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“Ouch. No, this way—”
Bryce unlocked the side door with a soft click, then swung it slowly open. The hinges were well oiled, much to his relief, and he slipped out onto the veranda, then jumped over the railing into the dew-laden grass. The cottage, located down a stone path and no more than fifty feet away, was dark and silent, and he peeked around the side of the house to see the two teenagers attempting to use a crowbar on the window. He rolled his eyes. They were obviously new at this.
“Hey, there,” Bryce said conversationally, and both young men startled. The crowbar fell with a thunk to the ground and they started moving backward.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Bryce said. “I’m faster.”
At those words, they took off toward the fence they’d jumped to get into the yard. If they’d gone in opposite directions, he would have had to choose which one to take down, but since they hadn’t thought that far ahead, it didn’t take much for Bryce to sprint across the yard and catch them by their shirts halfway up the fence. He jerked them backward and they came down to the ground in a sprawling, wiry mess. Bryce got his knee solidly into the back of one of them, and grabbed the other by an ankle.
“Freeze!” he barked, his tone sharp and cold.
Both young men stopped moving immediately, except for the quick rise and fall of their chests.
Just then, a light came on in the cottage and Lily’s face appeared in the window. She disappeared and a moment later appeared in the doorway.
“Burke and Randy, what do you think you’re doing?” she demanded.
“You know these two?” Bryce asked incredulously.
“Of course I know them!” she retorted. “These are my little brothers. Two of them, at least. Now answer me!”
The demand was obviously focused on the young men in his grasp. He released them, and they both rose their feet, rubbing at sore spots from the tussle.
“Hey, Lily,” the bigger one said. “Didn’t mean to wake you up.”
“Get in here!” she snapped, then disappeared from the doorway.
Randy and Burke looked at each other sheepishly, then back at Bryce.
“That hurt,” the smaller one said resentfully.
“Probably did,” Bryce replied, unaffected. “Next time don’t run from a cop.”
“How were we supposed to know you were a cop?” the bigger one retorted.
Bryce pulled out his badge, then tucked it back into his pocket. “There’s your proof.”
“Man...” The young men headed toward the cottage where Lily was waiting for them, arms crossed over her chest. She wore a thick bathrobe, closed all the way up to her chin, and her eyes glittered in anger.
“Inside!” she ordered, and Burke and Randy did as they were told. Bryce felt a bit of an urge to obey, too. She sounded an awful lot like his third grade teacher, the memory of whom still struck fear in his heart. When Lily saw Bryce, she rolled her eyes.
“My idiot brothers,” she said, shaking her head. “They still think everything I own belongs to them, too.”
Bryce followed Lily into the tiny cottage. It seemed to consist of a sitting room, a bathroom—which he could see because the door hung open—and a bedroom to which the door was shut. It was cozy enough, and a tiny cry came through the bedroom door.
“So what are you doing here?” Lily snapped. She shook her head and whipped around. She disappeared into the bedroom and emerged with Emily in her arms.
Burke shuffled his feet against the hardwood floor. “We were hungry. Just came for a snack.”
“You’ve been drinking,” she said, shaking her head. “Not only are you underage, but you know full well we have alcoholics in our family. You’re playing with fire!”
“Oh, stop the lectures, Lily,” Randy said with an exaggerated sigh. “You’re worse than Mom!”
“And you’re dumber than I thought!” she snapped. “So this seemed like a good idea...lurking around my yard?”
She picked up a bottle of formula and looked from the baby to the boys, as if undecided on how to balance the three of them. She seemed to make a decision, because she brought both bottle and baby to Bryce, then turned back to her brothers.
“They were breaking in, actually,” Bryce said, adjusting the baby in his arms. “They were working at the kitchen window with a crowbar.”
Emily wriggled, turning her face toward him, her mouth open in a little circle. She let out a whimper, hands grasping at the air. He’d given Emily a bottle at the precinct, so he knew how this worked at least, and he popped it into her mouth. She settled in, slurping hungrily.
“Breaking in?” Lily’s eyebrows shot up and stared at her brothers incredulously. “You were trying to break in to raid my fridge?”
Both young men shrugged. “Nothing in the fridge at home.”
Lily glanced toward Bryce, and they exchanged a look. Emily wriggled in his arms, and he looked down at the baby—Emily’s needs not pausing even for a second while they tried to deal with Lily’s brothers. Why couldn’t babies come preprogrammed with patience?
Bryce wasn’t sure that he even believed them that they were here for food. If they had addiction issues at this age, they’d also be accomplished liars. A drug test would shed the light pretty quickly. Lily, however, seemed to believe them.
“Did it ever occur to you that Mom might need some help?” she demanded. “Randy, you’re sixteen, and Burke, you could have gotten a job last year. If you worked this summer, you could give Mom a bit toward groceries. What makes you think that you’re owed everything?”
“Come on, Lily. You’re our sister.”
“Do you have any idea how much it would cost to fix that window after you broke it open?” she demanded.
“You’ve got a customer coming soon. Charge him extra.”
“Officer Camden here is my guest for the next two weeks,” she said through gritted teeth. Her eyes flashed in anger, but she seemed to be trying to keep it under control.
“Oh.” Both looked Bryce. “We thought—”
“You thought what, exactly?” Lily’s tone turned dangerous. “I don’t care what you see on TV, you should know better than to assume that about me.” The boys looked sheepish, and Lily shook her head. “I have half a mind to drag you to church with me this Sunday and get your heads on straight. The next time you come into my house without first being invited inside, I will press charges.”
“What?” Burke looked offended. “So now we aren’t welcome here?”
“You are not welcome to climb through my windows!” Lily closed her eyes, then sighed. “Consider this a warning, boys. If you did this to anyone else, you’d be getting yourselves a criminal record. This is mine. My home. My life. My business. Hands off!”
“Fine,” Randy muttered sarcastically. “Nice to know you care.”
“I do care.” She marched over to a closet, wrenched it open and pulled out four boxes of cereal. Apparently, Lily also used her cottage for extra pantry storage. “I, more than anyone else in this town, care for you, and enough to make sure you don’t land yourself in jail one of these days for being utter morons.” Her eyes flashed fury, and she shoved the cereal boxes into their hands. “I’ll bring by some groceries tomorrow, but if I ever catch you drinking again—”
When Lily told him that she’d raised four little brothers, he’d had a cuter mental image than this one. These young men were out of control, and while Lily seemed to believe that all they wanted was a snack, he highly doubted it. If they were willing to break into their sister’s house, then he suspected they’d be willing to walk off with something they could sell for extra cash. He was more cynical when it came to people’s criminal capabilities.
Five minutes later, Lily’s brothers were gone, the baby had finished her bottle, and Lily had sunk into a chair by the window, looking tired.
“Did you want some tea?” Lily asked. “I could go over to the house and put on a kettle.”
“No.” Bryce fixed her with a direct stare. “I don’t need looking after. I want to know what that was.”
“My brothers.”
“Yeah, apparently,” he said with a shake of his head. “How often have they done this before?”
“I didn’t have the doors locked before,” she said with a sigh. “But with a guest, I obviously can’t have my brothers coming and going like they own the place.”
So maybe there was a chance that this was a food run, after all. He was having trouble garnering any respect for the young men, though. They obviously felt completely entitled to everything that their sister had worked for.
“She needs to be burped,” Lily said, grabbing a cloth and putting it over her shoulder. Bryce lifted the baby, and as she came upright, she let out a wet burp that dribbled down his wrist and onto the floor.
“Oh, that must feel better,” Lily crooned, taking the baby from him and putting her up onto her shoulder, where she continued to pat her back. “Let me get you a cloth, Bryce.”
She cast him a humored smile while he stared down at the dribbling mess. This was most definitely gross, and he’d seen a lot in his career.
“They aren’t bad boys,” Lily went on, passing him a cloth. “They’re angry. They’re lonely. They—” She shrugged. “They treat me like a second mother half the time. My dad died just after the youngest were born—they’re twins—so I pitched in and took over at home while my mom worked to keep us fed. It turned into an odd dynamic.”
Bryce wiped his arm, then the floor, his mind going back to his own father. His dad had left when he was six—a cocky police officer who ruffled his son’s hair and said, Don’t worry, Bryce. I’ll be around. Famous last words, because he saw his father only a few times a year after that, and Bryce and his mother had been left to figure it out together.
“My dad was out of the picture pretty early, too,” Bryce said. “You do what you have to.”
“Well, I didn’t do it well enough, if they turned out like this.” She turned sad eyes toward the window as if she could see them in her mind’s eye.
“You were a kid yourself.”
She smiled wanly. “I suppose.”
“You were right, though, that they’ll end up with a criminal record that way,” he said.
“I know.” She met his gaze frankly. “And I’m worried about them.”
If she gave an inch, those boys would take over everything she’d worked for. Bryce could see that clearly enough—just as clearly as he could see that she loved them quite ferociously.
“Don’t feel bad about having your own life,” he said.
“I don’t.” She rubbed gentle circles onto the baby’s back, and from Bryce’s position, he could see that Emily was asleep again. “I want my freedom. I want my own life. I want to take care of me, and only me, and not have to think about everyone who needs something from me all the time.”
“And foster care?” It didn’t seem to fit into that description.
“I’m only the backup foster care around here,” she said, “but even so, I’m supposed to be taking some time away from it all.”
He could understand that. She’d obviously been in the role of caregiver ever since she was a kid. Kids never did a very good job of raising each other. He didn’t blame their mother, and he didn’t blame Lily. They’d done the best they could after a death.
“Is that selfish?” she asked.
“Nope.” He cast her a smile.
Lily moved Emily and looked down into her sleeping face. “I’ve wanted to run a B and B since I was a kid, and I want to do this on my own.”
“Freedom,” he said.
“Freedom.” A smile spread over her face, and a glimmer of light came back into her eyes. “I’ve been holding out for this since I turned eighteen, and I thought I’d finally gotten it.”
Lily looked up at the clock on the wall, and Bryce’s eyes followed hers. It was nearly midnight.
“I’d better get the baby back to bed,” she said. “I’m really sorry about tonight.”
“I know.” He grinned. “Those Yelp reviews can be brutal.”
Lily rolled her eyes. “You aren’t half as funny as you think you are, Bryce.” She paused, grimaced. “Please don’t mention this on Yelp.”
“I was joking.” He caught her eye. “I promise. Have a good night. I’ll lock up over in the house.”
She gave him a tired smile, and he went to the door.
“Emily really likes you,” she said softly, and Bryce turned back. Lily cradled the baby in her arms, and somehow when she was cuddling the infant, everything about her looked softer. She was beautiful in a way that went right down to the core, and it warmed a place in his heart that he wasn’t comfortable peeking into. He wasn’t good for kids. He wasn’t a family man. He was a good cop, and he was a good man deep down, but he knew where to draw the line.
“You’re going to have to teach her to have better taste in men,” he said wryly, then turned back to the door. “Good night, Lily.”
Lily deserved her taste of freedom, and while he didn’t know if it was even possible, he’d like to be the one to break her out.
* * *
The next day, Lily stood in the guest room Bryce was occupying, pulling the sheets from the bed. Her mind was on the episode from the night before, her stomach clenched in anxiety. He was a cop—a cop! And her brothers had tried to break into the house where he was sleeping. She was grateful he hadn’t arrested them on the spot and brought them into the station. She was even more grateful he hadn’t pressed charges.
Not that they didn’t deserve it. That was the worst part. She tore the bottom sheet from the mattress and wadded it into a ball. This could have been the start of a criminal record for each. They were still her little brothers, and the thought of them facing authorities was enough to bring tears to her eyes.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” she muttered. Why did the boys have to ignore every piece of advice she gave them? Why couldn’t they see the consequences waiting for them? And while she’d thought that a B and B would be a great idea for this town to house the visiting officers, last night she realized exactly what she’d done—set up her own brothers’ eventual arrests if she couldn’t get them straightened out.
She definitely needed to step back from any foster parenting—her hands were already full with the boys. What good was she to the kids who’d move through her home if she couldn’t be the same stable influence for her own brothers? Family was supposed to come first.
Bryce’s suitcase lay on one chair, zipped shut. If it weren’t for that bag, she would hardly have seen any evidence of him being here. She looked at it for a moment, pushing back the temptation to snoop. She wasn’t a snoop by nature—it was that little rebellious streak inside her that constantly wondered What if I just...
When her boyfriend had asked her to move to Denver with him three years ago, it was What if I just left? What if I started a whole new life in a big city? But even then, she knew enough to realize that if she walked away, she couldn’t live with the consequences of how it would affect the lives of her little brothers.
She’d been praying all morning that God would show her how to protect those boys, from everything...including the cop under her roof. It was crazy to think of an officer of the law as the enemy, because she’d always been a friend of the police force. But this was about her brothers, and her protective instincts superseded anything else. Maybe if they grew up a little more...maturity might make a difference. Randy and Burke were sixteen and fifteen respectively, and the twins were only thirteen. None of the boys were terribly mature yet.
And Bryce was kindly helping her look into Aaron Bay. A good thing—she knew that! But that also pulled him in closer to her personal life, and that included her brothers. She’d set this whole thing up, and she felt trapped.
After her brothers left, she’d gone back to bed, but she’d been woken up twice by a very hungry little Emily. And as she looked around this room, she wished that she could be more focused on her business. She’d wanted this for so long, and she was deeply proud of this house, the decor, her careful plans to make sure her guests had as pleasant a stay as possible, and she regretted being unable to focus on it completely. But with everything that was happening around here, she just couldn’t.
In fact, she’d just gotten off the phone with her aunt, who’d been gushing over honeymoon plans. Apparently, they wanted to go to Europe—a perfectly romantic-sounding trip, except that Lily’s first thought was that her aunt would be off American soil, which felt more vulnerable. Lily knew she was trying to protect all of them, but was she strong enough to pull it off?
She flapped a sheet over the mattress, and it came down in a white billow. As she tucked the corners in tightly, she remembered all her daydreams as she got ready to open her bed-and-breakfast. None of them had included all the other drama. Her vision of owning her own business had included her being able to focus on the running of it without constant interruption. She’d imagined herself doing laundry, cooking meals, making up the perfect brunch for her guests, picking apples from the trees out back to make homemade pies—
Okay, it was possible that her daydreams had been slightly idealized... She hadn’t anticipated how much real life would creep in, though. She’d wanted some freedom, but when you loved people as deeply as she loved her family, maybe that kind of independence wasn’t possible.
Lily flapped the next sheet over the bed and tucked it in with efficient swipes. She pulled a wrapped chocolate out of her apron pocket and deposited it onto the pillow, then grabbed the jar of flowers off the bedside table. She’d bring up some fresh ones later on.
The doorbell rang, and Lily trotted down the stairs to open the door. She glanced into her sitting room where Emily slept, then came to the front door and pulled it open.
