Chapter 244 THE SHIELD’S SOFTNESS [CASSIAN AND ROBYN]
THE SHIELD’S SOFTNESS \[CASSIAN AND ROBYN\]
EPILOGUE TWO
CASSIAN’S POINT OF VIEW
If you had told the nineteen-year-old version of me, the guy who spent his nights in the secret underground fight clubs of New York every weekend I would fly out from Westridge to numb the pain of losing both parents on the day I was born; and his days as the Ward family's human wrecking ball; that I would one day be a victim of a high-stakes heist in princess tea parties with buttercup, I would have laughed while breaking your ribs.
But today, the heist was real. And the thief was only three feet tall, a two-year-old wonder of a human being that blessed my soul from the second I received the ultrasound images from her mother, not even one year after our wedding.
"Daddy! You can't leave the tea party! The bad guys are still outside!"
I looked down at my lap, where a tiny, porcelain cup that wouldn't even hold two tablespoons of liquid was being balanced precariously on my knee. I could not dare move. If I did, my child, who had the temper of her mother at age two, would gut me, so even though I had very important work to do, I was sitting on a rug that was far too small for my frame, my back against the toy chest in Maya’s blue island of a playroom.
"Maya, honey, Daddy has a briefing with the security team in twenty minutes," I grunted, trying to shift my weight without crushing a plastic doll.
"No briefings," Maya declared, her tiny hands on her hips. She was the spitting image of Robyn, the same fiery spirit, the same stubborn tilt of the chin that drew me to her mother, and kept me on my toes ever since that night at the fight club, but she had my eyes. The eyes that were currently melting my resolve into a puddle. "You are the Shield. And the Shield stays with the Queen."
We were playing heist, and for some reason, Maya played the thief who would steal a precious jewel; I, on the other hand, had the task of guarding the queen from the police outside; that is, the stuffed toys I also painstakingly laid around the room before we started the game.
Robyn walked into the room, leaning against the doorframe with a protein shake in one hand and a smirk that told me she was enjoying my interrogation far too much. She was wearing one of my oversized hoodies, her hair pulled back in a messy knot, looking more beautiful than the day I’d finally convinced her to say 'I do.'
For some reason, Maya thought I didn’t play well enough, so it could only mean I was a secret agent for the authorities. So now, I’m also under interrogation while acting as the shield. I know….Even I don’t understand my baby either.
"Having trouble with the perimeter, Cass?" she teased, her eyes dancing with mischief.
"She’s got me in a tactical lockdown, Robs. I’m pinned down. Send backup." I wailed dramatically, adding an eye roll, and fainted for good effect.
Robyn laughed, a sound that still smoothed out all my rough edges. She walked over and dropped a kiss on top of my head before kneeling beside our daughter. "Maya, if Daddy doesn't go to his meeting, the big bad wolves might get into the cookie jar."
Maya’s eyes went wide. She looked at me, then at the jail she’d built out of blocks around my feet. With a heavy sigh of royal permission, she waved her hand. "Fine. But you have to wear the cape."
Ten minutes later, I was walking toward my home office, my six-foot-four body of scarred muscle and elite tactical training now wearing a shimmering pink polyester cape tied around my neck.
I caught my reflection in the hallway mirror. The man looking back wasn't the volatile weapon I used to be. My knuckles weren't bruised from a fight; they were stained with washable marker. The hard line of my jaw was relaxed. I reached up, touching the soft fabric of the cape, and smiled.
I used to think being a Ward would be the end of me, and that being a horseman was the greatest honor of my life.
However, I met Robyn, and at first sight, I was hooked. Even without talking to me, she stole my soul, leaving me an absolute mess for her. Once upon a time, all I was concerned with was how much pain I could take or how much I could inflict.
But I was wrong. It was about this. This quiet, fierce peace only Maya and Robyn could bring. It was powerful, calming…and liberating.
I turned back, the sound of their shrieks and laughter bubbling into the office, and I decided work could wait. I raced back into Maya’s playroom, the sound of their shrieks a symphony of the most beautiful music I’ve ever heard, welcoming me home.