Harboring Hannah by Pepper North

Chapter 17

Hiking around SANCTUM with Deke, Hannah met several of the Little girls. Lolli was a great bridge to meeting new people. With a friendly woof, he’d greet anyone they ran across. On her second day, she was chatting with Priscilla when the Little shared she’d need to dash away to change her clothes in a few minutes.

“Party in an hour,” she reminded Hannah.

“Party?” Hannah echoed.

“Your Daddy didn’t want you to get nervous. Your welcome party is tonight. Wear warm clothes in layers in case the bonfire is super hot. How are your s’more skills?”

“There are skills to making s’mores?” Hannah asked, bewildered.

“You’re not one of those burn the marshmallow people, are you?” Priscilla teased.

“That’s the way I like them,” Deke added to the conversation, wrapping his arm around her waist. “We need to head home, too.”

Whistling to Lollipop as the group headed in different directions, Deke shook his head as the large dog emerged from the woods, dragging a six-foot-long branch. “We’re not taking that home.”

Lollipop wagged his tail as he dragged the large tree segment onto the trail. As he struggled to move the heavy object, Hannah walked forward to loop her forearms under the branch.

“I’ll help, Lolli!”

The dog rewarded her with a frantic wave of his tail before looking at Deke with hopeful eyes.

“It’s not coming in the house,” he warned, moving between them to take a large amount of weight from each of their burdens.

She worked hard to control her expression from revealing her amusement that her Daddy was willing to indulge them. To distract him, Hannah asked, “What should I wear tonight?”

“How about your jeans and a sweatshirt? Shelby suggests you bring your cellphone so you can type in everyone’s number.”

“I haven’t used my cellphone in forever. I better plug it in.” She looked up, trying to remember. “Where did I store my charger?”

“Perhaps you should leave it in my office so I can keep it maintained for you.”

“I don’t seem to need it here.”

“That’s a good thing, I hope.”

“It’s a very good thing,” she agreed, smiling at him.

They turned the corner of the drive up to Deke’s house. “We’re home!”

“I like hearing you say that, Little girl,” he observed with a delighted grin that became a laugh as Lollipop dropped his end of the stick to run up to the porch.

“Let’s lay this over on the stack,” he suggested, nodding at the gigantic pile of sticks the dog had piled up. “We’ll have lots of firewood this winter.”

Escorting her through the door, Deke suggested, “Go check your backpack for your charger and phone.”

A few minutes later, she appeared in his office to find him cleaning off a section of the shelves behind his desk. “I found both!”

“Good girl. How about setting everything up here?”

“I don’t want my stuff to be in your way.”

“This won’t impose on my space at all. And you can come sneak behind me when I’m working if you want to check your phone. I will, however, charge you one kiss a day as rent.”

“Can I pay in advance?” she asked, setting her phone in the space he created before wrapping her arms around his waist.

“Definitely.”

A week of kisses paid in advance later, Hannah plugged in the dead cellphone and skipped off, holding her Daddy’s hand, to change clothes for the party. She loved that Deke made everything easier. He’d keep an eye on her messages in case her parents wanted to get in touch with her, even though Deke had made sure they had his contact information for an emergency.

Thirty minutes later, she bopped into his office to grab her phone. A message notification showed on the screen. A sick feeling hit her stomach like a load of bricks. Punching in her code, Hannah only needed to see the sender’s name to feel the panic building.

“Hannah? Ready to go?” Deke’s deep voice called from the door.

Knowing she acted illogically but unable to react any differently, Hannah scanned the room for a place to hide and read the message. She dropped to her knees and scrambled under the desk. Hannah looped her arms around her bent legs and dropped her forehead to her knees, making herself as small as possible.

“Hannah?” Deke’s voice got closer. He walked into the office and didn’t see her. “Where’d Hannah go, Lollipop?”

The dog woofed and took off in a rattle of toenails on the wood floors. Hannah heard her Daddy follow him down the hall. Quickly, she snatched the phone and opened the message from Tommy.

I guess you think you’re smart, bitch. Threatening me through a lawyer just pissed me off. Guess your family will get to see just how kinky you are. Several stills will make great Christmas cards.

Alink followed. Hannah stared at it in abject horror. He did it. Tommy released the video. She dropped the phone as tears welled in her eyes.

The squeak of the chair brought her head up with a jerk. Warm dog breath registered on her face before Lollipop kissed her and squeezed in to settle his colossal head on her shoulder in a sensitive doggy hug. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his soft fur.

“What…?” Deke began and scooted the chair away to crawl as far under the desk as space would allow.

“Sweetheart, what’s wrong.”

“He put it out.”

“Tommy?” Deke understood immediately. He wrapped an arm around Hannah’s back.

“Yes!” she wailed. “I don’t know what to do.”

“We’ll deal with whatever it is together.”

Deke tugged her phone from under Lollipop’s back leg. Dismissing the screen lock, he read Tommy’s message and growled, “You just made a really grave mistake, recreant.”

Rubbing Hannah’s arm, he reassured her, “You are not alone. Together, we’ll figure this out. Did you click the link?”

“Nooo,” she wailed.

Lollipop licked her cheek and whined in sympathy.

Hannah watched as Deke pressed his thumb on the link and watched the screen. He stared at the video with a surprised expression that she wasn’t expecting to see. “Don’t watch!”

“Sweetheart, Tommy didn’t post a video of you. He sent you a snippet of a cat playing. Look!”

“What?” Hannah leaned forward to watch as Deke turned the screen toward her and replayed the video link. “That can’t be it. Why would he scare me like that?”

“What would you have done if you’d been alone?”

“I would have stayed away from my parents and my hometown.”

“Would you have clicked the link?” Deke probed.

“No way. I don’t want to see that again!”

“Tommy’s smarter than I expected. That legal letter from Carrie must have shaken him. He couldn’t extort money, so he gambled he could get revenge by posting that link. That… jerk... knew he could completely upset your life with a video that is totally innocent.”

A new message pinged in…

So, you finally got brave enough to watch the link. Nice pussy, huh? I’m guessing you’re already hundreds of miles away and a complete mess. Not fifty thousand in cash, but knowing you’ve been miserable for a couple of weeks is some payback for threatening me with jail.

Hannah looked at Deke in disbelief. “I would have done that. I would have run away again. But I didn’t because I’m with you.”

Deke searched through the screens on her phone and blocked Tommy’s number. “That’s the last time we spend any time on that scumbag.”

“Really?”

“We have a welcome party. I vote we go have some fun and know that Tommy is gloating about how completely miserable you are.”

Dashing the tears from her cheeks, Hannah snapped, “I’m going to go have a marvelous time with my new friends.”

Lollipop woofed softly.

“We can take Lolli, can’t we?” she pleaded.

“I don’t think Lolli will let me take you without him. Let’s go wash your face and we’ll head out.”

* * *

Five minutes later, Hannah danced along the path at Deke’s side, Lollipop walking on the other side. Her heart felt so light. She hadn’t given in to Tommy’s threat.

“Thank you for keeping your promise, Little girl. You didn’t run.”

“I hid under the desk,” she confessed.

“I’ll be sure to look there first if something scares you,” he reassured her.

“Being with you in SANCTUM is the best.”

“Hopefully, you’re planning to stay.”

“Forever?” she questioned.

“Forever and twenty years after that.”

“Hmm! I think that sounds long enough.” She swung their joined hands as they walked.

They were quiet for a few minutes—each lost in their own thoughts. The sound of excited voices grew as they walked. Hannah pushed any lingering worries about things that didn’t matter anymore from her mind. As they followed the last bend in the path, a large glow appeared.

“Is that the bonfire?”

“It is. Between the bonfires and Lollipop confiscating all the sticks from the woods, SANCTUM may run out of wood.”

“No way, Daddy,” she giggled. “Look, there’s Kenzie. What’s that running around her feet?”

“Looks like a puppy.” Deke moved to grab Lollipop’s harness.

When the massive dog spotted the small animal, he woofed a soft greeting. Immediately, the puppy turned around and lunged toward them.

“Hold on, Pumpkin. We’ll go meet Lollipop together,” Kenzie’s voice reached them.

Fearlessly, the puppy sniffed at the adult dog towering over him. Within seconds, Lollipop crouched down to invite Pumpkin to play. The two dogs chased each other around the gathered group as their people greeted each other with hugs.

“You got a puppy! Is she the same type of dog as Lollipop?” Hannah asked.

“She is!” Kenzie enthused. “I loved Lollipop so much that Daddy bought me a puppy. Pumpkin likes wearing bows, too.”

“That’s perfect. I love her name.”

“Thank you. Daddy wanted to call her Poop, but I vetoed that,” Kenzie said, turning to glare at the large ex-fireman.

“That’s all she does,” Osiris defended himself.

“Look at those paws. Pumpkin is going to be huge,” Deke quickly changed the conversation.

“Thanks, man,” Osiris said softly as the girls squatted down to lift one of the puppy’s feet.

“Daddies have to stay together.”

“Hannah!” The other Littles caught sight of her and swarmed their way.

Within seconds, Hannah was absorbed into the group. Exchanging hugs, Hannah greeted everyone she’d already met. Those she hadn’t introduced themselves.

“Hi, I’m Nicky! My Daddy is Lance. We live next door.”

“I’m Hunter. My Daddy is Lazzaro. We come visit when we can.”

“You have beautiful tattoos.” Hannah traced a starfish on his forearm before snatching her hand away. “Sorry.”

“No problem. I’m like a big coloring book. Most of this I didn’t create, but you chose one I did. I added that when I found my Daddy. He’s my north star. I navigate through life with him.”

“That’s beautiful.” Touched, Hannah stepped forward to hug him.

“Thank you. I’m glad you found SANCTUM.”

“Me, too.”

A tap on her shoulder made Hannah turn around.

“Hi! I’m Samantha. My Daddy is Ben. He’s the hunky one in the uniform.”

“They’re all hunky,” Hannah whispered, looking at the Daddies gathered nearby.

“They are,” Samantha agreed. “I brought chocolate!”

“S’mores time!” Shelby announced.

* * *

“Idon’t suppose Hunter ever does lettering on boats,” Deke asked Lazzaro.

“His hand is steady. Got a name you need changed?” Lazzaro guessed.

“I do.”

“Ask him. I bet he’ll be interested in helping a Little settle into her new life.”

“Thanks, Lazzaro.”