Raine-Sin's NextTo Load

by K. J. Dahlen

  “I think they’ll both be happier now that they can be together again,” Molly told her family. “He’s told your dad and I a little bit about their life too. It just breaks my heart to hear what those two went through.”

  “She only sent the boy with his dad, so Bane wouldn’t find out about him,” Bones reminded them. “She do anything to protect him.”

  Molly nodded. “Yes, I know. She once told me she didn’t care what he did to her but she’d be damned if she let him hurt one hair on that sweet boy’s head.”

  Deke swirled the liquor in his glass. “I can only imagine the hell she’s been through but I’ve dealt with a small part of Cassie’s hell. Both of them are stronger than we realize but even with all that, they just need each other to keep them on a level plane. I don’t think either one of them has ever had friends before. It’s kind of like the friendship between Cassie and Peaches. Cricket is beginning to reach out and opening up to other people but it’s a slow process. She’s trying but it takes a long time to learn to trust people again. I’ve seen that in Cassie. Not very often but sometimes, she goes to a place where I can’t reach her. The only one who can is Peaches. I think it’s because they shared the really dark times together and Peaches knows what will bring her back, same as Dusty knows what to do to bring Cricket back from her dark place.”

  “That’s a lot to put on a kid though,” Judge stated. “He’s only seven.”

  “Not really,” Deke said as he slammed his drink down his throat. “Cricket knows he’s young and she won’t abuse the situation. She would never let it get that far. Not after everything she’s done to keep him safe. Hell, she gave him over to your family when it just about killed her to do it. He was as much her lifeline as she was his. I watched her in the days after you took him home. It was like she lost a huge piece of her soul. Cassie saw it too and she was really worried about her.”

  Gambler looked at his brothers and his parents. “Why did no one ever tell us that before today?”

  Deke studied the family then offered up, “I asked her about it one day. She was just so damn miserable, I could see she was running on empty. She didn’t want things to change. She told me she knew Dusty was safe and that’s all that mattered to her. She begged the club to never tell Bane about the boy. She kept telling us that as long as Dusty was safe and with people who cared about him, she would be ok.”

  “Yeah it took her a long time to reach that point though,” Raine told them. “When Bane came here and told us about the contract she made a deal with the devil to protect the people around her. When Bane left that day, I asked her if she wanted to have a chance to say goodbye to Dusty and she said no. She knew Bane would be watching her. He wanted to see if she would run away rather than face a bullet. She told me as much as she wanted to see the boy, she wouldn’t take the chance that Bane would find out about him. She’d rather he remember her the way she was.”

  “Bane did know about the boy,” Bones finally broke the silence about what they found in Bane’s car. “He had a copy of his birth certificate and a recent picture of him.”

  Raine stared at the other man. “He knew?”

  Bones nodded. “We didn’t show her that.”

  “But she told me the boy was born at home and didn’t have a certificate.” Raine was stunned by the news.

  “Then Cordy lied to her. She did register the birth,” Deke said. “I checked with vital records and he was listed.”

  “Damn, I have to wonder what Cordy was up too then.” Raine ran his fingers through his hair.

  “There’s something else you need to know about that birth certificate,” Bones informed him.

  “What’s that?”

  “She listed Cricket as the boy’s mother,” Bones dropped his bomb.

  Raine jumped up to his feet. His chair crashed behind him. “She did what?”

  “She had Cricket’s name listed as the boy’s mother,” Bones repeated his statement.

  “Why would she do something like that?” Raine asked. “It makes no sense at all.”

  “Sure it does, if you think about it,” Mountain stated.

  “How does that make sense to you?”

  “Cordy knew if anything happened to Cricket, she could cash in on the boy. She could get all kinds of benefits if Cricket was listed as his mother,” Mountain informed the entire room.

  Deadly silence laid over everyone as they thought about the big man’s statement.

  “That dirty rotten fuckin little bitch,” Molly’s soft voice echoed in the room.

  Black Jack and all four of her sons snapped their heads around to stare at her in shock. Their sweet mother had broken one of her firm rules. She very seldom swore and now she was calling someone a fuckin bitch.

  Molly looked at them and said, “What? She was and I hope she’s roasting in hell for what she planned to do to her sister and son. She would have killed that sweet boy and you know it.”

  Raine grabbed his chair, righted it and sat back down. “It makes sense now doesn’t it? She knew exactly what she was doing when she told Stark her name was Cricket. No matter what happened to him, she knew he would come after her at some point. She knew he would want her dead. She set her sister up thinking she would be the one who Stark killed and then Cordy would be free to get the money and she’d never have to worry about how she was going to live again. All she had to do was wait it out and she would have been a rich woman.”

  “Damn that woman.” Deke snarled. “She died way too soon to pay for all her crimes.”

  When Raine went to bed a little while later, he saw both Dusty and Cricket in his bed. He could see dried tears on Cricket’s face but she seemed peaceful now at least. Max was curled up at the bottom of the bed.

  Stripping off his clothes, he left his boxers on and slid into bed behind his wife. When she snuggled into his body, he knew she was still awake. He leaned close and whispered in her ear, “Are you okay?”

  Cricket nodded. “I’m better. I guess I needed Dusty tonight. Thank you for sending him in.”

  Raine laid back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. “I wish you could have told me what was bothering you. I love you so much and it was killing me not to know how to help you.”

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered in the dark. “I guess I didn’t realize how hard it was going to be to go to his place today. I dreaded going because there wasn’t anything he had that I really wanted. But when we got there and I saw the way he lived, I couldn’t help but wonder what our lives would have been like if we had just a little of what he took for granted. I saw all that cash in his safe and I felt bitter about it. We went without food sometimes and he had stacks of cash just sitting there. For a while, I really hated that man.” She shook her head. “I hated him bad.”

  “Has that feeling changed?”

  “Yeah, I forgave Bane the moment I felt Dusty’s arms hugging me tonight. He didn’t say a word, he just hugged me.”

  Raine had to smile at the simplicity of what the boy did. “Go to sleep. We can talk tomorrow.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Raine awoke when the sun was shining through the windows. He was surprised to feel a warm solid weight at his side and when he looked down he saw Cricket still in bed with him.

  Glancing over at the window, he noted the light shining through his window. Usually by this time of the day, she was long up. He glanced over at Dusty only to find his young eyes wide open.

  The boy raised his finger to his lips and smiled and as made a hushing signal.

  Raine nodded then motioned toward the door. Dusty nodded and they both got out of bed. Raine grabbed his clothes on the way out. Creeping toward the door, they closed it softly behind them.

  Dusty giggled as he watched Raine get dressed in the hall way. Raine ruffled his hair and together, they walked down the hall to the main room.

  Everyone was there having breakfast when they came in.

  When Raine got close to the table his family was sitting at, his m
other asked, “Where’s Cricket?’

  Raine shrugged. “She was still sleeping.”

  “What?” Cassie asked in shock. She looked at Deke with worry in her eyes.

  Raine lifted his shoulders again. “I know. I couldn’t believe it either but she was.”

  His mother just looked confused. “Is this a big deal or what?”

  Raine nodded. “Usually, Cricket is up before the day begins. She loves to stand by the window and watch a new dawn break. I don’t know why but she’s done that every morning since she got here.”

  “I know why,” Dusty told them.

  Raine and his entire family turned to Dusty. “Why? Why does she do that?”

  “She says when we dream at night and the nightmares come for us, it’s all too easy to get lost in them. The stars can guide us back to where we need to be but we have to be awake when the stars say goodnight and new day dawns or we risk being lost forever in our dreams.”

  The childish words cut Raine to the quick. “Does Cricket have nightmares a lot?”

  Dusty nodded. “She has them all the time but she doesn’t like to talk about them. She thinks that if she doesn’t talk about them then they won’t be real. I’d wake up at night sometimes and she’d be sitting over in a corner of the room. I asked her once what she was doing over there and she told me she just needed a minute. When she came back to bed, she was shaking. I asked her if she was okay and she told me that as long as I was with her she’d be fine.”

  Raine shook his head. He’d woken up more than a couple of times and she wasn’t in bed with him. He’d just gone back to sleep thinking she was in the bathroom but now he knew she wasn’t. All this time, she’d been hiding in the shadows until her nightmares passed.

  That would end today, he vowed. Today, they would begin to map out their future. He would help her forget her fears of the night by replacing them with better things to dream about.

  He looked over at his brothers. “Well, how would you guys feel about working on the plans for her new house today?”

  “There’s plenty of room for a couple new houses if you guys want to build here,” Deke offered. “Hell, we got a hundred acres of land, you guys should be able to find somewhere on the compound to build your houses.” He shrugged. “Some of the land might need to be cleared first but you’re more than welcomed to it.”

  “Thanks Deke. I’m sure she’d like to stay here,” Raine told him.

  “Are you talking about our new home?’ Cricket’s voice asked from behind him.

  Raine turned and smiled. “As a matter of fact we were just discussing it. Do you want to stay on the compound? Or buy some land somewhere else?’

  “Could we stay here?” she asked tentatively. “I like this place, it seems like home to me.”

  “Then we’ll stay.” Raine nodded. “All we have to do is get the plans started. Then the real work can begin. I want this house built before those babies come home.”

  Cricket threw herself into his arms and Raine laughed out loud, as he hugged her close.

  “And your whole family is staying here too?” she asked.

  “Yup, the whole damn family is together again,” Raine told her.

  “That’s just wonderful. I’ve never really had a family before, not like yours I mean.”

  “Nobody’s family is like mine sweetheart,” Raine warned her with a lopsided grin.

  * * * *

  Later after everyone settled down and plans were being printed up for her new house, Cricket and Raine faced the task of finding out what Bane had left for them in his safe.

  Between the cash and the bearer bonds, he left close to ten million dollars. Everyone but Cricket was astounded by the sums. She tried to give half of the money to Gambler for Dusty but he refused to take it. He did take one million for Dusty’s future but he told her that was all he would accept on his son’s behalf.

  She gave Deke and the club two million. Deke accepted it and said he would put it in the bank for a rainy day. She gave Raine another two million for the new business he and his brothers wanted to start.

  Then she gave Cassie a million for Redemption House. Cassie was excited when Cricket explained about her ideas for expanding the class rooms for the kids. She did set aside some of the money for her own use but most of it she said could go for wherever they needed it.

  Then she asked Deke if he knew where she could cash in the gemstones Bane had left. That money could be set aside along with the over three million in cash left over.

  Everyone was astounded at all the wealth. Only Cricket never batted an eyelash at it.

  * * * *

  A few months later, Cricket could see the progress the guys were making on her new house. Her belly was huge and she could hardly fit through the doors but the house was almost ready to move into.

  They had done an excellent job building her dream home. It had everything she ever wanted right down to the hardwood floors.

  Raine wouldn’t let her come into the house just yet. He wanted everything to be done before she saw the finished product, but that didn’t stop her from dreaming about it.

  They had decided it should be a four bedroom home with a huge patio for parties and barbeques with the club and with family. The master bedroom would have a balcony and its own bathroom. The master bedroom would face the east so she could watch the sun come up in the mornings.

  It was an open house plan, so even if she was busy in the kitchen she could still see everyone in the house. The living room would have a huge fireplace and mantle. Raine insisted he wanted an office but he promised her she could have anything she wanted in the kitchen. She opted for a huge working area and a six burner stove along with a dishwasher and matching refrigerator.

  It had been Dusty who told them Cricket’s house needed a place she could raise plants. He told his dad and his uncles she loved to raise vegetables wherever they were. So the guys added on a small greenhouse in the back. That was one of the things he hadn’t told her about. The master bedroom had another surprise he couldn’t wait for her to see.

  Raine had to keep her out of the house until the reveal.

  Today, they were going to Troy to buy furniture for the house. When she waddled out of the clubhouse that morning, she noticed Raine and Dusty waiting for her in Raine’s truck. She smiled at them as she made her way over there.

  When she opened the door, she grinned at Dusty. “I’m so glad you’re coming with us kiddo.”

  “Uncle Raine said I could come. He said he might need my opinion of what furniture to get.”

  Cricket looked at her husband and saw his grin. “Well good, you seem to know exactly what we need.”

  Dusty looked down at her big belly. “When are my cousins going to get here?”

  “Soon I hope, but they have a few more weeks to go.” She pulled herself up into the cab of the truck and sat down.”

  Dusty reached out and rubbed her belly. He smiled when he felt one of the babies kick at his hand. “He’s a feisty little thing isn’t he?”

  Raine and Cricket burst out laughing at his comment. “Now I wonder where he heard that saying.” Cricket looked at her husband.

  “Well he is,” Dusty complained. “Have you guys decided on any names yet?”

  “Your aunt has but she won’t tell me what they are yet,” Raine told the boy.

  Dusty looked over at him in shock. “You don’t even know your own kid’s names?”

  Raine shook his head. “Cricket wants to surprise everybody with their names.”

  “Yeah but what if they’re terrible names?”

  Cricket laughed out loud. “Do you think I would give my babies terrible names?”

  “Well no,” Dusty agreed. “But boys need names they can grow into. I mean what kind of a name is Dusty? That’s a bad boy’s name. Why would my mom do that to me?”

  Cricket wrapped her arms around his tiny shoulders for a moment then told him something she’d never told another living soul. “But it’s not
a terrible name at all, kiddo. And your mom didn’t name you that, I did.”

  “You did?” He exclaimed in shock. “You named me Dusty? Why?”

  “Because when I was a little girl and we were living by the lake up north, before Grandpa and your mom and I moved to Maine, I had a special place where I would go to be alone for a few minutes. My mother, your grandmother, had just died and I was sad all the time back then. I was only your age at the time and I just needed a few minutes away from everyone else to collect my thoughts. It was early one morning when I went to my favorite place and the early morning dew was still on the grass. The flowers were all in bloom and the whole place looked like it had been dusty with fairy magic. That was the morning that my special place took on a whole new meaning for me because I could almost feel the magic in the air. I sat there and just stared at around. Everything was so pretty and I had such a sense of peace. I thought it really was dusted with fairy magic. That’s why the first time I saw you, you reminded me of that day in my favorite place. I hadn’t thought about my special place in a very long time but the morning you were born, you brought those memories back to me. To me, you were dusted with that same fairy magic and I named you Dusty to always remind me of that place in my heart.”

  “Really?” he asked. “That’s how I got my name?” Dusty had tears in his eyes when he looked at her.

  Cricket brushed them away with her fingers. “That’s how you got your name. When I first saw you, I knew you’d mean so much to me and you really do. I fell in love the moment I saw you. I’ve never told anyone about that.”

  “Why not?” he asked.

  “Because that story is special to me. I feel it deep down in my heart and it holds special meaning for me, just like that place had. That was my special place and mine alone. I never shared it with anyone.”

  “Someday will you share it with me?” he asked.

  “Only with you, and nobody else.” She promised him.

  Dusty sighed. “Ok maybe you do pick special names after all.” He looked over at his uncle. “I think you and the babies are safe. She won’t let them down.”