Claimed by my Unexpected Protector

Chapter Eighteen

Benny’s POV

We travel in silence, it’s thick and uncomfortable, I can feel the kids’ eyes on me, and I have to stop myself from fidgeting. I’m pretty sure that they don’t trust me, and the oldest? Liberty? Yeah, I’m pretty sure that she doesn’t like me or trust me farther than she could throw me. That kid is way to astute for a kid her age, it’s a little unsettling with how she watches me as though she’s studying me.

The crazy thing is that I’m not a child novice, I mean, I have seven nieces and nephews now since my brother and his wife just had another boy. I spend time with them when I go out to the ranch, but they are all usually running around the place with friends and animals. Honestly, I don’t really have to interact to much with them much other than to throw a ball or watch some bare back horse riding and whoop from by the fence. My niblings idea of questions is to ask me how much I think a cow can p.iss (yes they had measured it, no I did not ask how they did it, but they were all really proud of the knowledge.) Or if I’ll give them a dollar if they can spit in a bucket (OK, my brother and I probably started that competition. . yes, we got into trouble with my sister in law.) These kids are nothing like my niblings, they are quiet, watchful, and other than the moment when they laughed at me for thinking Eralia was their mother, they don’t seem to smile that much.

Now, as I’m stuck in the tiny space of my truck’s cab, I don’t know what to say to ease the tension that surrounds us.

I’m about to turn on the radio just to fill the silence, when Eralia claps her hands together, turning around to the back as the three children focus on her, the thickness in the air easing a little.

‘Hey, did you have a good day today? Aussie? Did you remember what we said about raising our hand? Libs? How was your oral presentation’ the bakery assistant asks as she looks first at her sister behind her and then at the older boy who is sitting behind me.

‘I did really good!’ her sister, Liberty gushes, ‘I got a B!’

‘Wow! That’s so great! Well done!’ Eralia enthuses before looking to the little boy who is not as forthcoming with a reply.

‘Aus?’ she coaxes, ‘how about you?’

The kid fidgets a little, ‘I tried to remember, but . . . sometimes I forgot’ the boy mumbles.

Eralia sighs, ‘oh Aussie’ she murmurs softly, ‘what did your teacher say?’

The boy shifts in his seat, ‘he told me off’ he admits, ‘said I had to give everyone a chance and that it’s rude to shout.

‘It’s really hard though Rali’ he adds, his voice bursting out of him, trembling slightly with emotion as he tries to explain to her. ‘When Mr Cohen asks a question and I know the answer, the words just burst out of me! I can’t stop them.’

I nod without meaning too, I get him, I was just the same when I was a kid, so excited that I knew something that I’d just forget to raise my hand and blurt it out. I’d get sent out of the class by my teacher for disruption, made to sit in the corridor where I couldn’t cause problems. I spent a lot of time in that corridor trying to understand why knowing something was so bad, not really getting that it was my shouting out that was the issue until I was much older because no one ever explained it to me back then. I don’t know if it’s still like that now, if kids are just removed for being overly excited, but I hope not.

Eralia reaches behind me and I glance in the rearview mirror watching as she gently touches the knee of his school trousers.

‘It’s OK Aussie, I get it, it can be hard to hold in everything’ she tells him, ‘all we can do is keep practicing and apologise if we don’t manage it. One day it will be second nature to you, I promise, just keep trying, I’m proud of you.’

The little boy smiles, his worry melting from his face as he nods, ‘I did say sorry’ he tells her earnestly, ‘to Mr Cohen before I went to break, he said it was OK, and he also said I just had to keep trying to remember.’

‘We can practice if you want Aussie’ Liberty suddenly pipes up, ‘I can ask you a question and you can raise your hand to give me your answer.’

The older of the boys nods, grinning excitedly, ‘OK’ he agrees.

‘But remember that I have to call on you before you answer, you can’t just raise your hand and blurt it out’ Liberty adds sternly, giving her brother a look similar to ones I used to get from my mother when I was little. The sight makes me chuckle, four pairs of eyes swinging toward me instantly as I choke back the sound, trying to look serious.

‘What are you laughing at?’ Liberty asks, folding her arms over her chest and glaring at me, ‘it’s important that Aussie learn this, it’s not funny.’

I nod immediately, ‘absolutely’ I agree, trying to look as serious as the little girl in the back, ‘its very important. I was just laughing because I had the same problem when I was little, I wish I had a big sister who could help me practice like Austin does.’

‘You don’t have a sister?’ Austin asks, his voice shocked as I glance back at him in the mirror.

‘Nope, no sisters, but I do have a big brother’ I reply.

‘I have a big brother’ Tanner pipes up suddenly, the first words he’s said since he got in the car.

‘He knows that Tan, I’m right here’ Austin retorts, rolling his eyes.

‘’What is your brother’s name?’ Liberty asks curiously.

‘Samuel’ I reply, ‘he’s older than me by three years.’

‘Does he live with you?’ Austin questions, inching forward in his seat.

I shake my head, ‘no, he lives with his wife and their kids on their ranch’ I tell them.