“I’m not going to—”
Kelly said, “Carter.”
“The wards are strong,” I said, chiding them gently. “Gordo and Ox saw to it last night. We’ll be fine. And I’m meeting with Will later to put the word out for the people in town. We’ve got this. If anything, you guys are the ones I’m worried about.”
“I know,” Joe whispered. “But duty
calls.”
“Exactly. You’ve got this, okay? I know you do. You’ll have Robbie and Kelly, and I’m only a phone call away if you need me. Say the word and I’ll be there.”
He laughed. “You’d get on a plane for us?”
“I’d do anything for you. You know that.”
Kelly nodded. “We know.”
I pulled away from them both only to put my hands on the backs of their necks. They looked at me. I said, “We’re going to finish this, you hear me? One way or another, we’re going to finish this. And then nothing will hurt us again.”
“You promise?” Kelly asked.
“Yeah. I do. And since I’m your big brother, you know I’m right. I’m right about pretty much everything.”
Joe snorted, but he looked more relaxed. “I’m not even going to argue with you on that.”
“Good. Because you’d lose.”
He said, “I love you. The both of you. I don’t say that enough, but I need you to know.”
I didn’t like how he sounded. “We love you too. Stop acting like this is goodbye.”
“Isn’t it?”
I shook my head. “No, it’s not. Because you’re going to come home. All of you will. And we’ll be together.”
“Forever,” Kelly said.
“Forever,” I agreed, because I wished for nothing more.
Joe nodded and stepped back. I dropped my hands, fighting the urge to drag them both inside to keep them from leaving.
We rejoined the others. Ox looked at the three of us. “All right?”
“All right,” Joe agreed.
I went back up to the porch. Mark kissed Gordo fiercely, whispering to him not to do anything stupid. “It’s like you don’t even know me,” Gordo said.
“Yeah,” Mark said. “Like I don’t even know you at all.”
And then he let Gordo go. Gordo walked down the porch, and we all pretended not to see the slump of his shoulders. He stood next to Ox, leaning against him. Kelly and Joe were on the other side. Robbie hugged each of us in turn before going to the others.
We stood there, watching each other. Joe was right. This felt wrong.
Ox said, “We’ll keep in touch. Every day, by phone. You’ll hear our voices. I swear it.”
“You better,” Rico said. “If you don’t, I’ll kick your ass. I’m a pretty great wolf, in case you couldn’t tell.”
“And I’ll help him,” Bambi said, glaring down at the men gathered before us. “I’ve got Rico’s guns now. You heal, but it’ll still hurt. I’ll make sure of it.”