Free A Christmas Tail by Trinity Blacio Page A

scared. I can go if you want me to?” Lacey glanced at Isaac, who nodded.
    “Thank you Lacey, and if it was any other time, I’d let you, but she must learn to turn to us now. I’ll call you though, if I think she needs her big sister, I promise.” Barry offered, and she nodded.
    “Thank you. She means the world to me and I feel as if I’ve let her down somehow.” Lacey looked down at the ground as Isaac stepped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her.
    “There is nothing you could have done, baby. All we can do now is continue to support her in all that she does, showing her how much she means to us. But Barry is right. He needs to take care of this. Come, sit down. You haven’t slept well the last two nights. I’ll even have a Christmas movie put on, if you’d like?” he asked, and Lacey grinned, looking at him.
    “Betsy’s favorite Christmas move used to be Home Alone . She loved them all the first, second and third ones. Do you think we could watch them?”
    “Come on, let’s go see if we can find them?” Isaac laughed pulling Lacey toward the side of the plane where Barry knew Isaac had placed the movies.
    He turned his attention to his kitten. She was crying and trying to hide her pain. Barry shook his head and headed to the bathroom, tapping on the door. “Kitten, I’m coming in,” he warned her before opening the door and sliding inside. Curled up in a ball in the garden tub, Betsy had her head resting on her knees, tears flowing down her cheeks.
    “I’m so scared, Barry. It’s hard enough for me to get up every morning and survive, but to have my children with me... What if I do something wrong? I could hurt them. What if they don’t want me?” Her big blue eyes focused on him and such sorrow tore his heart up.
    Not being able to see her tears without holding her, Barry scooped her up into his arms and held her tight, sitting down on the floor next to the tub. “No one is perfect, kitten. All we can do is try our hardest, but know you will not be alone. You have the three of us, my family, Davis’ family, Orion’s family, but I’d be careful of listening to some of those men.” He tried to tease and she smiled up at him.
    “We’ll make it, kitten. With all the people who love us and who are willing to help us, we will have a very full life. I myself want at least twelve children.” He rubbed his chin on the top of her head.
    “I especially can’t wait to see our little girl. If she looks like her mother, we might have a problem,” he growled, not even liking the idea of boys being...  “I think we need to write down some rules and boys will be the number one rule. There will be none sniffing around her.”
    Barry was so focused on ways to protect Mandy, he didn’t notice Betsy laughing until she slapped his chest. He grabbed her hand and frowned at her. “Don’t do that kitten, you could hurt yourself.” He inspected her hand and kissed the palm of it. “And what’s so funny?”
    “My hand is fine and you started growling every time you said the word ‘boys.’ You reminded me of a pit bull it was so cute,” she teased. “Tell me, are you going to be that over-protective father that I’ve heard of?”
    “We all are,” Orion said, opening the door with Davis behind him. “And we are very jealous men, so be warned, there will be no flirting with others. Now Lacey has searched for the past ten minutes finding your favorite Christmas movies. The pilot wants us all in our seats so he can take off.” He held out his hand and she sighed before getting up.
    “For the record, I don’t flirt, never have and never will. It’s hard enough trying to figure out you three,” she grumbled.
    “There is nothing to figure out about us. Just be yourself, kitten, and never hold anything back. We’re part of you now as you are part of us. I’m sure there will be mistakes, but that is what life is about, learning and changing with the times.” He jumped up and