My Maddie (Hades Hangmen #8) - Tillie Cole Page 0,94

Flame, who desperately needed her, and baby Isaiah, who was helpless.

Asher came out of the van behind us. I reached back and clutched his hand. He tensed in surprise. But my heart cried anew. Asher’s mother had taken her life too. I cast my gaze from Asher to Flame. They were two beats of my heart, and they had been left alone. I found myself fixated on the river again. In the current, in the spirit of the water itself, lived Isaiah. A Cade brother I knew I would have l also loved beyond measure. Three Cade boys, all broken by the father they loved unconditionally. All they ever wanted was that love returned. They never got their greatest wish. I closed my eyes and felt a tear escape down my cheeks, no matter how hard I tried to hold it back. They were left believing they were unloved. They pushed everyone away, made bad decisions about people, because they did not know how to love or how to be loved.

I brought both hands to my mouth. I kissed the back of Asher hand, and then the back of Flame’s. I led them forward, leaving our friends behind. I ran my thumb over Flame’s pulse. It was racing. When we stopped on the shallow bank of the river, the water mere inches away, Flame whispered, “Maddie…” I turned to my husband and noted the distress so clearly inhabiting his dark gaze.

“You never got to say goodbye, Flame, to Isaiah. They took him from you, when they cast his ashes in this river. They stole your rightful goodbye.” I lay my head on his shoulder. “It is time you said farewell… we are here for you to say goodbye to your baby brother.” Flame’s breathing became erratic. I looked to Asher. His face was stricken. “Isaiah was your brother too, Asher,” I said softly. Tears fell down Asher’s cheeks, yet he did not move. “Although you did not know him, Isaiah was your older brother.”

I cleared my throat and stared down at the river. A small wooden bridge was situated beside us. “I did not know you, Isaiah,” I started. Asher and Flame tensed. “I wish I had known you.” I smiled, imagining a baby with dark hair and dark eyes just like the two Cade brothers who towered over me. “I imagine you would have grown up to be tall and strong, like Asher and Flame.” I felt a teardrop from Asher hit the back of my hand. Flame remained unmoving. I prayed my words were soothing his jagged soul. The flow of the river spurred me to continue.

“You were a blessing. Every baby is.” Flame choked on a cry. I wanted nothing more than to hold him. But I had to hold Asher too. “You were loved, little one. You were loved so much by your mother, and by your brother… Josiah.” As I said his name, Flame stepped away. He tried to edge back from the river, but I held on, keeping him close. “You were pure and good. You deserved much more from life than you received.” The gentle breeze wrapped through my hair. I could not help but picture our baby in a young Flame’s arms, crying for help, its little breaths limited when that help never came. As that image hit me, the sheer severity of Flame’s trauma revealed itself to my already bruised heart. To witness such a tragedy, to have to endure it when you did not understand the world, was surely the worst. I wanted to wrap Flame in a warm embrace and never let him go, to ensure no one in this messed up world could ever get to him, to ensure he will never feel a lesser being again.

I had to finish this, I had to see it through.

“But God wanted you to come home,” I continued. “Your mama needed you back in her arms.” I felt our baby move and my face crumpled with sadness for the boy who never got to live, who never got to know Flame or Asher, who did not get to feel their fraternal love. “God took you from an evil man who would harm you.”

Flame was panting, struggling to keep calm. When I turned to Asher, his cheeks were coated in tears. His eyes were red from the intensity of his crying. But he stood stoic and strong. Both of my Cade brothers did. They had no idea how proud of them I