The next day dawned bright and sunny for such a sad day. Cricket, Raine and the others followed six men bearing a plain coffin. Inside the coffin was Bane’s mortal remains.

Molly stayed behind with Dusty. This wasn’t something Gambler or Cricket wanted him to see anyway. They walked to the edge of the woods and then turned into the trees. Deke and Bones led the way to a peaceful place. Someone had dug a hole large enough to hold a casket and when they laid him in it, Deacon stepped up to say a few words.

When they began shoveling dirt on top of the casket, Cricket just stared at her uncle’s casket. He’d never been a kind man or even a good man. He’d scared her beyond any reason and never showed her any mercy nor even an ounce of compassion but he was her father’s only brother. She should be able to feel something for the man but right then, she didn’t. And that scared her even more.

Walking back to the clubhouse, she felt a tiny little flutter in her belly. She had to stop and wonder at the feeling. Raine gazed at her. Cricket smiled and told him, “I think the babies just moved. I felt them for the first time.”

Raine grinned and held his hand against her belly. When he didn’t feel anything he was disappointed but he knew the day would come when he would be able to feel his babies kick. Until then, he had to be patient.

As they walked back he asked, “When do you want to go see about Bane’s estate?”

“How about never?’ she quipped.

“Honey,” Raine drawled out the word.

“Oh, I know.” She shook her head. “I just never wanted to go back to that house again. It gave me the creeps the first time.”

“I know,” Raine agreed. “But this needs to be done and he asked that you do it. If not for you, then do it for Dusty.”

Cricket glared at the man. “Oh, that is so not fair.”

Raine nodded. “I know but that doesn’t make it not true. Bane was the boy’s grandfather. He needs closure too. They both do.”

“Do you think he really never knew about Dusty?” Cricket asked.

Raine shrugged. “It didn’t make any difference whether he knew about him or not. What matters is that you protected Dusty. Bane would have known that much if he knew anything about you at all.”

“Soon, but not right away. Bane didn’t have anything I really want anyway. But I’m sure he has some things that Dusty might want in the future.”

“What about your father’s daggers?”

“I don’t want them. I just didn’t want Bane to have them. They didn’t mean anything to me before, they mean even less now.”

“And the money?”

Cricket shrugged. “I suppose we could use it for something good. That might take the stain off of it.”

“The stain?” Raine questioned.

“It’s blood money. Bane earned his living by killing people. Good or bad, it didn’t make any difference to him. As long as someone paid him, he’d kill anyone.”

“Maybe my brothers can use some of it to build up a business with,” Raine suggested. “They’re all going to need jobs if they plan on living here, you know.”

Cricket nodded. “That would be a good thing. And some of it could go for Dusty’s college fund. Before you know it, he’ll need one. I know he’s not my son but I’d like to see that boy go places I never dreamed of going. Our kids will need money for their future too.”

“I can provide for my children. All they will ever need,” Raine told her stubbornly.

“I know that. But this way, I can provide a little something too.” She looked away for a moment before saying, “I don’t want to keep the house. There’s just too many memories that I want to forget about that place.”

“We don’t have to keep it.”

“Good. Sell it even if you only get a dollar for it.” She walked away from him leaving him with his brothers for company.

They all watched as she met up with Dusty and Max.

“How is she doing with all of this?” Gambler asked.

“I think she just wanted to forget everything Bane.” Raine snorted.

“Wouldn’t you if you were in her shoes?” Hound asked. “That man put her through hell making her think he was going to kill her.”

“True enough.” Raine exhaled loudly. “I have a question for all of you. What are you going to do here? I mean do you have a plan of any kind?”

Gambler nodded. “Yeah, there’s something we’ve been kicking around for a while now. If we pool our money, we were thinking of starting up a construction business.”

“Construction huh?” Raine frowned.

Gambler nodded. “Hound is aces on a computer. He can build up a set of blueprints in no time. Judge and I can provide the muscle and Dad can run the offices. He knows the ins and outs of setting up appointments and stuff.”

“Do you guys need another man?” Raine asked. “The money won’t be a problem. Cricket and I talked about it and Bane had a pile of money. She doesn’t really want it but she’s willing to use it for something good. This would be a good thing. What do you say?”

“She’ll have to give up part of the money for the club won’t she?” Hound asked.

“She’s going to set up a college fund for Dusty too.” Raine shrugged. “Either way, he would have gotten some of it anyway. But yeah, the club will get some of it.”

“They’ll get their ten percent of the new business too,” Black Jack reminded the boys.

“Yeah, we might even be able to expand our personnel.” Raine nodded his head. “Some of the guys around here helped rebuild Redemption House. We could start out with a full crew.”

“Before we make all these plans, let’s find out what Bane was worth. I hate to sound crass but there may not be enough left to do anything,” Black Jack stated.

Raine chuckled. “Knowing Bane, there’s a lot more than you realize. Dusty and Cricket are probably worth millions right now.”

“Too bad neither of them care about that,” Judge stated.

“Anyway, I just thought I’d ask.” Raine shrugged.

“Let’s get the housing situation settled first then we can worry about everything else,” his father, Black Jack stated. “Your mother wants a house of her own and she wants to get ready for the new babies. Whatever the hell that means.”

“When do you guys want to get started?” Raine asked.

“Why do you ask?” Hound demanded.

“Well, one thing Cricket has always wanted was a home of her own and I’m going to give it to her.” Raine shrugged. “I’d like to give it to her before the babies are born. Doc said she was about four months along already and she could have them early. We need to get it done soon.”

“When do you want to get started?” Gambler asked with a grin.

Blackjack chuckled. “Good, then maybe you boys can get together and build your mother a house too.”

Judge held out his hand and waited for the others to put theirs on top like they had done thousands of other times when they were kids. “The Moore Brothers Construction has been born.”

“Amen,” they all said out loud.

It was dawn the next day and as usual, the dawn found Cricket at the window watching the sun come up.

Raine turned over in bed and felt her missing. Rolling on his back, he opened his eyes and saw her. “Good morning,” he called out softly so as not to startle her.

She still stared out the window. “I think we should go to Geneva today. We need to settle this once and for all.”

“We can do that, if that’s what you want.”

“It’s not what I want at all but it needs to be done.” She turned and looked at him. “I overheard some of your brothers talking about the construction business they want to set up. I think it’s a pretty good idea. They can use the money for something worthwhile. Plus, I’m sure the club will claim some of it too.”

Raine looked at her for a moment then asked, “Is there something else you want to do with some of it?”

“Could we, maybe set up some kind of school room for the kids at Redemption House? I know Quinn does the best she can but there so much need for new books and new equipment and Cassie just can’t rely on donations.”

“Is that what you want?” Raine asked.

Cricket came back over to the bed and sat down. “Yes that’s what I want. I’ve been inside Bane’s house. I know he’s got treasures galore. We could sell everything and still not use up all the money with everything we want to do.” She shook her head. “At least, it would be used for good things. No one needs to know where it came from.”

“Okay, that’s what we’ll do then.” Raine assured her. “By the way, what did you think of the construction thing?” He shrugged. “You do understand we’re starting from scratch and we’re gonna need the tools and stuff to get started, don’t you? It could add up to a lot of money to start out with nothing. The only thing me and my brothers have is the experience to do the work.”

Cricket shrugged. “If that’s what you guys want to do, that’s fine with me. I think you guys should do what you makes you happy, if that’s what makes you happy then go for it.”

“What makes you happy?” Raine stared at her.

“You.” She smiled. “You and our babies make me happy.”

He leaned forward and kissed her. “And you make me happy.”

Cricket grinned. “Before we get into all that, let’s get to Geneva and back. I don’t want to stay there any longer than I have to.”

“Okay, let’s round up some of the guys and get on the road.”

A little over three hours later, they pulled into Bane’s driveway. There were seven trucks in their little convoy Among Bane’s papers was the combination for the front door alarm.

When Cricket punched in the numbers, the front door popped open.

As they all walked inside ,some of the guys gasped at the interior of the house. It was all wood and glass. Rich dark wood gleamed in the sunlight streaming through the windows. The furniture was leather and looked expensive. In the living room there was a huge fireplace and a big screen TV. Through an open door, you could see a library with a huge oak desk.

Through the doorway on the other side was a kitchen. All stainless steel appliances and a row of hanging copper pots could be seen. Everyone who’d come went off to explore in different direction.

Black Jack, Hound Gambler, and Judge went into the library. Deke, Bones and Mountain went into the living room and Cricket and Raine went off in another direction.

Cricket took him to Bane’s study. The one room she’d been in before. The room at the end of the tunnel they’d found last year.

When they entered the room, Cricket noticed Bane had made some changes. She noticed her father’s daggers mounted over the fireplace. But her eyes were drawn to the small jar of gems sitting in its place of honor on the mantle.

Before she went to it though, she walked over to the safe. For a moment, she just stood there staring at it.

“Are you all right?” Raine asked.

“I’m not really sure.” Then she reached out and pulled the door open. It swung open easily and once it was open, Cricket gasped.

Raine took a deep breath as well. The bottom two shelves were stacked with cash. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash. The next shelf up was more cash and some boxes filled with rare coins and velvet pouches. Raine reached for one of the pouches and opened it. Peeking inside, he dumped the contents into his hand. There were diamonds in the pouch.

There had to have been close to fifty small velvet bags there. On the top shelf were stacks of bearer bonds. Cricket viewed the items in the safe with disdain. She was tempted to just leave everything behind but then she thought of what good the money could do for so many people.

“We’d better start loading it all up.” She told Raine. “I’m sure he has some luggage somewhere in the house.”

“You don’t really care about this do you?” Raine asked her after studying her for a moment.

Cricket shrugged. “I care about what good will be done with it, if that’s what you mean but otherwise no, I don’t care. To me this is only paper. But it will be used to a lot of good things for people that could use a second chance. Bane was a bastard. He used pain and torment to hurt people. He did it without thought or compassion. Well now, we’re going to turn the tables on his little empire. All this money is going to be used to help people that really need it. Like for redemption House and more”

“Sweet Mary, mother of God,” Deke whispered when he walked into the room and saw what was in the safe.

One by one, the rest of them all came in.

Raine had left to find something to pack it all up in.

Finally. Bones asked, “What do you want to take with you today?”

“Pack up whatever you guys want for yourselves or the club. I’ll take what’s in the safe. There’s a lot I can do with it and Dusty gets half of whatever is there.”

Gambler protested. “He doesn’t need all of that.”

Cricket shrugged. “Fine, we can work out the details once we know what’s there. The rest of it will go to the club and other places.”

“Are you sure there’s nothing here that you want to keep?” Bones asked.

“No take whatever you guys want. The rest will go with the house when it’s sold.”

Two hours later, the trucks were all loaded up.

Cricket took one final tour of her uncle’s house. Her footsteps echoed in the empty residence. She shed only a few tears as she thought about her family or rather the lack of it, but they dried quickly.

She’d learned a long time ago it was useless to cry over what could have been, or what should have been. Life had taught her well to only deal with what is. She joined Raine in the truck and silently they began the long trip home.

It was almost dark by the time they all pulled into the clubhouse parking lot. Cricket hadn’t said a word all the way home and Raine was worried. He watched as she got out of the truck and went inside.

By the time he got there, Cricket was gone.

Only his mother and Dusty sat at the table and Dusty wore a sad face.

His mother looked worried. “What on earth happened out there today?”

“Cricket is sad,” Dusty told them. “She’s in her bad place right now.”

Raine looked over at the boy. “Her bad place?”

Dusty nodded. “I don’t know if I can xplain it like she told me about but I’ll try. She told me one time that we all have good places in our brain and bad places. She said sometimes when life gets to be too much, we slip into our bad places. It’s hard sometimes for us to get out of them on our own and that sometimes we might need a little help to bring us out of them.” The boy looked so down. “I think Cricket is in one of her bad places right now.”

“What do you do to help her get back out of there?” Raine asked.

His father and brothers had come in behind him along with Deke, Bones and everyone else who went to Geneva today.

“Cricket and me would always sneak outside and lay in the grass and watch the stars. She’d tell me stories about how the stars got so far up in the sky or I’d tell her about what I’d do someday with my Oscar.”

“Oscar?” Black Jack queried. “Who the hell is Oscar?”

“He is the dog I used to dream about having one day,” Dusty told his grandpa. “I had Oscar and Cricket had her Max. Sometimes when we were alone, we’d talk about our dreams for the future. Most of the time it was when we were trying to hide from Mom’s bad moods. But we haven’t had to do that in a while.” Dusty looked down the hall. “I wonder what made her so sad today.”

“Bad memories kiddo,” Raine told him. “Very bad memories.”

“Like when she has nightmares?” Dusty asked.

“Kind of like that yeah.” Raine looked over at Dusty. “Does Cricket have nightmares?”

Dusty nodded and looked more worried. “She hasn’t had any in such a long time but yeah, she has them.” A single tear fell down his cheek. “They’re real scary.” He paused for a moment then turned to his uncle. “Do you want me to try to get her out of her bad place? Cuz I can do that.”

Raine looked over at his brothers and saw Gambler nod slowly. “Let him try. He might just be what she needs right now.”

Raine turned to Dusty. He wanted to do that for her, but he knew the kid needed to do it. “Sure kiddo. I think she needs your help to come back from her bad place.”

Dusty got to his feet. Snapping his fingers, he called to Max. “Come on Max let’s go help our Cricket. She needs us right now.”

Everyone watched as Dusty and Max disappeared down the hall.

Molly wiped a tear away from her cheek and looked at her family. “Son, when you build her that house you’d better make sure there’s a place for her to go where she can lay back and look at the stars.”

“I know ma, I know,” Raine told her. He turned to his brother. “You’d better make sure that boy has a place too. They both need a place to watch the heavens.”

Black Jack slapped his son on the back. “You’d better make sure that boy gets his Oscar too.”

Gambler almost fell forward before he caught his balance. “I know dad, I know. But he only just said something about having a damn dog. Gimme a break.”

Raine walked over to the bar and grabbed a bottle of whiskey and several glasses. Coming back to the table, his mom was sitting at he sat down and watched as his brothers and father did the same.

The rest of the guys sat down for a moment and he noticed they were all drinking with him. Raine poured a round of drinks and slammed the first one back. He poured himself a second drink but didn’t drink it right away. “I need to know something,” he announced to his family.

“You want to know if Dusty has ever said anything about the way they lived,” Gambler said out loud.

Raine nodded. “Cricket has told me some of it but not nearly all of it. And she never said anything about having nightmares.”

Gambler took a sip of his drink then began to tell them about his son, “It took Dusty a long time to trust me enough to talk to me about his Cricket and his mother.” He was silent for a moment then went on, “I think if it weren’t for Cricket, he wouldn’t be here anymore. I know he wouldn’t be the sweet kid he is today. She kept him more than just safe from his mother. She kept him whole. She nurtured his soul. She gave him a safe place to hide from his own nightmares and believe me he has terrible nightmares. The only thing is, he won’t tell me what they’re about.”

Gambler took another sip.

They all waited for him to explain.

“One night shortly after we took him home, Dusty woke up screaming. He kept calling out for his Cricket. He was crying and screaming so much he got sick.”

“That was the night you called her in the middle of the night wasn’t it?” Raine remembered that night. Gambler had called in a panic and Cricket had cried for hours after the call ended.

“Yeah, I called that night because I couldn’t get him to settle down and tell me what was wrong. She talked to him on the phone and brought him out of his bad place. He never did tell me about his nightmare but she brought him back. After that, I always made sure he called her at least once a week. That seemed to help settle him down.”

“I think they’ll both be happier now that they can be together again,” Molly told her family. “He’s told your dad and I a little bit about their life too. It just breaks my heart to hear what those two went through.”

“She only sent the boy with his dad, so Bane wouldn’t find out about him,” Bones reminded them. “She do anything to protect him.”

Molly nodded. “Yes, I know. She once told me she didn’t care what he did to her but she’d be damned if she let him hurt one hair on that sweet boy’s head.”

Deke swirled the liquor in his glass. “I can only imagine the hell she’s been through but I’ve dealt with a small part of Cassie’s hell. Both of them are stronger than we realize but even with all that, they just need each other to keep them on a level plane. I don’t think either one of them has ever had friends before. It’s kind of like the friendship between Cassie and Peaches. Cricket is beginning to reach out and opening up to other people but it’s a slow process. She’s trying but it takes a long time to learn to trust people again. I’ve seen that in Cassie. Not very often but sometimes, she goes to a place where I can’t reach her. The only one who can is Peaches. I think it’s because they shared the really dark times together and Peaches knows what will bring her back, same as Dusty knows what to do to bring Cricket back from her dark place.”

“That’s a lot to put on a kid though,” Judge stated. “He’s only seven.”

“Not really,” Deke said as he slammed his drink down his throat. “Cricket knows he’s young and she won’t abuse the situation. She would never let it get that far. Not after everything she’s done to keep him safe. Hell, she gave him over to your family when it just about killed her to do it. He was as much her lifeline as she was his. I watched her in the days after you took him home. It was like she lost a huge piece of her soul. Cassie saw it too and she was really worried about her.”

Gambler looked at his brothers and his parents. “Why did no one ever tell us that before today?”

Deke studied the family then offered up, “I asked her about it one day. She was just so damn miserable, I could see she was running on empty. She didn’t want things to change. She told me she knew Dusty was safe and that’s all that mattered to her. She begged the club to never tell Bane about the boy. She kept telling us that as long as Dusty was safe and with people who cared about him, she would be ok.”

“Yeah it took her a long time to reach that point though,” Raine told them. “When Bane came here and told us about the contract she made a deal with the devil to protect the people around her. When Bane left that day, I asked her if she wanted to have a chance to say goodbye to Dusty and she said no. She knew Bane would be watching her. He wanted to see if she would run away rather than face a bullet. She told me as much as she wanted to see the boy, she wouldn’t take the chance that Bane would find out about him. She’d rather he remember her the way she was.”

“Bane did know about the boy,” Bones finally broke the silence about what they found in Bane’s car. “He had a copy of his birth certificate and a recent picture of him.”

Raine stared at the other man. “He knew?”

Bones nodded. “We didn’t show her that.”

“But she told me the boy was born at home and didn’t have a certificate.” Raine was stunned by the news.

“Then Cordy lied to her. She did register the birth,” Deke said. “I checked with vital records and he was listed.”

“Damn, I have to wonder what Cordy was up too then.” Raine ran his fingers through his hair.

“There’s something else you need to know about that birth certificate,” Bones informed him.

“What’s that?”

“She listed Cricket as the boy’s mother,” Bones dropped his bomb.

Raine jumped up to his feet. His chair crashed behind him. “She did what?”

“She had Cricket’s name listed as the boy’s mother,” Bones repeated his statement.

“Why would she do something like that?” Raine asked. “It makes no sense at all.”

“Sure it does, if you think about it,” Mountain stated.

“How does that make sense to you?”

“Cordy knew if anything happened to Cricket, she could cash in on the boy. She could get all kinds of benefits if Cricket was listed as his mother,” Mountain informed the entire room.

Deadly silence laid over everyone as they thought about the big man’s statement.

“That dirty rotten fuckin little bitch,” Molly’s soft voice echoed in the room.

Black Jack and all four of her sons snapped their heads around to stare at her in shock. Their sweet mother had broken one of her firm rules. She very seldom swore and now she was calling someone a fuckin bitch.

Molly looked at them and said, “What? She was and I hope she’s roasting in hell for what she planned to do to her sister and son. She would have killed that sweet boy and you know it.”

Raine grabbed his chair, righted it and sat back down. “It makes sense now doesn’t it? She knew exactly what she was doing when she told Stark her name was Cricket. No matter what happened to him, she knew he would come after her at some point. She knew he would want her dead. She set her sister up thinking she would be the one who Stark killed and then Cordy would be free to get the money and she’d never have to worry about how she was going to live again. All she had to do was wait it out and she would have been a rich woman.”

“Damn that woman.” Deke snarled. “She died way too soon to pay for all her crimes.”

When Raine went to bed a little while later, he saw both Dusty and Cricket in his bed. He could see dried tears on Cricket’s face but she seemed peaceful now at least. Max was curled up at the bottom of the bed.

Stripping off his clothes, he left his boxers on and slid into bed behind his wife. When she snuggled into his body, he knew she was still awake. He leaned close and whispered in her ear, “Are you okay?”

Cricket nodded. “I’m better. I guess I needed Dusty tonight. Thank you for sending him in.”

Raine laid back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. “I wish you could have told me what was bothering you. I love you so much and it was killing me not to know how to help you.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered in the dark. “I guess I didn’t realize how hard it was going to be to go to his place today. I dreaded going because there wasn’t anything he had that I really wanted. But when we got there and I saw the way he lived, I couldn’t help but wonder what our lives would have been like if we had just a little of what he took for granted. I saw all that cash in his safe and I felt bitter about it. We went without food sometimes and he had stacks of cash just sitting there. For a while, I really hated that man.” She shook her head. “I hated him bad.”

“Has that feeling changed?”

“Yeah, I forgave Bane the moment I felt Dusty’s arms hugging me tonight. He didn’t say a word, he just hugged me.”

Raine had to smile at the simplicity of what the boy did. “Go to sleep. We can talk tomorrow.”