Baby. What is it?

He was there. Trap. Pouring into her mind. Filling her with warmth. With him. With his strength, but it was much more than that. So much more. She wasn’t alone with her memories. He had them. He took them from her and made her whole. Made her human. She felt him holding her, his fingers sifting through her hair, looking for the hourglass, stroking it and caressing it. Accepting who she was. He knew the worst of her, and it didn’t matter.

I’m all right. Memories are too close.

Do you need me? I can come to you, take you home. Hold you, Cayenne. You say the word and I’m on my way.

She loved that. Loved that he would drop everything to get back to her. Her heart melted. Her stomach did a little flip. He’d already pushed the memories away, and she wanted to learn to cook. For him.

Baby. His voice, so soft, caressed her mind. She felt his love, that deep emotion neither really knew what to do with, filling her. I don’t need you to learn to cook.

He didn’t need it, but she did. It felt necessary to her. Cooking wouldn’t define her, but it would make her feel more human. She needed to feel she could take care of Trap by means other than sex.

I need this, Trap. I want this. I’m interested in it and I think I can get good at it. I’m fine now, just maybe needed to touch base with you. She hesitated a moment. Took a breath and gave it all to him. To know you’re there for me.

Always, Cayenne. Never doubt it.

She would never take that for granted, no matter how long they were together. She knew she wouldn’t. She sent him warmth and broke the contact, aware of Nonny’s steady gaze. The older woman leaned over and put her hand over Cayenne’s. Her hands were warm, just like the woman.

“You’re safe in this house, Cayenne,” she said gently.

Cayenne blinked rapidly to keep the burning out of her eyes. She wasn’t afraid, but she couldn’t explain that to this woman. She welcomed a fight, she was in her element going up against Whitney’s termination squads, but sitting in a house with two other women who were being sweet and kind and friendly, that was much more difficult.

“Thank you,” she murmured, because she had to say something.

“Let’s get started.” Nonny patted her hands and then stood up to lead the way to the kitchen. “I’ve got everything we need set out for the cookin’ lesson. The more tools you have, the easier it is.”

“Trap has all kinds of tools in his kitchen,” Cayenne admitted. “I just don’t know what they’re for. And I always make such a mess. After a while I get overwhelmed. I don’t understand how it looks so easy on the Internet but when I try, I mess everything up. It’s absolutely maddening.”

Pepper burst out laughing. “I think, when I first tried to learn, Nonny wanted to throw me out along with the burned dishes. I turned everything into charcoal. I couldn’t seem to remember when I had something in the oven or on the stove. I just would get distracted, and the next thing I knew, the fire alarms were going off and the house was filling with smoke.”

Cayenne found herself laughing. Laughing. With two women. No Trap to hold her up, she was actually having fun. She wasn’t the only one who couldn’t cook, and Pepper wasn’t ashamed. Even Nonny laughed with them.

“Malichai loves his food,” Nonny said. “You should have seen his face. I wanted one of those nanny cams set up so we could get his picture every time he found out Pepper was doing the cookin’ instead of me.”

Cayenne knew what a nanny camera was because she’d read about it on the Internet, but she couldn’t see Nonny trolling for information on the Internet. It was kind of funny to hear her say it. She glanced at Pepper, saw the look on her face and knew she wasn’t alone in what she was thinking. Pepper burst out laughing and Cayenne found herself following suit.

Cayenne wouldn’t trade this experience, being with the two women. It was her time having fun and gaining a connection. She loved it.

CHAPTER 16

Nonny raised her eyebrow, clearly reading both their expressions. “You keep laughin’, you two. I got my ways to know these things. I thought that Wilson Plastics Company was a front for terrorists to make those dirty bombs. Brought Wyatt home. I wasn’t very far off either.”

“No, you weren’t,” Pepper agreed.

“Somethin’ else is goin’ on in the swamp. Years ago the government came in and moved five towns. Between them, the towns of Logstown, Gainsville, Santa Rosa, Westonia and Napoleon had over seven hundred residents, all that had to be moved. A lot of the people didn’t want to go. They’d been born in those houses and grew up there, lived there all their lives. Still, they were all of them cleared out. Said they were testin’ rocket engines for NASA. Even now, when they do fire them up, the houses outside the swamp shake and even the water rocks.”

“I haven’t been there,” Pepper said, “but I thought they gave tours to the public.”

Nonny nodded as she handed each of them a knife and a chopping board. “They do. But that’s all controlled, and you see what they want you to see. Used to be, we could take our boats into the canals and bayous where those towns used to be. A few years back, the military moved in. You try to take a boat in there or you go hikin’ lookin’ for plants to heal people, they come at you with grim faces and heavy artillery. They weren’t doin’ that to test those rockets. So somethin’ else is goin’ on.”

“Have you mentioned this to Wyatt?” Pepper asked.

“Givin’ it time. Lots of rumors. I want to sort them out and see before I go tellin’ tales to my grandson. He’s the kind of man who does somethin’ about anythin’ not right.”

“That he is,” Pepper agreed.

“We’re goin’ to make us some paella. The boys like this dish, so we’ve got to triple up on everythin’. Each of us will do enough for one batch, that way we’re all makin’ the right size servin’ that you can use on your own for your men.”

“What is paella?” Cayenne asked.

“It’s chicken with rice, almonds, olives and mushrooms and Andouille sausage. I like to add me some crawfish sometimes, but not today,” Nonny said. “A good staple and easy to fix if you have company. I need both of you to peel six of those small onions and I’ll do the same.” She caught up a small bag of onions, counted them out and gave each of them six. “After you peel the onions, you need to mince two cloves of garlic and then chop up a three-fourths cup of olives.”