Keep Her From Harm(6)

"Is that your girl?" Charlotte asked.

"Yes, that's my girl. The moment I saw her in Ivan Smith's office I knew who she was."

"And she has a son," Maddox, his father, said.

"You shouldn't talk about having a son," Charlotte said, turning to  glare at him. "Don't even think to judge that woman upstairs."

"I think I should go," Gabriel said.

"No, this is as much your home as anyone else's," Charlotte said. "You're a Denton, and I told you that."

"I've upset you."

Charlotte took a deep breath and smiled. "There are a lot of things that  upset me in this world, Gabriel. Your birth isn't one of them. I wish I  had been able to have known you and your mother." She turned toward  him. "Damian, I hope this means you're sticking around now. I look  forward to getting to know Mia and Reese. I'm going to bed." With that,  she left the kitchen, leaving his father looking toward her.

"She's your girl then?" Maddox asked.

"Yes, she's my girl. I've also got a problem with Ivan Smith. I'm going  to do some more digging. When the time comes and I want to hurt that  bastard, you're going to let me."

"We don't get messed up in petty squabbles," Maddox said.

Damian smirked. "No, according to you we just knock them up. I can't do  that to Ivan. First, he's a guy, and second, I'd never dream of sticking  my dick there. Goodnight."

He wasn't in the mood to deal with his family drama tonight.

****

Gabriel watched as Damian left the kitchen and then Landon, until it was  just him and Maddox, his father. His real fucking father.

"I'm public enemy number one right now."

"You fucked my mother, and knocked her up as some kind of revenge tactic on my father. I can understand their anger."                       
       
           



       

"Really?"

He shrugged. "You strike me as the kind to spout off about family  loyalty and shit like that, and yet you didn't even wait around to see  what screwing my mother did. I don't know if she knew I was yours or  Colton's." He didn't like thinking of the man he'd grown up with as his  father, and he didn't have a clue about Maddox either. It was all  …   strange.

"I'm sorry."

"For what exactly? I don't actually know what to do anymore. I'm not a  Colton, and I'm not a Denton. I'm  …  nothing." He laughed. The only  person who seemed to accept him was Jacob, and that shit was messed up  as he was older than Jacob by a matter of days. From what Jacob had told  him, all of this should belong to him, but Gabriel didn't want it. He  didn't want any of it.

The truth was, he didn't have a clue what he wanted anymore.

"I never meant for any of this to happen," Maddox said.

"You really don't know how to apologize do you?"

"You want to apologize for you being alive."

Gabriel shook his head. There were moments when Maddox Denton seemed to  be such a nice guy, much better than the man he'd grown up with, and  then there were times he couldn't fucking stand him, which was now.

He liked Charlotte, and he even liked all of his half-brothers. Jacob  had told him that they would come around very soon, but he just needed  to give them time. Everything was a new adjustment. Even his own  siblings, Owen, Wyatt, and Emma, seemed to have taken a step back from  him. They all lived in a flashy new apartment, and he knew that Lou had  made friends with Emma, along with Harper and Ruby. All three women were  wives of the Denton brothers.

"I'm going to head out." He didn't want to stay here, not with Damian hating him so much.

"Wait. You heard Damian. You are aware of the Denton legacy, right?"

Gabriel turned to look at his father, and frowned. "Legacy?"

"Yes. When we find the right woman, the woman destined to be ours, we will do everything and anything to claim her."

"That's not going to touch me," Gabriel said.

"It is. You're my son, as are Jacob, Abel, Oliver, Damian, Gideon, and Landon."

"What about Tamsin?" he asked.

"It's never been a guarantee that women feel that same urge. Anyway,  when you find the right woman, and you seem to zone in on her and  everything fades away, that's when you know you've found the one."

"That's utter bullshit," Gabriel said.

"It's not. Look at Damian. He was suicidal the other week, and now he's  willing to fight for his woman. Trust me, it is very fucking real."

Gabriel didn't know what to believe or what to make of that. It seemed  so far out of fucking reality, but when he thought about it, his father  had mentioned about the Denton curse, how it made them weak.

"I've got to go."

With that, he made his way toward the door.

"You don't have to go," Tamsin said.

He turned to see his new little sister sitting on the stairs. She wore a plain nightie, and her hair was mussed.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?"

She shrugged. "I heard Damian coming home, and how happy Mom was."

He'd had every intention at one point to kidnap this girl and use her as  leverage in a tale of revenge that had seemed so important, whereas  now, he couldn't do it. This family was his home.

"You should be asleep."

"And you should stop pretending that being who you are isn't upsetting you."

He paused with his hand on the door, and turned to look at the kid. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"All of your life you've been a Denton enemy, and now you are one. That  must take some serious adjustment. Stop pretending to be happy about  everything. No one will blame you for being royally pissed."

He chuckled. "I think your father would take offense to that."

Again, she shrugged. "Mom told me that he's too used to getting his own  way, and it needed to stop. You don't have to follow along if you don't  want. No one will blame you. I won't anyway."

"You don't have a problem with having a big brother."

"I have six of them anyway. One more isn't going to hurt, nor is having an extra two. Your family is now our family."

"This coming from a nearly fourteen-year-old kid."

"I'm very mature for my age." She stood. "Good night, Gabriel."

She was going to cause some trouble as she got older, and he was really  fucking pleased that he wasn't going to be the one to have to deal with  her.                       
       
           



       





Chapter Four



"I got it, Mom," Damian said, taking the spoon from his mother, and  pressing it against Martha's mouth. His little girl opened up, and he  smiled, relieved that he could at least get something right. She was in  diapers, and he was so out of practice that morning. Martha had been  screaming her little lungs off, so Mia had placed Reese in his arms, and  taken over cleaning up the disgusting diaper.

He glanced to his right where Mia was feeding Reese right now, and it  was somewhat surreal. After the longest time, he'd found his woman.  Twenty-six years old, and he'd finally found her. There were no words to  describe what he was feeling. There was still that smidge of guilt, and  that would always be there.

"You have got the hang of it," Charlotte said. "Martha's a really good eater. You won't have any problems."

"He had some problems this morning with her diaper," Mia said. "I think he needs practice in changing them."

"I was once more than fine with changing diapers. I'm just a little out of practice," he said.

He'd not changed a diaper since Betty had killed herself. There had been  no reason to do it, and he'd not even tried to be part of his  daughter's life. That was all going to change. He needed to take care of  Martha, to be a dad to her.

"So what's the plan for today?" Charlotte asked just as Tamsin entered the kitchen.

"I've not got school. I'm going to read a book. May as well, nothing else to do around here."

Charlotte groaned. "Not that again."

"What? Telling you how bored I am. I can't even go around to friends'  houses or anything. I'm going to grow up a lonely old spinster, and I'll  have dozens of cats, and have no life."

Damian chuckled. "I don't see that happening, little sis."

"Oh really? You know unless I have school I can't leave the house. I  have been housebound for well over six months, and you know what? It's  not fair. You're all going to drive me crazy with your very perfect,  fantastic lives. I'm Tamsin, the youngest sister in this little fold."  Tamsin held her hand out.

"Mia Banks, and this is Reese."

"Cute kid. I'll never have one."

Again his mother groaned. "Do you remember when you were cute and adorable, go back to that?"

"Remember when you were talking to Dad because he wasn't such a loser?"