way to build up her boy’s confidence.
Kit watched Hawk send Aric creeping forward. Sneaking around a forest kind of looked like fun. “I’d like to try. Maybe. When I can actually move.”
Audrey gave her a sympathetic smile. “You’ll have a chance. They love games like this. The snowball wars last winter were great—and I got surprisingly good at tactics.”
Tactics? “Is a war different from a snowball fight?”
“Mmm, less of a free-for-all. They’ll set up a flag for a target, and the defenders will try to keep the invaders from capturing the flag.” Audrey laughed. “At least we can see them today. In the winter, the sun goes down so early, we play in the dark. It’s a little eerie.
“I bet. Oh, look, there’s Aric.”
Her son crawled forward so carefully the underbrush barely moved with his passage. He reached Regan, then pulled a knife.
“Tell me that isn’t a real knife.” They wouldn’t; surely, they—
“It’s so soft a rubber that it bends if you look at it hard,” Audrey said. “I think the guys bought some last Halloween.”
Aric sawed at Regan’s “ropes” with his fake knife, and the already wet toilet paper dropped off her wrists. Dropping the knife, Aric covered his mouth with his hands—so obviously trying not to giggle that Kit started to laugh.
A second later, both children disappeared back into the underbrush.
“That was so cute.”
“It was. But it’s not always like this.” Audrey frowned. “The games can get kind of intense. Maybe scary. Aric’s pretty little.”
“That’s what I was afraid of. My son is very good at sneaking around and hiding”—Kit’s mouth twisted bitterly—“because it was the only way to keep from being hurt. But Gabe and Hawk said it might help Aric if he realized those skills can be used for fun. Even for offensive action as Hawk called it.”
Audrey tilted her head in consideration. “They might have a point. And throwing water balloons isn’t exactly frightening.”
“That’s what I hoped, but I wanted to be here…just in case.” Gabe had thought she shouldn’t come, what with her ribs and all.
But Hawk had agreed with her. When he’d said, “She’s a good mom,” she had to blink back tears.
Farther down in the forest, Aric emerged, then crouched behind a shrub, almost vibrating with excitement.
Regan knelt behind the next bush over, cleverly hidden from Bull and Gabe, the defenders of the flag. Turning, the girl grinned at Aric.
He grinned back, obviously still having fun.
After creeping up behind Aric, Hawk knelt and made a gesture, like breaking a stick. Then he pointed at JJ who was sneaking away to the right.
Aric nodded and started forward again.
“I think he’s going to be fine,” Kit said, almost whispering. “Look at him crawl.”
“He’s so little, he’s almost invisible,” Audrey murmured.
Standing behind a tree, Hawk exchanged grins with Caz as they watched Aric squirm his way toward where Bull and Gabe guarded the red flag.
“I saw Aric yesterday with Sirius on his lap—I swear the cat is almost bigger than he is. Aric was petting him and singing a lullaby,” Audrey said. “And Sirius was eating it up. Despite what he’s been through, your boy has a gentle heart.”
Guilt swept through Kit. It was her fault he’d been through so much. “You know, when I married Obadiah, he kept pushing Aric away, and I was furious with him. Then he moved us to the compound—and I was so relieved that Aric was in the children’s barracks and escaped most of his abuse.”
“Asshole men,” Audrey said under her breath.
“Listen to you.” Kit laughed. “You’ve been around the Hermitage guys too long.”
“Mako’s sons are foul-mouthed creatures,” Audrey agreed, then leaned forward, trying to see. “You know, if Aric didn’t have his hair covered, he’d be a lot easier to spot.”
“My little blond. I love his hair.” Kit smiled. “He got my face, but his coloring is his father’s.”
“Your first husband?” Audrey flushed. “Sorry. Frankie mentioned Obadiah was your second husband.”
Everyone was curious; of course, they were. And it wasn’t like her past needed to be a secret. Kit didn’t mind sharing. “When I got pregnant with Aric, I wasn’t married. I was just having fun. As it happens, condom effectiveness isn’t one hundred percent.”
Audrey snickered. “I did research for a women’s group presentation—so I know the stats. Ninety-eight percent only if you’re perfect. Effectively, it’s more like eighty-five percent.”
“Exactly. Now, I’d have told Aric’s father about him, but he was in New York for only a few days, and I never even learned his last name.” Kit blew out a breath. “I regret that, because I can’t tell Aric anything about his birth father.”
“You could do a DNA test to locate familial connections. When he gets older, he might get cranky about the whole no father around thing, but he’ll manage.” Audrey wrinkled her nose. “My mother went for artificial insemination, and I don’t know anything about my sperm donor. Well, aside from Mother saying he was brilliant.”
Kit’s mouth dropped open. “Um. Did you get…cranky?”
“As a teenager, I expressed my negative views about it. Or I tried. She was unconcerned about my opinions, so that was a failure.” The sadness in Audrey’s expression was fleeting. Her lips tipped up. “So was Frankie around when Aric was little?”