using her to get the information he needed from them — almost — but she was such a bitch, and the mate of one of his Pride members was on the line for something they believed Frederick had done. So, the way he saw it was all’s fair in love and war, and this was clearly a war, or at the very least a battle. Employ all tactics while in battle, mourn for the means to an end later if necessary.
Shaking his head to give her his obvious opinion of her behavior and egg her on, he turned away from her to make the drinks a customer was ordering. She’d get some information for him, of that he had no doubt. She was on a mission to prove him wrong. He just didn’t know if the information she got would be something he could use or not.
~~~
Roman sat on the floor beside Darcie surrounded by all the things they’d bought that day. They went through all her new school supplies and labeled them with her name, then, they labeled her backpack and her coat. They’d already chosen the lunches she’d have for the rest of the month, and all that was left to do was to show up at school on the following Thursday.
“You want me to help you get it all in your backpack?” Roman asked.
“No, sir. I can do it,” Darcie answered.
Roman sat with her and watched as she found a place for everything she’d need in that backpack. When she was done she stood up and lifted it, putting it on to be sure she could walk with it on her back.
“How’s it feel?” he asked.
“I can lift it, it’s not too, too heavy.”
“Some of that stuff will be left in your classroom, so you won’t have to carry it all, but at least you know it won’t be any heavier than that,” he said.
“That’s true! Unless they give me heavy books,” she answered.
“Nope. We’ve already brought them home, remember. That way you’ll have one set at school and one set at home. They might give you workbooks, but not the textbooks.”
“That’s really smart,” Darcie said. “I like that better than my old school. We had to share books sometimes and there weren’t any extras to take home. This way, you always have what you need for your homework.”
“That’s true,” Roman said. “You looking forward to doing your homework?” he asked skeptically.
“Yes,” she said enthusiastically.
“Really? I’ll be honest. I hated homework,” Roman said.
“It’s not my favorite thing, but Mama always said that if I wanted to have a good life and be happy I needed to do good in school and make good grades so I could be something special and not have to worry about anybody taking care of me because I would be able to take care of myself,” Darcie said.
Roman did his best not to let his sudden sadness show on his face at the thought of Talie having to teach her daughter to not depend on anyone because she’d never had anyone to depend on herself.
“But you know what?” Darcie asked.
“What’s that?” Roman answered.
“I think that maybe Mama didn’t know there are people like you that are good. I think maybe she didn’t know that sometimes it’s okay to ask for help.”
“I think you’re both right,” Roman said. “And I think that’s because she never had anyone she could depend on to always be there for her. So she had to learn to do it all on her own. And it’s always a good thing to be able to take care of yourself, but it’s also a good thing to know that there are good people you can depend on if you need to. And it’s a very good thing to know that you always have a family, Darcie. Me and Uncle Riley, and Aunt Maia and everybody, we’ll always be here for you, always. You will never have to ever face the things that your mama had to face alone. I promise you that you will know how to take care of yourself because everyone should, but you will always have us, too.”
Darcie grinned happily. “Okay. That makes me happy.”
“Me, too,” Roman said, “me, too.”
“I’m going to put my backpack in my room,” she said, jumping to her feet.
“I’m going to start boxing up your mama’s things we bought her,” Roman said.
“Let me get my letter to add to it!” Darcie said.
“Run get it,” he encouraged.
Fifteen minutes later they’d boxed up all