“But—”
I pressed disconnect and tossed the phone into the baby bag. I asked the teenagers to get the twins dried off and buckled into their car seats. I said there was a family emergency, and no questions were asked. The teenagers headed inside, my neighbor going with them to supervise.
Perfect.
I grabbed the baby bag and walked down to the sand. Carmen was too far away to hear me shout, so I lifted my hand to my mouth and let out a shrill whistle. She turned around and hustled back toward the clubhouse.
I couldn’t stand still. I was too anxious. Nervous. My mom-rage had soured into panic. I walked out onto the sand and met her halfway.
“What’s going on?”
“We have to go.”
She titled her head and looked at me, really looked. As usual, she had no trouble reading the room. “What’s wrong?”
“We have to get out of here. I need to take the girls home, like right now.”
“Okay.” She did the balancing thing where she wobbled a bit as she lifted first one foot, then the other to slip her sandals back on. “I got that part.”
My sigh felt like it traveled from the soles of my feet to get to my lips. “Their father is here. He’s coming to take them away from me.”
“What? He wants to take them to Atlan?”
Of course, she knew the truth. Of freaking course. I’d been lying to myself thinking I had fooled her for even one moment.
Score: Carmen 2, Stefani and Henry both stuck at 0.
“Yes. No.” I bit my bottom lip. Let go. “I don’t know, okay?”
“I thought he didn’t know about them. That you—you know—and then he disappeared.”
“I went to the processing center when I was three months pregnant and called the battleship where he was stationed.”
“You did? Holy shit, Stef. Why didn’t you tell me? What did he say?”
“He refused to speak to me.”
For the first time I could recall, Carmen looked like she’d been shocked speechless. “He refused to speak to you?”
“Yes.”
“And he knew it was you calling?”
“Yes.”
“That mother-fucker, son-of-a-bitch. I’m going to kill that giant, alien asshole with my bare hands.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me along at a fast clip, on board now with getting the hell out of here. “I thought Atlans were supposed to be super protective and really good to their mates? You know, like Kovo and Max. Those two are amazing. Don’t you dare tell Adrian, but I’m jealous as hell.”
“Me, too.” Or at least I had been, once upon a time. I was finished with daydreams and fantasy. No one was going to come sweep me off my feet and be eternally devoted to me. I’d accepted it. Didn’t like it, but I had other things to worry about now. First and foremost, two small, vulnerable people who relied on me to keep them safe.
“I knew we should have forced you to put Henry on their birth certificates.”
“What?”
“You should have married one of us. God, it’s too late now.”
“You both knew?”
“Duh. You, Stefani Davis, are a terrible liar.” Carmen stopped tugging on my hand as we entered the beach house. “Don’t kill the messenger, but your sister and your mom know, too.”
