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She moved without him tugging again and put two hands on either side of his waist as she followed him in.
He loved that she touched him, so he knew that she was still there and okay.
“Alaska?” he said as he reached the doorway of the living room.
She stood up from where she had been crouching behind the recliner.
“I’m so relieved,” she said, on an exhale that showed how truly relieved she was.
“Everything’s okay. I didn’t see anything moving around in the yard as we came in.” His eyes had swept the yard, but he hadn’t searched diligently. He’d been thinking about the dilapidated house and bringing his bride home.
“The kids are sleeping.” She pulled her bottom lip in, and gave him a glance, as Ellen came out from behind him and put her arm around his waist. He put his around her shoulders and pulled her tight against him. Still not wanting her to be any further from him than what she needed to be. Alaska was obviously scared.
“So sorry for bringing you guys into this. I shouldn’t have come.”
“No. You needed to come and get help. The police station would have been a good idea.”
“If I go to the police station, the first thing he’ll do is find my children and kill them.”
“Who is he?”
She pulled both lips in and bit them.
“Chelmer Leggins.”
Beside him he could feel Ellen stiffen at the name.
He didn’t laugh, but he did let out a bit of a breath and almost snort. He would never have guessed that. Chelmer didn’t seem like the kind of person to instill fear in people, but he did have a lot of bluster and brag. And, it didn’t surprise Travis at all that he was probably wrapped up in drugs.
“Is he the father of your children?”
“Yeah.”
She looked down. Like she was ashamed. He supposed it was because she knew that Chelmer had children who are very much the same age as hers.
Which meant that she had been with him when he had been married to Shanna. What a mess.
“Has he threatened you?” Travis asked, trying to keep his words gentle and not strident.
“Yeah. Multiple times. He... Made me visit men, and...” Her voice trailed off.
“Basically he was your pimp,” Travis said, and he suddenly felt very weary.
“Yeah.”
“All right. That’s enough. I don’t know if he’s capable of the things you seem to think he is, but I have a place where you will be safe. You can take your children if you want to, or you can leave them here with us.”
“I’d...really like to take them. Where?” Alaska said.
“The Clyborne Ranch. It’s called Sweet View, and I’ve spoken with Ezra. He’s the head of the family, and he’ll keep you with him. There are a bunch of people running around at the ranch. It’s always busy, and there are plenty of dogs, plus the driveway is gated. People are not going to be getting in very easily. And I think you’ll be safe there until we can figure out if we can get Chalmer out of the picture.”
It made sense. If Chalmer had been making money as her pimp, and she left him, he lost an easy source of income. He didn’t know how far Chalmer would go to try to get her back, but he doubted it was very far. The man wasn’t known for his tenacity. But, it was probably better to be safe than sorry. Because Travis had seen men do crazy things, especially when there were drugs involved.
“I don’t have any way of getting there,” Alaska said, as though the thought had just occurred to her.
“I’ll make sure you get there. It will probably take a couple of trips until we get the kids’ stuff out, and get beds and things set up for them. Ezra is not married, doesn’t have any children and I’m sure it’s going to take a little time for him to be ready to have two kids.”
“Alaska and I could take the kids and go look for a wedding dress. We could go to Rockerton if you think you’d be safe there?” Ellen spoke up.
