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Chapter 34
Trent shot up in bed, instantly awake at some unfamiliar sound. There, he heard it again. There was a rustling noise on the floor beside him.
Trent sighed. “Danny?”
A shy voice replied. “Yeah?”
“What are you doing?”
“I got nightmares.”
Trent rubbed his hands over his face. He considered his options for a minute, but really he knew what he was going to do.
“Okay. Come get in bed with us. You don’t have to sleep on the floor.”
Danny scrambled over Trent, dragging the blanket he’d started carrying with him. He wiggled between the two of them and rolled up like a burrito. Trent watched for a moment, but almost immediately heard the soft snoring.
Josh rolled and met Trent’s gaze. “We’re going to have to do something.”
He shrugged before realizing Josh couldn’t see him. “I know. I’ll talk to the school councilor tomorrow and see if she has any suggestions.”
Trent sighed as he pulled the quilts over them. This was going to be another long night. They couldn’t do too many more of these without someone snapping.
The next thing Trent knew, he had two small feet braced against the middle of his back. It felt like Danny was trying to push he and Josh into the floor. How can such a little kid take up so much room? He tried to get some space, but each time Trent moved, Danny changed positions. Eventually Trent resigned himself to having two bare feet planted in his midsection.
“Where’s Danny?”
Trent lifted himself high enough to see Sammy standing in the doorway rubbing her eyes.
“He’s buried somewhere under here, pushing against Da and I.” Trent looked over to find Sammy still staring at them from the doorway. Knowing where this was going, Trent let out a soft sigh of resignation.
“Do you want to get in bed with us too, Sammy?” Trent asked.
“She can’t. She’s a girl. This is a boy’s hideout,” came the muffled reply from under a layer of blankets and quilts.
“Don’t pick on your sister. You know we don’t do things like that in this family. There’s no boy only stuff,” Josh said as he rolled so he could see.
Before the conversation could go any further, Sammy had launched herself into the tangle of fabric. Once everyone was settled into the family nest, Trent looked up to find her staring at him intently.
“What?” Trent asked.
“I want to do barrel racing. Elly does barrel racing.”
“Sweetie, don’t you think those horses are too big for you?”
“No. Danny rides the big horses, and Elly’s horse isn’t a little one either. I want to barrel race.”
“I wanna rope too. I think I’m pretty good.”
Josh turned to Danny. “You’d need to practice more. Like every day. If you don’t practice, then we wouldn’t take you to the next event.”
“I’d practice. I’d practice a lot. You’d see,” Danny said.
“Me too. Elly would come over. She said she would. Her Mom and Dad said they’d bring her over to practice. It’d be great. I’d practice a lot. Then I’d have another girl around too.”
Trent shot Josh a look before turning back to the kids. “I’ll tell you what. You two go see what you want for breakfast, and Da and I will talk about this roping barrel racing thing.”
Both kids exploded from the bed and raced cheering down the hallway. Trent waited until they were out of sight before he turned to Josh.
“What do you think?”
Josh shrugged. “Maybe it would be a good thing. Maybe it would keep them busy enough so Danny’s nightmare’s would get better.”
Trent nodded. “What’s the councilor say about Danny?”
“That it’s going to take time.”
“Well, maybe some time on the back of a horse would do both of them some good to distract them.”
About that time they heard the crash of metal hitting tile as the kids pulled out far more equipment for making breakfast than either dad expected.
“Crap. Sounds like they’re planning a banquet. We better get in there,” Josh said.
Trent gave his husband a quick kiss and then crawled to the edge of the bed as another crash came from the kitchen.
“Never a dull moment.”
If you’d like to see a snippet from the other Wednesday Briefs authors you can go to the groups website. Or click on the name listed below to go directly to the story.
Jon L Keys 
Maybe I missed it, but did we ever find out who grabbed Danny? I can’t remember reading it.
No you haven’t missed it. Danny’s abductor is still on the loose.