Page 125 of Rescuing Mary

“Oh, yeah,” she agreed. “There’s someone I need to do tonight.”

Hollywood leaned down and kissed his wife. Not caring who was around. Having a child meant they didn’t get as much private time together as he liked. Anytime he could have his wife to himself, he’d take it.

After he’d kissed her senseless, Hollywood lifted his head. “Fletch’ll take Kate for the night. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled.”

Kassie sighed in contentment. “Good.”

“Love you, Kass.”

“Love you too. Now go,” she said, pushing him away gently. “Tell your friend he’s on babysitting duty. I want to go home.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Hollywood said, and immediately turned around to find Fletch. He couldn’t keep the small smile from his face though. He was as much in love with his wife today as the day he’d married her. More. Life was amazing.

Fish and Bryn, ten years after the weddings.

* * *

Fish yawned and stretched, reaching out his good arm for his wife. When he encountered nothing but cold sheets, he frowned. It wasn’t unusual that Bryn got up before him, she didn’t need a lot of sleep, but he couldn’t deny that he hated waking up without her.

He quickly got up and pulled on a pair of jeans, not bothering with a shirt. He did what he needed to do in the bathroom and went looking for Bryn.

He found her in the living room. She was sitting on the floor cross-legged, hunched over what he thought was their toaster, with their six-year-old son.

Fish had known Bryan was different from most kids when he was talking at nine months. By the time he was two, he was using complete sentences and he’d even picked up Spanish from their nanny.

Fish had hired the woman when Bryan was six months old, when Bryn had gotten so involved in researching something she’d literally forgotten about her son. She hadn’t meant to, and she was devastated when she’d realized Bryan had been screaming his head off for quite a while and she hadn’t even noticed.

Maria was a godsend. She came in every day and spent time with Bryn and their son. She made sure both were eating properly and she also kept the house clean.

Fish loved his wife, but was aware of her quirks. Wanting to keep her safe, as well as his son, had made the decision to hire Maria easy. Now neither of them could imagine life without her. She was like Bryan’s second mother, and everyone was happy with the arrangement.

At the moment, Bryn was explaining to their son how the heating coils in the toaster worked. Bryan was sitting exactly like his mother and their heads were almost touching as they bent over the electronic. There were parts strewn on the carpet around them and it looked like they’d been at it for quite a while.

Fish grinned.

He must’ve made some sort of noise, because Bryan looked up and saw him standing in the doorway.

“Hi, Papa!” he said happily. “Mama is teaching me how the toaster works!”

“I can see that,” Fish said, pushing off the doorway and walking toward his family. He settled himself on the floor next to them then leaned over and kissed Bryn on the temple. “Good morning, love.”

“Morning,” she said distractedly. “So you see, Bryan, when electricity flows through a wire, energy is transmitted from one end to the other. Think of it like water flowing through a pipe. The electrons in the wire get jostled around and run into one another over and over, giving off heat. The thinner the wire is, the greater the electrical current and the more the electrons run into each other…thus…”

“Making more heat!” Bryan said energetically.

“Exactly!” Bryn said approvingly.

“But how does it know when the toast is done?” their son asked.

Fish smiled as Bryn went into an explanation of thermostats inside the toaster and how the dial for the different level of toasted-ness worked. Every day, his wife amazed and impressed him. He had no idea how he’d managed to create a human as smart as Bryan, but he figured it was mostly Bryn.

His wife had been opposed to kids for a while, but Fish had known she was just scared. She hadn’t had the best upbringing and didn’t trust herself. But after spending time with Annie and the other children of his Delta Force buddies, she’d loosened up.

Hiring Maria had eased all her worries, and she’d since taken to being a mother better than anyone he’d ever seen. She never got upset with Bryan. Instead, she tried to analyze and figure out why he was crying, unhappy, frustrated, etc. It was fascinating to see her take an academic approach to motherhood.

But it wasn’t all facts with her. Every day, she told Bryan how much she loved him and how proud she was of him. She made his lunches for school, including little notes letting him know he was loved. She frequently took him to the library, and to Coeur d’Alene to visit the zoo, museums, and even to antique stores, so they could find things to take apart to learn how they worked.

“Hungry, Bryan?” Bryn asked.