The Shadows in the Hills: Triple Threat

Chapter Thirty

The class was small with maybe fifteen students all ranging in age. There was a single class teacher, Mrs Colter. She was clearly close to retirement and I wondered if that was why Brodie was so eager to recruit me. Mrs Colter was more than happy to have the help and sent me to the reading corner. Coincidentally, Millie was sitting there waiting for me with a few of the other young children. She sat quietly beside me as I read to them all. Hanging around once I was finished and the other children headed off to play.

"I'm still waiting for Jacky. Will he be back before I finish school?"

"Yeah, Brodie went to pick him up. Have you missed him?" She was so sweet, but the resemblance to Brodie still threw me a little. I had so many questions, but they weren't things I could ask her. I didn't even really know who she thought I was. She was related to my own children, but only knew me as Jacky's friend. I didn't even know if she knew she was related to Brodie. It wasn't like she even acknowledged his existence.

"I was sad when Jacky went away. My mummy said he wasn't coming back."

"I'm sure he will always come back. How could he possibly leave you behind? I know he cares about you a great deal." It left me slightly angry that he had left her in the first place. I wasn't the only one who cared about him and needed him. I wasn't just angry with him, but with myself too. It was my actions that had set everything into motion.

I left before the end of the school day and collected the triplets from nursery. Conning Gerald into giving me a hand getting them back to the cabin. I had stuck around to get a general idea about the way the school worked, but I needed to really think about my options. The cabin was still empty when we got there. I had thought that Brodie would have been back before me, but it appeared I was wrong. I just hoped there was no drama when he picked everyone up. I had told him I was concerned about letting Marcus travel without him being there, but he was so certain it would be alright.

Brodie wasn't kidding about the cabin having been moved around. What used to be the bedroom upstairs had been turned into a living room and kitchen area. It wasn't huge, but it would be big enough. His corner sofa had been moved upstairs and everything. There were the odd items of baby merchandise, including a play pen that would be way too small for the three of them. "You've been busy Gerald."

"I know. I will need to move a few things around again though. If Brodie had let me know there were three to accommodate, I would have sorted it before you got back." I headed downstairs carefully. The rickety folding staircase was not the best to manage while also carrying multiple babies. I made a mental note to speak to Brodie about it.

Downstairs looked so different. It had been split up into actual rooms, although it looked very temporary. "Second door on the left." I followed his instructions and opened the door. Finding a room which had been painted lemon and kitted out fully. There was a cot and a Moses basket inside of it. I slid Penny carefully into the Moses basket before lifting it out of the cot. I was getting quite good at doing things with only one hand. Stowing both of the boys in the cot for the time being and having no choice but to put the Moses basket on the floor. "I will go and grab you some more baskets and some rockers and things. We need to find a way to make it all a little easier for you. Everything else we will sort out tomorrow once you have had time to settle back in."

"Thank you Gerald, you are an angel."

"I'm not sure I am, but I'll take it. Brodie said this was all temporary so they're only stud walls for now." I didn't care. It just meant the world to me that he had gone to so much trouble.

"Do you know where my parents are?" He looked at the floor and I half expected him to say they had been ripped apart by werewolves.

"They went back home. They stayed for a little while after you left, but in the end decided it was best to head back. I can send someone out to get them if you like." If anything, I was relieved, it would give me time to find my feet before I had to face them and everything they had done.

"No, it's fine."

"Do you want me to hang around until Brodie gets back in case you need anything?"

"No it's fine. You get home to your wife. I met her earlier today, she's lovely."

"That she is. I'm not sure what I did to deserve her." He might not, but I did. I knew he didn't believe it, but he was a good man. I wondered what it was he had done to make him believe he was unworthy. Whatever it was, I was sure he was wrong.

He had been gone about half an hour when I heard one of the doors downstairs open. I was sitting in the rocking chair, almost wishing they hadn't bothered to put the walls up. I felt like I couldn't leave the triplets alone even for a second. I assumed it was Brodie looking for me. "In here."

When I looked up I jumped in response to seeing Marcus standing there and Brodie nowhere to be seen.