“You should be in bed,” Reese reprimanded from the open doorway. “You just had a baby.”
Bethany lifted the newborn from her breast and grimaced. “All he’s done so far is eat and sleep and poop. I wanted to look out the window.” Her chin jutted out. “Besides, Rylan told me to get up and move around if I felt like it.”
“Oh my gosh! He’s so little,” Christine breathed in awe, taking a hesitant step closer to the couch.
“Want to hold him?” Bethany offered with a smile.
Christine had her arms out before Bethany was done asking the question. A moment later, the young girl was cuddling the baby to her chest, and the two of them made a picture of such heartrending innocence that Reese struggled to control her jealousy.
In the city, a girl’s first period meant a visit from the medics. It marked the first and last time she’d be fertile. But for Christine, the promise of motherhood was very real. It should’ve made Reese fiercely glad, because wasn’t this the whole purpose behind Foxworth? To build a community that would have the freedom and peace to grow?
Instead, she was practically choking on envy and hating herself for it.
“You eaten breakfast yet?” Bethany asked.
Reese jerked her head away from Christine. “No. Haven’t had time.”
Bethany started to rise, but Reese shook a hand in the woman’s direction, gesturing for her to sit her just-delivered-a-baby ass back in the chair.
“I’ll make it myself,” Reese said firmly.
“All right.” Bethany grinned. “Go cook something for me too, then. Because I’m famished.”
“Yes, sir.” Rolling her eyes, Reese headed for the kitchen. “Is everyone doing okay after the Enforcer visit?” she asked as she pulled a bowl of farm fresh eggs and a jar of milk from the refrigerator.
“Yeah, but the bunker’s getting crowded,” Bethany replied.
“Some of the older boys and girls can stay up top next time.” The Enforcers might wonder why they had so many young people, but their orders were to snuff out the babies. As long as the older kids could pass as adults, hopefully they’d be left alone.
“You think there’s going to be a next time?”
“Yes.”
Christine squeaked.
Reese shot a glance over her shoulder and fought a jolt of anger at the fear she glimpsed on Christine’s face. The anger wasn’t directed at the girl, but the council. Sure, Christine and Bethany were able to have babies, but none of them were truly free. As long as the Global Council existed, Reese’s people would never be free.
She swallowed her bitterness and turned back to the stove. “Want meat in your eggs?”
“Yes, please.” Bethany paused. “Oh. Hey. Did Sloan tell you that one of Scott and Anna’s cows is pregnant?”
Reese slammed the skillet down harder than necessary. Was everyone on the fucking planet pregnant these days? She wondered briefly whether Connor’s woman was sterile. Hudson wasn’t a designated breeder, but she came from a wealthy and powerful family. The rules didn’t always apply to those folks.
“Need help over there?” Bethany called out.
“Nope. I’m good.”
Reese whipped the eggs and decided she was done chatting for the morning. When she emerged from the kitchen, she was carrying plates of toast, potatoes, and eggs for Bethany, Christine, and herself. Bethany’s dish also had a small side of steak.
Reese settled into a chair and watched as Bethany managed to fork food into her mouth with one hand and hold the baby with the other. Then she turned to Christine and asked, “How’s your training going?”
As per Reese’s orders, everyone in town was learning self-defense and how to shoot a gun, but she considered the training even more important for the females. Men outnumbered women in the free land, and Reese would be damned if her girls didn’t learn to protect themselves. There were men out there, bandits mostly, who would have no qualms taking a pretty girl like Christine against her will.
Christine smiled. “Pretty good—I’ve been practicing with the bow and arrow. I’m sad Jamie is gone because I really wanted to show her how my aim has improved.” She blushed guiltily, and Reese realized she was probably remembering the fight Jamie and Reese had gotten into during the onset of training.
What had that fight even been over? Reese scanned her brain for a second, then grinned in memory. Right. It’d been about how Reese was never to touch Lennox again.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure Jamie will be by one of these days. Nash radioed her about Bethy’s baby, so I bet she’s already making plans to get here.”
Christine looked confused, as if she didn’t understand how you could beat the shit out of someone one day and welcome them into your home the next, but Jamie had been fighting for her man that day, and fighting for what you wanted was something Reese wholly believed in.