Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 73042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
An anvil sinks in my gut. Right. Just because someone hasn’t experienced cancer specifically doesn’t mean they can’t empathize with what I’ve gone through.
Savannah has faced her own mortality. I’m sure Falcon did many times when he was behind bars. Certainly Eagle has too, though most of that was his own damned fault. Hawk is a closed book, but I’m sure he’s had struggles.
I’ll keep that in mind going forward. Everyone has shit they’ve dealt with. How much it stinks changes from person to person, but the smell is still there.
I turn to Savannah, lay a hand on her upper arm. “You’re very strong, Savannah. I’m impressed that you figured a way out of that yourself.”
She cracks a small smile. “Are you kidding me? I didn’t do anything. I guess the sight of him just made me so sick that I threw up. Projectile vomited all over him and myself.”
I must make a face in reaction to what she said, because she quickly widens her eyes. “Sorry. That’s not exactly an appropriate topic of conversation when we’re preparing dinner.”
I chuckle. “Savannah, you never have to apologize. I puked my brains out when I was doing chemo. I’m completely and fully desensitized to the subject.”
Savannah wrinkles her nose, but I can see a hint of a smile in her eyes. I know what’s going through her mind. I’ve seen the same look on the face of each member of my family. She wants to playfully return my joke about my illness but doesn’t feel it’s her place.
“Well, it was enough to get him off me, and then I was able to escape.” Her face darkens. “But if Falcon and his buddy hadn’t come after me, I’d still be there. He would’ve found me eventually.”
“Seems we both owe our lives to Falcon,” I say with a smile.
She smiles back at me. I really like my new sister-in-law. Falcon made a good choice in her, and I want my brother to be happy. He already lost eight years of his life trying to protect one of us. And then he gave me his bone marrow and saved me. He saved Eagle’s life and mine, and now Savannah’s as well.
I owe everything to my big brother.
“He certainly changed my life,” Savannah agrees. “I never thought I would fall for an ex-con. Certainly not one who was assigned as my parolee.”
“Do you miss working as a parole officer?”
She frowns. “No, not really. It wasn’t my choice. My original choice was to go to law school, but that didn’t work out. My father decided after college I was going to marry Miles McAllister. I got out of it by agreeing to go work in one of the parole offices in Austin. I had to do what they asked when they came to me.”
My heart breaks for her. “So you basically had to break the law for them.”
“I forced myself to think of it only as bending the law,” she says. “It was the only way I could live with myself.”
“But you truly wanted to be a lawyer?”
“That was what I always wanted to do.” She inhales slowly and sighs. “But you have to understand that in my family, careers for women are frowned upon. I mean, in a family where they basically sell off their women as brides to form alliances… Well, you can imagine.”
“How did you manage to get as far as you did then?”
“My father had some different ideas. He taught me how to handle a gun, for example. And he made sure I was allowed to go to college, if not law school.”
I shake my head. “I can’t even imagine. My parents always treated Robin and me the same as the boys. In fact, for the first ten years of our life, Robin was convinced she was a boy.”
“And you?”
I shrug. “I was never the outdoorsy type like she and the boys were. Don’t get me wrong. I know my way around the ranch. I learned to ride a horse and how to take care of livestock and everything else we do. It was a requirement from both my parents. But I tended to have more interest in what Mom did. Taking care of the home, cooking, and baking. Just more of what I enjoyed, to be honest.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“I guess I’d make a darned good mafia wife.” I force out a chuckle.
Savannah raises her eyebrow. “You, Raven, would make a terrible mafia wife.”
“I was kidding, Savannah.”
Her cheeks redden. “I figured as much. It’s just that… Just because you’re interested in more traditionally feminine things doesn’t mean…” She exhales sharply through her nose. “What I’m trying to say is you’re one of the strongest people I’ve ever met. You think for yourself. You have no qualms about making your opinion known. The mafia dons don’t really like those qualities in their wives.”