Quinlan: Foster’s Pride – Lion Shapeshifter Romance (Foster's Pride Book 3)

by Kathi S. Barton

  Chapter 9

  Hanging up the phone, Tommy had a few minutes to himself as he stood there thinking of what he’d just been told. Robin Quarter was in jail, and his little girl had met someone. Not that he didn’t believe his little girl could care for herself, but he liked that Ms. Foster had filled him in on Cassidy Foster and what sort of means he had to take care of the three of them.

  “Tommy, what is it? You sounded upset.” He told his wife of nearly fifty years what the call had been about. Michell sat down on the chair. He was glad there had been one there for her to use. “Is she coming home?”

  “She’s in the hospital. I was told it’s nothing more than a precaution. The landlord she was renting from, he tried to hurt her.” He didn’t say more. Michell seemed to understand. “We were asked to decide what we want to do about seeing her. And the boys. Like that would ever be something we’d have to think about.”

  “Who called you?” He had to glance at his notes, knowing he had to get the name right the first time or he’d not remember it. “An FBI agent? In the family? My goodness. Whatever are we to think about that?”

  “Nothing. The man that is Sarah’s mate—she did say, mate—is an attorney. A good one, too, apparently. He works for the family. And even had she not told me, I know who the Fosters are.” She said she had heard of them as well. Tommy sat down. “Do we tell the others or wait until we know things? I haven’t any idea what that might be, but you tell me, and I’ll call them. Jude will be thrilled beyond words. He’s missed his sister.”

  Jude didn’t know who his sister was, but he thought saying it like he had made his wife feel better. Jude had been born with the cord wrapped tightly around his little throat and had suffered brain damage. He was a good boy at thirty-six, and perhaps he did miss Sarah, but not as his sister, Tommy thought. Just someone he’d not seen in a long time.

  “We’ll have a hotel room set up for us, she told me. Also that if the others were wanting to come, they’d send their plane for us.” He had to laugh a little. “Their plane. I don’t know if I’ve even been on a domestic flight, much less a private one.”

  “Yes, you have. Our honeymoon.” He was joking but again kept it to himself. This was serious business here, and he didn’t want his wife upset. “Should we call the others?”

  “Yes. If we don’t tell them, they’ll be upset. Not that they’ll be upset for long, but it might be nice to have them with us when we meet her new family.” He thought of the boys and the pictures he had of them that were almost as old as they were now. “They’d be nine about now. I’ve only seen them the one time, and that wasn’t nearly enough. Grandsons. I need to see them as much as I do our Sarah.”

  “Me as well, Tommy. I’ve so missed her.” She stood up, then sat again. “I just want to think about this for a moment longer. The thought of seeing them all, it’s just like a dream, and I don’t think I ever want to wake from it. Are you sure that man is in prison? He should have gone long ago, but we just didn’t have the money to sue him. And Sarah wouldn’t hear of it. Oh, Tommy, I want to have a hug from them so desperately. Did this woman say when we could go?”

  “Today if we’ve got a mind to.” He wanted to leave right that moment, but he knew there were things to be planned and such. “She told me that Robby Quarter is there with her. That he’d only just found out about Sarah and the boys. I don’t know why, but I had it in my head that we were told he was dead.”

  “Yes, we were told that. But then every other thing coming out of the monster’s mouth has been nothing but bologna. It’s a small wonder he’s been put away. Did she tell you how he was caught?” Tommy said he’d not thought to ask. “Well, I suppose we can get to that when we get there. I’ll call the girls, you call Michael. Tell them…. I guess we should plan on this trip for the morning if they’re really going to send something to go in. It certainly will be much cheaper this way.”

  “I agree.”

  He didn’t tell her they’d offered to pay for them to be in a hotel if they were all to come. Remembering to do that so she could tell Shelly and April so they’d not be out anything but a couple of days work, he called his son. Michael was about as thrilled as he’d been when he’d heard they could see Sarah.

  “I’d have to see about money, Dad. As much as I’d love to go and give her a hug, I can’t afford much right now.” He told him what the Fosters had said. “For all of us? I mean, my wife and child too? Dad, Sarah hasn’t met Belinda or my son yet. We were married after she left home to hide out. I’d love to be able to take them too. You see, and if that can be done, I’m all in for it. I’ll be there whenever they tell us to be.”

  After finding out his daughters had said the same thing about having things paid for, he was happy to know they were willing to drop everything to go see their sister. He’d not thought of how she might not have seen some of the kids yet, and that made him cry just a little. Sarah had missed so much. They’d missed so much too.

  He made a head count and was sure they’d tell him it was just too many people. Fourteen of them converging on a generous family was a lot to deal with. Not to mention hotel accommodations. So when he called Mrs. Foster back, Tommy was prepared for her to tell him just that. However, she was excited that Sarah would see her entire family and didn’t say a word about how many.

  “You tell me how many per room, Mr. Linton, and I’ll work that into the hotel. Also, we’ve rented out a restaurant that was being fixed up to feed us all tomorrow night.” He couldn’t believe people were being this nice to his family and told her that. “You’re going to be our family as well, and we make sure family is all taken care of. You’ll get to meet all of Cass’s family too. I did tell you they were lions, correct? So don’t be surprised if they’re a little larger than normal men.”

  “My daughter-in-law, Belinda, is a lion. We know a few other shifters as well.” Parker, as she told him to call her, was happy to hear that. “Parker, this is going to be expensive. I mean, I’ve heard about your family, and I still think this is a great deal of money to be putting out for a family you don’t know.”

  “No, it’s not. We’d pay more just to have Sarah happy. I think she’s a little down with all this going on. By the way, she has no idea you’re all coming. We thought it would be a lovely surprise for her and the boys to see you all.” He said it certainly would. Then he told her about the nieces and nephews she’d not met. “Then it will be twice as wonderful for her. Tommy, you leave the arrangements to me, and we’ll have a party like no one has ever seen before.”

  “I’m sure of that.” He laughed when she did. “All right. If you can make the arrangements for us to come there tomorrow, we’ll be at the airport. There are a lot of us, so we might have to make a couple of trips to give me some time.”

  “I’m sending limos to get you all.” He nearly sobbed when she told him it was part of their welcome to the family plan. “It would be wonderful if you could make sure everyone is meeting up at your home. It will save us some time to get you out here.”

  He called his family back and told them what was going on. All of them were going to come home tonight and be there in the morning. Since he knew it would take them a while to get packed and such, he told them they’d have dinner here, and that should give them plenty of time. Glancing at his clock, he thought that in eight hours, his kids, for the most part, would be all under one roof for the first time in ages.

  Bedtime came later than he wanted, but it was wonderful to see his kids. Jude had to be taken outside a couple of times—it got to be too much for him. But he loved the kids, and he played with them as much as they did each other. He could only imagine what the Fosters would make of him when he was upset.

  At eight sharp, the limos pulled into their drive. The neighbors were out looking at the sight as he started loading up suitcases into the vans. He didn’t care. Tommy was going to see his little girl, and they coul
d fly a fig for all he cared.

  Once the men had the vans loaded up, they went ahead to the airport to start on the trip. Car seats had been provided, which he thought was very nice, as well as snacks for the kids to munch on. There were even some things for Jude, which he thought was well beyond a nice thing anyone could have done for them.

  Loading into the plane took less time than he thought it should have, and a few minutes after he was seated and buckled in, they were in the air. Christ, he thought, looking around at his family. This was all possible because of the kindness of strangers.

  A man came back to speak to them just as the seatbelt sign was turned off. “Hello, everyone. My name is Cassidy Foster. Everyone calls me Cass. Sarah is my mate.” The applause had the younger man’s face turning a bright pink. “I came along to answer any questions I could about not just Sarah and her being hurt, but anything else I can do for you. But in the meantime, I’ve brought you a little surprise.”

  The boys came out of the cockpit, and Tommy nearly knocked his wife out of the way to get to them. My goodness, Tommy thought, they were handsome little men. All of them hugged them, telling them how excited they were to come along, and by the time they were landing in the little airport near a city called Zanesville, Toby was sitting on his lap, and Mike was sitting with his grandma.

  “You’ve given us a great gift, young man. Not just in having the boys here, but with bringing us to my daughter.” Cass said it was his pleasure, but he’d wanted to meet them as well. “Yes, well, you might want to take that back when we all converge on my daughter’s room and drive you insane.”

  “Mr. Linton, I have a very large family myself. I know loud. But Sarah is at the hotel now. They released her this morning, and my brother made sure she was taken there for us to have more room. My sister-in-law, Rogue, has a Ph.D. in forensic photography, but she is also a good doctor. She’s making sure she doesn’t overdo it before we arrive.” He was impressed at the jobs they all had. “You weren’t told this, and I’m sure you’ll find out anyway, but Parker, you’ve spoken to her, she’s a witch. An honest to goodness witch. We’re all sorts of things when you get right down to it.”

  There was a lot to think about, but he pushed it all to the back of his mind. The ride to the hotel seemed to take forever, but it was made easier with Toby and Mike with them. The boys told them all about their life. He was sure there was worse than they were saying, but they were happy, and to Tommy, that was more than enough.

  Pulling into the parking lot of not a cheap hotel as he had thought, but a very nice one, Tommy suddenly had second thoughts. He wasn’t sure she’d welcome them. That Sarah had somehow changed. But when Toby pulled him free of the first luxury he’d had in forever, Tommy went into the hotel. There his Sarah was talking to Cass, who had left ahead of them.

  “Daddy? Mom?”

  That was all it took for him to lose it. Sarah hugged them all, marveling over the babies and her family. Even Jude was excited and hugged Sarah several times, as they all did. It was a homecoming he was glad the Fosters had made possible for them all.

  Before You Go…

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  Kathi Barton, a winner of the Pinnacle Book Achievement award as well as a best-selling author on Amazon and All Romance books, lives in Nashport, Ohio, with her husband, Paul. When not creating new worlds and romance, Kathi and her husband enjoy camping and going to auctions. She can also be seen at county fairs with her husband, who is an artist and potter.

  Her muse, a cross between Jimmy Stewart and Hugh Jackman, brings her stories to life for her readers in a way that has them coming back time and again for more. Her favorite genre is paranormal romance, with a great deal of spice. You can visit Kathi on line and drop her an email if you’d like. She loves hearing from her fans. aaronskiss@gmail.com.

  Follow Kathi on her blog: http://kathisbartonauthor.blogspot.com/

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9