Page 20 of Her Tempting Protector

“Right now, I’m just glad for anything that makes her happy,” Faizah said.

“Lyons. Over here,” Raiden said in English. Cullen gave the girl one last smile. Then pushed a couple of bars of chocolate into Faizah’s hands before joining Raiden and Carys.

“What’s up?”

“It was like I said outside, Farida needs medical attention now,” Carys said. “Her lungs aren’t sounding good to me.” She was gently cradling the newborn. Cullen noted that she had her shirt unbuttoned to the top of her bra, and the baby was cuddled close to her warm flesh.

“Are you sure we can’t take everyone?” Cullen asked. “I know you said the mom and the newborn need to stay here, but we can figure out a way to make Mom comfortable.” He looked up at Raiden for confirmation. His friend gave him a slight shake of his head.

“There’s no way,” Carys said in a soft voice so as not to disturb her tiny charge. “I was on that road two days ago. She’s just had major surgery. I can’t allow either her or her new baby to go. They need to stay here for at least a day, preferably two or three.”

She looked over her shoulder at the blanket separating the room. She looked nervous. Even after a half-hour, he could tell that nervous was not normal for her.

“Is there something else wrong with her besides her having had the cesarean section?” Cullen asked. “Is she having complications? You mentioned some other injuries. Are you sure we should wait?”

She looked up at him with an almost grateful look. “That’s just it. I can’t get any of the kids to speak to me about their injuries. You saw them, right?”

“They were hard to miss.” It was part of the reason he didn’t just give Faizah the chocolate to pass out, he wanted to see the kid’s injuries up close and personal. “An adult has been abusing them. The fingerprint bruising on the little girl was obviously made by a man’s hand.”

Carys’ expression tightened. “Yes. That is my conclusion. I think—”

“My baby,” a weak wail came from behind the curtain.

Carys went quickly behind the makeshift partition and began speaking softly in Arabic. For the first time, Cullen heard the baby give a cry. He didn’t know if that was a good or a bad thing.

“Faizah? Can you come here? I need your help.”

“Is my Mama okay?”

“I want my Mama.”

“Girls, stay here,” Faizah stepped in front of the two girls before they had a chance to go behind the curtain. Raiden just barely beat Cullen as he took little Farida from Faizah’s arms. Cullen crouched down in front of the two little girls.

“Little Ladies,” he grinned at them. “I was wondering if I could take your picture. I have two sisters at home who would love to see you. Have you ever had your picture taken?” He watched out of the corner of his eye as Faizah went behind the curtain to assist Carys.

“I want my Mama,” the youngest girl said.

“What’s your name?” Cullen asked. “I bet your name is Princess.”

A shy smile appeared on her face. “I’m not a princess. My name is Aamira.”

“I’m Leila,” the other girl said proudly. “I’m the oldest. Can we go see our Mama now?”

“Pretty soon,” Cullen assured them. “But right now, I’m going to show you some pictures, and then I want to take yours, okay? Do you want to see pictures of my sisters?”

Please say he could keep them occupied.

He’d just recently scanned some old pictures of Chelle and Baily when they were young. “Girls, why don’t you come over here so we can see better?”

The whole time they had been there, Raiden had stayed close to the door, but now that his hands were full with Farida, Cullen wanted to make sure he could be on the lookout for anyone coming their way. He propped open the door just a little bit and pulled out his personal phone. He used his facial recognition to open it up, then he thumbed through the photos.

“Who’s that?” Aamira asked in her piping little-girl voice as she pointed at a photo of him and his two sisters. It had been taken when they were on a tree swing together out by the lake near their grandparent’s home.

“That’s me with my two little sisters, when we were young. Their names are Chelle and Baily.” He quickly scrolled past the picture with them all eating cake to the one where Baily had just won a ribbon in a school race. He explained about the competition.

“I’m fast too,” Leila said proudly.

Carys came out from behind the curtain. “Girls, you can go in and see your mama for just a moment. Only hold her hand, okay? Her tummy hurts. Do you understand?”