Secrets by Erosa Knowles Page B

her
completely at a loss while his sons hit him, avenging their mother. Boys, you are too late for that .
    Holding his injured arm above the fray, he
glared at her. “Stop this.”
    She nodded, wiping the smile from her face.
“Jonah, Micah. Stop.” She could tell they were getting tired and
Kenton seemed exasperated that they’d think he’d do something so
vile. Both boys stopped and backed away in sync. They stood in
front of her. Pride rose in her chest, these were her man-cubs.
    “What are you thinking?” Kent asked in a low
angry snarl. His red face stared at each boy, but neither backed
down.
    “My mama screamed,” Micah said.
    “You’re in here holding her down. Naked.”
Jonah pointed at him.
    “Yeah. Naked.”
    “I’m not…I’m not naked.” Kenton snapped and
turned toward the door. He pointed at them. “Don’t move.”
    Jonah released his breath and looked at her.
“You okay?”
    She stroked his forehead before placing a
kiss on the soft skin. “Of course I’m okay. I have my two strong
defenders standing in front of me.” She kissed Micah. “But, he
wasn’t doing anything. I had a bad dream and he woke me up.”
    “Why?” Jonah’s nose twisted in a frown as he
stared at her. “Isn’t it bad to wake people when they’re
asleep?”
    What to say? How to explain? “Sometimes, if
it looks or sounds like someone is having a rough time, its okay to
wake them. Then they can go to sleep again.”
    “Then why wake’em up to go back to
sleep?”
    “It helps.” She stretched and yawned. Kenton
stalked into the room in a tee shirt and sweats. Pity, she thought
he looked good in his boxers. After everything he'd said earlier,
she looked at him differently. They'd known each other a long time,
and she knew he'd been telling the truth. His confession surprised
her. The boys turned and looked at him.
    “Mama told us she had a nightmare and you
woke her,” Micah said.
    “Now she’s going back to sleep,” Jonah
added.
    “Sorry about hitting you. But you were lying
on top of my mama.”
    “And she screamed.”
    “No man’s ever laid on her before.”
    “No man’s been in here before, but since you
helped her, its okay.”
    Kenton held out his hand, stopping the
alternating half-hearted apology. “First off, do you always attack
first and ask questions later?”
    The boys looked at him and nodded.
    “Guess so.”
    “Yeah.”
    Kenton shook his head. He'd been like that
growing up. Sven or his Uncle David were constantly pulling him
from the middle of a fight. A part of him was proud they’d jump to
their mother’s defense, another part worried they lacked foresight
and good judgment. Things that eluded him until he went into the
military.
    “You did good, jumping in to save and
protect your mom.” He sat in the chair near the bed and looked into
their eyes. The only time he’d seen them, he recognized familiar
features. The one missing his teeth, Jonah, favored him the most.
The intense look, the blade nose, and firm lips were a combination
of Stone and Baxter genes. Of course, he’d been the twin to start
the fight. Was he the one who wanted to be a navy seal? Kenton
couldn’t remember.
    “But what if you’d hurt my arm? You know now
I hadn’t done anything wrong, but you didn’t know then. You have to
think a little more before you act.” Mentally, he patted himself on
the back. His first lecture as a father and he’d handled it
well.
    “Mr. Kent.” The long-suffering sigh in
Jonah’s voice surprised him. “Neither one of us went after your
arm. We’re not blind. We see the cast. That’s why we hit your legs
and lower back.” Jonah pointed to the area of Kenton’s body to
which he referred.
    Kenton’s neck and face warmed as they
instructed him.
    “Yeah, we did think before we fought,” Micah
said jumping in. “Otherwise we woulda hit your private part or your
sore arm. But since mom wasn’t fighting or screaming, we figured it
must notta been so bad.”