Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 78631 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78631 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
And I didn’t call Antonio.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Diana
To my surprise, Griffin sleeps through the night.
I expect her to wake up screaming, not knowing where she is. But then I wonder… When was the last time she actually got a night of uninterrupted sleep?
I have no idea what they did to her in the cult. I don’t see any scarring on her, but maybe they hadn’t gotten to her yet.
We can only hope.
But she’s got enough emotional scarring from her time with Malcolm Osborne.
I wake up, and Dragon is still passed out next to me.
No wonder. Both of them have been through so much. I take a quick shower and then order some breakfast for all of us from room service.
I wake them both when it arrives.
“Dragon,” I say.
His eyes pop open. “What? Everything okay?”
“Yeah. It’s morning. I ordered breakfast, and it’s here. I thought maybe you should wake Griffin. I don’t want to startle her.”
“Yeah, sure.” He gets up wearing only his boxer briefs and shuffles into his jeans. He begins to walk through the adjoining doorway—
“Dragon…”
“What?”
“I think maybe you should put on a shirt.” I gesture to his tattoo and pierced nipples.
“I suppose you’re right.” He looks down. “This could scare the shit out of her.”
“She’ll get used to it, but she probably doesn’t need to wake up to that.”
“Fair enough.”
I narrow my eyes. “I, on the other hand, love waking up to that. Just to be clear.”
Dragon chuckles and throws a T-shirt over his head as he walks into the other room.
I set out the breakfast on the small table.
A few moments later, Dragon comes through the door with Griffin. She’s wearing a pair of my lounging pants and a tank top. She’s so thin. We’ll put some meat on her bones. We’ll get her to a doctor to get her checked out. But first, we’re going to have to see about her daughter.
“Good morning, Griffin,” I say. “Are you hungry?”
She bites her lip. “Yeah. I really am.”
“Do you like eggs and bacon?”
“Sure.” She widens her eyes at the food. “We had a lot of eggs at home. You know, because they’re cheap.”
Maybe I should have ordered something else. It doesn’t look like she’s eaten for several days, though, so eggs will have to do for now. And we’ll keep her well fed. She’ll be in top health in no time.
I have so many questions. Like how did Mack make ends meet? But I’m not going to bombard her. Right now she needs to get her daughter. Then we’ll pick up the dogs and head back to Denver.
Except…
I have to talk to Dragon.
I think I’d like to take Griffin and Bridget home to the ranch. We have so much room there. And it’s just a good place for healing.
Plus, Aunt Melanie is there. Her specialty is childhood trauma, and I’m betting I could get her to come out of retirement to help Griffin and Bridget.
I just have to figure out how to bring it up to Dragon.
He’ll hate me footing the bill for everything, but we do love each other. And he does have a place in Dragonlock. The two lead singers are members of my family. Perhaps that will be enough to convince him.
Griffin eats slowly, which surprises me. On the other hand, I suppose it’s a good thing. She wasn’t being starved, although her thin frame would beg to differ.
“Dragon?” I ask.
“Yeah.”
“You should go ahead and give that social services worker a call. Tell her we found Bridget’s mother and we’ll be coming to get her.”
“I hope that works,” he says. “Without any ID…”
“They have to give her back to me,” Griffin says. “I’m her mother.”
I smile and pat her hand. “Of course we’re going to get her back, Griffin. Don’t worry.” Then I lift my eyebrows at Dragon.
Why would he say such a thing?
He goes into the other room to make the call while Griffin and I finish our breakfast.
Dragon comes back in. “They were able to place Bridget in emergency care last night,” he says. “She hasn’t been placed in permanent care yet, so if we go in this morning, she’ll be at the office. She can identify you, and we’ll go from there.”
I’m not sure what go from there means, but I don’t ask.
Once Griffin finishes her breakfast, she rises. “I showered last night, but I’d like to shower again. I think it will take at least a hundred showers to make me feel clean.”
“You take as many as you need,” I say.
When she’s in the other room showering, I turn to Dragon. “So you’re afraid they won’t let her have her daughter?”
He scratches his head. “I think they’ll probably let her have her. The social worker seemed pretty confident that if Bridget recognizes Griffin and wants to go with her, it should all be fine. But Griffin is definitely going to have to get a copy of her birth certificate so she can get some ID.” He buries his face in his hands. “God, this is all such a mess. She may not even have a Social Security number.”