Page 103 of Deserving Ryleigh
It hadn’t taken long before the guys realized having The Refuge remain a child-free retreat wasn’t something they could continue. Not with the number of babies that were being born. So they’d updated the website, made it clear that there were babies and children who lived on the premises, and if kids were a trigger for anyone’s PTSD, they encouraged guests to find another place to visit.
Theydid, however, build new owners’ cabins a good distance away from the main lodge, both to maintain their own privacy and make sure the guests still had as relaxing a stay as possible. The new cabins were much bigger, and set in a massive circle around a central play area and a mini-lodge, where they could all gather and hang out.
That’s where Tiny and his friends were now. Standing on the covered porch, watching their children play.
Tonka and Henley had only had one child together, Elizabeth. Jasna was currently in Albuquerque, finishing up her degree. Reese and Spike had the three kids they’d always wanted—Dylan, who was ten; Patrick, who’darrived three years later; and little Joyce, who’d just turned four.
Lara and Owl also had one, a little girl they’d named Samantha Jean. She was nine and a half going on eighteen. They’d wanted more, but when Sam’s birth had almost killed Lara, Owl put his foot down and refused to even consider risking the love of his life’s health with another pregnancy.
Cora and Pipe had adopted their original foster children. Their Joyce was twenty-seven now, living in Los Alamos with her husband and two children; Kason was twenty-three and had moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. He’d just gotten a huge part in a big-time crime show on TV. Shannon was eighteen and planning on staying at The Refuge, working part-time while going to community college. And Max was fourteen and the high school’s basketball star, even though he was only a freshman.
The couple had fostered almost two dozen children in the last ten years, making a huge difference in each and every one of the kids’ lives. They currently had two fosters living with them at The Refuge, a ten-year-old boy and a sixteen-year-old girl.
Maisy and Stone had four kids, Matthew, Josiah, Rebecca, and Luke. They were spaced two years apart, with their oldest being nine. So they’d had their hands full for almost a decade, and had decided they were officially done with having children.
Alaska and Brick didn’t have any children of their own. They’d thought about it, but since Alaska was forty when they’d gotten married, they’d decided together that theywere content to run The Refuge and help care for their friends’ babies and children.
With all the kids, The Refuge was a lively place. There was always something happening. Hikes, bonfires, scavenger hunts. And Tiny and his friends reveled in the chaos. Sure, there were times Tiny missed the serenity The Refuge used to offer. But it was worth it when he lay down at night next to Ryleigh, with their little Miracle snuggled between them.
“Who would’ve thought this is where we would’ve ended up?” Brick mused as they watched all the kids run and play in the yard.
“Not me,” Tonka said with a shrug.
“Me either,” Spike agreed.
“It’s funny,” Owl mused. “It wasn’t too long ago when we were deciding what kind of place we wanted The Refuge to be, and we were all in agreement that it should be an adults-only retreat.”
Tiny chuckled. He’d just been thinking the same thing. “And that we wanted it to be simple, with only a few cabins and employees.”
Everyone laughed at that. They’d certainly expanded the place, adding cabins and hiring more full-time staff. They now had twenty full-time employees. From housekeepers and admins, to cooks and animal wranglers. They had an expanded barn full of animals that were constantly being visited by the guests, a helicopter that kept Owl and Stone more than busy. Between aerial tours, helping out with searches for missing people and with wildfires, they were in constant demand in their area of the state.
They had Girl and Boy Scout weeks, where they donated the cabins to groups to have jamborees and learnabout outdoor safety. The Refuge had become a place not only for those with PTSD to come to heal, but for all sorts of groups to learn various survival skills.
The changes were extensive, but in Tiny’s eyes, they made The Refuge more well-rounded. And none of it would’ve been possible without Ryleigh.
He was the only one aware ofexactlyhow much money she’d donated to The Refuge.
The FBI had spent eight hours with her in an interrogation room not too long after her father was killed. Eight hours that had almost broken Tiny. He’d wanted to protect her from their questions. Wanted to storm into the room and steal her away. If they’d thought for one second they’d charge her for her father’s crimes, or make her do time for what they perceived was her part in the thefts, he’d been ready to flee the country with her. There was no way he’d have let her spend one day behind bars for something her father had forced her to do.
But in the end, the FBI never wanted to incarcerate her—they’d wanted to hire her. They weren’t stupid. They’d realized immediately that having someone with her skills on their payroll would be a huge boon.
The money she hadn’t been able to give away at the time of her father’s death—around eight million—continued to grow through interest and smart investing, and Tiny was well aware his wife was still funneling a steady stream into The Refuge, as well as the other charities she liked to support. But he never said a word. Simply let her do what she needed to do in order to exorcise the demons she still had from her past.
She still worked for the FBI. Digitally tracing cyber-criminals. Tracking down fugitives using their online and cell phone activities against them. Tiny was sure there were many things she did that weren’t exactly legal, things that would give him a heart attack if he knew more details…but then again, hadn’t he done the same thing when he was a SEAL? Missions that were top secret that he’d never talk about?
Tiny trusted his wife without reservation. Trusted her to know when to say no to something her superiors wanted her to do—because she’d said no plenty of times. She had a sharply honed moral code. She had no problem bending the law to find child molesters and murderers, but drew the line at spying for her country. Tiny loved her even more for her integrity.
They’d gotten married in a small, private ceremony, just as they’d planned. It was a day Tiny would never forget. Just the two of them, and the witness and officiant, vowing to love and cherish each other for the rest of their lives.
And now, here he was. A decade later, his daughter in his arms, his best friends living a stone’s throw from his front door. The saying was that it took a village to raise a child, and he and his friends had made their very own village right here at The Refuge.
“We’re lucky,” Pipe said. “We have everything we could ever want. Soul mates, children, best friends, and a safe place to raise them.”
Tiny nodded as his friends agreed. They were getting mushy in their old age, but he didn’t even care.
Just then, Rebecca fell, landing hard on her hands and knees. She immediately started to cry. Luke, who wasn’t sure why his sister was crying, joined in. Joyce lookedworried, and she pulled her older brother Dylan over to where Rebecca was crouched on the ground.
Stone stepped forward, prepared to go soothe his daughter, but Brick caught his arm. “They’ve got it,” he told his friend.
