Conflicted Home (The Survivalist Book 9)

his mouth.
Aric looked at him, “Fred’s not like that.”
Sarge, Thad and I all laughed. “They’re all like that when they’re pregnant,” I said.
“And in this heat?” Thad added. “Yeah. You gonna have your hands full.”
“We’ll see about that,” Aric replied. Once again causing us to laugh.
“Let’s take care of cleaning up the supper so the ladies can continue on with their planning over there,” Danny said as he stood up.
I looked over my shoulder at the table of women and said, “Plotting. I think the word you’re looking for is plotting.” This again got a laugh.
Perez walked up to the table. He’d been on the far end of the porch. He tried to keep away from the kids when he smoked, and he was always smoking. He looked at Sarge and held out a cigarette, “When you go to Eglin, find me some of these.”
“Are you trying to smoke yourself to death?” Doc asked.
He shrugged. “Every boy needs a hobby.”
He held his hand out to Aric, “Congratulations, my friend.”
Jamie left the table of chattering ladies and walked over. Perez looked at her and asked, “So you next? When you get a bunch of women together, these things seem to happen at the same time.”
“Fuck you, Perez,” she replied.
“Where is Ian, anyway?” Sarge asked.
“Fuck you too,” she replied before storming off.
Watching her go, Mike said, “You sure she ain’t pregnant already?” Getting another laugh out of us.
Thad and I collected the dishes from the porch. “Well, look at you guys being all domestic,” Mel said.
“Maybe you should get Aric out here so he can start learning how to be domestic too,” Bobbie said, getting the ladies to giggling.
“He’s inside washing dishes,” That replied with a smile.
“He’s learning already!” Jess shouted.
“Oh, leave him alone,” Fred said, feigning sympathy.
“You gals keep on with whatever it is you’re doing. We’ll clean everything up,” I said.
“I see you have him trained too,” Kay said with a smile.
“I beg to differ!” I laughed. “Keep it up and we’ll go find something else to do!”
“No, no. You just keep at it,” Kay replied. Looking back to the conversation at hand on wedding planning, she added, “We have important things to do here.”
Thad was smiling. “We’ll take care of it, Miss Kay. Ladies, thank you for supper.” He looked at Fred and added, “And congratulations again, Fred. I’m really happy for you.”
She smiled back and I saw Thad make eye contact with Mary, who had been quiet all through dinner. But she was always quiet. Mary smiled when he looked at her and quickly looked away. As we carried the bowls into the kitchen, I glanced up at him and asked, “Is this going to be a double wedding?”
Thad was such an incredible guy. I loved him like a brother. His natural response to everything was to smile. And here again, he smiled. Big, warm and infectious. “Morgan, you a mess!” He replied laughing.
I shrugged. “Just asking.” I said as I set a stack of bowls on the counter. “It wouldn’t be a bad thing, ya know.” When he looked at me, I added, “Or wrong.”
His smile faded. I could see he was thinking about it. He glanced around at the other guys.
“What wouldn’t?” Danny asked.
“A double wedding,” I replied with a grin.
Danny was obviously surprised. “What?”
“Jus’ sayin’,” I replied.
“Of course, it wouldn’t be bad. It’ be awesome!” Aric added. “Did you ask her?”
Thad was embarrassed, something easily done. He shook his head. “No. No, I didn’t ask her. I don’t think it’s right.”
I shook my head and gripped his enormous shoulder. With a little laugh, I said, “What in the world would be wrong about it, old buddy?” He lowered his head and looked at the counter, fumbling with the bowls. I leaned down and looked him in the eye. “You deserve to be happy too, my friend. You wouldn’t be dishonoring them. You know that, right?”
A tear ran down his cheek and he wiped it away. Looking up, he said, “I really care for Mary. But I feel so guilty.”
“I’ve asked you this before, but I’ll ask it again. If things had been different, would you want Anita to spend the rest of her life alone, feeling guilty? Or would you want her to find happiness?”
Wiping his eyes again, he said, “I’d want her happy. More than anything in the world. I’d want her to be happy.”
I smiled and said, “Then honor her the same way.”
He looked up and was met with a face smiling back at him in anticipation. He looked back down at the counter again. “It would make you both happy,” Danny added.
“More than just the two of you,” I replied with a nod.
He looked up again and smiled. “I know you’re right. But I don’t have a ring, an—“ he paused and looked down again.
“And you’re embarrassed,” Aric said.
Thad shrugged. “Kinda.”
“Sure, it’s scary, brother,” Danny said as he went to a small cabinet in the dining room and took out a small wood box. “When we left here for the river, I took this with me. It isn’t a practical thing to keep in today’s world, but it meant a lot to me.” He carried it back over to the counter and set it down. Opening it, there was a piece of silk rolled up inside. He took it out and handed it to Thad. “But just like Miss Kay holding back some flour for reasons she didn’t understand, I also kept this.”
Thad unrolled the piece of silk to find a diamond ring inside. It was a silver setting with three stones on it. Thad held it up and looked at it. The stones were high quality and sparkled brightly in the light. “I can’t take this,” he said.
“It was my great grandmother’s. But it’s yours now,” Danny said.
“No excuse now,” I said.
Thad smiled and flushed. He looked at us, saying, “I’m scared.”
I gripped him by the shoulders and turned him around, pushing him towards the door. “Best way to handle fear