Page 93 of Keeping Penny

Penny was having a hard time breathing. She was in the front seat of Edge’s extended-cab pickup, leaning forward as if that would make the truck go faster. Mandy was in the back seat, having come along for moral support.

“Breathe, Penny,” Edge ordered.

She nodded but kept her eyes on the road in front of her. Her baby was out there. Alone and scared. Okay, not alone, since the two fishermen were with her, but almost certainly still scared. She couldn’t imagine what Bowie had been through. She simply needed to hold her daughter. Feel for herself that she was all right. Unharmed.

Edge turned down the road that led to the pier, and they saw the blue truck the fisherman had mentioned. Before Edge had completely stopped his vehicle, Penny’s seat belt was undone and she’d flung open the door. She saw three people standing near the pier, and her heart leapt into her throat.

“Bowie!” she yelled, as she ran toward them.

The little girl turned in her direction, and a huge smile crossed her face. “Mommy!” she screamed, holding out her arms.

Penny was there in a heartbeat, grabbing Bowie and hugging her as hard as she could, lifting her off her feet in the process. The warmth of her body, the feel of her tiny arms around her neck, the sweaty smell of little girl mixed with the salt air of the ocean, all of it was almost overwhelming.

Penny went to her knees but didn’t let go of Bowie.

“Mommy, you’re hurting me!” Bowie exclaimed with a little giggle.

Immediately loosening her hold but not letting go, Penny pulled back just enough to look her daughter over from head to toe.

She was dirty, had sand in her hair and all over her clothes, and the jeans she wore had holes in the knees. “Are you hurt?” Penny asked, desperately trying to hold back tears.

In response, Bowie held her hands out, palms up. “My hands hurt.”

The tears she’d been holding back fell down her cheeks. Bowie’s palms were all scratched up. As if she’d fallen over and over again.

“But I’m okay. I’m worried about Kylo-Pyro. Can we go get him now?”

Penny was so proud of her daughter. She was a kind soul down to her toes. She wasn’t crying. Wasn’t whining about her experience or her injuries. Instead, she was worried about Pyro. Of course, so was Penny. She looked behind her at Edge.

“The rest of the guys are getting him,” he told her.

That seemed to appease Bowie. She nodded. “Good. Mommy? I’m still hungry. Can we get some chicken fingers on the way to see Kylo-Pyro? He’ll want some too, because we didn’t get to eat dinner last night.”

Penny took a deep breath. She’d been so worried about Bowie, but now that she was holding her, and could see for herself that she was all right, every ounce of that concern shifted to Pyro. Who she loved more than she ever thought she could love a man. “Yeah, baby, we can do that. But first we need to wait here for the police to come. And the paramedics. They need to make sure you’re okay.”

Bowie’s brows furrowed.

“It’s okay, baby. They aren’t going to hurt you. But everyone was worried about you when you went missing. Remember that ambulance that passed us the other day? You were so excited about it, wondering what it was like on the inside? You’re going to get your chance to find out this morning.”

But instead of looking happy about that, Bowie’s bottom lip began to wobble.

“Oh, sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

“I wanna go home! I want Kylo-Pyro!”

Edge knelt next to them and put his hand on her back. “Hi, Bowie. It’s Edge. I brought your mom like you asked, and we drove so fast, we beat the police and the ambulance…I’m sure you can hear them behind us, right?”

Bowie tilted her head and listened for a beat, then she nodded. Of course she could, because if Penny heard them, her child could definitely hear the distant wail of emergency vehicles.

“We’re going to be by your side at all times. And I promise that the rest of the guys—Casper, Buck, Obi-Wan, and Chaos—are going to find Pyro. He’ll be talking to the police and the paramedics too.”

“He will?” Bowie asked.

“Uh-huh.”

“Okay. If he is, I can too.”

It was obvious Bowie had a serious case of hero worship. And that was more than all right with Penny.