“You okay?”
“What’s wrong?” Aaron’s voice was full of worry.
Patience giggled, covering her belly with her hand. “Nothing’s wrong. The babies are just moving like crazy. Feel them.” She took my hand, placing it on her belly. I looked over my shoulder at Aaron who was frowning deeply.
“Stop it! You were up half the night feeling them move,” Patience chided Aaron.
“Oh shit!” I cursed when something moved across her belly. I lifted my hand, staring at it before placing it back on her stomach.
Patience beamed. “That’s Baby A.”
I wrinkled my forehead. “How do you know?” I was completely in awe, feeling another movement under my hand.
“Their placement. Baby A’s right here and B is …” she moved my hand over more and lower until I felt more moment, “right there.”
I want this.
That thought crossed my mind and was quickly followed by an image of Kayla with a swollen belly. I briefly wondered if, given her health problems in the past, being pregnant would pose a problem for her. However, that thought was quickly dismissed when I felt another movement under my hand. I stood, my eyes still transfixed on the way Patience’s belly moved and bubbled up as if the twins were fighting to stretch out in there.
“Does it hurt?” I asked, frowning.
She laughed. “He asked the same thing.” She jutted her head in Aaron’s direction. “No, it doesn’t hurt when they move. Well, not usually. Baby A kicked me in the kidneys once or twice, and they love banging on my bladder. Speaking of which,” she began to rise and Aaron nearly knocked me over to move to her side to help her stand, “I need to go now.”
“See ya later, sis,” I called to her as I watched her exit the door Aaron held for her. He nodded to a security guard that was in the hallway. The security guard followed Patience down the hall to Aaron’s private bathroom.
“You’re lucky, bro.”
I didn’t expect an answer so I was surprised when Aaron retorted with, “I’m very aware of that.” His response was full of sincerity.
I walked past him and he surprised me yet again when his hand clasped around my arm. “I remember that look you gave me that night.”
I frowned, angling my head in confusion.
“After I’d told Patience I loved her for the first time and she didn’t say it back. I said—”
“She was the missing piece to the puzzle,” I finished his sentence. One I’d repeated over and over in my head since that night, especially since Kayla came back to me.
“I remember your face that night. When you said you understood.” He paused, looking me in the eye. “If she’s your puzzle piece do whatever you need to do to keep her safe. Most won’t understand the lengths I went to to keep my wife. I don’t give a fuck about what they don’t understand. What I do give a fuck about is the fact that I breathe easier when she’s in bed next to me at night. If it’s the same for you, then do what you have to.”
I stared at my brother for a long while, ingesting his words. He was right. Some things were just meant to be. I’d finally accepted that Kay and I were one of those things. I nodded at him and moved through the doors.
The rest of the day felt like it dragged by, even with meeting after meeting. Aaron’s words rang over and over in my head. The more I thought about it the more I wanted to kick myself. I could’ve gotten to the bottom of this thing sooner had it not been for Wallace McCloud and his bullshit. I needed to figure out what had happened to Kay before she moved back to Williamsport so we could finally put it to bed and move on to focus on planning our wedding.
Finally, at five o’clock I couldn’t take it anymore. I made a beeline for the door, focused on only one thing—speaking with my soon-to-be wife.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Kayla
How am I supposed to say these words out loud?That was the question that had been rolling around in my mind as soon as I’d woken up that morning. Joshua had given me a short reprieve the night before. We’d spent the night too wrapped up in each other’s arms to do much talking; however, the next morning was a different story. But throughout the day, the events that happened close to two years earlier in Portland kept replaying. I found myself twisting the beautiful diamond on my ring finger as I watched the clock, counting down the seconds until I had to confront the memories I’d been running from, head on.
Now, it was after five, and I was home with my fiancé sitting across from me, his eyes transfixed on me. My eyes drifted from his to the manila envelope that sat next to his left elbow on the kitchen island.
“What’s that?” I questioned, hoping it was work related and would therefore cause him to forget about this impending conversation. Not surprisingly, it didn’t work.
“This,” he began, holding up the envelope, “is everything you don’t want to tell me.”
My head lifted and I nearly spilled my glass of water onto the table as my hand trembled. He didn’t even flinch at the loud sound of my cup hitting the granite counter. His gaze remained completely locked on mine.
