Secrets Read Online Free PDF Page B

pretty as his brown baby girl had
been, but she’d do.
    “Untouched?”
    “Of course.”
    “Good.”

Chapter 5
     
    After placing her overnight bag in her
bedroom, Chastity smiled as she heard the sound of running feet.
Legs braced apart, she prepared to catch the twin tornadoes headed
toward her.
    “Mama!”
    “Mama’s home.” Two sets of hands wrapped
tight around her waist. She squeezed and inhaled the fresh clean
scent that was unique to her handsome treasures.
    “Hiya doing man cubs?” She tickled Jonah and
then Micah. Both boys laughed so hard they fell backward on the
bed. She continued kissing their cheeks as she tickled them.
    “Mmmm, man cubs, good man cubs.” She
deepened her voice and squeezed them again. “I missed you
yesterday. Robbie said you behaved and even helped him with some
chores. For that, I have a surprise for you.”
    “For real?” Micah asked.
    “A surprise?” Jonah’s lack of front teeth
sent a spray of fluid onto his brother’s cheek.
    “Ewww, you sprinkled me.”
    “Did not.”
    “Yes you did. Mama, didn’t he spit on me?”
Two light brown eyes peered seriously at her. Her heart raced at
the thought of any harm coming to her babies. They were so
precious, so innocent. It was her job to make sure they remained
that way. The only thing she’d requested from Mr. Baxter was to
teach her how to keep her children safe. After a short argument, in
which she remained adamant, he’d agreed. It had taken years of
apprenticeship as he taught her business principles, but she’d
learned at the master’s knee. Inhaling her renewed purpose, she
winked at her sons.
    “I don’t know.” She stood, laughing at their
light-hearted teasing, the sound of security. The sound of joy and
happiness. A sound she’d missed at their age. Moving toward the
kitchen, she removed the box of Cinnabons from the pantry, sliced
one, and placed each half of the sticky treat on the counter.
Arguments temporarily forgotten, they tore into the pastry. She set
out another danish and a cup of coffee for Ms. Cook before calling
her into the kitchen. Mariah followed close on the heels of the
housekeeper. It was rare to see one without the other, the older
woman doted on the child.
    “Oh my,” she said softly. “You're a
sweetheart to be thinking of me at a time like this. You’ve got a
lot of work to get to and all.” She sat in front of the coffee and
took a sip. Her lips spread upward. “Ah. This is delicious. Much
thanks to ya.”
    Chastity smiled and dropped a kiss on
Mariah’s cheek. Her daughter had eaten more than her share of
sweets and was now cheerfully munching on the bowl of cereal she’d
placed in front of her.
    “I talked to a Navy Seal and he told me I
should be one.” Micah spoke around the pastry in his mouth.
    The smile on Chastity's face froze. Her
system shut down at the news that someone she didn’t know had been
around her children. That’s how kids were abducted; making small
talk, making them feel safe and comfortable around strangers. Her
eyes narrowed as Jonah joined in. “He said you should follow your
heart.”
    Micah shrugged. “Same thing.” Neither
noticed the tightening around her eyes, or her pursed lips.
    “What Navy Seal? Where did you meet him?”
Chastity hadn’t meant to snap at them, but fear of the unknown
always lurked just beneath the surface, ready to strangle her
fragile strip of peace and rip her sanity to threads.
    Startled, they glanced at her, then nodded
toward the front of the house, their actions mirroring one another.
“In the living room, yesterday. Ms. Cook said he came from around
the world to check on us.”
    “Someone came here yesterday?” She gazed at
Ms. Cook who’d just put her cup down.
    “Huh? Yesterday, somebody came here?” The
older woman squinted at the boys.
    “Yes’m. You introduced me and Jonah to the
big man with the dark hair and light eyes, said he came to see
us.”
    Confusion evaporated from Ms. Cook's face,
her