We appear in front of the small boxy rental house Coop and Laken moved into after they got hitched. It looks homey and sweet with a lush flower garden and a couple of toys strewn in the front yard.
Marshall extends his hand toward the door. “After you, my love.”
And just like that, we walk right through the knotty pine door and into the darkened living room. There’s a blue glow coming from the hallway and I head that way.
A clock on the wall reads five-thirty in the morning. And suddenly I feel terrible for barging into their bedroom, waking them up and demanding to have Laken’s body. But once we enter the tiny bedroom, which houses nothing more than a king-size bed, a dresser, and a bassinet, my heart drops.
Laken is awake, sitting up in the bed, propped up on a stack of pillows. The light is on in the bathroom, washing the room with a peachy glow, and I can see she’s naked, a tiny baby nursing at her chest like a sleeping kitten. Laken has two small children, Charlie—who belongs to Cooper, even though Wes tried to pass her off as his own. Charlie just turned one last August. And then there’s Wesley Junior—Wesley Cooper is his full name. He belongs to Wesley, and he’s just three months old. Both Charlie and Wesley Cooper are still very much bonding with their mother—and father, and by father, I mean Cooper. Speaking of Coop, he, too, appears to be without a stitch of clothing while lying lengthways at the foot of the bed, and at the moment he seems to be dropping a kiss to each of Laken’s toes on her right foot.
“Oh, Marshall.” I quickly turn my face away. “I’m not sure about this. How long exactly do you think I’d be occupying her body? I don’t know if Cooper can keep his hands off her for an hour.”
“It could be months, years. Although, as you astutely pointed out, you have a wedding to attend—as the bride, of course.”
“Laken has two babies to bond with, and she’s just gone back to Cooper. I’m sure she wants to enjoy him, too. Although, judging by the lack of stitches, they’re off to a great start in that department. I can’t do it. We need to find someone else. Take me to Bree.”
Before I know it, we’re standing in the thick of the fog in the Landon backyard, staring down at that tin can Brielle and my stepbrother Drake choose to live in. Drake and Bree are rolling in cash. Sure, they lost their initial wealth they earned with their Made in Paragon clothing line, but Demetri not only lined their bank accounts with Benjamins once again, he took the tax man off their tails—in exchange for their allegiance to him. He can be a manipulative financial magician that way.
I head into their trailer first and note everything is askew, clothes and toys are scattered around, and there are dark red handprints on the refrigerator as if a massacre has taken place. I do a quick search of all the bedrooms and note that not a Landon is stirring—because they all happen to be missing.
“They’re not here,” I say in a panic.
“Then perhaps they are here,” Marshall says, blinking us into the center of the Landon family room where I see my mother sitting on the sofa with her blouse opened down the front and a blonde little babe suckling away at her chest, or at least to the contraption taped to it. It’s technically a bottle-like pouch with a nipple taped next to the real deal the good Lord gave her. It’s my mother’s twisted way of nursing those that didn’t exactly crawl from her body. And the baby she’s nursing at the moment just so happens to belong to me.
“Oh, sweet Jaxson!” A hard moan evicts from my throat as I place a hand over my precious baby boy’s back and he wiggles at my touch. He not yet even a month old. “Marshall, he can feel me.”
“Of course. But your mother will think it’s something of a nefarious nature he’s reacting to.”
“Like Demetri?” I ask without missing a beat.
Mom moans. “The poor thing has gas.” She begins to slap his back silly.
Mia, my younger look-alike sister, saunters into the room and shakes her head at the sight. “When is Skyla going to pull it together?”
My mouth falls open as I look to Marshall. “Do I want to know what she means by that?”
Mom clucks her tongue. “Skyla is just upset that Logan has decided to go out of town all of a sudden.” She rolls her eyes. “I can’t believe he would just pick up and head to Italy on his own. And for what? To pick up a suit for the wedding? It turns out, he picked up the chicken pox on the way, too. Probably on the plane. It’s so weird. He and Skyla have a newborn on their hands. You would think he’d want to bond.”
A dull laugh pumps through me. “Is that the line Rory is feeding her? My God, Marshall, how much time has passed?”
Mia grunts before he can answer. “It’s not as weird as Skyla telling you to do whatever the hell you want with thebrat. I never once heard her talk that way about Nathan and Barron. Speaking of which, I can’t believe she packed the boys up a few days ago and took them to Emma’s for an extendedstaycation.” She saysstaycationin air quotes.
“Oh my God!” I roar over at Marshall. “And a few days ago? Marshall, just how much time has passed since I bit the big one?”
“Skyla, you must understand we are outside of the earthly time continuum. It might have felt like moments traveling from the Flanders’ residence to where we stand now, but it does appear that several days have passed.”
“That is unacceptable, and you know it. I have a wedding to tend to.” I grab the wily Sector by the lapels. “And I have people to save and children to raise.”
Brielle and Drake wander out of the kitchen, each with a cereal bowl in hand. Bree’s hair sits on her head in a messy red bun, and Drake looks pale as ever with his dark hair forming a sharp sickle over his forehead in the shape of a widow’s peak.
“Look, there she is,” I say as I head on over.
Drake elbows Bree as they sit at the bar. “The rugrats are still sleeping. Let’s ditch the Honey Oh’s and make another kid in the bathroom.”
“No.” She shovels a bite of cereal into her mouth.
“See that, Marshall? Drake is used to being turned down. This just might work. Let’s get on with it.”
Drake elbows her again. “What do you mean, no?”
