Thatcher's face hurt my heart. He stared at his father, his shoulders set, jaw tight. "You want a ride home?" Before Elliott could repeat his request, Thatcher pressed on. "What are you going to do about the Learys?"
Elliott tried on another charming smile, this one meant to be reassuring. I knew all of his smiles and I didn't buy a single one. Not anymore.
Neither did Thatcher.
He crossed his arms over his chest and waited. In the distance, car doors slammed over in the guest parking lot, the festivities winding down.
"It'll be fine," Elliott reassured. "I'll explain everything and tell them I'll make it up to them."
"So, you're still going to work for them? Even after what happened?" Thatcher waited, his voice raised in disbelief.
"Hey, everything worked out okay, didn't it?" Elliott appeased.
"Only because Tenn's brother sent freaking commandos in to save us. If they hadn't shown up, Tenn would have been shot and they would have taken me and Mom." Thatcher paused, giving Elliott a chance to defend himself. Elliott stared at his oldest child, stymied by Thatcher's anger.
"They were going to torture us!" Thatcher shouted, his patience gone.
"I'm sure it wouldn't have come to that, Thatcher," Elliott said in an annoyingly superior tone as if Thatcher hadn't been there, hadn't heard exactly how the Learys planned to use him.
"Bullshit," Thatcher shot back. "I talked to Hawk about the Learys."
Tenn and I shared a look. Neither of us knew Thatcher had been talking to Hawk about his father's situation. He couldn't have picked a better source considering Hawk knew more about the Learys than anyone else in Sawyers Bend.
"I don't know who this Hawk is, but—"
Thatcher cut him off. "He's the Sawyers' security expert and he used to work with the best security team in the country. He knows who the Learys are and he told me how dangerous they are. He told me what they would have done with me or Mom if they'd taken us."
"Thatcher, I've been working with these guys for a while. Their bark is worse than their bite."
Thatcher shook his head. "If you think that, you're stupid. Now I know some of the things they've done. You can't protect us. As long as you work for them, we'll be in danger."
"I'm not going to let anything happen to you, Thatcher. We can talk about this at home later. We've imposed on the Sawyers long enough."
I was gearing up to tell Elliott to go fuck himself—without the profanity—when Thatcher took a step back, coming in line with me and Tenn. "We aren't coming home. We're staying here."
Every single one of us stared at Thatcher. I'd been planning to talk to him about staying, trying to give him as much time as I could before my deadline.
"Thatcher," I breathed, "are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. I like it here." A swift glance at Tenn still holding August. His eyes came back to me, anguish and fury swirling in their depths. "And it isn't safe at home. Not anymore."
I slipped my arm around him, pulling him in until his face pressed against my shoulder. "Honey…" I squeezed him tight, my heart breaking along with his. I knew Elliott was a complete asshole, but I hadn't wanted Thatcher or August to know. I'd always hoped Elliott would get it together before they were old enough to really understand. But he hadn't, and now he'd forced Thatcher into a choice a child should never have to make.
"It's okay, Mom," Thatcher said, low enough that only I could hear. "I want to stay. And I don't want to go home and worry something is going to happen."
"Okay, love bug. If you're okay with it, we'll stay." Usually, he scowled at me when I called him love bug, but this time, he just stood there, swiping at his eyes with the back of his hand. I could have killed Elliott for putting Thatcher through this.
"Elliott," I said, getting his attention. "Thatcher's right. We're not coming back except to pack up the house."
"You're staying here?" It was as if he was only now seeing August in Tenn's arms, the way Thatcher stood between us. We were a united front and Elliott had no part of it.
Reality finally penetrated.
"You can't stay here! You don't even know these people!"
"I'm in love with Tenn. He loves me and he wants us to stay. That's all I need to know."
Elliott sneered. "Right, sure. Find a guy with a nice fat wallet and your morals go right out the window, don't they?"
I was done with Elliott's temper tantrums. "Elliott, you don't know anything about me, and you don't know anything about Tenn. The size of his wallet isn't even on the list of reasons I love him. The fact that he risked everything to help me find Thatcher when you put our son in danger is definitely at the top."