1. Linda's Legacy


    Date: 2/11/2024, Categories: Loving Wives, Author: byCockatoo

    ... clothes, so she gave me some comfy sweats and keds. She bundled me in her car and drove me two miles to Tommy and Berniss' house.
    
    "She's all cried out," mom said to my brother as she unloaded me. "She knows what she did now. She got the message. Just put her straight to bed. I'll join you for pancakes whenever she gets up and gets herself together."
    
    "Thanks mom," he said. "I know you want to see Jonathan and the baby, but they're both asleep right now. We take that whenever we can get it."
    
    "I understand. I know how that is." She kissed him. "I love you. I'll see you at a more decent hour."
    
    Tom ushered me inside, straight to the nursery room they weren't using yet. Little Lylah was asleep with her mother in the master bedroom, in a kind of criblike extension they'd installed at the side of their bed. It was adorable.
    
    "I'm not going to lecture you, sis," he said. "I'm sure mom did enough of that. And I know you're going to spend the rest of the night processing everything, whether or not you're able to sleep. I hope you will. There's just one more thing you should know tonight. It's about Bradley."
    
    "What is it? Have you talked to him? Is he all right?"
    
    "He's fine. I haven't talked to him since you left your house. It's just... Okay, I know you know him a lot better than I do. He's your husband, after all. But there's something I'm not sure you've ever seen in him. In a man-to-man kind of way, in a brother-to-brother-in-law sense... I need to tell you that ...
    ... he is a Fighter."
    
    You better listen to this, Emma.
    
    My brother was an Olympic fencer. He works as a combat consultant and choreographer for movies and theater productions. It's a really cool job, yes, and he makes everything look all flashy and spectacular, but he sure as hell knows what a real Bout is like. So when he says "Fighter," it means something. He's showing Respect.
    
    "I mean, he wouldn't know one end of a sword from another. He's not a combatant," he qualified. "I don't even know if he's ever been in a real fight. And he's a halfhearted gamer and strategist, at best. But when it comes to you, and when it comes to his family... The man is a Warrior. He's a fucking Navy Seal. He's Sun Tzu. He's a Juggernaut. There is nothing he would not or could not do to keep you safe and keep the family together. He'll be unstoppable.
    
    "So, the next time that you try to pull something like this... And I really hope there ISN'T a next time... he'll be ready. You'll be outmatched and outmaneuvered. You're not going to win. You don't even stand a chance. He won't be fooled, and you won't get away with jack shit. He will burn down the world before he lets you turn out anything like mom."
    
    God, I hope that's true.
    
    "Okay. Thank you. And hey, Tommy?"
    
    "Yes?"
    
    "Who warned him about me?"
    
    "Dad did. Right before you got married. He got a version of the 'son-in-law talk.' I got a different take on the same thing before I married Bern. Dad has, well, an unfortunately unique ...