The Bloodline

Chapter 4, The Bloodline

Chapter 4

There was something about the shadows cast over the rolling hills of his land in the early morning light that made it look undisturbed. They weren't the kind of shadows filled with darkness and the end. Rather, they were filled with light and a new beginning. He almost laughed for a moment at his realization, because he wasn't someone who ever considered such things. But he'd never before contemplated life as he did now.

Now his family was everything he thought of.

He thought about protecting his children, his wife, all the while staking his claim in another state and away from the influence of his family. He loved this land, his place, his house. He loved his life, and more than anything he loved the family he'd never realized he needed.

He checked on Sarah again, then each of his children, seeing them asleep, breathing softly, safe under his roof. He stopped in the doorway of his bedroom, taking in the small huddled form breathing softly. Laura had finally fallen asleep after the tension between them. He hated seeing the look of fear in her face. She'd said nothing more as he helped her clean up, doing the dishes, bathing the kids, and settling them all in for the night. At least she'd let him hold her, and even though he picked up on her uncertainty, he could feel how much she needed him. Neither Laura nor he were the same people they once had been. She'd come a long way from the thin waif of a maid working in his mother's mansion, where he'd first laid eyes on her in that ugly sacklike dress, crouched on the floor, picking up the pieces of a shattered vase. She was now his wife, the mother of his children.

And he loved her.

Had he ever told her? He had showed her, he knew, in every touch, every kiss, every time he was buried inside of her, connected to her, closer than two could ever be. To him, it wasn't just sex. There was a fine line, and he finally understood, having crossed over to a connection so deep he swore his soul had been touched, connecting and intertwining with hers. It was on a level he would never share with anyone, and it had made him who he was now. How different his life was today, away from Caroline and away from the influence of Todd.

"Andy?" Her voice sounded so groggy as she rolled over on her side, her hair a mess as she gazed at him in the dimness of the predawn light. "Why are you up?"

What could he tell her? He hadn't been able to sleep from worrying about what he had to do and struggling with a decision he knew he had to make. "Just thinking."

She didn't say anything, but he could feel her watching him, and then she pulled back the covers without saying a word, letting him know the empty spot beside her was his.

He shouldn't, because he needed to think, to decide. "You're tired, and Sarah has been back down a few hours," he said. "She'll wake again soon to nurse. You need your sleep."

"So do you," she said again, sounding more awake.

He pulled off his T-shirt and stepped out of his jeans, wearing nothing else, and climbed in beside her. He slipped his arm around her as she curled in beside him as she always did, fitting so nicely against him. As he held her, it hit him that she was the first woman who'd ever felt so right. Her head rested on his chest, her arm across him and her leg entwined with his. He could take her right now. He was ready, he was always ready with her, and she would let him. She never denied him, and he knew she would love it as much as he would.

"Are you okay?" he finally asked her, and she sighed, running her hand over his chest, playing with his chest hair, smoothing it down and caressing him in that way she did when she was thinking.

"I should be asking you that. You've been so quiet."

Quiet, was she kidding? He felt as if his world had been rocked, and he was stumbling, wanting to protect his family, do what was right, and make sure Laura never doubted where his responsibilities lay. "I'm worried about you," he said. "I don't want you ever to have to worry again or be afraid that I'm not here for you." He pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

She turned her head and then rolled over until she propped her chin on her hand, resting on his chest, looking up at him. "You're wrong, Andy. I'm not worried about me because I know you would do anything to protect us. You moved us away, sold everything. I know you keep things from me, and there's times I'm grateful you do because I was scared to know, and scared that your mother, your family, would try to pull us apart. You're all I have, just you and our children. You're everything to me. I'm worried about you."

He frowned, because of anyone, Andy knew he could handle anything. "Don't worry. It will be okay, but I have to go back." He hadn't decided until now. He hoped she understood.

She pressed a kiss to his chest. "I know."

He touched the top of her head, smoothing her hair again.

"So when do we leave?"

He wasn't sure he'd heard her right, and he felt cold, having to pull his hand away, resting his arm over his face and then back onto the pillow. "As much as I'd like to have you there with me, I think it would be better if you stayed here. I want you and the kids to stay."

Laura pulled away and sat up, sitting cross legged beside him. "Why would you say that, Andy? I don't understand. Your mother died. No matter what, we should be together. You shouldn't be going there alone. We're a family," she added, but this time she didn't pull away. She stayed where she was, touching him.

Andy couldn't help admiring her and seeing a strength in her he hadn't known existed. She'd been through so much in such a short amount of time. She was so young. Most her age were starting out in university, just beginning the most exciting time of their lives, experimenting with love, enjoying their freedom, and here she was, a mother of four, going from teenager to adult overnight. He wanted more for her. He didn't want anything bad to touch her again.

"We are, which is why I don't want you there. I want you and the kids to stay here, where I know you'll be safe." And his father wouldn't be lurking in the shadows. Not that he thought Todd would make a move on his wife, but he chased pretty young things, he always had, and Laura was Andy's alone. "I made a promise to you before that you would never have to go back to the estate." To his home, his mother's home. She'd never been back after the night she'd fled with Gabriel, pregnant with the twins, afraid because she'd discovered his mother had plans to get rid of her and take the babies. He felt the awful tightness in his chest return that hadn't been there for so long, a reminder of the horror his wife had felt. Worse, she had believed he could be a part of it.

"What are you thinking?" She reached up and brushed back a lock of dark hair on his forehead. "I always know when you're worried about something. You get this faraway look and seem almost angry. It used to frighten me."

He was watching her as she watched him. He knew he was intense, demanding, difficult. That was who he was, and he hadn't known he'd frightened her. He didn't like hearing that. "I didn't know that. Do I still scare you? I don't want you scared of me." The bedroom was lighter, and he was mesmerized at her beauty.

"No, you don't scare me. I learned a long time ago that everything you do has a reason. I just told myself I don't need to know when you decide something. Sometimes you tell me, and when you don't I've come to understand it's because you're scared for me, worried something will upset me. I'm so grateful that you've taken all that worry off me. Everything I've had to do alone is now replaced with you being there for me and taking care of everything, so much so that now I worry you'll take on too much and something will happen to you."

He was surprised by how sure she sounded. She'd changed so much from the young woman who was so uncertain about so many things. She'd grown into such confidence in his shadow. "I'm stronger than that, Laura. Nothing is going to happen to me." He planned to be around a long time, raising his children, a houseful of children that he'd never get tired of.

"Well, I plan to make sure of that," she said just as a cry from Sarah started in the next room. "Stay there. I'll get her." Laura climbed over him, wearing his T-shirt, which she'd slept in. It covered her rounded derriere as she walked barefoot out of the bedroom.

As Andy listened to Laura in the next room, talking in that sweet way she did to his daughter, he couldn't help thinking about what she meant. There was something in Laura that had changed her from the young woman he'd married because she needed him, his protection, his help, to this self-confident woman who had just turned the tables on him in a way he'd never expected.